theCHEZman Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Up top on the 50 next to judges on a beautiful, crisp evening. DRUMCORPS HEAVEN. A few quick notes. Cavies- dramatic improvement over this season. Guard is excellent as is percussion. I enjoyed the visual program and music was entertaining. My overall impression is guard and percussion are from a top 5 corps and brass is not. The brass is getting pulled up rather than the other way around and the corps seems to be improving rank wise. Black smocks are cool effect live. Keep cleaning drill, it seemed like some of the more difficult things were cleaner than some basic ones like marchers staying in the form etc. liked them... Bluecoats- really liked the show a lot. Brass and percussion are top notch, great projection. The musical nuances came across well and was one of my party's favorite show of the night. Great design of a patriotic show with a fresh, twist. The guard in individual costumes really send the message of how we are all individuals making up this wonderful country. The flag formation at beginning and end just goosebumps! Thanks Bloo. Phantom- another great job by PR last night. I like the use of the trees illustrating the corps "running" through the woods away from the evil queen. I thought the guard was crisp and elegant and nailed it last night. Great musical and visual impacts kept me engaged throughout. SCV- this is old school drum corps with props, electronics and emotion. Really love the show! It's not deep or multi-layered like the top 3 so you see it once, and you got it! Easy on the eyes and ears. Many things to love but my favorite is the guard "fireworks" tossing of different color flags from behind the props. Sometimes it's the easy things that have the biggest effects, that's good design. Cadets- the most demanding show out there by far. The opening hit with building tempos and brass on one side of the field separated by huge towers from the percussion on the other side of the field is where the corps had a tear last week but they locked in well. Brass plays a demanding book with skill and the percussion is aggressive Cadets percussion at its best. The show continues to wind and unwind from beginning to end with maybe 2 short pauses before moving again. I would think you would want to give the opportunity to applaud the kids but the design is to be side x side so pausing too long would disrupt the constant comparisons. The guard is much improved and and new flags really added to the explosion of color on the field. The weaving of Adagio throughout the entire show is brilliant. Ending of Medea was magnificent power and the ending set with the towers finally being utilized by the guard aggressively scaling up the towers to end in various artistic poses was outstanding. One blue tower in a sea of red holds a soloist on top who forgoes the last note, tossing his horn down to a guard member as the brass line picks up the last chord and holds, brilliant. Crown- my favorite musical show of the season. I go through a series of emotions with this corps from excitement to almost tears on the ballad. The show is a masterpiece music wise and the brass elevates a very good show to a different level. The visual show is not extremely demanding but fits the music well. One of the visual moments of the year for me is when the brass do their body movements pre show. The costumes colors combined with the movements creat a surreal effect, just outstanding. I was with 4 people, and 2 of us loved the show and 2 acknowledged the brass supremacy but didn't love the show. Opinions.. BD-never a fan but hate to admit it but last night..... I got it, it clicked for me. A nonstop experience of perfectly executed dark chaos. Performance level of all captions outstanding. I knew they won. Honestly, not sure the judges have a choice. Top three for 2013 BD, CC and Cadets, all formidable and contenders but BD doing their thing abit better right now than the other 2. My vantage point, next the the judges platform. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Thanks for the review Don't get Crown's score last night - would have had Cadets in 2nd and BD about a point ahead in first... As far as demand - BD has the most when you factor in the guard/visual... musically Cadets right there with them. Crown's drums just take so much away from their program (for me) that when combined with ample down-time for the brass this year I'm not sure how they are in 2nd. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.l. Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Thanks for the review Don't get Crown's score last night - would have had Cadets in 2nd and BD about a point ahead in first... As far as demand - BD has the most when you factor in the guard/visual... musically Cadets right there with them. Crown's drums just take so much away from their program (for me) that when combined with ample down-time for the brass this year I'm not sure how they are in 2nd. Honestly, I'm no brass person and I know it's just videos, but from a low vantage point I have heard some uncharacteristic individual mess-ups in Cadets high brass. Again, it's not live, but you can still hear them. They mainly came in the Scherzo section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Great review! I like your take on things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the lone ranger Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Thanks for the review Don't get Crown's score last night - would have had Cadets in 2nd and BD about a point ahead in first... As far as demand - BD has the most when you factor in the guard/visual... musically Cadets right there with them. Crown's drums just take so much away from their program (for me) that when combined with ample down-time for the brass this year I'm not sure how they are in 2nd. What show are you watching? Not sure what you rate as "difficulty" but to compare those two shows, and come up with that perception???the bd guard has the least demand out of crown scv and cadets for sure bar none. They rarely even expose themselves to error by not doing things together in clear forms. Composition does not equal demand or difficulty. And in the guard world people who think that are uninformed and recap readers. Most of the guard community does not like what they do or the direction they are pushing the activity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 What show are you watching? Not sure what you rate as "difficulty" but to compare those two shows, and come up with that perception???the bd guard has the least demand out of crown scv and cadets for sure bar none. They rarely even expose themselves to error by not doing things together in clear forms. Composition does not equal demand or difficulty. And in the guard world people who think that are uninformed and recap readers. Most of the guard community does not like what they do or the direction they are pushing the activity. And I just disagree completely. BD has the most demand, Cadets 2nd, Crown 3rd - SCV in fourth or so. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxfreq1128 Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Most of the guard community does not like what they do or the direction they are pushing the activity. The guard community would presumably include a sea of judges... who've had BD's guard on top at the majority of competitions since 2009. So who do you mean? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardguy89 Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 As much as I appreciate BD's guard -I just can't agree that they have more difficulty or responsability than Crown and Vanguard. Equipement wise alone - 1/2 of BD's guard doesn't even touch equipement until a good 4 - 5 minutes into the show. I like their use of hoops, and semi circles and balls, but compare that to what Crown and Vanguard is being asked to do on weapon (almost constantly) along with the body / movement / equipement triad that they have (BD concentrates on one or the other) and then look at their comparative flag books......and BD should be a 3rd place guard program at this point with achievement being higher than content. Later, Mike 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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