percussion judges in drill

[corpsband]

After watching last night, I think it may be time to stop it.

[brichtimp]

It looked like the field percussion judge almost got hurt last night...and several close calls too.

[corpsband]

It looked like the field percussion judge almost got hurt last night...and several close calls too.

too many close calls.

[Ghost]

Well, when you have spent more time in the stands than on the field, you haven't had much time to know where to be and when.

[corpsband]

Well, when you have spent more time in the stands than on the field, you haven't had much time to know where to be and when.

i think the shift from drill to hybrid staging has made things even more unsafe. things can change too rapidly.

[DAvery]

And then you have the age old question, " if you can't hear or see a mistake from the stands, is it a mistake"? I've never been a fan of judges on the field. Could you imagine that in ice skating or gymnastics?

[Schnitzel]

Excerpted from a 2014-14 Study from Marching Roundtable Judges Academy:

Equality/Accuracy of Assessments: Our adjudicators do a remarkable job of maximizing conditions that are less-than-optimal to help our designers and instructors provide our performers and patrons with an optimal experience. From an educational assessment perspective, our current practice in Percussion Performance would not pass the most basic guidelines of accuracy, equity, efficacy, or repeatability. This mode of evaluation would simply not be tolerated in a professional education environment. The lack of consistently established physical access for multiple evaluators under physically threatening movement and sonic environments alone is enough to invalidate the results of the assessment. Offers of “maps” and suggestions from competing staff members(!) only further corrupts the ability of the judging community to provide consistent and equal opportunity for all competitors. In truth, the results of our current practice are more a product of the judge’s mostly-arbitrary positioning in relationship to the performers than the actual performance itself. Given the complexities and subtleties that we continually espouse as unique to this caption, it is even more a physical impossibility to accurately and consistently mimic the intimate conditions of assessment needed at rapidly evolving focal points across a stage that measures 48,000 square feet. There’s nothing subtle about that. Not coincidentally, the activity’s designers are increasingly exploring the entire expanse of the stage, and more! Obviously, the impressive levels of skills being achieved by our performers at “all points” of the performance area deserve consistent exposure to an adjudicator positioned in a perspective to “get it all.” Not just “some” or “most” of it. That is absolutely NOT happening in current practice.

·

[Schnitzel]

From a 2015 Report to Drum Corps Associates:

The efficacy of field judging in marching pageantry has been the subject of much discussion over the past seasons of competition, and perhaps the most-debated role is that of the percussion judge.

In a nutshell, field percussion judges are required to move more often and faster than their visual and winds counterparts, due to the physical nature of performer movement and the highly-restrictive nature of acoustical “sound focus” that must be preserved to accurately assess percussionists. This task easily requires the most location-specific sampling positions, while often placed “in the eye of the storm” in terms of moving performers from all sections of the ensembles.

With a reduction from 2 to 1 Field Percussion Judge in most major organizations (DCA and DCI among them), and a prevailing trend of visual design to separate the elements of first the percussion battery and now the traditional “pit” instrumentation for extended periods, the efficacy of this assessment method warrants review. It appears that the nature of the programs, performers, and assessments have evolved greatly since this system of adjudication was developed. Also note that these studies involve only the “top” DCI Judges and corps in the final two weeks of the 2013 and 2014 season – “Our best at their best.”

It is important to note that this project is a continued extension of other similar studies undertaken by the EKU MART, the purpose of which is to provide factual, objective information that the marching pageantry community can use to increase the quality of experiences for it’s participants: performers, educators, designers, spectators, and adjudicators. There is no intent to coerce or influence any organization or individual to respond in any prescribed manner. In our view, empirical research in this industry has been conspicuously lacking, and we hope to assist in rectifying the disciplinary void. How the information is (or is not) used is beyond the purview of this project.

Bullet Point Inferences

· There are highly-significant statistical inconsistencies between the positioning and sampling techniques among judges with different corps and performances.

· The top two recorded judge positions are ALWAYS the Front Ensemble or In Transit, while total sampling time of the on-field sections is ALWAYS less than the total of the Front Ensemble and Transit time.

· The more challenging the on-field drill, the more the judge stays off the field and in front of the Front Ensemble. In several instances, the Front Ensemble was sampled more than all the field segments COMBINED.

· Units with slower tempi over the course of a program get substantively more sampling of their battery sections.

· Designs with Battery Ensembles closer to the front sideline were sampled significantly more than those “farther away”.

· Several researchers remarked at the consistent lack of optimal positioning for a sound focus, due to the rapidly-changing on-field physical environment.

· A Follow-Up Study (2014) estimates that 28% of a Percussion Ensemble’s performance is actually assessed in a proper sonic position by the Field Percussion Judge.

· Another Follow-Up Study Found that had the Percussion 1 (Field) caption been eliminated, and only Percussion 2 (Upstairs) used, no changing of final overall placements would have occurred in 2014 DCI Finals, and only one shift in percussion rankings (between 7-9) would have occurred.

[Jeff Ream]

First chance anyone had to be out there all year. Watching him last year, it's obvious he doeNt pay attention to his surroundings like the big names do.

And with your biggest shows in a dome, you won't hear #### unless they're the only thing playing

[corpsband]

First chance anyone had to be out there all year. Watching him last year, it's obvious he doeNt pay attention to his surroundings like the big names do.

And with your biggest shows in a dome, you won't hear #### unless they're the only thing playing

at this point i dont think it matters. if you cant hear it from the front sideline or perimeter, it's just not worth hearing.