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Getting to the next level


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I wouldn't be shocked if corps like BD and Cadets have protege's in place learning and being groomed by the current staff to take their place when it's their time to step down. I could be wrong but that's what i would do if i was running a corps. I would say corps like BD and Cadets don't replace......they reload. Should be the same for staff as well.

Yep. Consistency in design staff by reward with money is important... but most importantly reward through design atmosphere. Design teams that take an idea and compliment it with open a receptive add ons and changes. I watched BD closely for several years and studied their process...it was open and invited ideas, even from the field. Then when your design team (both musically & visually) starts finishing each other's sentences...you have arrived at design nirvana. And I completely agree with your grooming comment.....and yes, money helps but you simply can't buy design atmosphere...it is built on commitment.

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if you think snagging some top-flight designer for your corps is going to launch you to the next level, you're sadly mistaken.

You'll be sadly mistaken if you don't it think it will. And you'll be sadly mistaken if you think that losing a top flight designer won't send you into an immediate placement dive the following season.

Star of Indiana snagged George Zingali from 27th.. 27th plummeted into oblivion, Star shot up straight to the top. Phantom lost their Percussion designer, they went south. Cavaliers lost Gaines, they went south ( trying now to recapture that medal magic ). We could give you a dozen examples of where Show Designers went to other Corps, and their placement took off over the next few years... and the Corps they left behind, plummeted. SCV developed a great drumline because good drummers followed You Know Who to there. Phantom has never recovered since. Its as clear as a bell as to the dominating influence and importance of Show Design, Top staff to placement.

Edited by BRASSO
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It’s consistency in staff and membership but corps needs to capitalize on any upward momentum and build on it. Different tiers have different needs, talent, design, quality of teaching supplied by the staff have different impacts at different tiers. Talent of the marchers is more important at the lower tiers, talent of the staff is more important at the top

Once you break 90, experience of staff really kicks in, those are the hardest points to achieve, Bluecoats got stuck for years trying to break 96. 93 is another big break point, they all are after 90 really, it will be interesting to see if BK staff can clean and detail the show past 90 this year as its new territory with its own requirements to work box 5

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Star of Indiana snagged George Zingali from 27th.. 27th plummeted into oblivion, Star shot up straight to the top.

Slight correction ... Zingali first went to Cadets, and Cadets sored to the top ... for a three-peat no less. (Of course, Garfield having Jim Prime, the Cesarios, Peggy Twiggs, etc. only strengthens your argument.) Then when Zingali went to Star, they shot to the top.

Edited by Jurassic Lancer
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Slight correction ... Zingali first went to Cadets, and Cadets sored to the top ... for a three-peat no less. Then when Zingali went to Star, they shot to the top.

But depending on a single individual is not the answer anymore...it may have been then...but today's audience is in sensory ovetload and it takes a team both musically and visually to compete for the top in this competitive environment. Chances are that George brought his design team with him.

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But depending on a single individual is not the answer anymore...it may have been then...but today's audience is in sensory ovetload and it takes a team both musically and visually to compete for the top in this competitive environment. Chances are that George brought his design team with him.

Oops! I just edited what you quoted to include other members of that fabulous Cadets staff just as you were posting this! But you are absolutely correct.

Edited by Jurassic Lancer
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Slight correction ... Zingali first went to Cadets, and Cadets sored to the top ... for a three-peat no less. Then when Zingali went to Star, they shot to the top.

This is historically accurate, Jurassic Lancer. I should have mentioned that Zingali did wonders for 27th ( 3 tenths away from winning a DCI Title, with BD winning it )... Zingali leaves 27th, 27th plummets...he goes to Cadets, and brings them to the top with his incredible visual show designs... then he leaves Cadets, goes to Star, and takes them from lower- mid tier right up to medaling, then a DCI Title. No way any of these 3 Corps could have attained what they did on the field without the creative brilliant visual designs of Zingali. Brubaker, Gaines, Zingali, etc the list is endless of the importance of Show Design to placement... and its magnet for MM talent to flock there as a result of there being there. The overall predominance of the Show Design to placements at the upper tier levels of the World Class Division seems unassailable to me, frankly.

Edited by BRASSO
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This is one of the more interesting threads lately. I have enjoyed reading it.

For any corps to rise up in the ranks also takes unswerving commitment by the management team. When things are going great, great! But when the chips are down, they have to stay above it all and keep the staff happy, the kids playing/marching/tossing their hearts out, the semi trucks running, the bus drivers on their toes, the cook truck refrigeration system functioning and so on - and then they get kids to come the next year and do it all again!

You put everything you have into a show you think is going to work, that you think will elevate the corps - but sometimes it doesn't. You keep going anyway and set about making improvements for the following year. Some corps find a winning formula but let's be honest, it is rare.

My hat is off to those wonderful people who run and field corps year after year. What an awesome thing they do!

Edited by luv4corps
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