Cappybara Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 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. I think you'd have a very different opinion if you were a percussion guy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) I think you'd have a very different opinion if you were a percussion guy nope. it's simple risk vs reward. there's no benefit to a note that can't be heard from the edge/front. there IS benefit to keeping an idiot from running around in the middle of drill he doesn't know well enough to be safe. there's nothing special about percussion vs. brass. and the brass guys manage to sample safely. Edited July 25, 2016 by corpsband Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 it's far easier to hear the battery percussion than brass. yet brass judges dont find it necessary to obstruct the performers. if the battery is playing at a level which is imperceptible from the perimeter / front sideline, then quite frankly they are not making a contribution which matters to the production. not upstairs in a domed stadium. even when playing at 18 inches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 nope. it's simple risk vs reward. there's no benefit to a note that can't be heard from the edge/front. there IS benefit to keeping an idiot from running around in the middle of drill he doesn't know well enough to be safe. there's nothing special about percussion vs. brass. and the brass guys manage to sample safely. and so do most drum guys. this guy was an eyesore last year too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 not upstairs in a domed stadium. even when playing at 18 inches which is why i said front sideline /perimeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 and so do most drum guys. this guy was an eyesore last year too. it just illustrates the point a little more dramatically. with perc judges in the box until halfway though the season, the never get enough reads to "learn" the drill. just not worth the risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Do we maybe over emphasize percussion judging, compared to the other sections of the corps? I guess there's a reason they're not called "drum and bugle and color guard corps". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Challenging the DCI performers to achieve drumming heights beyond their own expectations, subtle musical nuances which add the special flavor much like the ingredient in your favorite food in which you love but cannot quite place, advanced art so fine that only a special few can partake; that is what is kept alive with the percussion field judge in DCI. Move the judging off of the field, especially move the judge up-top, and Death to Smoochy will become a reality. Do not believe? Just look at a top BOA battery book from the 1990’s and compare it to a book written for BOA battery lines today. In the nineties top BOA lines were playing subtle yet complex musical-licks created in DCI such as Cheese-Chutuddas; today, because the BOA judging is up-top, most of the BOA snare lines are merely playing accent patterns, buzzes taps, crescendos, decrescendos, and other concert band oriented musical phrases. Why? Because of BOA initially moving the percussion judge up-top then eliminating the percussion judge all together. And today with DCI being the follower, not the leader, of many other aspects of BOA, an elimination of the DCI percussion field judge would likely follow the same battery-writing path which has occurred in BOA; maybe not to that extreme extent, but the DCI battery-books would likely be dumbed down. Just sayin’. This seems like an important point, if Stu is correct that there is precedent for this type of change, and it resulted in weaker percussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasgroh Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 That's got the be the most chicken-#### reply I've heard in the discussion yet. What HE needs to hear! Wow. The field percussion judge will stay around until DCI figures out how to introduce compulsories for both percussion arranging and for drill design to get them down front where they can be judged. ...I've always thought compulsories would be the thing to separate the groups' skill levels, adding another layer of "do it right" to the traditions established throughout our activity's great history. So much for dreaming, eh? Haha...but, seriously, anyone who's been field level for any time at all knows the difference...heck, *I* hear huge differences from on the field to in the stands. So, yes for the percussion guy staying on the field...but with discretion. He/she needs to know when to stay on the fringe. If they ever change the Visual to the stands, however, you can bet your bottom buck our standards will dwindle...it's pretty easy to get a group looking good from the box in comparison to what I call 360 degrees clean (always the goal, if not the achievement!)...just stand in the endzone and watch any given performance ($5 to the great Jim Costello for teaching me that technique in 1975)...if it ain't clean from there; it ain't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I find your position hard to rationalize when it's been the technical music arranging in light of the increasing execution demand and talent that has created the exceptional percussion musicians that we have today. If one has to be on the field to know how good it is, then how can you, yourself, know that it's exceptional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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