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Final placement depends on . . .


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For me at this point, final placement depends on . . .

I will throw the obvious variables out there first:

·      How well everyone else does

·      How well music and visual clean up

·      The performers’ ability to transcend the written

·      How well the show reflects the criteria on the sheets

·      Dealing with the adversity that inevitably happens in our activity (weather, health, etc.)

·      How members and staff deal with early–late season scoring, placements, etc.-

       the psychological aspects of competition.

I am only addressing the corps I have seen multiple times on video, from different shows. This is 13 corps, the same 13 that I think have a legit shot at top 12 come August. 

While I know that live viewings are distinctive and will affect my perceptions differently than video, I wanted to spend part of my Saturday morning formalizing my current thoughts.

For the following corps, in my view, final placement depends on . . .

Blue Devils: dealing with the fact that years of not crafting every transition, restage, visually and musically, may have caught up with them. Argument has long been that because everything else in the show is so superior, those four, five, six, moments of design flaw aren’t enough to allow the next place corps to overtake them. For me, fact is that while Blue Stars or Academy, Spirit or PC may not be fielding the creativity and performance levels of BD, they would be penalized at a higher percentage rate for displaying the same transition, restaging flaws. So when the leader of the activity does it, such bothers me considerably and I think they should be called out for it. Maybe they are, but it still isn’t enough to affect their score. BD 2017 is clearly not finished filling out their visual program, crafting each transition, etc. That said, it seems there are many more moments of disjunct-ness visually and musically than they have had in five or more years. They sound amazing, but there may be too many cut and paste moments this year that perhaps can’t be smoothed out with crafting/layering. I also do not see the show theme in the production other than the very beginning representing old school corps- but then we are 100% in current day corps within 1 minute or so of the production. Where is the craft of a true “metamorph”? over time through time. While there may be hundreds of small references to past years, past winners, past-isms in the show, I do not see or hear most of them and am certainly not effected by them. It almost seems like an old school show musically, back when there were no themes; tunes, styles, etc., had no connection from one piece to the next.

Summary: Final placement depends on making the transitions work, keeping us more engaged with the theme, and creating a through line that is championship worthy with less “cut and paste”- even though BD has not always done so and still won.

 SCV: depends on the continued crafting of a few transitions, the ending competing for best ending of the season, working out the micing of the small brass ensemble to the whole, and execution that puts them up enough in several captions to overcome the depth of talent difference that is still evident early season compared to BD, Crown, and Bluecoats. This is the best they have been in a long time.

Crown: as with BD, depends of the better crafting of a through line of the show that keeps us engaged, drawn to the end’s logical and totally convincing resolution to the theme. The vocalist is not currently good enough that we are simply enjoying her contribution- I find myself worried the entire time she sings- pitch is still a major issue. They have to figure out the balance of risk and reward with the vocalist. The show currently jumps from old school to new school instantly, there does not seem to be an evolution of the concept. The ending needs to keep going to the point we are looking at and seeing a possible “future” drum corps reality. Percussion are better. Execution scores will also largely effect placement.

Cavies: the show needs some maturity. The voice over tells us what to think, and for me, that gets old quickly. More craft is needed musically and visually to tell their story of manhood. Not sure the brass can place in the top five as of now. Percussion- we will see. Guard seems to have a shot at top four, but competition is thick.

Cadets: the show seems to be getting some early traction. Their placement depends on how well the product can stand up against the sheets and the corps in their peer group (I do not think their peer group has been established and is totally wide open: 1–6?, 7–10? 11-14? The guard will have to keep improving at a good clip and the brass have a long way to go to finish in the top 6 or 7.

BK: the show needs to be completely finished with several areas developed much further. Guard contribution needs to be re-thought. Their book reminds me of SCV 2002 where the guard used odd props and things looked clunky and did not contribute to the aesthetic near enough. Ending needs to be stunning.

PR: the brass visual demands need to be reduced in some way so that they can accomplish visually and musically at a level that allows scores in all captions to keep them competitive in the 1–10 range. I love the new design attitude, but think it perhaps too much bitten off this first go at it.

Crossmen: they cannot afford to clean the emotion of out the show, something that has been the case the past 3 years for me. Maybe this reported-to-be older group can handle such. The guard needs to get better exponentially. The show theme has to evolve enough that we care beginning, middle, and end.

Blue Stars: the second half of the show has to get better. It is not near as good as the first half. Transitions need to improve and the ending has to be killer.

Academy: I think this show has the most re-thinking to do of all shows that have a shot at making finals. Like Crossmen, but much more so, the show theme has to evolve enough that we care beginning, middle, and end. This effort seems much like their 2011–201 shows. It all makes sense, but . . .

Boston: not sure I have anything specific to say. Work on the few places that need to evolve emotionally, keep cleaning, end up 2, 3, 4, 5, places higher than 2017.

Bluecoats: theirs to lose at this point. Emotional- YES!, Great Aesthetic- YES!, Intellectual- maybe this area needs a bit more attention. The environmental challenges have to be met more frequently and consistently for the momentum to stick and earn them another ring.

Madison: As of now, I think this is the only remaining group that has a shot at top 12. We will see how Mandarins continue to develop to a fairly safe but effective show. More than Crossmen, or Academy, they have to make the theme work much better-  beginning, middle, end. Not sure enough home work was done in the off season on all of the right components. Like PR, I applaud their step into what I hope is a new era for them. 

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Just now, BlueStainGlass said:

Go Michigan! Hail!

Go Blue! And Go Blooooooooooooo!

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Great read. Interesting and pretty thoughtful.  I am not reading into this that you think this is the order, just how you see it right now based on the info you got. I do bet you are at least 91.66% accurate with who is making finals this year.  

No, you don't need but even one viewing to write these insights. opinions. 

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It depends on whatever numbers some individuals in green shirts assign them.

There's a common theme in each of your critiques, and that is the shows aren't finished. They rarely are at this stage of the season. What we see now may be quite different than what we see come finals. Since you devoted so much space to BD, I'll bite... I don't buy the "cut and paste" argument. Bias aside, I've found their past shows to be engaging. I recognize not everyone has, and that's cool too. I'd also argue that they're one of the better corps at having a fully developed theme come finals. They tend to go all in, even to the smallest of details. Felliniesque comes immediately to mind. I suspect Metamorph will continue to evolve as the season progresses, as I'm sure other corps' shows will as well.

 

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40 minutes ago, JKT90 said:

This is like picking college football play off teams in March. Some corps have had less than 3 shows...

Actually, it is nothing like that. 

I share a lot of the thoughts in the original post and am eager to see how shows and performances progress. As for the home team, I too am glad Regiment is taking a different path to creating not only competitive shows, but shows that entertain a broader swath of fans. I think the brass will be able to do the show, but it is going to take some time. 

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