Land_Surfer Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 5 hours ago, Cadevilina Crown said: They are the holders third-longest active Finals streak, after only BD and SCV. With the corps that placed behind them in 2017 (specifically 10th-13th) looking to move up the rankings next season, that streak could very well come to an end if Phantom isn't careful. It certainly will if they don't focus more on their core competency and what has made them who they are. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general_tsos_chicken2 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 (edited) Even though their place didn't improve this year I feel like the design was much much better. They are close. I'd like for them to follow the SCV model with music, ie the music stands alone, electronics are used minimally, melody not played by a synth etc. IMO opinion, synth only enhances the music when the source music itself is electronic. It just doesn't seem right with symphonic music. I actually really liked phantasm musically until the voiceovers were added. Kind of ruined it for me. Electronics work so well for bluecoats because of the source music they use. My only other complaint with the brass arranging is all of the impact chords that ended with a 'stab'. Just a pet peeve of mine. They are always awkward to me and rarely generate applause, I'd much rather hear the resolution be a long and loud chord. I thought they would change all of those spots by the end of the season but they never did. Crown seems to always have those stabs and eventually change them to long impactful chords. Guard was great, drill was smart. Percussion seemed fine to me. They are close! Edited September 8, 2017 by general_tsos_chicken2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Land_Surfer Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 22 minutes ago, general_tsos_chicken2 said: Even though their place didn't improve this year I feel like the design was much much better. They are close. I'd like for them to follow the SCV model with music, ie the music stands alone, electronics are used minimally, melody not played by a synth etc. IMO opinion, synth only enhances the music when the source music itself is electronic. It just doesn't seem right with symphonic music. I actually really liked phantasm musically until the voiceovers were added. Kind of ruined it for me. Electronics work so well for bluecoats because of the source music they use. My only other complaint with the brass arranging is all of the impact chords that ended with a 'stab'. Just a pet peeve of mine. They are always awkward to me and rarely generate applause, I'd much rather hear the resolution be a long and loud chord. I thought they would change all of those spots by the end of the season but they never did. Crown seems to always have those stabs and eventually change them to long impactful chords. Guard was great, drill was smart. Percussion seemed fine to me. They are close! What good is a better design if they don't move up in placement? This activity cost way too much to be pouring resources into without significant results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocketman Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 I will give them credit for trying something 'different' however, the design was faulty (based on placement). This is not the fault of the MMs. Inadequate design, no matter how well performed, will result in lower and lower placements until, finally, they are in the stands on Saturday night instead of on the field. This is something I don't want to see happen. Unfortunately, this has become an 'all in' activity, and it appears the corps is not 'all in' but rather, 'we'll try a little bit of this and that and see how it goes'. I don't necessarily care for a lot of the arranging today as, IMO, it doesn't continue a musical thought but rather gives me a musical glimpse. My brain takes longer to process things and if you have already moved on before the phrase comes to a logical conclusion, you've lost me. However, as someone previously stated, it is a visual driven activity, and music is there to be an accompaniment to the visual presentation. I don't like it, but that's what it is. So, if your visual presentation is weak and your music is lacking, you are in for a world of hurt. IMO! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 (edited) 7 hours ago, Rocketman said: the design was faulty (based on placement). I'll say what The General said in a different way... From 2013-2016, I thought "this is the best this design team is going to come up with - it ain't getting any better than this." However, the 2017 season led me to believe "this could've been better, and I think this design team can do that." If we categorize a judge's score into broadly two components - design and talent/instruction - I still believe there's a significant issue with talent/instruction (I don't know which of the two is the root cause) that can hopefully be addressed. In 2016, I think the talent/instruction of the members overcame the design (which was leagues behind Blue Stars and Academy). In 2017, I don't have that impression. Edited September 8, 2017 by kdaddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phd-student-TTU Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 1 hour ago, kdaddy said: I'll say what The General said in a different way... From 2013-2016, I thought "this is the best this design team is going to come up with - it ain't getting any better than this." However, the 2017 season led me to believe "this could've been better, and I think this design team can do that." If we categorize a judge's score into broadly two components - design and talent/instruction - I still believe there's a significant issue with talent/instruction (I don't know which of the two is the root cause) that can hopefully be addressed. In 2016, I think the talent/instruction of the members overcame the design (which was leagues behind Bluecoats and Academy). In 2017, I don't have that impression. Ugh. I'm not so sure about it. I'll give them another year, but I'm not holding my breath. I still think they're bringing in too many newbies to the corps either by age or rookouts. Brass caption head has been the same since '12. Techs have moved on, mostly to cavies or SCV. So you could say that the instruction quality has declined. Visual has been a mess from the top down. It's a staff carousel. Main guard components jumped ship, too. Just no stability. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 On 9/8/2017 at 2:43 PM, phd-student-TTU said: Ugh. I'm not so sure about it. I'll give them another year, but I'm not holding my breath. I still think they're bringing in too many newbies to the corps either by age or rookouts. Brass caption head has been the same since '12. Techs have moved on, mostly to cavies or SCV. So you could say that the instruction quality has declined. Visual has been a mess from the top down. It's a staff carousel. Main guard components jumped ship, too. Just no stability. You could say that, but why? You are assuming those coming in worse than those that left or are leaving. Quite an assumption. Visual wasn't great but it also was not bad. Yet their guard did extremely well this year. They had plenty of talent this year but that show was just ok. Frankly Regiment needs to quit doing what other people are doing and get back to just marching, and playing well with a visual package that fits the music rather than music fitting the visual. Without a doubt they need to stop over using the amps and synth and start playing like a Regiment Hornline SHOULD be playing like. Perhaps be the first corps to stop using bug stomp swivel hips and do, I don't know something different like march into another drill subset rather than eating up visual time with nonsense? Play more than 5-6 minutes ensemble? Quit leaning on the percussion so heavily and start carrying your weight in the hornline? There is so much potential hopefully they can do something this next year. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 3 hours ago, Mello Dude said: Frankly Regiment needs to quit doing what other people are doing and get back to just marching, and playing well with a visual package that fits the music rather than music fitting the visual. Without a doubt they need to stop over using the amps and synth and start playing like a Regiment Hornline SHOULD be playing like. Perhaps be the first corps to stop using bug stomp swivel hips and do, I don't know something different like march into another drill subset rather than eating up visual time with nonsense? Play more than 5-6 minutes ensemble? Quit leaning on the percussion so heavily and start carrying your weight in the hornline? There is so much potential hopefully they can do something this next year. If they do what you suggest, I suspect they'll be even less competitive. My advice to Regiment would be "do what Crown and SCV do when they program mostly classical shows." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Land_Surfer Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 3 hours ago, kdaddy said: If they do what you suggest, I suspect they'll be even less competitive. My advice to Regiment would be "do what Crown and SCV do when they program mostly classical shows." If PR does what other corps do then they'll just be another "me too" corps. That's not (or wasn't) PR!!! In the real world you have to continually make and sell value to succeed, and being a "me too" product offers little to know value and those are the products that just fade away without notice. Regiment wins when they leverage their roots! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenanne_1536 Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 On 9/8/2017 at 7:21 AM, Land_Surfer said: What good is a better design if they don't move up in placement? This activity cost way too much to be pouring resources into without significant results. Exactly. And, I do not think the overall design was better than the previous year. The guard was way too big for one thing, and the theme was just very weak. It's like they picked the music they wanted to play then said "let's call it Phantasm" and then figured out the theme based on that. They need to go modern. Modern uniforms, modern design, modern staging. They really didn't have any of that in 2017. I did like the show, it was entertaining and I loved the music, but they are on a steady downtrend that needs to be reversed before it becomes too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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