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Riverside, CA - July 1, 2018


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1 hour ago, NCWVUFAN said:

It's difficult to compare due to styles between Bloo's hornline and SCV's, both are solid at what they do, Bloo's is more refined, has better inter-voice intonation. SCV has rough edgy sound that doesn't center within the intervoices creating that organ type sound everyone strives for.

That's a description only a musician can provide. I'm not a musician. To what extent do you sense electronics are being used to modify/blend/enhance the natural sound that would result without the "value added?" Both corps do sound great!

Edited by Fred Windish
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11 hours ago, Jeffe77 said:

Let me make something clear, being a SCV supporter, I enjoyed BD's show tonight. I was just caught off guard how much SCV brought it tonight. It's the same feeling I got when I saw 16' Bluecoats, 13' Crown, 08' Phantom, 99' SCV, you knew this was something special.

posted from the DrumScorps app

I saw your pics you posted. I think i was sitting in front of you lol. Would have been nice to meet you. I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the shows and the season in general.

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3 hours ago, brassboy said:

I also recall Bloo coming out extremely strong last year as well and then fizzling our by season’s end. Will that happen again? Who knows, but I’m sure they’re not taking anything for granted. I’ve only seen Bloo on Flo, but their show doesn’t feel quite as cohesive to me as SCV’s. And the fact that they just came in 3rd in percussion behind Crown and Boston should be a bit of a concern when every tenth is going to matter at the end. 

Yes, drums are a worry. It will be interesting to see what happens when east meets west, but considering BD is nearly always the best, I have SCV and BD 1-2 right now, until proven otherwise by Bloo or Crown.

Edited by queenanne_1536
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2 hours ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

I'm going to violate the terms of your question, since I wasn't in attendance. My impressions are via livestream, and the most recent stream was Pasadena, not Riverside. But I'll take a stab at it.

Everyone is going OMG! about Mandarins because of where Mandarins have been, not because their 2018 product is stronger than all the competition on the field this year. You saw the same thing with Academy two seasons ago. They were the it corps of 2016 because they finally pushed into contention for a finalist spot, and a lot of fans got super excited about it -- which was fine; we should be super excited about kids achieving new levels of excellence. Same is happening w/ Mandarins this year, imo. They are the it corps of 2018; doesn't mean they are out-achieving everyone else on the field. Note that Troopers narrowed the GE gap with Mandrains slightly between Pasadena and Riverside. So maybe it was just these judges.

BK put its final segment of the show on the field between Stanford and Oceanside. I don't know if they performed it at Oceanside, but they did at the Rose Bowl and at Riverside. So the BK product is more complete than it was in the earlier Calif. shows. Translation: BK has raised its own game. You saw BK open the gap from Mandarins just a tad on Sunday, and my guess is this is early evidence that BK is solidifying the additions of the past week and beginning to achieve them at a higher level. They snatched a visual subcap that Mandarins had won the night before. All of which figures into GE.

I can't judge how clean Mandarins' feets and beats are, and maybe they're really clean. But as far as design goes -- by which my own personal definition is "take me from one place to another place; give me a point-A-to-Point-B experience" -- Mandarins feel kinda one-dimensional. It starts dark, stays dark, and ends dark, even though they tossed in some voiceover to ram home the idea that "no, it's not really dark, see? she came back to life!" The fact that they had to add narration to make that point obvious is a clue, to me, that the performance design isn't communicating well enough. Maybe they'll fix this with something more ogranic than narration. But for now, Mandarins seem like a whole lot of mood and a whole lot of volume, but they don't seem like much of an idea.

I mean, you should also put a disclaimer in that your first impression of the show was, as I recall was “this is weird, and dark, and I don’t understand it” and you seem to be very much in the minority with that opinion. 

I think everyone else if focusing on the fact that the Mandarins have really stepped up with the difficulty level of their show and have done it in a package that is just as entertaining and engaging as Academy 2016 was 

There was a time in drum corps where just playing some #### good music and marching clean drill was enough to entertain. Now people focus in way too much on the storyline behind of a show instead of just sitting back and enjoying what’s in front of them

Edited by Cappybara
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37 minutes ago, queenanne_1536 said:

Yes, drums are a worry. It will be interesting to see what happens when east meets west, but considering BD is nearly always the best, I have SCV and BD 1-2 right now, until proven otherwise by Bloo or Crown.

crown doesn't play anything though. C corps has a more interesting book than they do.

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8 minutes ago, flammaster said:

crown doesn't play anything though. C corps has a more interesting book than they do.

I've heard Crown a few times. This show reminds me of 2015. I think it will get better and more deadly as the season progresses.

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1 hour ago, Mulder said:

BD

I will always love them, even if they do something that makes me think what the heck! I’ll still love them.  Their guard work this year is off the charts and I can’t wait to see if once all the layers are in and its cleaned to perfection. I sat in on their afternoon rehearsal and the guard seemed so dialed in and focused. Visually they use the entire field like nobody’s business again this year and freakin’ book it in spots. I know they layer as the summer goes on, but something seemed missing – the segments of the show are all GREAT (great musically, visually, etc) but I felt there needed to be some flow. Somebody who I have taken to BD rehearsals, family days, etc. for 11 years now but never marched anywhere, said the same thing. Maybe I am being too harsh because the standards they set over the decades? I’ll still scream my head off at finals for them and that ballad will get Lucas Oil on its feet again. I’ll trust their process to grow this show and make it another masterpiece. With the talent in this corps they will medal, we'll just see where they end up.

This is exactly my feeling. I've seen BD live once and on Flo twice, and every single time I've had real issues with the overall flow (or lack thereof) of their show. Each movement is great, but the show just feels so segmented and disjointed to me. The transitions seem really phoned in to me. There's lots happening visually but there's almost nothing musically/audio-wise to motivate the visual element. I have a similar issue with Crown's show this year regarding flow. To me, I'm guessing that THAT is what will keep both of those corps behind SCV (and likely Bloo) by the end.

Edited by brassboy
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1 hour ago, Cappybara said:

I mean, you should also put a disclaimer in that your first impression of the show was, as I recall was “this is weird, and dark, and I don’t understand it” and you seem to be very much in the minority with that opinion. 

I think everyone else if focusing on the fact that the Mandarins have really stepped up with the difficulty level of their show and have done it in a package that is just as entertaining and engaging as Academy 2016 was 

There was a time in drum corps where just playing some #### good music and marching clean drill was enough to entertain. Now people focus in way too much on the storyline behind of a show instead of just sitting back and enjoying what’s in front of them

Okay, here:

Does that help?

I did, and do, find it weird. I did, and do, find it dark. Dark can be legitimate. I'd love the Troopers, of all corps, to come out with a darker, angrier show one of these years, hopefully before I die, please Lord.

And I think I pretty much said the exact same thing you did: People are focusing on the fact the Mandarins have stepped it up, just as they did with Academy two seasons ago. I also made the claim that, because Corps A is doing so much better than Corps A did in a previous season, fans are rightfully enthusiastic, but it does not necessarily follow that Corps A should be beating Corps B, C and D in general effect in the current season.

Nor do I disagree with your observation that over-analyzing a corp's show is too easy a trap to fall into these days. Indeed the days are gone when "four good songs" was enough to get you to finals. But music is still communication. Good communication requires clarity -- clarity of expression, and clarity of reception by the audience. And Mandarins 2018 are not a very clear communicator at the moment, in my opinion.

They play notes in tune. They play them loud. They play them, I assume by the judges' marks, pretty clean. But is it "darn good music" as you say? Well, I can allow that It is pretty well-played music, but compared to other corps on the field in 2018, I would say that to my ear, it's not as musical as others. It's a lot of mood and buildup and BIG HIT and more rumble/mood/atmosphere BIG HIT. I like a big hit as much as the next DCI nut, but I also like a sense of direction (and will throw bouquets at even the slightest scraps of melody), and at the moment Mandarins are, to me, a swirl of loud, well-played, unconnected musical thoughts. At least on the livestream. Sometimes you just gotta be there live to appreciate it, and maybe this is one of those cases.

Edited by 2muchcoffeeman
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6 minutes ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

And I think I pretty much said the exact same thing you did: People are focusing on the fact the Mandarins have stepped it up, just like Academy. I also made the claim that, because Corps A is doing so much better than Corps A did in a previous season, fans are rightfully enthusiastic, but it does not necessarily follow that Corps A should be beating Corps B, C and D in general effect in the current season.

Nor do I disagree with your observation that over-analyzing a corp's show is too easy a trap to fall into these days. Indeed the days are gone when "four good songs" was enough to get you to finals. But music is still communication. Good communication requires clarity -- clarity of expression, and clarity of reception by the audience. And Mandarins 2018 are not a very clear communicator at the moment, in my opinion.

They play notes in tune. They play them loud. They play them, I assume by the judges' marks, pretty clean. But is it "darn good music" as you say? Well, I can allow that It is pretty well-played music, but compared to other corps on the field in 2018, I would say that to my ear, it's not as musical as others. It's a lot of mood and buildup and BIG HIT and more rumble/mood/atmosphere BIG HIT. I like a big hit as much as the next DCI nut, but I also like a sense of direction, and at the moment Mandarins are, to me, a swirl of loud, well-played, unconnected musical thoughts. At least on the livestream. Sometimes you just gotta be there live to appreciate it.

In your first response, I got the impression that you felt people were focusing on Mandarins just because they were better than they've been, as opposed to the fact that they're just a really good corps this year. Subtle difference, I know, but an important one in explaining the hype.

As for their music being "unconnected musical thoughts," have you listened to the source music of their primary piece, Thomas Doss' "Spiriti?" They've actually done a really nice job summarizing that piece within their first 5 minutes. Or are you saying it's unconnected from one movement to the next?

Edited by brassboy
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45 minutes ago, queenanne_1536 said:

I've heard Crown a few times. This show reminds me of 2015. I think it will get better and more deadly as the season progresses.

I agree, that hornline is incredible and they will get "more deadly" as the season goes on. Only thing is....they don't have that same guard/staff.

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