TRacer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 On 7/15/2018 at 3:04 AM, chadwick said: I see Phantom 9, Mandarins 10, Blue Stars 11, Crossmen 12 with Spirit in 13, Madison 14, Colts 15, Academy 16 and Troopers 17. I would recommend adding Vanguard Cadets to this conversation. I attended the OC show held in Bellflower, CA last night and watched VC’s brass warmup. My observations: (1) The “Unified Brass Program” initiated by VMPA is very real and VC brass are being trained like a Top 6 horn line. I marched in an Ott-winning hornline, and one exercise they performed elicited more than a few gasps from observers (myself included) because of the sheer volume power and command of articulation. At one point I shut my eyes, and could “hear” the A-Corps in what they were doing. The trumpet section alone has two dedicated techs and in the trumpet sectional they ran thru their tough feature in production while doing all the body movement...Instruction and direction were concise, and results immediate. (2) The show is designed to exploit the brass, not feature the percussion like last year. Their first huge impact is the moment they step off in an audacious “THIS is drum corps!” way for which the crowd was entirely unprepared based on the “WTF!!” and other “spirited spontaneous commentary” I heard. (3) The unison choreography and body movement featured in the brass with their horns grounded is IMO on par with the A-corps in difficulty, albeit not quite performed to the A-corps degree (I am told this corps is much younger than 2017.) This similarity is intentional, because the A-corps choreography crew work with the Cadet corps during tour as well. They even have an acrobatic backflipping hornplayer like the A-corps, though it appeared he may have hurt himself last night during the show. (4) The show design is light years ahead of BDB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAZZER Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 2 hours ago, queenanne_1536 said: Great topic, though. Definitely got my interest. Been too quiet around here.. I think you composed an excellent analysis post STL/today. I think 8-11 will go alternating Blues & Blacks. How's that for decisive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenanne_1536 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 3 minutes ago, JAZZER said: I think you composed an excellent analysis post STL/today. I think 8-11 will go alternating Blues & Blacks. How's that for decisive! Regiment, Stars, Mandarins, Academy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassboy Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 47 minutes ago, TRacer said: I would recommend adding Vanguard Cadets to this conversation. I attended the OC show held in Bellflower, CA last night and watched VC’s brass warmup. My observations: (1) The “Unified Brass Program” initiated by VMPA is very real and VC brass are being trained like a Top 6 horn line. I marched in an Ott-winning hornline, and one exercise they performed elicited more than a few gasps from observers (myself included) because of the sheer volume power and command of articulation. At one point I shut my eyes, and could “hear” the A-Corps in what they were doing. The trumpet section alone has two dedicated techs and in the trumpet sectional they ran thru their tough feature in production while doing all the body movement...Instruction and direction were concise, and results immediate. (2) The show is designed to exploit the brass, not feature the percussion like last year. Their first huge impact is the moment they step off in an audacious “THIS is drum corps!” way for which the crowd was entirely unprepared based on the “WTF!!” and other “spirited spontaneous commentary” I heard. (3) The unison choreography and body movement featured in the brass with their horns grounded is IMO on par with the A-corps in difficulty, albeit not quite performed to the A-corps degree (I am told this corps is much younger than 2017.) This similarity is intentional, because the A-corps choreography crew work with the Cadet corps during tour as well. They even have an acrobatic backflipping hornplayer like the A-corps, though it appeared he may have hurt himself last night during the show. (4) The show design is light years ahead of BDB. I agree with your points about the strength of SCVC's program, but not in a discussion about 12th place, which this thread was originally about. In terms of the discussion about 15-17th place, I absolutely think Vanguard Cadets have a very good chance of being in there and knocking one of the current 15-17 corps down a spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Crossmen are in 12th for now but I think they're in trouble... their show design is... not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassboy Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Just now, soccerguy315 said: Crossmen are in 12th for now but I think they're in trouble... their show design is... not good. But compared to the corps who are threatening them (Academy and Spirit), I personally think all three show designs are comparable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCI-86 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 I think Academy is going to end up in 12th, Crossmen 13th and Spirit 14th. Academy has a better designed show. I think Academy will overtake Crossmen only at the end of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 7 hours ago, queenanne_1536 said: Don't know how you got that out of it. Lots of interesting races. Thread asked for opinions, I gave mine. 3.83 is a massive gap and it is insurmountable at this time in the season, in today's DCI. What is it about "today's DCI" that makes that impossible? And when did today begin? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkrepps Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 2 hours ago, skevinp said: What is it about "today's DCI" that makes that impossible? And when did today begin? I don't have a lot of experience, but I think I can answer this: 1. Impossible in "today's DCI" - since now the winners are chosen by judges beforehand according to political interests. 2. "Today's DCI" began some years ago when my favorite corps didn't place where I thought they should have placed. 3. As a caveat - Sometimes (i.e. when my favorite corps does well), "today's DCI" is put aside in favor of a merit based judging system. 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 As long as SCV keeps winning, Today's DCI is right where it should be. Purely my wild a** guess, but I think Crossmen will hold onto 12th. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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