Scv - a new era?

[TRacer]

Obviously the high prospect of winning a Sanford and working with the Rennicks has really attracted elite percussionists to SCV. However, now that they have notched their 3rd Ott and first in the modern era/over 30 years I imagine elite brass players might think, “Whoa, wait just a minute...” before automatically making travel plans to go audition for Crown or BD. Aside from outliers ‘82 & ‘88, from ‘81-‘89 SCV was often in the hunt for the Ott and nabbed a couple; my hope is this year will be the beginning of another similar trend. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by TRacer
Autocorrect

[MikeN]

I'm kind of rooting for an SCV-dominant era.  I loved Ouroboros and Babylon, and I'd like to see what else they have up their sleeves.

Mike

[luv4corps]

Perhaps it is too soon to tell but factoring in the success of VC in the mix, I'd say the domination has already begun!

[Cappybara]

8 hours ago, Minimaster said:

They fired Pete Weber and just didn’t do any of the large drill expansive that was cool, but was always dirtier than the other top corps.

They did a show that made compact drill in the opener and closer part of the design.

 

I am 90% sure this is incorrect. Pete Weber stepped down for personal reasons if I am remembering correctly. And I could've sworn this was a temporary thing too

[KVG_DC]

17 minutes ago, luv4corps said:

Perhaps it is too soon to tell but factoring in the success of VC in the mix, I'd say the domination has already begun!

How much does VC feed into the World Class corps?  I remember when BD did a two-fer in 2014 people were talking about that and someone mentioned that a good number of BDB marchers don't go into the A corps, or at least not directly.  

[TRacer]

7 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:

How much does VC feed into the World Class corps?  I remember when BD did a two-fer in 2014 people were talking about that and someone mentioned that a good number of BDB marchers don't go into the A corps, or at least not directly.  

A number a 2017 VC kids auditioned, a few made it. My son actually touched on this when he called me after Finals as he had spoken to two of his ‘17 brass buddies that were in the ‘18 A-corps line. Both his buddies talked about how vastly different the social environment was, and that ‘17 VC to ‘18 A-corps wasn’t an easy transition at all. They were their own support group. It was a mixed bag— in the beginning they felt and were treated like outcasts, but they worked extra hard and things gradually improved. I was stunned and saddened when my son told me this, but he added the same elements existed during the 2017 Rose Parade gig he did which was a mix of VC, A and alums.

Let’s face it: social brutality happens. But, IF the nexus of that brutality is indeed rooted in a high school level “Oh, you only marched the Cadet corps (rolls eyes)” mentality in other MMs and/or staff members then perhaps the organization hasn’t progressed as much as I thought. 

 

[Sideways]

58 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

I am 90% sure this is incorrect. Pete Weber stepped down for personal reasons if I am remembering correctly. And I could've sworn this was a temporary thing too

This is my memory as well...announcement was that Gaines was supposed to be for one year?

[BRASSO]

On 8/12/2018 at 6:32 AM, DCI-86 said:

Are we moving into a new era where SCV dominates and forces other groups to change the way they design to be competitive with Vanguard (just as BD has done)?

 Yes.. I do believe we will see some noticeable changes in show designs to reflect what SCV ( and a few other Corps ) are doing to generate points.

 For example, in the 70's,  and much of the early 80's, the rewarding of most points on the sheets tended to come from the Music, primarily brass lines. BD dominated in this era.

 In the late 80's, particularly into the 90's, the era of the music/ brass as predominant slowly but surely gave way to the visuals taking the genre in a direction where increasingly the visual side of things began to be rewarded more and more on the sheets. BD was still good, but was a bit slower at the time to transition to this new reality, Here, the Cavaliers and Cadets rose in this new environment.  The music/ brass seemed to be written more and more as a completion to the more complex visuals being created over previous eras, and being rewarded as such.

 in the 2000 era, BD began to adjust to the new dynamics, and reemerged with stronger visuals.

 in the mid 2000's, high velocity drill becomes even more pronounced. Corps like Cadets., Phantom Regiment, SCV thrived in this new environment.  Judges are now increasingly rewarding expansive, full field coverage, high velocity drills. This is also the era where Guards began to increasingly become more valuable to show designs and to the selling of the themes. In this new environment then, Corps with top Guards now tend to see their placement fortunes rise, over some others. As such, BD with great Guards continued to win most of the titles. To demonstrate how things have now dramatically changed from Brass/ Music to Guard/ Visual predominance,  Corps that were winning the Sanford Award (  best Percussion ) and Ott ( best Brass) collectively win only one DCI Title between themselves during this phase.

 The last couple of years, we are noticing another pretty dramatic change. Full field coverage, marching from visuals to visuals that used to be rewarded well on the sheets is now giving way to Corps at the top doing less marching from visuals to visuals, and running in a follow the leader fashion from visuals to visuals. Staging became more pronounced. Corps now were being rewarded increasingly for having more constricted field coverage, and going vertical now, nor horizontal in field coverages. Also, Corps are playing much more demanding music, and doing so now in more stationary," park and bark " position, or on stages,  emblematic in what we saw rewarded in the 70's. Electronics engineering has become very influential in scoring well in this recent era, and in this environment Corps that have good sound engineers are being rewarded. Thus, the placement emergence of the Bluecoats of late in such an environment. They placed 7th in Percussion at Finals this season ( 8th in content ), but were able to still medal, as they had the things most being rewarded on the sheets now... music/ staging/ good Guard/ good use of the electronics compared to some others.

 SCV won going away this season with a show mostly confined to within the 35 yard lines. This vertical, visual show will now set the norm for those remaining Corps doing more expansive, full field coverage at the moment to rethink that strategy, imo. Corps have always reacted to what the judges are rewarding ( and not rewarding ) and adjust accordingly. Judges do set in motion the changes they frown upon, and what changes they like and reward. SCV went vertical this summer. Yes, I do expect to see Corps utilize more vertical visuals, more front and center staging, next season as a result. I also think some Corps will rethink how often their brass line play in the shows too. If there is no downside to playing significantly less than your peer Corpos, than its foolish to play when it easier to move through the show and not play as much. When you DO play the brass though, you do want to play well. That has not changed of late from my observations, and will likely continue, imo

Edited August 13, 2018 by BRASSO

[ranintothedoor]

2 hours ago, BRASSO said:

 Yes.. I do believe we will see some noticeable changes in show designs to reflect what SCV ( and a few other Corps ) are doing to generate points.

......

  SCV won going away this season with a show mostly confined to within the 35 yard lines. This vertical, visual show will now set the norm for those remaining Corps doing more expansive, full field coverage at the moment to rethink that strategy, imo. Corps have always reacted to what the judges are rewarding ( and not rewarding ) and adjust accordingly. Judges do set in motion the changes they frown upon, and what changes they like and reward. SCV went vertical this summer. Yes, I do expect to see Corps utilize more vertical visuals, more front and center staging, next season as a result. I also think some Corps will rethink how often their brass line play in the shows too. If there is no downside to playing significantly less than your peer Corpos, than its foolish to play when it easier to move through the show and not play as much. When you DO play the brass though, you do want to play well. That has not changed of late from my observations, and will likely continue, imo

I noticed this trend happening in Virginia a year or two ago.  Jefferson Forest HS did a show in front of the front hash, between the 35s.  All the forms were tight tight tight (1-2 step intervals) and lots of just stand and play.  I talked to the director afterwards and he said there were limitations to their field (iirc), and even noticed he'd be able to do the show indoors in a gym if a show was rained out.  It's nice to bring it in tight, too, because football teams may not always be a sure thing any more.  

  

[Rocketman]

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 4:29 AM, BigW said:

Performance can make up for a lot in design.

Unless your design is SO bad (regiment)