BigW

Understood- is this like leasing a car rather than buying one? Basically, the corps figures they need to replace the horns every x years and this is cheaper to do it that way?

Going to ask a serious question here- Hoping Jeff with his banking knowledge might shed some light on this. My guess is the horns are leased. What's the advantage of this? I know another DCA corps that went to leasing, and when their horns were vandalized, it was the end of the line for that corps. Is the cost that much less to make that so appealing? I have no clue. Educate me, please.

IIRC, they have two shows. The one in Hempfield and the one in Exeter?

It's far, far from ideal. I'd imagine there's a lot one can do to work the system legally as well, and if I were on one of those teams, I'd be making certain that they were doing that within the rules framework. You're missing a lot of visceral clues with the presentation for sure. And a lot of times, you're not able to see things in isolation from the box you'd be wanting to dig into more closely- you're seeing what is fed to you from only that perspective. Not easy to come up with a number at all other than what perceptions are given you from that static vantage point... when at times you really need to dig in there and start splitting atoms to come up with a real and honest number that tries to reflect what happened at that contest at that venue in that caption. All I can say again is that if one is gonna compete within that framework, you have to game it to the max, again, within the rules. For that matter you're doing that live as well- gaming to the sheets there, too. Just my tuppence. You owe it to your membership to make sure they present as best as they can on that video with a quality sound and visual presentation from that fixed perspective.

Not surprising that some teams are behind.

So... looking at the numbers, Looks like most of the competitor's game, with Cabs and CV seeming to have an early season advantage. Have to see where it all shakes out. Also hoping some of the other competitors can take advantage of the opportunity presented to build to continue competing when this all gets shaken out to normal.

Reading their statement, it was also a question to them of whether they felt they could provide the experience they felt they should provide. I'm certain every corps asked themselves that hard question, and it's a matter best left to each corps what the answer was, and I'd be the last to criticize.

Thanks, Jeff! They weren't up when I was at dinner. Read the statement from the Bucs. I'd noticed their abscence and wondered. In some aspects, I'm not surprised.

Looked for scores from last week. Any this week? The whole things sounds like one hugs exercise in frustration...

I know. One was a great friend to you and my sister, who I was also quite fond of. The thing is... when you have someone holding in a 50 person horn line, that's 2 percent of the horns. you have one in a 20 person, that's 5 percent. With smaller groups, it becomes far more noticeable and diminishes things more. One person means a lot more.

Balanced Corps is a good thing. Southern Knights are a curiosity. Last time I was at DCA, they had learned some very hard lessons from the previous season, really upped their game in terms of design and presented quite well. I'm hoping they continue that momentum.

There was the planned slate. So, who presented, who had <35? Curious.

FYI: 1) Rogues Hollow 2) Highland Regiment 3) Govenaires 4) Sunrisers 5) Southern Knights 6) Hurricanes 7) White Sabers 8) Atlanta CV 9) Caballeros

Any performances come off as striking and outstanding to you, Jim? I'll steer this in a positive way. No need to be bashing anyone.

That... is a scary thing. Kind of like a bad Hanna-Barbera cartoon where the brass players all loop through something that makes no sense. Seen stuff like that on the field. Nothing worse than players making up parts and throwing stuff at the wall hoping it will stick. That's where a good brass staff writes stuff the person can play that supports. Even if it's half notes and whole notes. At least in a recent Japanese Anime series, all the brass fingerings are correct. Watched carefully, they must be using motion capture technology on actual musicians. The Euphonium players actually use some advanced fingerings here and there. Blew me away.

Joe Soprano was with Westshore. A real trip for his age, ended up in the Army. Jim would remember him. Dear Sweet Baby Jesus.

Big compliment to Jim and Chip. 🍺 There were a few guys my rookie season who were just good to people. Jim, MD DCHoF member Ron Church, I could go on. Chip came later from Steel City. Always good to people and wonderfully irreverant when that was needed. Nearly crushed him last time I saw him.

If the Driver and 8 year olds perform what they're supposed to well, credit is due. It's usually people that should be better trained and developed that are the real issues, sadly. Or, design has to take into account their inexperience, or maybe that the performers aren't in top shape. As Jim Prime Sr. used to say, "anyone can do a tough chart badly".

Definitely not Jim the Blonde Viking, not Joe Soprano. Dude, yeah. 🍺

Dang, and we both know Chip from our corps. You're definitely not Chip, Chip is definietly not you, but you're both goombahs. 😸

That's different. It was designed in, and it wasn't to grudgingly comply with the rules. One of the bigger problems I note with a lot of the under 35 fly-by-nights is this, and I've seen this creep into other groups who were bigger... One or two incredibly talented screamers won't save you. The brass number is predicated on what the total sum of the effort is from that brass section, not from your one or two best people. Now when you have a fundamentally strong and capable brass section as a whole (Anyone say.. Govies!?) along with the talent... that's a whole olther story. The corps that have been successful in the smaller end... strong finances, strong design... taking several years for everything to come to fruitition/careful planning... Many of these corps have failed to do so in spades. You have to do more than just get a couple of cats who can play and grab bodies to fill in blanks and do your fave charts that no one but the soloists can hack. And have a well thought out infrastructure, not something half baked. Sound Sport is perfect for those kinds of groups to develop or perform at. Until you have all the right things in place, stick to SoundSport, stick to some street appearances in your locale, maybe some performance clinics, work with kids who need something more in their lives. Instrumental music in Urban areas gets woefully slighted. Do some good. It would be better then trying to compete and lasting a year when the membership realizes it's half baked and quits. BTW instances of good planning with smaller groups who built themselves up the right way- Fusion and White Sabres. Both are now very solid, excellent corps that I'll sit down and watch any time. And recommend young people to join who want the experience.

I'm sure that the judges after being appalled by the half 🐴 performance and grudging compliance to the rule stuck it right back to the organization with a great number after looking how low they could go on the backs of their sheets.

Agreed. Better off to build as a street band and have fun that way. Again, if this is what people were subjected to after taking the time to travel and buy the ticket, I have a feeling the folks that ran the show had complaints. Serious ones. It certainly isn't how the more successful Class A corps did things to build their programs.

Didn't happen out here. Or maybe the audience decided they'd had enough based on what they saw in certain cases.