MN DCI Fan

...'cept for that little 1996 thing, of course...

PR 93...my favorite drum corps show to date.

This is exactly what happened last fall to the BOA band I teach. Our show last year relied heavily not only on amplification, but on synthesizers and electric guitar. At one of our first competitions of the year, we were still trying to figure out our overall balance and our electronics were REALLY loud (ironically, at the previous competition they were almost inaudible). We got dumped in both Music GE and Performance (and rightly so, I might add) because of the balance problems. I think both Jeff and MikeD are correct. The sheets themselves don't need to be changed to reflect amplification per se, but when there are balance/interference problems caused by them, the judges have to have the marbles (and the blessing of DCI) to let such issues show up in the scores, in an amount proportionate to the degree of balance problem they caused.

...and eating Corn Nuts on the bus, while delicious, will not make you many friends.

I now proudly use my 200th DCP post to proclaim that the best 4th place finishing show is... 03 Phantom Regiment Your gifts will be gladly accepted.

Double entendre? :P

WARNING: UNPOPULAR OPINION FORTHCOMING While I appreciate the lengths to which DCI has gone to prevent them, I don't think ties are the worst thing in the world. I'm not in love with them, because given a preference I'd rather have a clear-cut champion. But if the Finals judges adjudicate two corps' performance as equal, then cool. 270 kids get rings. My $.02.

From the Blue Stars' website: Hope this helps some KK members.

Hmmmm, gotta agree with the original poster. Not a wide margin of victory, but for my money I prefer Cadets 2005.

Devil's advocate:...but you can get a pretty good impression of the ensemble if you move around and listen to every player. I do, however, agree that there should be a brass judge in the box.

That's just a remnant from a very egocentric period in Debussy's life, when he only referred to himself in the third person as "The Claude Debussy." :P

Are you serious? Those are real people?

1. "Now, on the field, from Sacramento California, the GREENCOATS!" 2. And a little 1980s Nickelodeon reference: It was the last time that any DCI corps decided to amplify the words, "I don't know."

"Pssssst....Princess Carlos! When I play my special flute in your ear, you'll be magically transported to Happy Land! WHEEEEEE!!!"

"The DCI Board of Directors voted unanimously today to raise the maximum age for junior corps participation from 22 to 92..."

I can't tell you how hard I laughed when I read that!!! :P

Ha...beat me to it!

I sang it when I was in college. By myself. B) Okay, not really by myself. But I did sing in the chorus in college. OMG, I just realized that that was ten years ago. *gulp* It's an amazing work. It sucked sitting stock still on stage for an hour and then having to come in super soft, but amazing nonetheless.

When during the season was that, and where were they rehearsing?

Between these two particular shows, IMO there's simply no contest. Phantom should win by a mile. They had a complete show, in concept and in design, and were very strong in all captions, while Madison's show had a number of obvious flaws (especially the well-documented lack of an effective ending). I've confessed to my PR affinity many times, and I have to also confess that I love the music of Gershwin; so it's not a surprise that I loved this show. I also mentioned in a previous thread that people can--and do--vote for whatever factor(s) trip their trigger. But I have a feeling that some folks (although not all) will be voting for Madison out of spite for PR, or as a reaction to the perceived PR borg on DCP, which makes me sad. :( But to each his/her own.

Yep, I agree. The ending at the beginning of the season wasn't spectacular either, but every fix they tried seemed to make it worse. They should have either left it alone or gone back once they realized it wasn't getting better. It also seemed to me that Madison peaked too early. A lot of early season hype, and they could never push it to the next level. Oh, and I voted SCV. Again.

I think people do like the Bluecoats; but we're down to the final five. They've made it quite a ways. Plus, regardless of whether or not people "like" a corps, they're supposed to be voting based on the 2005 show. It just so happens that, for me, my favorite show coincided with my favorite corps (probably not a coincidence). And now that I think about it, in this particular little contest, people can be voting for any reason at all - favorite music, favorite visual, favorite overall concept, favorite uniform colors, favorite cymbal tech, whatever. You get the idea.

"...once it is obvious who the loser is"? I hate to burst your bubble, but you may want to be more specific than that. Is a 10 vote differential obvious? 5? 3? A deadline as nebulous as that is just asking for problems. My $.02.

I'm just excited not to be voting for the Blue Knights for the 7th time in a row. This vote came down to Glassmen and SCV for me. In the end, even though it was close, I decided that SCV's show was the less interesting of the two for me. Hence, my vote was for SCV.

I think in all likelihood the solution is in a combination of all many of those choices, but we can't necessarily foreclose raising members' fees. I know they're already high -- especially for the top corps -- but until the organizations are able to stabilize their gas expenditures (which I'm not sure is possible), it's the most viable and certain way of promoting solvency.