Ron H
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Posts posted by Ron H
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that I don't know. I mean the shows are basically Cadets stuff recycled, so I'm sure he's involved to some degree
I like Cadets2. But I really would like to see them break new ground rather than play re-treads of Cadet's shows. Play upon the restrictions of weekend-only demands and make that your own. Stop with the shows that only bring up comparisons to former Cadet's "glories." It doesn't work, George. Stop it. Don't even think about West Side Stories, Angels & Demons, Samuel Barber or Aaron Copland. Tell your staff to learn to write shows that are original to the DCA experience. Find your own voice. That will get you somewhere. Show us a program that hasn't been seen in either DCI or DCA. The DCA audiences are very well aware of DCI shows. We've seen Toy Souldier (sic) already.
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But this was defintely a season of careful numbers management which carried over into prelims with the task of seeding MBI against the Cabs and Bucs who they have never met face to face during the regular season.
So, your thoughts about Minnesota winning GE? 10's in composition from both ME judges? Just curious, since all these discussions are focused upon the 1st & 3rd corps and almost nothing about 2nd. (Bucs and MBI each get two 10's. The only ones awarded that night.)
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I was 17 years old when I attended my first rehearsal of MBI waaaay back in the '70's. It was held at the Ballantine VFW on Lyndale Av in south Minneapolis. I was playing 3rd soprano that night, trying to figure out why the fingerings on my g bugle sounded so different from my trumpet :).
I remember looking down the line and thinking "who the hell is that??" There he was, with a glorious black beard, black pants and black shirt. Frank scared the crap out of me at first as did a lot of the guys in the line. They all looked tough to a high school kid. I eventually learned they were all pretty much teddy bears, especially Frank. Over the years I got to know him well. I even marched a "3-man-squad" with him in those early years.
Frank was one of a kind. Gentle, generous and knowledgable. He always had a beer in hand and a song in his heart. There were many post-show very late nights when I just hung out with him, Dick Maki and Larry Wogenson in a hotel room, drinking and listening to stories from the 1950's and 60's. He knew them all. And he made those stories poetic masterpieces.
Minnesota Brass Inc. had a few years in the '80's when their financial status was shaky at best. Frank, along with several other longtime members came through and helped the corps through those rough patches. As current Director Eric Molho said elsewhere the corps might not be here today had it not been for him.
Many people don't realize that Frank was a chemist at the University of Minnesota. He created the formula for the skin & hair dye he used on himself. He never sold it and kept it as his own trade secret. Whatever it was it was a marvelous effect. His beard was a work of art.
Frank marched his last show with MBI when I was Corps Director in 2003. To this day one of my most personal proud - and most humbling - moments was when he thanked me for establishing a 64-member hornline for Minnesota Brass. He had never before marched with a line that large in his entire career. And I'll tell you a secret. It was his longtime desire to be in a large horn line that helped drive me to change how the corps handled new members in order to minimize turnover and retain members. Frank's passion became my passion.
Thanks Frank. You helped shape me into who I am. And I will never forget your smile behind that thick beard. You established the corps' song because no one could stop you from singing it endlessly on those long cross-country bus trips, as much as we tried :)
Sure, "For all we know, we may never meet again..."
But ###### Frank, you know that's not true... :) When we do meet again I hope we can raise a toast with a tasty blue label beer. Cheers to the wacky, dysfunctional family that is drum corps!
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Prelims percussion
1st - 197 - Buccaneers
2nd - 194 - Minnesota Brass
3rd - 189 - Cadets2
1st-3rd spread = 0..8
Finals percussion
1st - 195 - Buccaneers
2nd - 194 - Cadets2
3rd - 193 - Minnesota Brass
1st-3rd spread = 0.2
Prelims to Finals
Buccaneers dropped .2
Minnesota dropped .1
Cadets2 gained .5
In my best Dalek voice... Explain! Explain!!!
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Random thoughts...
Thank you, Chris! As an alumni of Minnesota Brass I just have to commend the Cabs for their spectacular climb back to the top echelon of corps, where they deserve to be! I wish MBI could compete regularly with you guys, the Bucs, Fusion, CV, Gold etc. But geography is an expensive thing.
DCA and the entire all-age activity is strong because of corps like the Caballeros & Buccaneers (and the other great stalwarts like the Hurricanes and Skyliners). As a former member of a somewhat "outsider" corps, I hope people understand that Minnesota Brass always strives to perform at the highest level they can attain. And because of that, MBI sometimes comes in and rocks the boat among the eastern corps. They are often the wild card in the scheme of things. As such, MBI can upset the final order. But that's because Minnesota Brass Inc. subscribes to the same philosophy of excellence that the Buccaneers, Caballeros. Fusion Core, C2, CV and the rest of the DCA corps do. And MBI is very good at it.
I just hope that the members of the Caballeros do not view this season or the results of finals as a failure, or the product of collusion or conspiracy. The verdict of the judges is beyond any corps' control. What is within our control is our own performance. The audiences know that. And memories are often stronger than statistics.
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and while I'm at it, after being messaged very rudely by Windsor Regiments Director Kevin, I'll apologize to the members of Windsor about performing where they did. I'll also have them know because of how their director spoke to me, i'll never be donating or purchasing from your corps.
Hmmm. I assume there is a story there that we'll never hear, eh? But why not?
I guess I believe in the freedom of the press ;) If it's out there then let if fly.
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Anyone else noticed guard recaps between prelims and finals? How did MBI slip from 2nd to 5th? From where I was sitting there where incredibly strong and even stronger in finals. Seems strange.
Not to mention that in prelims one judge had MBI first in Visual Effect and the other had them a distant 4th. But that's the way the score bounces.
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Rochester now has a similar noise ordinance as Annapolis. No playing the corps on the field, no instruments during retreat, no victory encores.
That won't be the case in Minneapolis when DCA eventually comes here ;). The corps will be able to party all night to their heart's content.
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And the fact that Minnesota won general effect, but Bucs got the trophy.
Yes. MBI wins Music Effect. Cabs win no captions. Bucs win everything else except guard (Congrats Fusion Core!).
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Subcaptions not captions: see Brass Composition, both Music Effect Compositions, and one Visual Communication. All 100s.
OK. I see what you mean. LOL (Me Stupid Monkey :)!! ) But didn't this also occur last year with the Bucs in ME and Communication? they also got 100's.
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So....Hey you all...
Those of you in the stands tonight vs. those of us on the DCA feed...
Do you think the judges got it right? Especially when it comes to captions!?
There is always a disconnect when viewing live vs. viewing on video. Do you think the placements are spot on?
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Two judges assigned the Bucs a 100 with two corps left to perform. How does that leave room for either of the final two corps to score higher? Did those two judges feel that neither of the two remaining corps could possibly be better? Two additional judges assigned MBI a 100 with Cabs no room left to score higher. How could Cab se be determined to NOT BE TOPS in four captions before performing?
How can a judge make it impossible for any corps to outscore a corps that performed before them?
Joe
Huh? I don't see any 100's in the recaps. None. Anywhere. What are you smoking? :) A 19.7 does NOT equal a 10.0. Basic math buddy.
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I predict this will be a DCA that people will watch on video for years. And there will be hundreds of opinions. All of them contradictory. :)
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I'll give you all my review tomorrow. Not sure I agree with Judges.
I'll hold you to that :)
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I, like many others, are stunned. I didn't see this coming. I thought either MBI or the Cabs would have taken visual at least. But hey, congrats to the Bucs! And I mean that. Great show! For DCA's 50th, the controversy over the penalty/tie for 2nd will be the stuff of legends.
I've always believed that corps in the upper echelon are merely fractions apart and very dependent upon subjective opinions. Today, that theory has legs. I'd venture to say that the top three corps are interchangeable depending upon what caption is grabbing your attention. And it also just depends upon who is writing down the numbers. All in all, the DCA 50th Anniversary Edition was fun and entertaining for the fans.
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MN Brass scoring so high is surprising to me. I would have scored Reading and Fusion over them.
I'll be honest here. When I saw MBI in St. Paul in July I thought to myself that they will be a solid 3rd or 4th place corps. That was based upon the imbalance of the horn line vs. the percussion, guard and visual. MBI's hornline this year is not what we usually expect from that corps. They lost their longtime caption head horn instructor in the winter. But they must have done something amazing in prelims. Or else their percussion is a point ahead of everyone else, which is actually plausible. Their guard is in the top ranks but I thought probably 2nd to 4th, given what I heard about Hurcs, CV, Fusion and Cabs' guards. And as I said elsewhere, the corps made a big step upward in their visual program this year. MBI's MA scores were at the top of the heap as well.
On the other hand I could be full of bull.
I'm really biting at the bit to see recaps!!-
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but they have won every guard caption this year. if they make finals they win it. my opinion john.
Nope.
The Hurcs Guard won every caption in 2011. They were unbeatable. Until Minnesota Brass Inc. beat the Hurricanes and won guard in finals. Out of the blue. And that seemed to pi'''ss off every guard member in the Hurcs. Unfortunately...
It's anybody's game.
Just sayin'. It's not over till it's over. Reading could win. Cabs could win. Minnesota could win. It's a brilliant year full of fantastic surprises. Best DCA ever!
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For fun, here's a video of an MBI standstill run-through from the perspective of the snare line. It's from July 23rd. Horns are facing away from the camera (so there is a lot of distortion) but you can still hear much of the music just to get an idea of the show pacing. Aggressive velocity. At the 7:45 mark there are some nice runs in the hornline.
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I think MBI will be top 3. But their achilles heel will be horns. That will be the factor that will prevent them from winning this year, as much as that pains me to say.
MBI's visual show is terrific as is their percussion and guard. But not having seen either the Bucs or Cabs in person this year, you are perfectly entitled to call BS on me :)
And after Saturday's show, if MBI wins, I'll be happy to call BS on myself... :)
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Seems to me there was another 18.1 in color guard somewhere in the country. I don't know...maybe I am just imagining it.
It will all work it's way out in Rochester. Seems the last two weeks before Championships are like the two weeks before Christmas. Everyone wondering what's under the tree for them!
Just sayin'
Dan
My sincere apologies!!! I adjusted the score comparisons. Yes, Atlanta CV is right up there in the visual caption!
Forgive me. I have loved CV's shows for several years now.
Last year's space show was my favorite DCA show of the year.-
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Well, just for fun... A head-to-head of the top 3 in each caption from the weekend (YES, we all know about comparing scores from three different shows
)....Visual Ensemble: Cabs 186, MBI 185, Bucs 184
Color Guard: MBI 184, Hurcs 184, Atlanta CV 181, Fusion Core 181
Visual Total: MBI 18.45, Cabs 18.3, Atlanta CV 18.05
Summary: Given MBI's history in this caption it is a surprise. I have seen them and I was mightily impressed with their visual show this year. Another totally expected and wonderful addition to the top echelon in DCA is Atlanta CV's program.
Brass: Cabs 189, Bucs 186, Fusion Corps 183
Percussion: Bucs 188, MBI 184, Cadets2 184
Music Ensemble: Cabs 189, Bucs 186, MBI 184
Music Total: Bucs 28.0, Cabs 28.0, MBI 27.35
Summary: Notable here is the absence of MBI in Brass. Had they been at least at the level of the Bucs, they would have won the final score listed below.
Visual Effect: Bucs 189, MBI 186, Cabs 184
Music Effect: MBI 187, Cabs 186, Bucs 185
Effect Total: Bucs 37.40, MBI 37.30, Cabs 37.00
Summary: Another surprise. Despite MBI's low score in brass they still manage a 1st place in music effect.
Communication Total: Bucs 9.30, Cabs 9.30, MBI 9.25
Final Scores: Cabs 92.6, Bucs 92.55, MBI 92.35
Dang. This is gonna be close!
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^I'd agree. The show has depth and is complex, sophisticated and layered. It may not read well just on one viewing though. That may hurt them in prelims - I don't know.
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Minnesota Brass 91.25 in Mendota Heights tonight.
Govenaires 81.10
This will still put MBI & Govies back a bit in seedings since they do not have another DCA show after tomorrow night's show in St. Peter. I think MBI's weaker spot this year is the horn line. Good sound but they have to crank the volume 200%. Guard is among the best and so is the percussion. Visual is much improved over previous years.
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Until they compete head to head, I'm not putting much stock in placements and comparative scoring. DCA panel or no DCA panel. Without their competition there, the number they receive is completely void of any comparison to the teams competing here over in the East. Its the same as comparing Bucs standings now to Cabs, when Cabs had an off weekend. The same goes for this weekend with Bucs off.
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Changes at Cadets2
in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions
Posted · Edited by Ron H
Perhaps. This will show how much depth the Hurricanes had in their guard program. As was discussed in the Kiltie thread, the loss or addition of one staff member should not make or break a program. It should be the philosophy of excellence and the organization's strategy of achieving it that drives the corps.
On the other hand...
I don't mean to be provocative, but it also feels like YEA raided a competitor in order to patch up a part of their program that was not working well. That's not cool.