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Attended a Music Festival recently at a County show and witnessed an acoustic group Brass,Percussion,Pit & Piano(No amps) playing Rock,Ballads and some complex driving pieces to a large crowd. Very well balanced, very musical. I'm inclined to agree and will not be purchasing any DC cd's as they have become awful/frustrating to listen.

Absolutely, All the corps are working their butts off, and will give it all(Fact) SCV have a brilliant show and are the corps with momentum(Fact) GO SCV!!! b**bs

Can they, I think they will ! They are cleaning the dirt out of a brilliant programme. They look a much better corps at each show now. Moto Momentum is on the side of Vanguard, they are doing what it takes! GO SCV !!!! b**bs

Vanguard went from 8th to 1st in (80-81) I'm not saying where they will end up but they have a great Show and moto momentum, have found another gear as well as the fast lane. The Vanguard are back big time. b**bs GO SCV!!!!!

Last night b**bs Go SCV!!!!!

Music to my ears. SCV are back & kickin! With great attitude. AMEN GO SCV!!!!

They have a GREAT show, and with classic Vanguard attitude are cleaning to a point that Judges can now reward. GO SCV !!!! b**bs

SCV on a late season surge b**bs GO SCV!!!!!

b**bs Seriuosly its simple, amping/singing/rapping/narration is used to enhance the performance/show, therefore it should be judged. If not,remove it. Life was simple and then Drum Corps entered my life. WOW!

I cant believe I'm reading this crap!

Dear DCP Please can you add this post to International forum, not sure how to? Thanks

Senators took thier 7th DCUK title at finals in Mansfield near Nottingham last night winning the Brass, Visual and High Overall Effect captions with their Powerful and extremely entertaining Mission Incredible show. Sounding great on their new Yamaha horns and looking crisp in this years new uniforms the corps pushed forward the boundaries in demand, exellence and entertainment. Pit percussion played better than any I've seen in the UK ever, meanwhile the guard donning hoodies gave a strong strong performance as spooks/spies to convey the overall theme of the show (Brilliant concept) best Guard the corps has ever fielded. The drill was breakneck, horn visuals too many to mention, Bass drums and cymbals were fabulous to listen and watch while snares just let it rip(what attitude these guys have) b**bs Horns, all I can say is Thank you for being the best ever. Kidsgrove Scouts came 2nd taking the Percussion award with a strong snare line and the Guard caption. Playing Captain from Castille off the line this corps was determined not to be caught by Black Knights in 3rd place. The Scouts performance just got stronger and more intense as the show progressed. A well deserved 2nd place. Black Knights took 3rd with their Ragtime based show with a series of wonderful music numbers. The Guard were fabulous and spirited throughout their performance (in my opinion the best guard in Finals) The hornline that wowed me in prelims overcooked it in finals with some overblowing in the opener. A fabulous future awaits this young looking Corps. 4th place went to Southern Aurora having earlier taken the hotly contested A class title, they went on to brush aside several open class corps to deservedly earn their place.

Mike I try now & again to introduce new people to the activity but they do'nt buy the esoteric demanding this will impress you line, I believe we need to reward corps not only for venturing into new territory but also equally for communicating their product to a wider audience. With exposure on espn2 now happening I would'nt want to see this great activity relegated out because it was seen to be self serving the Drum corps diehards only as much as we like it. I'm absolutely certain George Hopkins & other Directors have had sleepless nights over how to communicate shows such as this years to the Audience. Excellence and comunicating/connecting to yr Audience go hand in hand to make a great show/film/play/ whatever. If audience participation in judging cannot be made to address this issue then maybe the General Effect Captions could be reviewed to take account. The Cadets are this years winner, I also believe the activity can be a winner out in the bigger world too by communicating it's product better! We have an opportunity now to make it work with espn. Regards Gary

Thanks for the feedback.(everyone it's been great!) I,m not for doing away with Judges. Just opening debate maybe on ways of enhancing the system we have and opening up the activity to more people, sharing the responsibility for chosing the champion using the paying audience is an empowerment/synergy/partnership judges and DCI may want to consider. If it were to further this great activity Great! Thanks to you all & regards. Gary

This is a brilliant suggestion and could be developed into a working model. I think in the event of a split the judges decision could be the icebreaker showing them due respect for their professionalism, but the responsibility for chosing the champion is shared by the wider Drum Corps community/Fans/Audience. This could work with some fine tuning!

Kevin I believe I covered most of the areas to which you refer in the lead message at the head of this topic. Like you, I long for balance and what is best can be so subjective. Regards Gary

My Concert Brass Band Director in the UK used to say " Modern Brass instruments are finely engineered, you can pull slides all day long but the only way to play in tune is to use your ears" alot of the time he was right but we kept pulling those #### slides.

Pleased you identified your winner alongside the judges. But the needs of the many(Audience) outweigh the needs of the few or the one. I want Drum Corps to live long & prosper. :) Here' a chance to listen to the clientle and increase the appeal beyond our Drum Corps World.

The audience feedback/response is an integral part of a corps performance and corps will change rules if that becomes important enough for them. People boooed in the past,present & will in the future but remain in the minority. A review by more people that "ca'nt see the woods for the trees" will not help I'm advocating opening up to a much wider audience. Thanks for your comments.

Surely there must be a way these days of the audience deciding the champion. All these top 12 corps are at such a high level, yet time and again the winner is picked by a panel of people who spend far too much time involved/looking at the activity they have become stale and chosen the show that stimulates them from their boredom because its more demanding or far out(different) Some credit is worthy but far too much emphasis in my humble opinion are put on these 2 factors, yet there are more important factors to be recognised. The crowd and the spirit of Disney award are far more consistent and accurate at chosing a champion that performs a highly competitive, entertaining engaging, & artistic show. Maybe a judging system could be derived from this which I believe would greatly assist the activity & open it up to a wider audience. Judges play a vital role but the audience are even more vital to the activity! This is not a dig at the judges, just the system. All views will be gratefully recieved.

There could be more to this than meets the eye. A proposal should be put to the BOD @ DCI : Competetive eating rule allowed to enhance a corps visual and musical performance. Conditions: 1. Amplified flatulence/belching is acceptable as long as it is musically enhancing! 2. Throwing up could significantly affect GE Visual scoring if the soloist or ensemble's contribution is deemed artistic....& so on..... Lets face it, if it's not been tried now's the time, it would be negative not to!!! One other change. How about the colour guard knitting, I'd love to see a ripple stitch on the 50... click-click-click-oops! .... someone dropped a needle b**bs

My guess is Pat said "We were robbed" and I would'nt blame him. After listening to PR & Cadets there is no doubt, Phantoms hornline is incredibly musical this year and IMHO the most balanced sound ever at DCI. Lets hope the viewers on ESPN or whatever get chance to judge/vote. Lets face it DCI have problems handing out trophies to the correct recipients. So as for judging...............lets not go there. :sshh:

They have 2 shots at improving at finals. 1. Unplug the mic. 2. Getting the next bus back to Concord before finals :sshh:

I have just listened to the downstreams of semis, and Phantom have given me shivers. What accolades / superlatives are there to describe the sound, musicianship of this corps this year. Well I have not heard anything as good as this in Drum Corps in my 24 yrs in the activity! b**bs From the arrangements to the beautiful sound of the Brass, the balanced musical ensemble with such exquisite musicality from the percussion sounds so professional and superior. To the Coordinators and Performers at PR, A BIG THANK YOU, you have restored my faith in the activity And I'm normally a Cavalier fan! GO PHOR IT!