SCdrumcorpsfan

The 0.8 spread from the GE Music 1 judge between Crown and HNC is definetly not a small. No, but really. I get were you are coming from. ( Maybe the judge thought he had to seperate each corp by .2 ) I just thank GOD there are two GE judges for Music and Visual to dilute the once in a while radical judging. Before DCI added the additional GE judges, one GE judge could single handedly sway a corps placement from 1st to 5th.

It is probably obvious that I feel like the GE scores for HNC are unwarranted, but I am going to try not to go on a huge tangent. I just want to point out a few things. When you take a look at the Semi-Final Recap, check out the following: 1) the difference in HNC's placements from the two GE visual judges ( it happens......but still not cool ) 2) the HNC placements in GE Music ( ) 3) the spread between HNC and Crown from the GE music judge 1 ( again...... .....the spread is amazing ) I know that each judge is distinct, and that judges get paid to make a call, but the variations in judging and the huge spread in GE Music exhibited here are quite astonishing. The way I think about it, EFFECT = the ability of your show package to win. Since I consider HNCs and Crown's show to be almost equally win worthy, the 0.8 spread in GE music doesn't quite register correctly with me. More importantly, I would be quite alright with more corps' GE scores being closer to each other or even tieing (especially at the end of the season). On several threads people have said that every year there are about 3 shows that can win. If this year's 3 winning shows are BD, CC, and HNC, I do not think the GE scores are matching up. The fact is that if you have bad GE scores, it is almost impossible to win, and your performance almost doesn't matter; at championships I would prefer that caption performance levels decide the winner......not GE. ( I get the whole 40% vs. 60% thing; it just that GE scores/judges are let's say more potent ) But hey, just one man's opinion. I was really hoping that the HNC's corps performance was going to play a more decisive role in their ability to win, but with those GE scores winning is a pipe dream. Bad GE scores HURT. I hope the HURT that got put on The Holy Name Cadets tonight was not unwarranted. All that being said, Good job to every corps. I think BD has it locked up BTW. Discuss.

Is this an official claim? I really can't imagine their design staff making a claim like this so early into production. Just asking. I am not really following any corps show concepts/ideas. Just wondering where this information came from and is it reliable? Just a joke?

Well Put MikeD.........well put.

I am going to have to make mention of the 2006 Cadets. This years hornbook ( even despite the 2:00 drum feature) was the most complex and difficult hornbook of the season. Executed very well........mello section will blow anyone out of the water. IMO, it rivals the difficulty of the 2001 Cadets hornbook which was also absolutley ridiculous.

You my friend could not be more correct about The Cadets and the difficulty of their music. I would even go as far to say that in comparison they make BD, Cavies and even Phantom's horn book sound simple. It is extremely evident when you listen to any one of the corp's shows I mentioned and then listen to The Cadets. If I were some of the other corps, I think I couldn't help but feel a little bothered by the fact that my music book wouldn't really compare to The Cadets in terms of difficulty. But then again......The Cadets have historically played the most difficult books in DCI. Maybe people just don't care about difficulty any more. I know execution is of vast importance, but let's be honest here......The Cadets executed very well this year. I think their hornline got beat by the Bluecoats.........what a shame. I love the Bluecoats, but their hornline basically plays chords the entire show; very little truly difficult phrases and difficult rhythmic articulation in the hornline.

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I think more Cirque du Soleil music would be a great thing. I will also add that if anyone is going to do so Cirque du Soleil music in 2007, It should definetly be The Cadets. I mean really.......think about......... they already have a huge head start by having the experience of incorporating a vocalist last year. I also think they have proven they can do some death-defying acrobatics. LOL ( ok....death-defying might be a little much.......maybe just dangerous ) Cadets 2007 in the closest thing to Cirque du Soleil that the drum corps world has ever seen. Diverse and wacky music, cool ethic sounding vocals, exotic costumes and characters, and crazy acrobatics..........all in the same show. If anyone should do Cirque...........it should be The Cadets.....I honestly think that they are the only top 6 drum corps that would take the design risks neccesary to make it great and true to form. ( all my opinion ^_^ )

I am also going to have to agree. I would say that the Cavaliers pit is most integral to their corps design ( I really can't imagine a recent Cavalier show without the pit ) Their pit book is perfect for their corps. In regard to writing however, I think The Cadets pit takes the cake. Neil Larrivee is an amazing arranger. His integral ties with Vic Firth probably helps him keep up to date with new sounds and techniques he can implement in the pit. I have heard stories of him creating a entirely new mallet just for one integral part of the show. If this is true, and it could easily be true, I bet some other arrangers are a little jealous. ( I would be ) I love the Cavaliers writing in the sense that it is interesting and musical effective in my opinion, but if you really listen to their pit books over the years you will see that they are very very thinly orchestrated. Usually only in two parts. ( marimbas/vibes ). Cool, but a little simple to me composition wise. I love Larrivee's writing because it is very thickly orchestrated. Seventh, and Ninth chords ALL OVER THE PLACE. Larrivee is sick. This guy knows his music theory!!! I guess I like The Cadets pit because their music gets my music theory chops working ( I try to anaylze alot of pit stuff ), and they also execute at a very high level. I mean they have been an integral part of all those drum trophies recently. ( what like 4 out of 6 years!!! ) If you haven't really paid any attention to The Cadets pit, take a listen to any years since 2000. Especially 03 and 05....... Ridiculous ####!!!!!! *also gotta give a shout out to Casella's work at SCV. Pretty sweet arrangements.

The Biggest story this year ( ON DCP ) was without a doubt The Cadets 2006 production. More Cadets posts than ever before ( assumtion ) People were yelling & screaming, laughing & name-calling, cheering and puking, but most important of all thinking of the future possiblities of Drum Corp. Yep. The Cadets.............Biggest DCP Story of 2006.

The ignorant ones get exposed once again. I love when people act like they know exactly what they are talking about, but really don't have the slightest clue. Thank you Nick. You helped shut some ignorant people up. Thank you. :P B) * I think rut-roh needs to stick a fork in whatever method he uses to get his infomation. I don't think it's well done.

I just want everyone to realize that most of the people who don't like or even hate The Cadets 2006 production, especially on this forum, have already been following drum corps for quite a while; some for over 20 years. I am telling anyone who will listen loud and clear that most people who didn't know anything about drum corp until this season absolutely loved The Cadets show. At least all of the newbies that I have talked to. For God Sakes......Don't you anti-amp, anti-prop, anti-amped vocals, anti-characters, anti-bench jumping, and anti-hop people understand that Newbies to Drum Corps could give a Rat's ### about all of that stuff!!! Newbies don't care as long as it is entertaining to them. ( and many newbies thought it was bench jumping was breath-taking ) What do I think about The Cadets show? It doesn't matter. I am just trying to get SOME people to understand that If you tell a drum corps newbie that you didn't like The Cadets show because of the props, or the amps, or the characters, of the bench jumping, or the singing, Guess what? They will look at YOU as the DUMB one. WHY do they look at you dumb? Because they don't mind that stuff. Those aspects of drum corps don't bother them at all. They don't know what "drum corp used to be like". The newbie will look at you funny and say why don't you like it? What will the other person say? "Because...uh.....because it is just not drum corp!" Then the newbie will ask...." Did the Cadets break the Rules or something?" and then the other person will say "NO". Then the newbie will say " Then....uh..... it actually IS drum corps then". AND YOU KNOW WHAT? The newbie would be ****ing right. Traditionalists......please stop living in the past (no pun intended) and thinking every one should like the same things you like. The new fans of DCI don't know your traditions and will not even attempt to try and uphold them. The Drum Corp of old is dead. Stop crying and deal with it.

Umm...... I don't know about this statement. I wouldn't go as far as to call The Cadets 2006 design a mistake. To say that the design was a mistake means to say that it failed at achieving a specific attempted result. I question your criteria my friend..... I gather from your quote that you put alot of weight on the fact that the judges didn't reward The Cadets with the GE points that the corps is used to getting, or better yet the fact that The Cadets were rewarded with scores that were much lower than the Corps that they are essentially competing against. If that is your criteria, then you are correct. The 2006 Cadets design was essentially a big mistake. HOWEVER, I would make a strong argument that The Cadets at this point in their history could REALLY CARE less about what the judges think at all. I am very very serious about this statement. *Read carefully, this is very important to my argument.........I would even go as far as to say that at this point, The Cadets have made a commitment to a goal/idea/dream that in their opinion is MORE important than winning another World Championship........ and definitely higher than apealling to DCI Judges and Fans. I am ABSOLUTELY sure that The 2006 Cadets design staff knew that there would be a significantly large group of people that strongly disliked this show; Fans and Judges alike. Despite this fact, The continued with their vision. The same can be said for Jethro Tull & The Zone #1. The Cadets' decision to continue with their vision three times in a row, in my opinion, is basically a public announcement saying "WE DON"T CARE WHAT YOU EVERYONE THINKS!!!....."WE ARE CREATING OUR ART"........"IF YOU LIKE IT, GREAT!!!.......IF YOU DON"T, SORRY FOR YOU.....WE HOPE YOU LIKE THE NEXT CORP" Don't get me wrong, Of course I think The Cadets want to win, but I also think that if they have to jump through someone else's predetermined set of hoops to do it ( hint hint, DCI Judges and Fans expectations), I think the Corps would rather not have any part of it. Yeah this might hurt The Cadets competitively, but I really think that they can afford to lose for a while, especially if they believe it helping accomplish a bigger and more important goal. (besides, they are the oldest and most awarded Drum Corp is history......yeah I Know BD has 11 DCI Championships.....but DCI only started in the 70's..... Cadets: Established in 1934.....do the math ) OK, enough babble. I say all of this to support the notion that I believe it is very very unfair for people to say that The 2006 Cadets Design was a mistake because it failed to win high GE or even come close, it didn't appeal to the judges, and many people didn't like it if (....a large resounding IF!!!....) The Cadets 2006 Design team didn't make JUDGE and CROWD appeallment a priority in the first place. You can't call someone a failure at doing something if they didn't try to accomplish it the first place. George Hopkins often talks about his competitive desires, but his vision of expanding the benefits of Drum Corp to a larger group of people always is appartently paramount. I think Hopkins & The Cadets are prepared to do whatever they can do to help achieve this vision of expanding drum corps to all people. ( They started expanding this year in their own organization...... Fact: Amy Hernandez is the first vocalist to gain a Cadet Experience. If the 2006 show was designed differently, there is a good chance that she would have not been afforded that opportunity ) If making drum corps more accessible to non-drum corps fans was the paramount goal, I have to say from personal experience that The Corps has been successful at least to a small degree. On 3 occassions I took 2 people to DCI shows this year that had no previous experience to Drum Corps ( total of 6 people ). They ALL said that The Cadets were the most interesting drum corps to watch. Some quotes include "They were the coolest", "The did so much stuff", and "I can't believe they jumped off of those pink things. That was awesome". These people can't wait to see another DCI show in large part to The Cadets 2006 program. Maybe.....just maybe......The Cadets design staff knows exatcly what they are doing, and most of us are the ones missing the boat.

Seeing how The Zone parts #1 and #2 ( especially #2 ) have been in my opinion the most drastic and sudden leaps away from the standard/modern Drum Corps show design mold since Star 93, I wanted to start a thread that gives people a chance to lists the great concepts and ideas implemented by the 2005/06 Cadets to see what people liked about the shows and what ideas they think should stick around. List ONLY POSITIVE things you think The Cadets displayed/introduced in the DCI arena over the past two years. Anything positive is fair game. * Please keep the sarcasm on the not-so-friendly to The Cadets threads. I know it will be hard for some, but I figure that if most of you are old enough to drive a car, then you should be able to follow instructions. Don't embarrass yourselves. I will post later....gotta go. B)

I figure I would put this thread here since most Cadets threads get a very large view rate........ GOOD LUCK TO ALL CORPS IN 2006!!!! It is going to be quite a summer ( If corps can keep from folding because of gas..... :( ) God speed to all corps tryin to shake up the Normal DCI Placements. Ok.... Back to topic...... No doubt that The Cadets are going to have a very very innovative show this year. (Especially in regards to the DCI Arena ) I mean really.... 37 GIANT PROPS!!!! b**bs, Catholic Schools Girls :) , Rabbits, Mad Tea Parties!!!, The return of one of the most famous Cadets EVER...............DOOR!!! TADA!!!!!, and a lead vocalist!?!?!?!?!? Man.....They are not playing around. This looks like it could turn out to be one of, if not the most, elaborate DCI shows in DCI history. ( With all of the props.......I really predict the football field will not look like a football field anymore......Not Whacky for WGI but VERY WHACKY FOR DCI.... ) Anyway, GOTTA WISH THE CADETS THE BEST. THEY HAVE GIVEN DRUM CORPS WORLD SO MUCH. REGARDLESS OF YOU RECENT OPINION OF THEM, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THEY GIVE THE DRUM CORPS WORLD A GREAT DEAL TO TALK ABOUT. THEY DEFINITELY HELP DCI REMAIN INTERESTING. Alright Kids, I am away and off for the summer. Stay safe, keep the bashing to a minimum, and don't forget to drink your daily koolaid. LATER......I will post after Tour.