cantgetenoughcorps

Anyone know if the judges are allowed to talk about how they arrived at their score with people after the show, or is their contract holding them to silence? I know that DVDs have audio track for a couple of the judges, but are they allowed to talk publicly about how they arrived at the score? For example if the brass judge scores corps A at 9.6 and corps B at 9.7, are they allowed to later say that corps A had some phasing issues, while corps B had near perfect intonation? It would be kind of cool to actually talk to some of the judges and get their afterthought/comments on different perspectives of the judging.

First of all, I try to buy souvenirs from every single corps every single year. The first thing I try to buy is a tour dvd, or cd with standstill/studio recordings. If they don't have those, then I move on to t-shirts, pens, buttons, whatever. I loved the Cavies show last year, thought it was great. Wouldn't really consider a 2nd place show a "down year", even though they placed 1st the year before. And I probably spent as much there as any other booth. I personally thought Phantom had a down year(my opinion, not the majority), as I didn't care for their music anywhere near as much as the 2 previous years. I think Southwind and Blue Knights got the most dollars since they both had so many cool discount shirts. The corps that got my least amount of money was the corps with the rude girls in the souvie booth-$35 for the whole year. And the sad thing is, I had 2 friends who marched with this corps in the 90's, and another kid from my hometown as well.

One major difference, at least you have a choice, you can buy a medium shirt and have it hang a little big on you. But try being a size XXXL, and putting on a XL shirt. Doesn't work. Not saying that you shouldn't have that choice to buy a Small, but as someone who used to be very small, I could always wear a bigger size, but once you get bigger, you can't wear the smaller size. At least not comfortably and have it look nice.

I am definitely going to continue supporting this corps, after the nice response from their corps director. One of the reasons I started this thread is so that all the wonderful souvie people and staff will realize that sometimes their comments can be very offensive. And this (as in the case of me not buying souvies from this corps the last 8 times I saw their show) can also be very costly. So at a time when the corps need the extra sales to help support their fuel costs, it wouldn't be wise to make rude comments to prospective customers. As a retail owner, I can also tell you, it doesn't take any longer to be polite, than it does to be rude.

I have to say Cavies has always been one of my favorite stands to visit, although they are usually one of the busiest, they are always very polite. One year I had purchased several items from their stand. In trying to get out of other customers way, I grabbed my Cavies souvie bag and accidentally forgot my camera sitting on the ledge of their booth. I went to the next booth over to shop, and on my way back past, the people working in the booth yelled to get my attention to give me my camera back. This was a very expensive camera too. So a very big thank you to the Cavies souvie people. And to Gottalovit, so sorry to hear about your friend. It's a shame people have to be so rude to others. I really think looking around, some of the booths would be wise to stock 3X and 4X shirts. It would also be nice if they would be able to find venues that are a little more heavy set friendly.

I am used to hearing rude comments from the stands, and from people milling around after the show. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, I personally don't feel that someone asking for people to buy their products/souvies should be making negative comments towards another corps. I am not going to mention the name of the corps either, as I don't want my negative view on them from last year to encourage anyone else not to support them. The corps director did reply to my e-mail directly, and said the 2 working the stand had been previous members of the corps. He also mentioned an affiliation with the corps that the 2 women were bashing, and said he personally had nothing but respect for the organization. I found him to have alot of class, and will support their booth next year, as I was surprised to hear from the director personally on this issue.

Just wondering, were you on staff, or working for a souvie booth at the time?

Last year when I was busy doing my post show shopping during scores announcements, I happened to be picking out the 4 items I was going to purchase from a certain corps. When their second place score was announced, the 2 young women working the booth starting making rude comments about the corps that placed first that evening. I was not the only person shopping at this stand at the time. I found this to be out of line, especially after watching the performances that night, I thought they were not as good as the corps placing first. I can understand disappointment of low placements, but I don't think you should bash another corps, especially not in front of potential customers. I have to tell you that I didn't purchase any other items from that corps(I had already spend $35 from their booth earlier in the night) the rest of the season. Just wondering, what rude things have you experienced over the years? This is not to bash corps, so please don't mention them by name, just what you have experienced. Have you ever been so disappointed/upset that you didn't shop at their booth?

Nice thread. It is wonderful to hear about such dedicated people helping out. I have never volunteered with a corps, simply because my work schedule hasn't allowed for it. Hopefully one of these years. I have talked to many volunteers over the years, and I know that the cook staff is sometimes up at 6 in the morning, and doesn't always get to bed until after the post show snack/meal. I know they have a hard time catching up on sleep with all the noise of rehearsals in some locations. And while most of the members seem more than appreciative of those effort of the volunteers, I agree with you that alot of corps probably wouldn't be able to survive without those efforts. Most corps wouldn't be able to pay for all those people as staff. There is one person who has been especially nice over the years, and he works the souvie stand for Bluecoats. I don't know his name, but I talk to him every year. He was working last year at the Bloominton Normal show, along with a short gal(thought they were married, but they weren't). These are two of the nicest people I have met. Had nothing but positive things to say, not only about their corps, but about the other corps as well. Also the volunteers from Southwind and Blue Stars( I think her name was Amy) souvie seemed very nice the last couple of years as well. It is nice to see such enthuisiasm from the people working their booth, even though you know they are going on next to no sleep alot of the time. Having just moved to HOuston and having no car will make it difficult the next couple of years, but hopefully I will be able to help out with a corps someday. But since I can't, thank you to those that do.

Thank you, I believe you are correct on that, not that I think back on it. Definitely one of the loudest and most emotional drum corps moments I have experienced!

99 SCV is an absolutely amazing show. It is definitely my favorite SCV show ever.

Definitely Scouts 05, but very close to that was VK92 and SCV alumni corps in 2002. When they finally did the bottle dance(after a couple of teasers), at quarterfinals(or was it semis?), it may have been the loudest I've ever heard. Close call since they were 7 years apart.

Just wondering when corps have people arranging their music, what are the arrangers legally allowed to do? Can they transpose music to a different key if it could be played better that way? Are they allowed to add runs wherever they want to? Are they able to add harmonies where they didn't exist in the original. And are there written guardlines from the original composer(or company that owns the music) that are handed over when they purchase the rights? I have never heard any discussion on this, are there any arrangers on DCP that could answer these questions?

Interesting topic. I remember 94 Cavaliers show and people suggesting that the props represented other things, and that the show was sexually suggestive. I thought that the show was very interesting, but definitely a little different from what I was used to seeing from Cavaliers. I enjoyed it, but was not my favorite Cavies show by far. 95 Blue Devils was way cool. I think about the only negative reaction was from an elderly couple at one of the later shows that season. I think they were appalled from some of the conversation I overheard from them. They seemed to feel the show was bordering on satanic. I loved the music from that show, and loved the throwbacks from the amazing 94 show. I think musically they were my favorite show from 95. Probably in my top 5 BD shows musically ever.

Just wondering, are Simple Gifts and Appalachian Spring 2 completely different pieces? I can't notice any difference when I hear parts of either one?

I know that there have been many postings on whether drum corps is considered a sport, but one of my good friends and I were discussing drum corps earlier today, and he brought up the comparison between theatre and drum corps. He feels that drum corps and theatre have so much in common and I tend to agree with him. They are both live performances where anything and everything can and will go wrong. There are a cast of 135(or less) perfomers, all working together and off of each other. They present a live audio and visual performance traveling from location to location, like at traveling theatre. So would you consider drum corps to be comparable to a theatre production performed outdoors?

Out of all the people you dealt with during your summer with a corps, who do you think helped you the most? Would it be your corps director, the staff, your individual instructor, or a volunteer with the corps, whether it be cooks, drivers, or souvie staff, etc?

These corps can be performing still, inactive, and don't have to be division 1. They can be your favorites, or the corps that you felt contributed the most to the activity. I am going back only to the mid 70's since I haven't seen any shows prior to that(actually only have seen videos prior to the mid 80's. But if you have seen corps prior to that, put them in your list. Top 12 1. Santa Clara Vanguard 2. Cavaliers 3. Blue Devils 4. Cadets 5. Star of Indiana 6. Madison Scouts 7.Troopers 8. 27th Lancers 9. Kingsmen 10. Spirit 11. Velvet Knights 12. Bridgemen Semi finalists 13. Blue Stars 14. Phantom Regiment 15. Crossmen 16. Bluecoats 17. Glassmen top 25 18. Boston Crusaders 19. Colts 20. Magic of Orlando 21. Blue Knights 22. Guardsmen 23. Suncoast Sound 24. Kilties 25. Argonne Rebels

It would be awesome if they would have a sportsmanship award given out during finals week. I think SCV would win almost every year, followed by Bluecoats, Crossmen, Scouts and Southwind

Would love the high angle whenever available. I enjoy watching from high angle as well as wathcing multi-cam angles.

I have to say I really missed the GE judges comments on this years DVD. It really gives you an understanding of where they are coming from when they assess their score. Sometimes it has even called attention to something I hadn't noticed when I watched the show with the director/show designer audio track on.