corpsband
-
Posts
12,343 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
98
Posts posted by corpsband
-
-
16 minutes ago, Tim K said:
You have some valid points, but I still have to agree with Liahona's assessment. When a Surf moved to WC, their shows had good points but were somewhat generic. Bridgemania gave them a personality and some Bridgemen alums, no doubt buddies of Bob Jacobs, mentored them and instilled a confidence in them. That remained a bit in 2013. I do think that in 2015 when they had a more whimsical show that did not produce the desired results, you would hear that all that mattered was being an audience favorite or having fun, invoking the memory of Bridgemen and last year North Star, forgetting that Bridgemen were fierce competitors with challenging shows who loved beating other corps at their own game and North Star loved being a thorn in the side of Boston Crusaders, 27th and Madison, especially in 1979. I don't recall ever hearing from anyone who marched with North Star it was only about the audience or having fun.
Bridgemania should have been a starting point and built on. Some of the silliness should go, and yes you can still entertain an audience and be competitive, but what they accomplished in 2012 is what they need again and should build upon it.
IMO it seems as if you're just projecting what you experienced in the past and kind of imagining it would somehow transplant to the current corps. Not sure if you've been around Surf much. It's not the Bridgemen reborn -- nothing like it in fact. I get that you loved the show (and clearly -- so did the performers and fans ) but there was a lot of pent up nostalgia there just waiting for that show. I don't think it's anything you could really build on (unless you were going to try to re-boot the Bridgemen I guess).
Anyway if you've sent kids there it's a really different vibe. A lot of kids punch their ticket at Surf and leave because they are looking for a more intense, competitive experience. Heck some of them move to DCA corps for that! ! I do know this -- the quality of kids in that program are capable of a lot more competitively. But -- that obviously comes with a price. And if the price is "we can't field a corps next year", obviously the admin is not willing to pay it.
So -- they kind of are what they are. I know kids who've stayed to age-out at Surf and loved every minute of it. So kudos to Bob for creating a home for those kids.
-
2 hours ago, Liahona said:
I think if they continue along the lines of the Bridgemania type shows they will be on the right track...
Disagree.
That way lies disaster. Bridgemania was a nice one-off. But recreating the Bridgemen is a dead end.
I think this show is an interesting choice. The repertoire is young, relevant. The show concept -- a kind of urban renewal project? -- is the kind of socially aware program young people might be involved in today.
The key for Surf -- as always -- will be how well they can teach up their young membership. IMO the ceiling for Surf is actually really high -- look at what high school band kids can do at the highest level. Amazing stuff. Absolutely no reason Surf can't do that sort of thing. Just need the right teachers and an achievable product. Nothing wrong with being audience friendly -- but that doesn't mean they need to be goofy about it.
-
2
-
-
2 minutes ago, spiffysmg said:
I'm marching mello this year. Actually, the arrangement is based on the acapella version by Twisted Measure! I like it so much more than the original, actually. It's all going really well so far so I'm excited to see how it turns out. As for the identity crisis, Surf is going back to their roots a bit this year, with the colorful and fun shows. No doubt it'll be more 'Surf-esque' :)
very very cool
-
2
-
-
Just now, cadet93 said:
Haha, trying to get me in trouble huh?
Just that if BAC did place higher than Cadets he probably wouldn't even acknowledge it, and would instead go on a rant about life lessons for the kids, and and instilling work ethic. Its about the experience and journey not the destination. I could go on.
lol -- not expand on the hop comment. i thought that was self-evident
i meant why you're predicting 5 to 8 for Boston.
-
1
-
-
1 minute ago, cadet93 said:
He would never admit it, but yes.
are you just making the prediction or do you want to expand your thinking?
-
19 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:
That is a good point that I haven't considered!
I have no idea what the MMs are thinking about this.
Also, I don't know the specific circumstances that caused these moves to unfold, so that why I'm taking a more macro view of the situation.
I'm sure you know more about the specifics than I could hope to know.
-
1
-
-
1 minute ago, BoaDci said:
I just think we are going to see more and more of original music with the growing difficulties of attaining rights.
I hear your logic but I just don't see it happening (which in the end is probably a good thing).
-
2
-
-
8 minutes ago, Tobias said:
The only issue is BAC must recreate their style whereas STAR had no restraints unless they really really recreate Conquest.
Interesting point. I expect '17 to be a pretty radical departure from '16.
-
1 minute ago, Tobias said:
Also remember a 4 place jump which is huge puts them in 8th.
As Cadets fans are always quick to point out, perspective is everything. I think I just read over on that thread that finishing out the medals was considered a disappointing season.
-
3 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:
To be fair.
I don't think the distinction of where these corps got their staff hinders the comparison too much. After a disappointing 2002 season, Crown got some Cadet/Star/Cavalier staff, and then climb up the ranks during a five year period and got pretty darned good quickly once they decided to go that direction.
I don't know Cadets history, but they jumped up pretty quickly in the early 80s after some rough years financially to be what they have been. They got the best staff they could get.
Boston didn't force people to leave the other corps, there was a bit of drama going on that not many know about. To me, it's almost like Boston is taking the Star of Indiana route, honestly.
Build a financially stable organization and then hire the best staff you can hire. The rest will follow.... Eventually, and sometimes rather quickly.
There are all sorts of different historical precedents you could draw from. But IMO (and others if one judges by various podcasts, news stories, etc..) it's a fairly unique situation. Corps admin, senior staff, even fans may take a long view. But MM's -- some at least -- may have a somewhat shorter perspective.
-
34 minutes ago, Liahona said:
We all must admit that Crown did not become Champions by 2013 overnight...it took YEARS of hard work and dedication to build that program...I'm not as concerned about placement for Boston (even though I wouldn't complain about a decent jump) as I'd like to see them get to box 1 on the sheets...placement is harder to access because corps around you from year to year can be weaker/stronger than your OWN corps improvement and performance levels...Boston has clearly wanted to move up since 2012 (give or take)...and after about 5 years it is poised to do so competitively AFTER becoming stronger financially off the field first...again these things from a competitive standpoint don't happen overnight...Will I be excited if they do phenomenal this coming season as well?....ABSOLUTELY!!!
No argument here. Crown built up from within over a 10 year period and did not expect to just leap up into medal contention. Not sure Crown is the right comparison to make however. There are pretty stark differences in fact. Crown certainly didn't hire away the staff from two championship winning corps. Anyway your POV is a reasonable approach. Be happy with every step forward and if things sometimes go better than expected so much the better. As for this season, well I think it's pretty clear why it's being discussed.
-
6 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:
Absolutely, I think they'll be quite a bit better than last year, but I hope members don't get too disappointed if they don't move up into top 8 this year,
Also, I'm not sure how much the actual design of the show music ( as an example) will differ from previous years. I believe the visual side will change greatly, and the quality of the performance will also be higher, but they still have the same arranger for the brass as before. I think they'll still have their recent "brass sound" and "show flow" if you will.
,,,and this is a particularly strong year for tasty new music selections being performed by the other corps around them. I hope Boston comes up with something fresh and not over played.
All very good points. And regardless of "future potential", what's happenin' now always has an annoying way of coming to the forefront. Anyway I have no idea how this is all going to play out. How often has a drum corps suddenly put together such an "all star" staff?
-
2
-
-
Just now, Jaltrogge said:
Not sure if someone has already mentioned this, but in 2014, the blue stars scored 9th in GE and got 4th in guard on finals night(only .1 behind third place).
Go look at Crown 2007
Believe me the guard caption scores have been analyzed by many many eyes in recent months.
-
1
-
-
12 minutes ago, Tobias said:
Seriously they can potentially be top 3-4 in guard but 7-9 in other areas. Very interesting indeed.
Lol there's quite a debate going on about that very subject. If you're 9th in GE can you really score top 3 in guard? The guard caption itself is very odd in some respects. MT was eventually able to write some absurdly difficult books at Crown (which often didn't receive the credit many felt they deserved). Those books were written to challenge the performers and the staff every season. OTOH there are many who claim (with some justification) that in DCI it's ENTIRELY about effect in that caption. No one cares how difficult or challenging your book is so long as you spin it clean. You're judged entirely on how effective the work is. I'm not sure either side is entirely right. Undoubtedly the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
-
1
-
-
On 5/13/2017 at 9:51 PM, emc2 said:
BAC Has manage to bring together great people (staff / Kids from all areas of DCI. Time will tell how things will work out. BAC should move up the latter from 2016.
It will be interesting to watch how things develop. They certainly should be able to move up in 2016 based on design alone. Despite the BAC homers here on DCP being in full denial, there are some very high expectations from some staff who've moved over from other corps. And certainly at least one segment of performers has heard very clearly some of those expectations while they were "encouraged" to sign on with a new corps. Will those expectation be met? How will things play out? Only time will tell.
-
2
-
-
1 minute ago, Mycroft said:
Jay Bocook has written a LOT of original music for BK...as well as arranging everything else. And it's all good stuff.
yep -- but i heard he's going stale
-
1
-
-
On 5/12/2017 at 3:13 PM, MikeN said:
Based on the Cali corps program announcements, it seems that the lessons learned from the last few years are -
- Visually, Bluecoats showed you can move to dance/athletic wear and the audience and judges seem ok with it.
- Musically, Crown has proven everyone must put a British brass band piece in their program now?
Mike
If you think about it, brass band music is as close to "written for drum corps" as you can get without actually commissioning a piece. IMO the more brass band, the better!
-
3
-
-
6 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:
You can go to corpsreps.com and look up original music. There's a long list there. Then you look at each corps, and you sorta need to know staff name's et cetera.
There's quite a bit of original music that has been done over the years and it continues even today as evidenced by Madison's show and likely other shows.
the reason corps continue to use music from composers of great music is..well..those guys are/were composers of great music.
seems pretty obvious to me.
great music > meh music.
i'd like to see Crown acquire exclusive use of someone like Sparke or PLC. That would be GREAT for Crown -- maybe not so good for those guys :-)
OTOH I have no idea why these design teams don't commission works by those guys. yeah you need a lot of initial lead time on a design idea (2 or 3 years) but my god could you imagine what you'd get? and cost-wise it's not that much different than licensing some of their music to begin with!!
-
3
-
-
not sure why this pinged across my youtube feed but it's related in so much a Bernstein is very much a part of the thread. Pretty amazing footage.
-
Just now, Tobias said:
Yes.
leaked early sketch
-
4
-
-
1 minute ago, Tobias said:
Cappy, you know the Cadets thread becomes a blog of numerous unrelated rants, raves, opinions, sermons and witch hunts. Oh I think I just gave two corps shows away.
-
well in honor of BD announcing their rep....
-
3 minutes ago, Cappybara said:
What in the hell is going on with this thread
Obviously your return has triggered a cataclysmic event of biblical proportions!
-
2
-
-
7 minutes ago, GUARDLING said:
Well even you can be right at least once...lol
...jk but we do agree on this and there are those even here who could expose many corps. AS we said " not a good idea " unless they want to. It will all be out soon..lol
meteors fall from the sky and hit people too! just not very often.
Carolina Crown 2017
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Crown Percussion moved in tonight!