The Line

Bitter, party of one, your table is ready. Judging by your handle, you *obviously* know exactly what you're talking about when it comes to the Blue Devils. </sarcasm> I dont feel at all that I need to justify wasting my time typing out a big long post in defense of the Blue Devils, primarily because I know that I just don't need to. The Blue Devils don't need anyone to do that. What they do on a regular basis speaks for itself....and it is drastically apparent that many people don't look closely at what they see. -- The Blue Devils move so well that the visual demand appears to be *less* than their competitors because they make everything they do appear easy. Add to this the fact that they don't do lots of symmetrical/kaleidoscopic drill with lots of opposing motion, and it becomes easy to see why people could think what they do. Cadets and Cavaliers have a lot of drill that is simply drill for the sake of drill. Blue Devils do not do this. However, the Blue Devils do run a *lot*.

Brings back memories...... Warm-ups in the lot were some of my favorite times. What you see in the video is pretty much how its been for awhile....including the 'teasing' of the Cavaliers.

A dont forget about the hornline and its members' geographic location on the field in relation to themselves and other elements of the ensemble. Playing difficult syncopated rthyms is much easier in a tight close form than spread out and open. :) Which as a recent poster mentioned, Cavaliers don't have a lot of this.

Call me crazy....but being out of step EVER is pretty inexcusable.

How do you figure? We had a higher score AND won in the previous year. And I still disagree to this day about the placements in 04.

Whats funny, is that for all the harsh criticism 05 BD gets, it was my favorite show to perform of the 3 years I marched. But then again, I tend to focus on performance over show design when I watch shows and when I perform them. So, as far as 05 is concerned, my particular drill spot and part in the horn book was the most enjoyable of my 3 years. Oh, the irony.

hah, yeah, it kinda sounds like it, doesnt it? Its hard to be sure. In the moment I didnt hear a thing.

can you tell us about the new ending for BD?

ok. so new ending or not?

Different show, different competitors, different judges (?), different environmental variables....a big drop, but nothing unheard or to be worried about.

Word on the street was that BD had their new ending in. Can anyone that was there confirm this and or give their thoughts/review?

This is pretty typical for BD the last few years, nothing to be alarmed about. Does anybody remember the 1st version of the closer in 03? Wow....nothing like what it became. We learned the new end of the show in Murfreesboro, though I cant remember what show/when we debuted it. The final set of the show in the first version had us in two big diagonals, and the development into it was less than stellar....but was only a temporary thing anyways. Id venture to say they plan on this nearly every year. It takes a lot of time and effort to program a championship quality show from top to bottom.

Unless you're The Blue Devils.

Are you kidding? The Godfather has a great soundtrack, let alone what was in the other movies. There is SO much more cool music that could have been used in the BD show, but I have to figure that much of it wasn't used simply because people who arent die hard Godfather fans wouldnt have recognized it. It would defeat the idea to do a theme show based on a recognizeable pop-culture image and then use esoteric/obscure source material. Talk about alienating your audience. I wish they HAD used some more obscure material though...some great music....The Baptism, for example. So what do you have to do then? Make an 11 minute show out of the two songs, The Godfather Waltz, and The Love Theme. Those are the two songs that everyone will instantly recognize as "The Godfather." It keeps the audience in a place where they never forget what the show is about....but at the same time, you hear a 'variations on a theme' show. A tough place to be, if you ask me. Id say BD did alright, considering.

I was surprised to see that this thread exploded in posts today. I left and it was around 17 replies, and now we're around 130 replies. I was just CERTAIN before I began reading all the new replies that it had just reduced into a 'cavalier/bent leg' technique Vs. "Blue Devils/straight leg' technique shouting match. SO, Kudos to everyone for keeping the discussion more intelligent and above that nonsense! :) And with that said.....I think we're past due for..... STRAIGHT LEG TECHNIQUE IS FAR SUPERIOR TO CAVALIER TECHNIQUE!!!1 YAR! ALL OTHER TECHNIQUES ARE TEH SUX! ...........................and GO.

I thought that that would be appropriate here. B)

we're pretty much just a on/off switch for sound. B)

Ahahaha........ahaha.....hahah..... b**bs Bitter, party of one, your table is ready.

Come again? ITT = "In This Thread" And, no. I dont.

Ah, hah...Ive got several pics of that tuba stack that I took as well...I havent looked at em in a couple years so I just figured that was my pic! Did you play tuba at Cadets? If it helps any, I was on the end of our line that connected with the Cadet tubas in the TOC drill. I also recall swapping horns with someone in the Cadet line for a few minutes during practice. Goood times. Haha.

I took that picture! Thats at Southern Utah University during Tour of Champions in 2004 and is comprised of the tubas from the Blue Devils and the Cadets in one big pile. Im proud to say that I am responsible for suggesting that we pile the tubas like that on that day! Haha...how funny. b**bs Believe it or not, there are 20 tubas in that picture.

San Antonio will be my first show of the season. Who is going to rip my face off? It seems that BD and Cadets have been getting the most comments here about power and volume. Surely SCV and PR are going to bring it as well? ITT: Loudest hornlines/moments thus far of 2007. GO GO GO.