marimbaman89

Lol, I'm right behind him, class of 2011.

The difference is, there's less stability in Open Class. With the exception of the Spartans, who are good every year, corps change all the time in open class. If you assume that Spartans will stay Open Class, then they're a contender, as well as Surf if they stay. However, even if East Coast Jazz does return, I wouldn't expect them to contend in their first year back. A perfect example of this is the Oregon Crusaders, who had an incredible show in 06 and then turned around in 07 to do not as well because of a bunch of changes. My expectations (if Spartans and Surf don't come back) are that Teal and Memphis (maybe Fever?) will contend for the Open Class title, with BDB and SCVC right behind(assuming they make the trip). Raiders and a bunch of other corps will probably be right behind this group, and I'm expecting at least one of the corps in this group to make some serious moves (like Surf did last season) and contend.

They could compete for the title. I don't remember where they wound up last season but I think they were pretty close to teal at some points. If Spartans and Surf do move up, Memphis is definitely a candidate for this title. EDIT: Just checked, Memphis wound up 5th overall, but in prelims they beat Teal by a solid point.

It was pretty dirty, especially when more snares would start playing. The attacks when they came in were dirty, but I think the demand made up for the dirt. It was a lot better in finals than it was on the midseason DVD.

Oh yeah, Phantom's pit feature to start the show.

Bluecoats contra feature (until they hosed it down). Was it me or were there less section features this year?

There needs to be a pit judge. Plain and simple. ESPECIALLY for open class, I think, because there is a much greater gap in terms of quality between the great open class pits, the good ones, the decent ones, and the not-so-good ones. In World Class there is much less of a difference.

II/III finals always has a smaller crowd than any of the three Div I events, so you're right.

Wow, this was totally a shock to me. I hope to see them back for 09.

Because of how good percussion sections are today, I think it is vital that the battery and the pit are both being judged equally at all times. You can't claim to give a fair score when you're not seeing half of the section half of the time. Even when you have a field judge and a box judge, the field judge isn't watching the pit or the battery the whole time, and cannot claim to give a fair score. Sure it can be close, but it can't be exactly fair.

What does a brass judge do during long drum solos like Cadets 06?

Bluecoats, then Cadets.

I voted for a pit, battery, and ensemble judge, but this likely would be too expensive. I agree though, a lot of times, judges can miss either pretty awesome moments, or pretty crappy moments, which can give a judge a wrong impression.

Personally, before I got to drum corps, I hardly talked at all to anyone...being in drum corps really helped me open up. I used to be very shy around people, but drum corps helped me to the point that when I moved into college, I wasn't nervous or anxious at all, and I really have enjoyed the college experience before, even though I didn't at first know anyone else. Also, I don't completely buy your argument about the real world. People have to pay for corps (unless their parents pay for them) and they have to find a way to do it somehow. My parents paid my first two summers, but they're not paying this summer, so I have to work on that. My girlfriend (who also marched Raiders in 06 and 07 and might march either Bluecoats, Spartans, or Raiders again this year) her parents never paid for anything for her. She works four days a week as a waitress, goes to college, and is still in debt to her parents because of gas, car insurance, corps, the whole 9 yards (her parents are not very rich, and much as they'd like to support her, they just can't). So the "real world" argument, well I just don't buy that. Some people (such as my girlfriend) are going to be well aware of the real world. Bottom line, if your parents are going to spoil you, then it doesn't matter whether or not you march corps, you're going to be sheltered from the real world. If your parents don't spoil you and you have to work hard, then again, it doesn't matter whether or not you march corps, you're going to be aware of the real world (IMO). Also, the first summer when I came back to a week of band camp, I didn't have trouble re-adjusting. It was a little weird, and it sucked not being able to talk to anyone about the experience, but I got over it. This year it wasn't a hard re-adjusting at all.

I know this is kinda off topic, but you're absolutely right about this. A lot of people seem to think that Div II/III corps are not good at all, but on the II/III DVD I have from 2006, I enjoyed every single corps. Of course, there were obvious differences between us (12th) and Academy and the like, but all the corps in finals still put on a very good show. I even saw some Div III shows online from last year that didn't make finals, and they were still very entertaining. Just wanted to point that out. I think it's a shame that a lot of people don't care about II/III (open) at all and I think that if they aired the Div II and III champions (now just open) more people would take notice. Or, we could have a little blurb (as stated in the open class discussion forum) saying something like "if you enjoyed these corps but don't think you're quite good enough for this yet, consider joining open" or whatever. Of all these band kids, etc. that DCI is trying to appeal to, how many do you think actually know that open class exist? When I joined Raiders two years ago (becoming the first person to ever join a corps from my school) and I told people, not one person knew that they were a Div III corps, or even that it existed. They had no idea what II/III even was. And my director, who is a DCI judge, always showed us Finals DVD's of Div I, and he tells us when the DCI ESPN2 broadcast is, and people watch it. They all have their favorite shows (a lot of them really like BD 04 for some reason, and Cadets 05) and they know all the top corps, but they don't have any clue about half of the activity. Shouldn't DCI do something about this?

I'd buy all of them too. And I was sad that prelims was the only recording offered, we were much better in semis/finals than prelims (as reflected by the fact that for weeks our score stalled, then was brought up four points for semis/finals).

Or Division 2 Champion Raiders :P

Spartans, of course.

Nice one.

The pit. It should be a poll choice.

Hmm...it must be something weird with the recording. BTW the C at 146 was incredible.

Did you guys have a C in your part at 1:58 on the CD recording (concert F)? Cause I'm hearing something funny there...

Just FYI, not every place in NJ is like that. Mostly northern NJ. I live in Monroe Township, which is either the safest town in the county, or one of them...and the county was ranked the second safest place to live in the nation (Middlesex County). I don't know how true that ranking is, but put it this way...I think Monroe has had like one violent crime in the last 3 years or something lol.

Yeah I remember that. My memory is a little fuzzy but I think I was trying to figure out if that was you lol, since I knew you posted on DCP. Those days in Lake Havasu were not the best days of tour, tensions were a little high, but we actually got to swim in the lake the second day we were there, which was a lot of fun. I don't think I've ever stood on hotter sand. And the water was probably in the 80's at least lol. I remember me and my girlfriend got lost trying to find a place to eat there, I almost passed out because I didn't have any water lol.

We got the bronze in 2006. I think you probably meant that anyway because you recognized that we went Div II this year instead of trying for another Div III medal. But thank you for recognizing our accomplishments anyway :)