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bgg80

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    Stanford & Son (DCI West, July 9, 2023)

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by bgg80

    Just got home from the show.  Got there during intermission, so unfortunately missed the open class corps. 
     

    Academy: haven’t looked at captions yet, but my guess is they outscored PC in Brass, but fell short in visual captions.  Nice concept, and expect them to get stronger and stronger as they clean. 
     

    PC: wow!   Step up, particularly visuals. They really move well. Percussion was strong.  Feels like they leveled up this year. 

    BK: loved the brass line.   Strength of the corps. Weakness: guard, both in performance and concept (S&M theme, it seems …) 

    Mandarins: Whoa!  Just outstanding!  I can see them sneak into top 6!  For me, kind of a SCV Babylon vibe. The Sinnerman concept is really cool  the props are wild (spinning cages!)   Strong across all captions  it feels to me like they picked up both SCV members and staff.  Bravo!  Can’t wait to see how they land in Indy  

    BD: Holy (Blue) smoke(s)!   Best I’ve seen and heard BD since 2014.  Fly marching videos do NOT do this show justice.  Brass sounds is rich, virtuosic and LOUD!  Their screamer is spot on   What a machine.  Percussion is wildly good. Looks like guard tired of winning finals night but not the caption.  Best I’ve seen from this unit since 2010. Opener is rich and powerful.  JoJo and Both Sides now are masterpieces   Drum interludes with corps visuals are amazing   Incidents in Jazz is really cool, but they stop short with no resolution and play a closing minute that just doesn’t work.  Performance wise it’s outstanding, but to me it’s a record scratch from the rest of the show.   Needs rewrite/new music.  Or blow out Incidents in Jazz!  BD never seems to nail their ending until, well, the end.  Fix the final minute and they have a masterpiece and all-time great that will rival 2014 (and 82, and 86…)   Bravo! Keep pushing!  I also predict undefeated title.   They are that good live.

     

    P.s. there were a few folks tearing up around me during ballad. Perhaps me too .. 😬  It truly is beautiful and connects with the audience. Also constant oohs and ahhs throughout the show  

     

     

     


     

     

     

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    Tuesday, July 19th “DCI Broken Arrow” …. Tiger Stadium Broken Arrow High School … Broken Arrow, OKLAHOMA

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:

    That Broken Arrow crowd is full of band geeks. They're going to eat up everything that EVERY corps does, just like the Muncie, IN show.  There are too many marching band folks too close for them NOT to be enthusiastic about some marching band.

    Look, I HATE the 1st 1/3 of BD show, and like the last 2/3 this year.  The props are very well designed and integrated into the show.  Cowboy bee bop was great until the Arban's tack on.  There was some visual dirt and mass guard drops in the show.  There were some noticeable brass issues last night.  The music is disjointed, but I recognize that they've worked and tweaked the transitions in Moon River.  More work needs to happen on the 1st third of the show.

    Aside from the design choices that I typically dislike inherit in a BD show with the current music arrangers, they had some issues that were worse than Crown, BAC, or Bluecoats, yet they don't get called out on them the way other corps do, they just lose a tenth or two and still end up in a 1-3 ish ordinal.

    Other corps get slammed to the point that they slip a placement.  It's the BD effect. 

    I believe that BD is absolutely a top 4 corps, and very likely a top 3 corps based on design, but the performance hardly EVER gets criticised the way it should.

    The guard should have been 4th last night. The music should have been 3rd. I heard miss articulations and tuning issues.

    Boston is noticeable cleaner visually. Crown is cleaner visually. Crown's brass was better than BD's, and I can not comment on percussion.

    Anyway, it doesn't matter, I just feel that other corps are getting the credit that THEY deserve compared to BD.

    I just see things beyond the qualitative judging.

    “HATE the first 1/3 of the show”.  #### … that’s intense dude! I’m sure any BD member who read this would … laugh? I’m not sure if anything put in the field by these amazing kids and every corps would even qualify for anything close to HATE.

    For me, the inevitable “others don’t get credit that BD does” is drivel.  BD typically fields a corps and show with no weaknesses  And in particular, BD unassailable strength (typically) is they move better than any corps this year, and consistently for the past decade+ since the Cavies we’re kicking tail in 2000s. Visually, they are the standard, and consistently get rewarded for it. 
     

    One interesting angle that I haven’t seen discussed: BD has a new brass caption head, and I believe are playing new horns?  I think they sound different.  Lusher.  Mellos are … wow.  For BD standards, brass has been a tad off in the 2H of the 2010s (if you can call 3rds or 4ths (2019 finals!) off. I wonder BD’s brass is the real X factor in 2022.  
     

    Final thought: I think BAC is the dark horse.  Some 2008 PR vibe to me …

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    Blue Devils 2020

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by bgg80

    On 8/17/2019 at 8:59 AM, Cappybara said:

    Since it's the offseason and we have finished the last season of this decade, what are your favorite BD shows of this decade? This is extremely difficult for me to do but I'll give it a go

    1. 2015 Ink

    2. 2012 Cabaret Voltaire 

    3. 2011 The Beat My Heart Skipped

    4. 2019 Ghostlight 

    5. 2014 Felliniesque 

    6. 2017 Metamorph

    7. 2013 ReRite of Spring

    8. 2010 Through a Glass Darkly

    9. 2018 Dreams and Nighthawks

    10. 2016 As Dreams Are Made On 

     

    I gotta say though, I LOVE every single one of these shows. This corps has been on such an amazing creative run this decade it's incredible 

     

    Last decade plus another 3 🙂 I LOVE each of these shows except for two.  2005 and 2018.  Only two in 40 years that didn't quite connect for me. 

     

    2010s:

    1. 2014

    2. 2019

    3. 2010 (!!)

    4. 2017

    5. 2015

    6. 2012

    7. 2016

    8. 2011

    9. 2013

    10. 2018

     

    2000s:

    1. 2003

    2. 2009

    3. 2007

    4. 2004

    5. 2001

    6. 2006

    7. 2000

    8. 2008 (robbed) . 🙂

    9. 2002

    10. 2005

     

    1990s:

    1. 1990 (!!!)

    2. 1994

    3. 1997

    4. 1996

    5. 1999

    6. 1991 (!!)

    7. 1992

    8. 1993

    9. 1998

    10. 1995

     

    1980s:

    1. 1982 (!!)

    2. 1986

    3. 1984 (.1 away....)

    4. 1980

    5. 1985

    6. 1988 (robbed) 🙂

    7. 1983

    8. 1987

    9. 1981

    10. 1989

    • Like 1

    Blue Devils 2020

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    12 hours ago, Cappybara said:

    I wanted to wait until after the victory run to make this topic. Firstly a huge congratulations to BD on getting their 19th gold medal! This 2019 production will go down as one of my favorite ever by this corps. 

     

    I am very excited to see what BD has in store for the new decade. This past year we saw BD innovate in the use of props and marched more traditional drill than their fellow medalists. I anticipate that this trend will continue next season. I also suspect the hornline will surprise us with their excellence! 

    Any predictions as to what they might do next year? Any wish lists?

    My only wish is that they continue to maintain the classic BD sound; if they do that, I will love what they put on the field regardless of what it is:inlove:

     

    As always, do it up, Devils!:bluedevil:

    Perfectly stated

    2019 Bloooooooooooooocoats

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    11 hours ago, tedrick said:

    Thank you Bluecoats!

    "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

    Teddy Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena"

     

    It will be very hard to top this season - the design staff needs to go back to the drawing board and chart a new direction - more demand more achievement -

    Guard needs to be equal or better to Vanguard and Devils

    Drum Line needs a total overhaul and needs to contribute.

    See ya next year.

    "Drum line needs a total overhaul and needs to contribute"???!?!?!

    You mean that 3rd place drumline??  What a silly statement.  Insults the wonderful talent and performance of this group.

    Bluecoats need to keep doing what they are doing.  Not emulate the Blue Devils.  I was at Finals in 2016.  As a BD homer, I knew Bloo had it, all three nights. Stay on the path you're on! 

    • Like 5

    DCI World Championship Finals - Saturday, August 10, 2019

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

    Hmm you gave us spreads, not scores. So to say your predictions were only 1% off is being disingenuous. A monkey could've gotten within 1% by those parameters. You didn't predict anything. In fact you were very insistent that this panel was so biased to Bloo that it was inevitable that they would win. 

    BD scores a 98.325 vs a 67.2 at finals!  #nailedit  🙂

    DCI World Championship Finals - Saturday, August 10, 2019

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, DrumManTx said:

    Just like that, it's over.  Wow.  What a season.  What a night.  What a quarterfinals.  What a semifinals.  What a finals.  What a fight for the top.  Awestruck at the talent from top to bottom this year.  Here's my thoughts on finals week.  Thanks for another amazing season, I'm probably gonna sign off for the most part for awhile.  Life is about to get crazy, but I had fun following the season again with you all.  

     

    For me, a highlight of the season is reading your review day after Finals.  You’re the best reviewer in the business 😉

    Thank you 

     

    • Like 7

    DCI World Championship Finals - Saturday, August 10, 2019

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by bgg80

    8 hours ago, 27Socal said:

    Oh it be.  The last head to head for Chumley between BD and BC in VA was Atlanta.  He had BC up by .1

     

    And ... BD improved significantly since Atlanta.  Cleaned their movement. Refined their ensemble sets and structure.  Added visual “accents”/feature to the show. Guard cleans/adds.  Chumley noticed, and judged that growth vs BC and others accordingly.  Why else would he “flip” from July 20-something until now?  Historical data is certainly relevant.   But the farther back you go in history (in this case a season) the less reliable you get.  Corps’ performance level and show growth/moves/adds/changes factor in.    

    Here’s the thing ... you mentioned being off by 1 point is impressive given your model was 99% accurate. But your same data will tell you that BD and BC were within .5 or less .... and .2x or less in the final few weeks...  all season.  So calling a 1 point gap for Finals, statistically, is waaaay off.  

    • Like 4

    DCI World Championship Finals - Saturday, August 10, 2019

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, 27Socal said:

    Stone last judged them both in Mesquite on 7/22 and had Bluecoats up by .1

    That was a while ago, but seems odd that all the other 3 GE judges had BC over BD.  That's the problem with this judging system.  1 guy out in left field can throw a championship.

    So where does the kids’ achievement and performance level come into play?  BD showed major improvement all season.  I saw them early on in CA. SCV was clearly better.  Interesting note — for that 7/22 — both GE judges “flipped”: Stone in Finals and Dillon in Semis.  🤔

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