Kyle

Tito, my comment wasn't directed towards you so much as the others throughout the forum here who proclaim with great conviction that Corps A definitively had better execution on music and drill and work with higher demand than Corps B, but was placed several spots lower because the judges don't have any idea what they're looking for. Judging drum corps is "subjective" in some sense, in that the judges do swing their scores around gut reactions in some instances. There is no black and white rule book for scoring in terms of granting points. A corps member does not cross home plate and score a run. You're closer in comparing scoring to that of figure skating (or synchronized swimming, or gymnastics, etc.), in that there isn't any sort of guideline by which points are awarded or deducted (with the exception of penalties). I understand your point when you discuss that it doesn't seem likely that within a night's time an "underdog" corps will be seen defeating the top groups. With a game like baseball, things like luck and weather and a whole bunch of variables can play a big role in who comes out on top; sometimes the most talented team fails to execute. Drum corps is different for a number of reasons: - The number of people. When you have a baseball team, there are 9 players on the field. If one person makes a minor mistake, it can cost the team several runs, and subsequently the game. With drum corps, you have 150 people on the field. While personal responsibility is still important, one person making a minior mistake will not be as glaringly obvious. - The nature of the activity. In baseball, the main goal is not to improve throughout the course of the season. They start out hoping to win every game from March until September. They can trade and cut and sign players and staff mid-season, they compete against one group rather than 5 every night, and generally speaking the emphasis is put on beating each team sequentially, rather than improving their own team every night. Similarly, when you compare it to other "subjective" sports like figure skating, the judging system is similar but the competitive nature is not. With figure skating, there is no "season." Skaters train individually in order to compete at major events. If drum corps was this way, DCI would be useless, other than to sanction major events. - The way the athletes train. When you play baseball, you have spring training and daily practices and usually games in the evening, very similar to the way drum corps rehearse. The difference is that you practice many different pieces of the puzzle that is baseball, i.e. double play execution, bunt fielding, pitching, batting, etc. Each team that you face has a different strategy, so your own strategy must change on a nightly basis. If you're facing a team with a lot of power hitters, your pitching and fielding will be different than if you're facing a team with a lot of weak hitters. If the team has a lot of left handed batters, you're going to put a left handed pitcher on the mound, etc. If the Cardinals beat the Pirates, it's because the Cardinal pitcher struck out a lot of batters, the Cardinals' second baseman turned more double plays, and the outfielder robbed the Pirates of a home run.With drum corps, your strategy doesn't change on a nightly basis. The Cadets can't do anything to Crown in order to beat them. If Cadets win, it is simply because they played and marched the most difficult material while committing the least amount of mistakes. There are many others, but it's late, so I'll keep my thoughts down to this to ensure they're coherent.

He was a trumpet alternate. The design staff decided an announcer/referee would be appropriate in early July, so they used him there because he was already on tour. Once they got the tuxedo fitted for him he joined the corps on the field for shows.

Keep in mind that the judges don't sit there and discuss where they're going to place the corps in their respective captions. They don't conspire like a jury and contemplate the averages of all of their adjudications and place the corps accordingly. The scores are consistent not as a result of the judges knowing what each other will score the corps, but as a result of a staff of experienced, educated judges adjudicating the corps accurately. It is the judge's job, as it is a soccer referee or a baseball umpire, to be fair. It is their job to leave all predispositions at the door and come into each competition with a fresh idea of what to expect, regardless of how they scored the corps the night before. When a soccer referee steps on the field to do a professional match, he is doing so with several days' worth of research on team tactics, coaches' philosophies, and individual players' behaviors. With this information, he can better balance the metaphoric scales in order to manage the match with the utmost fairness and precision. The judges in DCI are no different. They understand the show designs and the methodology each corps has in the respective captions they adjudicate. There's a difference between predisposition and having an understanding of the history of the corps' (or teams') competitive season. I would like to think that the consistent proximity of scores is because the guys and girls out there running their butts around on the field have it down to such a science that their individual scores are so spot on as to be coinciding. As someone mentioned before, the colorguard doesn't affect it's own caption alone; it also affects GE Visual and Ensemble Visual. Similarly, Music Brass also affects Ensemble Music and GE Music. Why is it so hard to believe that the consistency between these scores is not a conspiracy but rather a sign that these judges are so good that there is hardly any deviation between their respective evaluations? Yes, DCI judging is subjective, but only to a point. The AP English test, for instance, consists of three essays. The people that grade them are given examples at the beginning of the week that say "This essay deserves a 6. Here's why. This essay deserves a 9. Here's why." Then after they're graded they are checked at random by higher-ranked individuals to make sure that the evaluations are not deviating from what the AP organization wants for grades. I'm sure that DCI has judging broken down similarly, minimizing the unfairness of a judge's subjectivity. If you had JJ Pipitone and Jeff Prosperie judge Music Percussion for a series of shows at the same time, I'm sure that the differences between their scores would be minimal. Perhaps enough to alter a corps placement, but certainly not a 9.80 from one and a 7.60 from the other. After many years of officiating sports professionally, it's obvious that there are many people that "know" they can do their job better than you, usually because they've played for 20 years, or they coached their son growing up, or their nephew is a referee too. While there are many reasons for them "knowing" this, being genuinely qualified for the job on a certified level is rarely one of them. The ones who are qualified enough for the job usually know how difficult the job is, and have enough respect for those willing to do it to keep their mouths shut.

That's funny, because their last uniforms (with such a minute tinge of that purple you think that people associate Crown with) were the same exact shade of cream.

Cadets 2005 - The last measure of drumspeak in the video shows two up close snares speaking into a microphone. The one throws his hand up wildly in passion, I guess, and catches the other one in the head and moves his shako.

Very cool. I actually submitted a picture a while ago that I took on tour from my cell phone. Kyle's DC-Eye submission :)

Blue Devils' white plumes were for visual effect, i.e. when they ran, and when they did the head bobbing thing. Black plumes would not have had nearly the same impact. I didn't get the skirts... ahem... waist-cape. The Scouts' uniforms grew on me. At first I thought they were sort of Third Reich-looking, but the ties were classy. While the shade of green wasn't really that appealing, I started to appreciate the design as I saw them more and more. Blue Stars were in the lot at Atlanta, and didn't have their uni tops on, so the only symbol of the corps was the new shako. I had absolutely no idea who it was. I think the shako is definitely an improvement on the uniform, but is a bit of a sad step back from the traditional aspect of a corps with such a legacy. Santa Clara Vanguard's were awkward. When they turned backfield, the tapered look of the jacket made them look hunchbacked. Similar to the "limp" of the Blue Stars uniform last year. Talking to some of the guys in the lot with Blue Knights, they didn't seem overly enthused that the dots were back... The dots have been gone for a long time, no one really knows why we all like them, and they were hardly noticeable on the jacket. They've created an identity in their current style uniform, but I think the addition of the dots are distracting up close and barely seen from afar.

Mythbusters proved it. :)

The two shows that have been consistently scheduled in the Pittsburgh area were at Baldwin High School and Elizabeth Forward High School. From what I understand through my old high school band director, both band parent booster organizations decided (both unfortunately and coincidentally) that they were not going to pursue putting together a DCI event this season. For those of us in the Pittsburgh area, we're sort of limited in options now... There is still Allentown, as well as Lake Erie Regiment's Erie Fanfare competition, and Massillon, OH is the site for the Pro Football HOF Festival. Unfortunately, those are pretty hefty trips for anyone in metropolitan Pittsburgh; Massillon (Canton) is the closest at 1.5-2 hours depending on the route.

Thanks for the laugh. :)

Wait... if this would be Hoppy's "intended" function, then perhaps the question shouldn't be BOA in DCI, but USSBA in DCI...

There's nothing to compare. I'm all for evolution and not being static in an ever-changing world... at the same time, however, I think we should realize that drum corps and marching band are on two different playing fields. Regardless of what Hoppy wants to do with instrumentation, there is no reason for Avon High School's marching band to be compared to Phantom Regiment. Let's keep our apples in one basket and our oranges in another.

Let's not create any allegations that this guy is an insider who is playing the part of an outsider fanboy to boost the corps. Many corps do have rules against posting here, particularly stuff like that. We can't assume that everyone who does so is someone doing the dirty work on their behalf.

I don't think he's saying so much for corps to move INTO the DCA circuit, but rather adopt the scheduling of rehearsals and shows that DCA promotes. World Class corps travel the entire country all summer. Some Open Class corps do the same thing. DCA corps, on the other hand, often stay regionally through the competition season and only travel the great distance for finals. To adopt this policy would arguably be beneficial for struggling DCI corps. I think that Cascades is sort of attempting this for this season; they aren't necessarily competing, but they're touring on a regional basis and not spending excessive amounts of money to make a trip that could kill the corps (quite literally).

I'm sure that regardless of his disposition towards other aspects, the "it" he is referring to is the logo itself.