roosevelt

I agree. I loved the tilted snares... especially when Jim Cassela was there. 1998 is still my all-time favorite drum-line.

I will take your word for it on the guard. I gotta admit I don't normally pay much attention to guard. I will saythat they were fantastic in 2009 though. 2010 I don't remember them as much, but that was mainly because I was very interested in the show as a whole. I would definitely agree with your last statement.

Paul Rennick is great (obviously) and I have no doubt that he can do great things at SCV, but his presence alone hardly makes them a title contender. Last year at Phantom he won drum and the corps finished 6th. If the corps finished 6th in drums last year they likely STILL would have finished 6th as a full corps, so I just don't see that addition alone having that kind of impact. Also, you mentioned Scott Johnson at BD in 1994, but I gotta tell you that these two situations are very different. In 1994 the devils didn't just get a new drum staff, but they also got a new visual staff. BD did NOT march well for quite a few years there, but as soon as Todd Ryan arrived that changed. BD already had a championship calibre hornline and guard that was getting better every year. They also had arguably the best talent in the activity every year even when they were finishing out of the top 3. What they lacked was a championship calibre drum line and a championship calibre visual program. So, adding Scojo was only part of the equation that led to BD getting back to their reign of dominance. Now, SCV has some more puzzle pieces to put together IMO. Their drill is good and their drumline will be great. The guard is ok, but not at the same level as the top few corps right now. Also, they don't march great and they have a whole new brass team whose approach is very different than the previous brass staff's who was not only good, but was very liked by the members. So they may be in for some growing pans in the transition there (hopefully not though). Finally, I am not sold on the Devil's Staircase stuff. It is obviously great music, but I do not see it translating to the field and it sounds REALLY hard. It is a pretty big risk if you ask me. If they play it close to the original it will be so hard I don't know if it is do-able for the brass. If they dumb it down to make it a lot more attainable for the members it could be unrecognizable. Either way, it is so unconventional from a tonal standpoint that I don't know if the audience will be able to get into it. If people thought that last year's Bartok show was out there, this could be a whole other level.... Anyways, I am glad Rennick is at SCV and I am sure they will be great in time.

To you maybe. Not to me

The corps that did it WAS doing it all season... That is probably why there was no difference between Friday and Saturday. My guess is they had the balance where they wanted it by then.

Where it failed in caucus miserably

Ah but I think you may have missed the point: Howdy was just trying to find a way to name drop some more and let everyone know that he knew Zingali.

You are correct.

This is one of the most well written responses I have ever read on here.... I wonder if it sinks in.

Well, I am not sure if you will find any quotes on here that were directly from Steve, but make no mistake about it; he was at the forefront of developing the dot system. The Cavaliers have carried that philosophy forward along with his style of drill writing, which consequently relies heavily on that system.

No Howdy. It isn't. The corps won visual ensemble that night, not to mention a DCI championship. THAT is worth a 1000 words. All of the skills you listed are important, but those skills are also taught in the dot system... they are just gone about in a different way, but that is not the point. As many people have said on here before, ANY SYSTEM WORKS AS LONG AS YOU DESIGN & TEACH IT WELL. Conversely, any system can fail if you don't design and teach it well. If you cannot realize that Howdy, then you are clearly in over your head in the topic that you started. Furthermore, being dirty early season is a by-product of the demand that is evident in the shows these days. Honestly, as much as I hate to see dirt on DVD's, that (to a certain extent) is a product of the demands of shows these days too. If you do more, there is generally going to be more ticks... but there is room for more achievement too. You can achieve more than a corps that is cleaner than you simply by the "how much" that it is you do. Finally, if you are as smart as you say you are and have this whole drum corps thing figured out, then why don't you start your own corps and take it to the top? So far all we know of you is you are someone that got canned from Pioneer a couple of years ago and now spends a bunch of time bashing them...when you are not too busy being a self-promoter or espousing your own greatness that is.

That's the truth!

I am willing to bet the opposite

You should follow some of your own advice.

I highlighted the important part for ya

I am sure that the other companies besides Yamaha are working on a board that can do what yamaha board can do, but I don't see those products being ready by the summer. So, this vote could come down to the yamaha corps versus everyone else this coming weekend since it would allow the yamaha groups to have an unfair advantage. We will see though. I hope it does pass, but I am interested to see how this turns out.

Seriously? You have no class whatsoever and with every post you only confirm that to more and more people. I can show you plenty of examples of form corps that look terrible....but I am not going to because it is not nice. The philosophy of how to teach drill is not important. It is how effective it is taught and how capable the students are of performing it. It is clear that you have something against Pioneer, which if my memory serves is a corps that you taught and were subsequently fired from in your first year. Just let it go.

So far after seven pages we have basically everyone agreeing on two things: 1. That the system you use (form or dot) doesn't matter... it is the teaching that does. If you teach well, either system will work. If you don't, no system will. 2. You don't know what you are talking about and you obviously have an axe to grind against Pioneer.

While nearly everyone may agree that the sound board operator upstairs is a great idea, it is not nearly the "no-brainer" that people may think it is. I believe that the only sound board that can be operated remotely (as of right now) is made by Yamaha. So, it is quite possible to think that the corps who are not Yamaha corps will vote against since it leaves them at a competitive disadvantage.

Interesting. I thought last year WAS a departure for the cavaliers. I have not liked the corps the last couple of years, but I thought they were great this last year because they were different. And this... I just don't see it. To me their shows have been VERY similar. I mean last year their show was called "a second chance" for crying out loud and they reprised the promise of living from the year before.

No. It is not ridiculous. BD deserved to win and deserved to win handily. They could have been 3 points above everyone else last year and it could have been justified. I am no a BD fan at all (typically quite the opposite actually), but their visual ensemble was miles ahead of everyone else, their visual performance was miles ahead of everyone else, their horn line was miles ahead of everyone else, and they also had the best guard and the best music ensemble. All of that adds up.

You must be relatively new the activity, because Crown has not had the more dominant brass line. Heck, for a few years there the horn line was the weakest part of the corps (2002 & 2003 for example). As far as their interaction with Bluecoats goes, in 2007 Bluecoats won horns almost every show that year and only trailed off at the very end (they even won brass at quarters). Crown's "dominance" in brass has only been as of late, culminating in one Jim Ott in 2009. In the last 5 years of brass titles, Crown has one once, Cavaliers have won once, Cadets have one once, and BD has won three times.

Bluecoats had the more complete program LAST year, but not the last couple years. 2008 & 2009 were far superior on Crown's end. I would argue 2007 as well.

This is absolutely not true. BD is performing on a different level than everyone else right now, but they could not go out and do what you are describing and win. They design well and they execute well, that is why they win.

I agree completely. I do believe that you need to be entertaining to keep the judges attention (and interest) over the course of the summer.