wilme861

I would love for Bluecoats to do a show along the lines of Tron. Doesn't have to be Tron but something along that type of vibe. I just think that type of show with their 2015 type production would just be insane and something Bluecoats could pull off so well.

Yes and no. They are competitive so that part of them will always want the gold! Anything less than that is "failure" in a sense. But 4th this year almost makes it seem like Crown is stagnant but they definitely aren't. They have arguably gotten better each year from 2017 even if the placements don't necessarily say that. 4th this year is definitely not a failure for whoever ends up there.

First world problems. When your group is elite, anything less than winning is a failure. It’s along the same lines as when people call professional athletes bad. NBA for example has 450 players. I don’t care how bad people think the 450th player is, he is still better than 99.9%+ of basketball players.

Wasn’t talking specifically about the Sanford. Just finals night has the emotion and intensity that the other nights don’t have so it’s always a little something more on finals. Should be a special night with so many great groups battling it out. Decent chance the Sanford is completely up in the air until that night too…so it honestly might all just come down to the judge on finals.

Exactly, it’s on those judges, not the brass judge on the field.

In front of from the audience perspective, the speaker is behind the judge.

Those guys at FJM had to have done a mad one to deliver that in a day

I think it’s just amazing at just how good these top corps are. I, subjectively, think BD is definitely better than last year. And yet, Boston, Bluecoats and Crown are still giving them a run. Percussion, half of DCI seems to be trying to win the Sanford this year. Just crazy talent all over and yet, guess who is still leading the pack? BD.

Again, the brass judge is on the sideline in front of the speakers so how would they know? There’s no hiding out on the field. If the judge is in front of you, they’ll hear the strong players and the weaker ones just the same.

Percussion is BY FAR, the most competitive caption this year and it’s not even close. Finals is going to be so fun but good luck to that judge that night…

Some of us have very thick skin…

Yep, picture perfect from BD as usual. Solid top to bottom. On the sheets, percussion is the weakness and just saying that out loud makes me laugh because it’s so screwed up to say with how ridiculous that line is.

What’s funny is I’m not a fan of the Bluecoats show at all. But visually, it’s VERY well done. I can’t remember their visual scores off the top of my head and I’m not going to look it up but they have to be 2nd maybe 3rd fighting it out with Boston. Musical design is definitely behind their visual. At least in my opinion

The Brass judge is in front of the speakers though and doesn’t deal with the amplification. They literally judge what’s being played in front of them. Like the percussion judge, they’ll miss certain things because they’re on the wrong side of the field. Music Analysis and the GE judges will capture that amplification.

Yeah I never blame a judge. Every judge calls it how they see it, regardless of what some people may think. I’ve said it before, some judges are going to credit and be much more receptive to this line than others. It’s just the nature of this style as it’s not “traditional” at all. Last night, Crown was only 0.2 pts behind Cavaliers, tonight that gap was over a point. Some of that is just pure numbers management but the rest is judge/performance.

The crown logo for this year with the sword definitely lends itself to a set in the drill…

I’ve been laughing inside at people the last week or so saying the guard characters were getting lost and needed a costume change…been wanting to say just wait, it’s coming

Sounds like when I come out of the lots with my friends. We can never agree on ranking these lines anymore. The judges are doing the same. Any of these top 6 lines can legit win on any given night depending on their run and the judge. It’s a great year to be a percussion fan!

I have zero sources at phantom but finals is still quite a way away so it’s way too early to not be adding something constantly to the show. Allentown seems to be when some corps generally freeze the additions while others keep going all the way up to finals. Cleaning never stops…

I know your point, stop using mics but that would stifle creativity…

What’s the “right way”? There have been plenty of corps that use mics pretty well if not perfectly and blend the ensemble perfectly. Others don’t necessarily nail it or have a bad night. And I know the arrangements are definitely reflected in the music sheets. I’ve heard plenty of judges comment on the arrangement (positive and negative).

That’s on the designer. They aren’t restricted to using the mic although most probably think they don’t have a choice.

You aren’t forced to mic though. Designers now have that option which wasn’t one prior to amplification. Creativity isn’t stifled by providing another option in your playbook even if most corps don’t mic anymore.

Again, another show where Bluecoats took 5 captions…that was also the biggest gap Crown has had in percussion against Bluecoats this season so far (winning percussion that night still would have left them in 2nd too). Sorry, but percussion has been the punching bag of this corps for too long on here. I’m just not having it this year. These guys are too good for that.

Probably has nothing to do with the fact Bluecoats took 5 of the 8 captions against Crown in Broken Arrow and Crown took 5 of 8 tonight…but yep definitely the percussion’s problem.