Madrid

Soon.

I think that uniform looks fantastic! When paired with the guard they look even better! It's definitely different, and that's not such a bad thing. Cheers!

Remember the first audition weekend... when you played through the show music... and how you felt once you knew you made it. Remember the first time out on a practice field... back when everything seemed difficult... when fighting for survival was the game. Remember being fitted for the uniform... the pride you could feel as you became a part of something... the history and magnitude of which you couldn't even imagine. Remember the first full run through... your body was screaming and burning... yet you'd never been more satisfied. Remember the first time on the bus... the lightning storms on the longer rides... the stories that will forever remain inside of that vehicle. Remember the first show in Anytown, USA... it wasn't what you'd thought it'd be.. but it was perfect nonetheless. Remember the rehearsal and unending reps and unending reps... the voices from the box unwavering... their truths were your treasures. Remember the bad times because they happened... sometimes no one cared... and you became stronger because of that. Remember the times... all of them. Remember the people... all of them. Remember that one moment when it was almost over... when you stopped to look back... and you smiled. because... it happened... and it was amazing. You did it. Congratulations DCI Class of 2015! What a fantastic year for Drum Corps! Hats off to all involved. Cheers!

Blue Knights just made me cry.... That was gorgeous!

People keep looking at this from the perspective of the adults, but what about the younger fans? What about the local high school students in California that won't get the experience of having Finals in their backyard where thay can catch a bus, ride their bike, car pool to the gig. A Finals ticket on its own isn't out of reach for kids when they can factor out travel costs. Also, what about the school programs that could go to the show together. The bottom line here is that the West Coast has never been given the love from DCI similar to that of the midwest or east coast. It's just frustrating that so many non-west coast fans seem to think that it's no big deal when they've never really known what it's like in our shoes. Oh well... it is what it is.

This may have been asked already, but can I get a log in to watch the online broadcast today without having to pay for the whole weekend? Today is the only day I'll watch and I'm not even going to watch the Top 12.

This is a pretty big bummer, actually. Moving around the country allowed different fans the opportunity to see the groups at their best. Bringing in a World Championship event to a city was a positive moment for all involved. I get that some folks are saying that weather and possible television deals all point to having an indoor Championships event, I get that. It's just that now there are a lot of fans along both coastal lines that may never get to see a World Championship eent due to it being cost prohibitive. Meh. Denver and California were such great Finals events not to mention all the other fantastic venues over the years. ....same as it ever was...

I've been wondering about this as well. Not just for the summer, but also or WGI groups as well -- specifically percussion as I'm a percussionist. While it is certainly not true for every MM these days, it could be said that many who march in today's drum corps come from a far more sedentary lifestyle thus opening them up to the possibility of being more easily injured. I don't know if the injuries happening are because of the actual physical work load or becuase of a lack of proper training, stretch, and care. I mentioned this in another post and will state it again here, how a corps staff manages their members on a day to day bases in terms of training, rest, and proper stretch and physical maintenance will go a long way. I don't think every corps out there places enough value or time into this thus we see more and more injuries.

I thought Lacrosse was the fastest growing youth sport in America? Meh. Whatever holds up a narrative I suppose. Anyway, beyond the numbers game everyone is playing, what really fascinates me about this piece is the medical and physical care the Blue Devils are giving their members these days. It's no wonder that they remain at the top year in and year out when they actually take care of their members. There is still a large demographic of instructors and caption heads that feel that spending time on stretching, physical training, and general body wellness is a complete waste of time as it takes away from running rep after rep after rep. I've wanted to bring this up before but never got around to it. How much time should be devoted to training and physical fitness thorughout the season. Obviously camps and spring training are when a lot of members get their physical conditioning in check, but should the training and physical conditioning stop there? Is it good enough to simply wake up, touch your toes, and then go march for a whole day in July and August?

As someone that runs around the football field chasing drumlines every fall, I can tell you that while it is a bit tricky, it's not that difficult following a line around and giving commentary all while mainting my and the saftey of the performers in mind. As someone that judges and has taught for a good chunk of time, it is truly difficult to hear the detail and nuance from player-to-player when stuck up in a press box or in the stands. You miss too much as an adjudicator from up there. The reason there is a Perc 2 judge is to compensate for the tranait time of the Perc 1 judge and to give ample, balanced credit to the Front Ensemble. I, as a percussionist, going back to my performing days and even now as an instructor, would be supremely bummed if I didn't have that field tape after a performance. It provides insight to the performers and truth for the instructors. As a resource and educational tool it is invaluable! p.s. Back in my performing days I only hit stationary Visual judges.

So people can rationalize 15 Tubas even though the Synths basically carry the bottom end sound these days for a lot of groups, but having 5 people out on the field adding color, texture, nuance, shaping, direction, motivation, and impact to the marching percussive musical package is a distraction? Interesting. A poorly written cymbal visual show is no more distracting than poor guard costumes, poor flag work, dirty guard work, bad visual design, poor marching technique, etc.

Marching Cymbal Line members

This may have already happened once or twice, but I just realized that if things stay as they are, there will be more synthesizer players in DCI Finals than cymbal players.

Can someone with a FN account please post the scores from the last round?