BDCorno

No, neither offended, nor trying to "insult" you. Simply responding to your inquiry, which included a condescending air to it ("are you implying..", "sounds kind of ridiculous", etc.). If you didn't understand the comment, a simple "could you explain your comment regarding Mr. Ott?" might have sufficed. Geez. I see this game played all the time here.

...not to mention, they weren't defending champions in 1980 anyhow.

My count says 41. Small number, compared to last year. Yes, very "young"...20 rookies in the bari line alone. There are still many seasoned veterans of four or five years that will be back for 2016. It's going to be a much more accomplished and seasoned group next year, and I think the design staff will challenge them accordingly. It's another try at a threepeat, which I'm not even sure is possible these days. Sure, I bleed blue and hope they pull it off. Should be another wild season.

No, I'm making a semi-joke, but nobody seems to have a sense of humor on these forums. Anyone who ever played under Jim would "get" the joke. Of course, like most that jump on joke-ish comments like this, you take it to the nth degree on the response..."I'll take tone quality and dynamics *over* volume any day" was the referenced comment. Let's not stretch that to "never even consider". So let's ditch the self-righteous act and just realize a couple of things: I played under Jim Ott for 2 1/2 years. He was our middle horn instructor and arranger. He was a tremendous human being, a great brass man and liked LOUD. More than anyone I've ever seen. That's the "joke". Not sure why you even jumped in on this, as you admittedly didn't know the man. Just for reference, the old piston/rotor bugles didn't have much in the way of tone quality, but yeah, he did work dynamics. All that said, the most common word out of his mouth was "louder". He is missed.

See below...

It's true. GREAT drum corps crowds out here. Sure, they love the home teams, but also go nuts over the other groups from out of state. Nobody sits on their hands for anyone. Too bad that can't be the case everywhere, but we'd love to have everyone out here!

Would be nice to see more corps from back east come out to California. Have enjoyed having Crown, Phantom and Blue Knights out here (and staying at the high school only a mile from my house, lol). We're devoid of any world class corps after the end of June, so the more the merrier while they're here. Was in drum corps heaven back in 2012, with BD and Phantom at the two closest high schools to me. Doesn't get any better than that!

All hail the power of the pit! :silly:

Agree. Oddly, I thought the guard itself wasn't as much of a problem, as the way they were staged. First half of the show, they were placed in very vanilla (front, sides, back) locations relative to the musical ensemble. It seems they were sacrificed in terms of integration to make the thematic "X" drill work possible. The latter parts of the show (which I recall were changed midseason) had them fully integrated and engaged with the musicians, which worked much more successfully. My thoughts by Atlanta were that they'd have a tough time staying in the medals unless they did some rewrites of the opener, which of course never happened. Seemed to be a young group this year with the guard...they have some of the best in the business working with them, so I'm sure they'll bounce back strong next season.

...never said Jim Ott ever.

Thought someone would bring that up, Cappy. Let me amend just a bit. Might be a record in sheer coverage of space. All the sideline banners really didn't add that much for me...I guess you could make the case that they framed the field, but the ROI was minimal IMHO.

I said "more" bottom heavy...I'd say they have a fairly balanced sound, but for me, their trumpets don't cut through like the old days and the K-20 sops. The Yamaha lines in general have a little brighter (Bb-ish, if you will) sound. Neither one better or worse than the other, just different. The Yamaha sound works extremely well for Crown and their style, just as the System Blue with BD's book.

I'm sure it was the big chord after the silence, right where Clara came out. Great moment. Was chatting with the head of the Marine Drum Corps (a BD alumnus) on Friday night, and he likened that chord to a physical impact to his body. It was a great moment. Crown was very loud, and I know Matt Harloff worked very hard with them on bringing the heat. SCV had some loud moments too, somewhat due to staging though. It's hard to decide...loudness, volume, decibels? The EQ of Crown to BD to SCV really makes it hard to determine. Perhaps from a naked-ear standpoint, I'd say BD and Crown almost tied. With a decibel meter, probably BD due to the more bottom-heavy nature of the sound. Hell, I enjoyed them all. Always an adamant fan of loud horn lines!!! :silly:

Along those same lines (and someone might have already asked), how many $15 Indiana resident tix were sold? I was hanging out near the box office hocking an extra ticket for semis, and saw a few people walk up and buy those. Not that they'll tell, but would love to see a breakdown of full price, discounted, and IN resident $15 tickets sold. I know there was a big turnout due to the highly competitive top four, but I can tell you that ticket costs aren't helping to grow attendance. $255 for three nights (in addition to hotel, car, flight and 25 sinus-clearing cocktails at St. Elmo's) gets a bit pricy, even for those of us that can afford it.

I don't know how you felt about it, but I thought the second half of the year revolved around constant uniform change rumors, addition of props, and pretty much anything other than the corps itself. Might this have had a deleterious effect on the "buzz" about the program, the music, and the performance? I wonder. All the talk early was about the program, then it was all uniforms, all the time. I don't think Hopkins did the corps any favors. The black uniforms tended to deemphasize the flashier look that dovetailed with the type of drill they did, and the corps sort of melted into the field instead of standing out against it. They surely took "high props"...I counted 61 pieces or props that were brought onto the field for finals. Might be some kind of a record. I'm not sure the expense of everything even came close to equaling the effect. Just my $.02.

I really reject this thought that ANY of the top corps "play to the sheets". I can tell you that BD certainly doesn't. It's not to say that the design staffs aren't aware of what are the parameters on the sheets are, but if you tried to design a program that way, you'd fail miserably. These people are professionals with years of experience in the activity. They may have an innate sense of where the activity is at and where it's going, but design of their shows doesn't revolve around the judging system. In any event, the sheets are so over-generalized and vague, it's a free for all and not worth the time to dowse what will or won't "work". BD, Crown, Coats, Cadets, SCV and most of the top corps have an identity and direction, and they'll pretty well stick to innovation within those boundaries. These groups exist on that top tier due to excellence and consistency. All of them perform their shows consistently, and I don't know of any of them asking their groups to do anything different at Indy. Listening more closely, yes. I sat in 140 and then 240 for the shows this year, and found Cadets to be plenty loud. There is a substantial difference in volume moving up one level, and I'm sure there are anomalies of this sort all over LOS. I've heard the bottom of the 600's is a tough area for reverb and volume. I've also heard that the best sound up there is in the very back row at the top of the stadium. I'm sure the volume perception is mostly the stadium, and likely not the corps.

Boy, I guess you never actually watched their show. I'd like to invite you to runthroughs the week of Indy and let you see it up close. You couldn't be more misled as to the content of their show.

Yeah, let's ask alumni, fans and the kids what to do. I'm sure that will end well.

Wow. SMH.

No five time winners as of yet (world class). BD has seven to date (including myself, part of the original 5 who aged out in '80). There may be more, but there is a mellophone player with three who will be back for his age out season next year, a bari player with three and two years to go, a snare player with two and four years still to march, and finally little Clara...one down at 10 years, but we'll see if/when she gets back to the A corps. Talented gal, I've heard she throws sevens already.

When I marched with BD, we had a 12 year old in '77 (flag line), and another 12 year old in '80. I know the former was 13 by DCI, not sure on the other. The gal in '77 eventually became the longest serving guard captain, and aged out in 1985 with four titles under her belt.

I don't have a problem with that. Just don't integrate it into the scoring system. '81 Scouts? Dude you're old. Oh, wait... :D

Yeah, it gets a bit much. What I don't like is all the mugging...

Been tried, didn't work.

1. I was a bit skeptical of the Neulion interface at first, but once they got the bugs out, it was pretty good. Not sure why you might have had issues, but I found the iPhone and iPad interfaces (used them both) to be quite good. It was nice to grab a bite and watch a show at the same time. Can't speak for the YouTube awards thing, as I was at Lucas Oil. 2. Agree with you...I'd love to see the whole archive back at some point. Sadly, like much else in the litigious world, the lawyers are getting rich, the musicians aren't making much more, and the consumer is getting screwed. It's a really messed up situation. Hoping DCI can come up with a solution, but they're still working on the paper bag level and struggling... 3. Could we all please can the "Mom-O-Meter" talk? They tried this "fan favorite" crap a year or so at TOC events, and once certain corps/fans figured out how to game the situation, it quickly became a joke. No way to really restrict voting to those in the stadium anyway. Whether it's on (which it is) or not on the sheets, judges hear the crowd and it is duly noted (trust me on this, I judged drum corps and winter guard for years). It's not means to an end, but can help validate observations that the judge makes. Jumping up and down and throwing babies isn't (and shouldn't) EVER be a barometer. With the wide variety of show approaches, an ending might not be rah-rah, and evoke a pensive, yet deep feeling from a spectator. You're not going to get a raucous ovation necessarily, so why should one style be preferred over another? Furthermore, should a show in the back yard of one corps at the show be justification for special consideration and an unearned win? Ehh, don't think so. If you want mob rule, send your corps to American Idol and let the pros sort this out.