BDCorno

Should have clarified...scoring slump. Look at the bottom of the chart...those groups have leveled out and some even dropped. If this was the same panel of judges every show, you might have a case. Small panels at early season shows have an impact. Many of the corps are seeing large panels for the first time, and many judges are seeing corps for the first time head to head. Refer to my original post for the rest... As long as overall scoring of the corps stays in the correct "box", and area of the same box, then there's little to complain about. Are kids and fans so thin-skinned these days that they can't deal with a two point drop in score? If you're scoring 75 and you get a 73, that's a 2.7% difference...hardly a statistical disaster. Corps have bad nights, too. Maybe some actually were 2% or more "off" in their performances. The pressure of a big meeting of corps for the first time, weather, bus breakdowns...any of a number of conditions can be in play. If everyone on the slate had seen everyone already...or not...that is something to consider. Point is, too many variables to really pin it on the judging alone. It's always a little squirrely this time of year. Are you proposing DCI tells judges what minimum score they have to give a corps, based on previous shows? There is already too many conspiracy theories about dictated scores and placings...do we need to make it reality? Hope everyone gets over it!

Nice graph, hadn't seen it before. I think it tends to validate my observations on the scoring. Things will now tighten up, with the lower scoring groups seeing the largest improvements.

I just wanted to address the concerns re/mid-level corps stalling or regressing score-wise. It's likely more a function of human nature than anything. When I was in brass judge training years back, we did an exercise in which we watched a number of shows. They were a from wide variety of proficiency levels and styles. All of us were asked to rank and score the shows. Once we were done, they put the scores onto the board in a large grid. What we found was that there was far less disagreement on scoring/ranking of the better groups in comparison to the lesser quality performances. As the quality of the group waned, the rank and rate was increasingly inconsistent amongst the judging group. It was illustrative in that it's more difficult to judge and score "the field" than it is the big powerhouses. My theory is that regional shows involving mid-level corps tend to over-score those groups...not always, but more often than not. When we get to the middle of the season and more groups get together from around the country, it gets even more complicated. In anticipation of seeing groups not previously evaluated, the baseline numbers will tend to start lower. The judge has to account for and leave room for unexpected scoring. If unseen groups end up not exceeding the seen groups in quality, then those scores will tend to drop overall. Being as it is that there is little dispute over the best groups, those numbers can tend to escalate, leaving a huge gap between the two sets of groups. On the surface, it appears the judges think a group has not improved, when it's clearly not the case. In reality, it's a natural part of the season. Once all have been seen in head-to-head conditions, a normalization of scores should ensue. We've seen a substantial jump in scores among the top groups, and you'll likely have the mid-level groups seeing rapid inflation of their scores over the next week or so. It's all part of the process. Particularly for groups going through a "slump" at this time, it's important that their staffs keep the focus on personal improvement and not the scoreboard. All the performers can control is their own personal performance level...it will be rewarded, but persevering through the midseason blahs is an important part of the process...

If judges don't rank and rate, what are they supposed to do? They're paid TO MAKE DECISIONS. They're also paid to REFLECT THE RELATIVE DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY when deciding between two or more corps. It's unfortunate that there is so much demonization/disrespect/criticism of people just doing their jobs. The sheets do not dictate a particular score, simply a range of scoring if you meet the (quite general) criteria of that "box". It is still incumbent upon the judges to score the corps within that range relative to their own proficiency AND to the other corps. It IS a competition and someone must pick winners...it just happens to be the judging panel!

Well, it's certainly not Lucky Lager. Just ask any of us that attended the BD "pre tour party" in 1976. Anyone....anyone?

That is one of the most outrageous and inaccurate comments I've ever heard on this, or any other board.

True, but they did a poor job at Denver, plain and simple. If it gets bad, I just switch to hi camera.

Yeah, what is up with that? The Crossmen did not insist upon the stadium, so don't criticize them. If you want to find fault, point to DCI - but I'm sure they did the best they could with the situation. You know if it was a prelims type situation, it would not have happened. Get over it!

The webcasts have been good for me. Few if any glitches, and you could tell they were internal problems at the show site. Wish they could broadcast in a higher resolution (full HD would be too much bandwidth), but the picture was more than acceptable, even on my 50" bigscreen. Didn't care at all for the multi-camera view, as the producer/director missed a lot of big visuals. It was quite a bit better than the Denver webcast - perhaps they had better input from the corps as to "what to watch for".

Interesting and sarcastic post. I'm not buying your whining re/the chairs. I've seen plenty of comments to the effect of "they're on the chairs half the show", etc., which is just so far off base it defies logic. Let's examine your complaint by reviewing video. OK, sitting on the chairs and playing = 15 seconds. Is this somehow more shameful than standing in place and playing some super-extended impact note at the end of a tune? I don't think so. Is stepping up onto a chair and back down in the middle of a phrase more difficult than standing in place, or even marching? Yes, it is. I also can't think of any concert bands that stand on chairs and play, so please get off the "concert band" jag. I'd also like to address the "line it up in the setup" comment re/the chairs. Corps put equipment out all the time in preset spots, and I don't see you criticizing that practice. Don't cherry-pick to support your opinion. If you saw the San Antonio show, you'd have noticed that some of the files were not dressed near the 50, so the box of chairs was off. There was no chance to adjust the form (as you'd have with a box formed by humans) until the chairs were restaged. For me, it decreased the effect of the show (and it seemed to reflect in the score) because my eyes went to the aberration whenever they crossed that area. Every time you restage the chair, it needs to be in a clean form or you have to live with it until you move it. A corps without chairs can have a dirty form and walk away from it. It's quickly forgotten. BD restaging the chairs puts pressure on the members to produce a clean form with proper orientation of the prop, many times in the matter of a count or two. When it comes to finals, they might sink or swim based on how well they restage the chairs. One bad form could poison what might otherwise be a championship performance. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not a huge fan of the chairs but you have to look at the ups, downs, challenges and demands from both the designer's and members' standpoint. At the beginning of the season I was a bit concerned with the chairs being in the way. Since then, they've refined and limited their use to a point that they're seamless. Someone made the comment that BD "was devoid" of show design, but obviously you don't appreciate the difficulty of programming chairs into a show and making them an asset rather than a liability. The balance of the show is well crafted and competitive both in terms of design quality, exposure and difficulty. BD certainly has some areas of their show that need improvement (the closer, for example) but the chairs are NOT one of them. The corps moves in the "typical" drill style as much as the rest of the top contenders, with the exception of Crown, who move less than any of them by a wide margin. All things considered, they've done an exemplary job of staging and handling the chairs, and also weaving it into the fabric of a show that is championship caliber. All aspects of the ensemble, horns, drums and color guard - are competitive at the highest level. Whether they ultimately win the title is unsure, but criticism based on the horn line sitting down for fifteen seconds is quite ridiculous. Bottom line, the chair haters are just creating a "straw man" to complain about. If you don't like a corps, that's fine. Just don't spend your time bashing that which you obviously don't understand. This goes for the judges as well. They're professionals that do a difficult job well. If you've never done it, give it a shot. Maybe you'll appreciate what they are asked to do, and not call into question an obvious consensus.

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Football fields are larger on the Great Plains - it makes the players look smaller.

Easier to clean? Depends on what you're doing. Much asymmetry is easy to "clean" - if you keep smooth forms and good intervals, who's to say what's wrong or right? Of course, in symmetrical drills, when things don't match - which side is right???

Yeah, those were some nasty floating turns. I believe that was happening at the same time as the rotating and floating X's (or +'s if you prefer) in the baris and sops. Drums rotated around us middle horns during our feature. Free really was a tough drill all around, and it really doesn't look like it because it flows so well. It's nice to appreciate it after all these years.

You know, I don't remember. The half life of my brain cells must be 30 years... LOL.

Well, that certainly was the way BD did it. Not really "in your face" demand/difficulty, and the execution of many areas of the show probably hid the difficulty. Certainly we had somewhat of a "vanilla" symmetrical visual show but you had to match side to side - another exposure lacking in asymmetry. While the gate turns were a signature move, the spirals in "Free" were without question the most difficult drill move we ever encountered. The middle horns really carried the move. We had to move a circle at a 45 to center front, then break the circle open and do a blind connection to the sops, who were sliding in from behind. Once attached, the dress responsibilities were about three directions at once with a constantly changing arc path. All while playing sixteenth note runs... Perhaps it can be found in a watchable state somewhere in web land. The closer you got to the pivot point, the more ridiculous the move was. Fun! Funny seeing the marching keyboards. LOL. It's even more ridiculous watching earlier videos with the marching tymps. What the heck was everyone thinking???

Normally we had tempo locked in really tight to begin with. The beginning of "La Suerte" took some doing because of the exposure. The drums played a downbeat, and we came in on beat two. If you waited to hear the downbeat, reacted and played you'd be late so it took an aural override to make it on time. Fun stuff! The 'gate turns' were really the only other tempo issue, as you had to really listen to the center. One year we tried doing them from the outside in, and that didn't go well. One funny note on the gate turns - for whatever reason, and I don't know the statistical probablility of this, I ended up next to the same person every year (Lisa Berkey - now Lisa South). Change of order, change of side, didn't matter. The twist in the story - I'm about 6'2" and Lisa is in the low 5 foot range. It made it interesting to maintain elbow contact, especially for Lisa. It's hard to march and play with your elbows higher than your horn...

Yeah, the drill writers didn't cut us any slack - a 60 yard spread and separation for the start of "La Suerte". Made for a nice stereo sound...

I'd second that motion. SG7 was a great drum feature. Spirit's "Devil Went Down to Georgia" was fantastic as well. Pretty much any of the Bridgemen solos of the late 70s-early 80s were pretty sick.

Wow. I had no idea Ralph was ever in the VK. I guess "you learn something every day"...

Wow - "back to the future". The Frontiersmen used to rehearse there back in the day - we're talking early 70's.

Yes, I remember that now! Probably explains why they moved it to the baseball field. It was fun deafening the crowd while it lasted...

You could generally slide around obstacles, but with a livestock-intensive parade such as the American Royal, there sometimes wasn't much choice. The sweepers, which cleaned up periodically, sometimes cleaned "the big stuff" but left a thin slime on the road, especially if it was raining. Yuck! Yeah, the Salinas Rodeo Parade did at least police itself. Remember the stadium (at the high school, I believe) they had the show at up until around '77? REALLY small, concrete bowl with full surround, and any good size corps could vaporize the crowd (well, we enjoyed it...heh, heh). Then they went and moved it over to the baseball stadium, which was not nearly as fun. Well the French Horn campaign is succeeding, if more slowly than we'd like. All things in good time, I hope.

I guess that makes me a FMM as well. Thanks!

I thought it was because the beer is colder there...