ordsw24

A. Spaeth's work in BOA is amazing. 2001 PCEP is no doubt one of the best shows in BOA ever.

It's mostly staging now with BD.

Guard is PR's strongest caption this year imo, at least right now. They do a LOT of work, and their weapon tosses are both more numerous and more difficult than in the majority of years' past. Also, their weapon section is significantly larger than in years' past (= more difficulty). If PR has any problems this year, the guard is not one of them. Also, their movement book is great this year... The all-movement "Rockord files" (old-school, fast-paced ripple effect using flags and rifle tosses down a vertical straight line -- usually 3 across -- that showed up in a lot of Regiment shows in various combinations in the late 70s & early 80s) is pretty KICK A**. One criticism I have from years' past is that PR's guard often added movement for movement's sake alone. It was not particularly effective or all that difficult...more like window dressing. This year, they have some great movement statements that are purposeful and tend to involve a great deal of training/ technique. I don't know names, but I remember reading a guard instructor had been promoted to guard caption head this season. She (I belive it was a she) is doing a wonderful job imo.....the guard is clearly one of the corps' strongest assets this year.

So I just watched PR twice...once last night before bed and again this morning. The show grew on me a lot by the second reading. I really do not get what all the fuss and criticism in this thread is about. The show is just fine and will do respectably well in August. The guard has a very meaty book and when cleaned up, that caption will really shine. They are doing some really great things....impactful rifle work/ tosses and the all-movement "Rockord files" section is amazing. The hornline sounds great. The music/ arrangement is very red-meat Phantom imo.... and you have to give credit for no narration and ixnay on an over-reliance on electronics. The drill will improve over time as things are added/ cleaned up. Honestly, reading some of the posts on here, I thought the show would not be good at all. It is quite good and overwhelmingly, the many comments attached to the video I watched are very positive and encouraging. Maybe these commenters are naive; maybe some posters on here are too jaded, maybe it's a combination. Either way, Phantom won't win this year, but they will represent very well and finish in the top 7. The sky is not falling.

Actually, as drum corps evolves and changes (not necessarily arguing for the better, but it is constantly evolving), it makes sense that every aspect of the visual package is analyzed. There have been many WGI shows where having rifles made no sense -- really made no sense, whether it was due to the show's theme and/ or the show's historical period/ place. I know there have been glaring examples of this in the past. Yes, the rifle could be seen as a guard object unto itself, devoid of its associations as a weapon, and this is what most audience members have done with shows where rifles made no sense -- just ignored the obvious and sometimes comical anachronism and enjoyed the show anyway. But why not take a look at whether it makes sense to have rifles/ sabres considering a show's theme? Drum corps & WGI have become more and more distanced from their military roots over the years. Some would argue too much so, but I for one would not want to go back to the "good old days" of required color units, and strict M&M guidelines that basically required military style marching, etc. Also, if drum corps is to appeal more to a world-wide audience and grow, doing what the Cadets are doing -- using equipment that can be manipulated similar to rifle/ sabres without being/ appearing as rifles/ sabres might not be a bad thing at all. Many people outside of drum corps from other parts of the world that do not have a gun culture like we do here would be quite perplexed, even turned off, by seeing rifles and sabres used (celebrated) in a drum corps show. That's not being PC, that's just reality. The US gun culture is actually quite an anomaly when compared to the rest of the world.

I really like your post, and I totally agree with you about BD's production this season. I disagree, though, that a show should not take more than one viewing to (fully) appreciate. I have found in the past that certain shows grow on me considerably with each viewing, and it's always exciting to find something I never noticed before despite multiple viewings of a show. In fact, I actually believe that a truly great show needs to be viewed in multiple viewings from multiple angles in order to be appreciated, but that's just me. Coming from a WGI perspective, I really welcomed the advent of multi-focused shows, which if I am not mistaken were at least in part created/ perfected by current and/ or past BD designers. With multi-focused shows, you very literally either have to let your eyes relax and get fuzzy to attempt to take it all in, or you have to choose to focus on one element going on among several happening at any given moment and zero in on that. To a point, this has always been the case in DCI -- but it has been more about choices you make, such as whether to focus in on the percussion, the color guard, a soloist dancer, or the entire field. Generally speaking, you can view the show's entire package and your brain feels like it is taking it all in. But about 20 years ago in WGI, a few shows really started to explore the multi-focus avenue, where at times, there were several elements going at any given moment actively competing for your attention. Your brain simply could not take it all in as a cohesive whole, and to try to do so became almost disconcerting. Designers have many clever ways to direct one's eye around a show, guiding our attention from one element to the next. In traditional design, various elements complement each other and do not compete for your attention (if they did, it was not by intention). There might be a lot going on, and the design might be complex and very creative and effective, but it is clear to the viewer what is being emphasized. In contrast, with multiple-focused shows (not my term btw, WGI used it to describe these shows when they were introduced) there are sections in which there are no clues as to what the designer wants you to watch -- you literally have to choose between competing elements that are (if well designed, anyway) discrete and equally arresting, yet still tied to the overall concept of the show. I only saw BD's show once this year, but I would not be surprised at all if the designer(s) of BD 2013 did not also design some of those early WGI shows so well known for being multi-focused (Bishop Kearney most clearly comes to mind). I absolutely love this type of writing/ designing. When done well, it can be very engaging, exciting, and cerebral. The various layers and elements are just more chock-full of goodies to be uncovered and explored with each successive viewing. This type of design also can demand more of the viewer, something I believe gets a bit too much resistance in the pageantry arts sometimes.

"New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom" by Joseph Schwantner. I would ditch the narration (or scale it back massively) and possible ditch the entire theme (black civil rights). The music could work thematically in any number of ways. I particularly like how percussive and brass-focused this piece is. There are entire sections (some of the slow sections) that could be cut (original score is about 24 min.) making editing/ rescoring the piece for drum corps pretty straightforward. The ending is really quiet, eerie, and haunting. This composition would definitely stand out on the drum corps field and be challenging to produce, but imo could be re-tooled into a really interesting and dynamic drum corps show.

Have to believe someone else brought this up (don't have time to read through every response..but glanced through a lot of them) but 1989 Cadets of Bergen County used the Tricolor in their Les Miz production. I remember there was a pretty bold yellow stripe running along the edge of the flag out of respect for the official French flag I assume. That yellow stripe made if fairly obvious it was not the official French flag, but it was still visually very much the French flag for the purpose of the show, if that makes sense.

Cadets early 1990s (as others have already mentioned) gets my vote. Great design & extremely high level of performance. Also, PR's 1993 guard book sticks out as exceptional. I believe this book struck the perfect balance between movement and equipment. I'm a huge fan of dance/ modern dance, but sometimes, on the drum corps field, too much dance can seem like busy work and superfluous, and/ or can't be fully appreciated. Also, this guard complemented the music and show so well. Some of the guard work received really big audience responses not just for the work itself, but also because it was so well coordinated with the overall show design and music. As for Suncoast Sound...I can see what posters are saying about them, but wasn't this more of an overall design effort than necessarily innovation in the guard caption? I don't particularly recall the guard being that revolutionary... what sticks out more is the soloist and the entire show design/ construction being more "winter guard" like.

Wasn't there, but I don't know what's more sad in that video..the reaction to the second place score, or the half empty stands for retreat. Was attendance down this year? Boxingfred, good post above, but you forgot about the mini reign of Star of Indiana. Their money really scared everyone.

I'm not claiming DCI judging is inept across the board and I agree that no judging system will ever be perfect. The goal should be continuous improvement. However, I am stating there are not insignificant deviations from the "norm" -- i.e., there is (at least one) judge who is consistently scoring a corps significantly lower than other judges in whatever caption he is judging -- in comparison to 2 nights before and 2 nights after his adjudication. Or, in other words, several judges are scoring said corps higher in these captions, thereby creating a "norm" and making the lower score/ placement from the judge in question a deviation from this norm. It's been a little while since I've had stats, but what I'm describing is pretty much the basic definition of a deviation, and this is data that presumably could be graphed and identified with a basic software program/ Excel (with some work). There is the case to be made that this one judge has it right, and the other judges are going on name recognition of the corps or designer, or are misinterpreting the score sheets, etc. Nevertheless, there does exist a deviation that perhaps warrants closer inspection because both parties cannot be "correct" in absolute terms as the score sheets are written. In any case, if I were the director of the corps in question, I would not want to see his name anywhere on the finals line-up because they can expect a hit to their score. All that said, I really appreciate crest99's response... scoring fluctuations do make for a more exciting finals week. There is no denying this.

Sorry if this has been asked/ clarified on here before. We all know "bias" exists to a point....each judge inevitably brings his or her own set of expectations, knowledge, perspective, interpretation of the sheets, etc. to the field. Totally get that. I'm just wondering if DCI has any kind of tracking system and remediation in place for considerable fluctuations in scores from one judge to another, and in particular, if one judge differs from the general consensus of the rest of the judging panel in a particular caption on subsequent/ previous contests, placing them 1 or 2 spots lower. Corps can have an off night, but the "content" caption should not fluctuate very much in one day, right? And I don't mean fluctuations in raw numbers, but in placement/ relational terms. It's pretty easy to track these types of variations once you notice them (I'm a bit of a recap breakdown geek). There is one judge who is scoring one corps a lot lower than other judges in whichever caption he is judging -- and I'm not just talking a few tenths -- it's sometimes literally a point and half or more difference in just that one caption from one night to the next compared to another corps right next door in placement (scoring said corps lower and the other corps higher = 1.5 or more net difference). This judge may be perfectly justified in scoring the corps in question so low compared to other judges, but 1.5 in one caption is a huge difference from one night to the next, (again, comparatively speaking in relation to the corps it has been placing next to all season) so this discrepancy matters and possibly warrants a closer look imo. It would seem a computer software program could track anomalies such as this. Any ideas if such discrepancies are tracked, and how DCI handles them? Edit: I'm obviously not going to name the judge or corps in question (there may be and probably is more than just this one example), but one judge/ one corps across all captions he's judged stood out in particular to me as being lower than his judging peers.

I mean this in the nicest and most complimentary way, but Crown 2013 reminds of a really good BOA show, especially with all of the body work (which BOA has tended to adopt more fervently in the past 5-10 years than DCI) and especially the running dual arrangement, which many BOA shows have done. The Freebird/ Firebird show especially comes to mind, but there have been many others. Not saying DCI shows have not done this type of arrangement before, because many shows have, but it's definitely more common and more pronounced in BOA. Also, Crown percussion this year definitely seems more tamped down (much like a BOA show), and the electronics and narration, well, that just screams BOA. Again, I'm not criticizing Crown, I'm just surprised they are not getting more flack for what I've mentioned above. Based on many posts on here, I expected a much more "red meat" DCI show. It's really anything but imo.

Can't wait for Thursday.

I have not seen Crown's show yet, but just based on the uniforms, they are definitely looking very BD-ish. Very, very BD.

Don't sweat it. An entire BOA band hid under a tarp for the last 1/4 of their show a few years ago and won. 6 horns is hardly a big deal to sacrifice.

Good post. Last year, there was a lot of moaning on here that some corps (we all know who) were being too innovative, i.e., getting too far afield from the established drum corps show format and platform. Now this year there's moaning that shows aren't innovative enough, when it seems these corps being criticized are giving the whiners from last year a huge chunk of red meat by giving them exactly what they were pining for. I guess you just can't win.

FWIW, among BOA, WGI, & DCI, my order (from worst to first) for judging excellence is: BOA (by far the worst; score sheets alone are a total mess and need to be overhauled), DCI, and WGI. I'm not saying WGI is by any means perfect at all (far, far from it), but overall, imo, I believe they have created the best judging system of the three, and have often been at the forefront of changes that have improved pageantry arts adjudication.

FWIW I love flying on regional jets. If you have to gate check a roller-board, it comes up plane-side instead of at baggage claim (bags checked at the podium still go to baggage claim). Also, every seat is a window or an aisle on most of the RJs I've flown on, and I esp. like the a/c that are 2-1 configuration. Also, boarding and deplaning is a lot faster, and the whole flying experience just feels like less of a hassle. The bigger aircraft FAs seem to make so many more announcements during boarding that can feel rather nagging. RJ flights just seem like less fuss and drama and the passengers seem less keyed up -- this is my experience anyway. Also, with FA turnover at the regional jet companies fairly high, the FAs are usually pretty new and still nice (not jaded yet). Also, the newer RJ a/c are quieter and roomier than older a/c. As to your other issue, I would enjoy the trip and not worry about being alone, esp. if you are going to meet someone in SA. People travel alone all the time, eat alone in restaurants, and even go to movies alone. I travel for work, and have to eat alone all the time, and it's a total non-issue for me now (it was a bit odd at first I'll admit). I'm so used to it now, it's second nature. Enjoy and have fun!!

I don't believe forging ties to the marching arts activity in Asia (China), in whatever form this might take, is necessary ridiculous at all, when you consider that the North American market is probably very close to or at saturation. How many kids who have the desire to march, and the money & time, don't march because they cannot find a corps to march with? I would suspect not many. Yes, there might be some who only want to march with one particular corps and hold out for that corps, but I suspect the current demand for drum corps probably matches the number of people currently interested in marching, and with the means and time to do so, fairly closely. This is evidenced by the fact that even some top 12 caliber corps often have spots open at the beginning of tour. If there are fewer corps today, finances (both due to the huge expense of running a corps -- think fuel prices alone compared to the 1980s and 90s -- and the opportunity costs to members who not only have to pay dues, but forgo a summer job) are probably the major reason why, and not lack of organization or promotion on DCI's part. I'm not saying DCI is perfect, but every issue facing the drum corps activity in N. American cannot be placed solely at their door step. DCI can advocate for the restructuring of summer tour to economize on mileage, but it has no way of controlling external costs like the price of fuel. So, what did American-based tobacco companies do when smoking rates in the U.S. started to decline after anti-smoking public health initiatives started to take root? They went overseas to aggressively market their products, particular in Asia (and more specifically, SE Asia), and with great success. HBO's "Vice" just did a segment about tobacco's huge market push in Indonesia. Seeking out new revenue streams for DCI is not inherently a bad idea imo. Sure, the argument can be made that DCI needs these individual drum corps more than these corps need DCI, but a strong, financially secure DCI structure is beneficial to the health of the entire activity. China has over four times the population of the U.S., and as leisure time there and their economy continue to expand, there are huge opportunities for activities such as the marching arts to grow. If ever there was a time to gain a foothold in that or other emerging Asian markets, now is the time.

Don't really have an answer to the OP's question, but I remember a thread last year that speculated on which country or region DCI is most likely to to expand in and market to in the future. I was watching a Youtube video compilation that featured shows from US, Japan, and Malaysia (and I believe Thailand). I knew Japan had a thriving marching arts scene, but I had no idea SE Asia was as advanced as it is. DCI is smart to try to make inroads into China considering the size of the country and its economic success. As their marching arts scene expands and matures, they will undoubtedly develop their own style and strengths, which will serve to rejuvenate and strengthen the activity as a whole.

I didn't read through the posts, so I'm not sure if bloopers count? There's 2 from the 80's, a flag drop and horn solo (same corps, different year), that come to mind, but I'm not naming names in case bloopers don't count. It was comical, but at the same time horrifying, and it just proves mistakes can happen to anyone, even in finals, with the camera and mic right there to catch it. The soloist's chops were just shot and the color guard thing was a fluke (not even a toss)... awesome performers no doubt. Yes, it is comical, though...way more comical than any slapstick farce (which is almost universally painfully NOT comical) written into a show. Again, I know that could have easily been me so not judging, just answer the question presented. :D

I'm back on this board after a long absence. I don't march and I don't plan on marching ever again in junior or senior level -- way too busy with work and school. Still, was curious... some data would be really helpful in this thread. (Sorry if it's listed somewhere else...posters are referring to a blog, which I have not read). What is the average age of IW guards? How many members of IW units are, on average, over 22? If it's only a few members on average for the top guards, then lifting the rule or keeping it in place won't really make much difference imo.

Hi. A couple of years ago, I was watching some WGI videos while staying at a friend's house (he was on summer tour) and I would like help id'ing a show I really liked. The friend has since gotten rid of those tapes (they were VHS), and he doesn't know which show I am talking about b/c he had so many. Anyway, it was either Independent A or Open class from a LONG time ago -- maybe like early 90s?? Not even sure, I was just randomly watching some old tapes. I may be wrong, but the guard may have been from Colorado I think. Could totally be wrong about that, but for some reason CO sticks out in my mind. Anyway, the show had a WWII theme. It started out all happy and upbeat (soldiers going off to war), but then it gets really dark in the second half of the show, once the reality of war sets in. This contrast was unexpected and very effective imo. It was a great show and I'd like to try to find it on Fan Network so I can watch it again. Thanks in advance for help id'ing this show for me. :D

I don't believe there is any infrastructure in place to support DCI, but culturally, I believe Russia would definitely be able to challenge American corps if they did have the right infrastructure. There are several reasons I believe this. For one, they have a rich military history and tradition like we do (drum corps, after all, did originally spring out of that tradition). But more importantly, when you look at the Olympic events that most resemble the pageantry arts, no country touches Russia -- from rhythmic gymnastics, to figure skating (we compete well in this area, but how much of this has to do with Russian coaches and skaters who have emigrated?), to synchronized swimming. While synch swimming may be often ridiculed, it is absolutely amazing what Russian designers have come up with over the past several Olympics, leaving the U.S. and other teams in the dust. Russia also has a phenomenal classical, ballet, and modern dance tradition that could easily carry over to drum corps designers in that country. What often separates good drum corps from great drum corps is design, and I believe Russian designers would be able to craft shows that could compete with the U.S. It also does not hurt that Russian coaches tend to be sticklers about technique. Rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, synch swimming and all forms of dance rely very heavily on proper technique for success. Attention to proper technique would obviously be crucial to success in music captions as well. Furthermore, Russian Olympic coaches know how to play the score sheets to their advantage better than anyone. We invented synchro swimming, but once they studied the sport and analyzed the scoring sheets, they figured out how to beat us at our own game. They obviously don't right now, but if Russia did have the right infrastructure in place to support drum corps, they could easily challenge us imo.