BRASSO

Crown reportedly has a lot of age outs this year. I could see them falling back a bit, ...but who knows.

2 Corps used large props on the field this year as an integral part of their show that members from various sections played on ( Blue Devils, Blue Stars ) While much of the talk has been on instumentation useage on DCP of late, in my opinion there will be at least a DOUBLING of the number of Corps in the top12 that will come out on the field next year with props and in which a combination of Brass, Percussion, Guard will perform with such props. Some Corps will have the members carry the props, some wont. But that's my prediction..... at least 4, and probably more, of the top 12 will use props on the field next year in their show. If pressed and asked " which Corps ? ", I'll go out on a limb here and say a) The Cadets and b) Phantom Regiment,.... as two that will slow down the high velocity drills and utilize props in stationary positions at key moments of the show to highlight the brass, percussion playing. But who knows. We'll just have to wait and see.

These might have been my exact words to describe the Cavaliers as well. Don't get me wrong, I liked The Cavaliers of 2009. But I get the feeling I've seen this stylistic visual show before from them, and there is little to no emotional connection to the audience with the theme of 2009. There was little that could be considered unique or cutting edge from them this year in this 2009 show.

Congratulations to Carolina Crown for their fine season. I love this Corps music....... even their encore performances are not to be missed !

The Troopers making it back to the Finals after a 23 year absence has to warm the heart of many of it's alums as well as long time followers of Drum Corps. While I feel for the Colts to have been nipped by the Troopers with the smallest of margins to be denied that last coveted Finals spot, this truly was a great moment for the Troopers who I'm sure worked very hard to get back like they did this year.

'Hard to pick among those. But you seemed to have selected the right narratives as to how most of us will remember 2009. I was also struck that this was an off year in general for the midwest Corps as a collective group. That said, I have little doubt that this was a one year aberration for mid west Corps and they'll be back strong next year and in the future.

Boston moved up 3 places this year from 10th to 7th. And did so with a show that was entertaining. Also, Boston this year showed that they were not a Corps that was about to fall back come Finals week this year. They came on strong within their grouping once they got to Finals week this year, and really turned it up a notch to finish ahead of some very strong competition at Finals. Congratulations to the Boston Crusaders for a terrific season of improvement and just as importantly, for having a crowd pleasing show this year that you all can be very proud of.

2009 will go down as the year of the Blue Devils dominance. Their Open Class Corps, Blue Devils B, entered 15 Competitions and won every one of them to go undefeated and be crowned Open Class Champions. The Blue Devils World Class Corps entered 26 competitions and won every one of them to go undefeated and be crowned World Class Champions. 41-0 for 2009 between the two Blue Devils Corps. And in the Finals, The Blue Devils won the World Class Competition in dominating fashion with one of the largest victory margins ever in DCI Finals history. Congratulations to the entire Blue Devils organization. What an amazing year for them.

That's TOO funny. But if Blue Devils win with the chairs, and the Blue Stars move up from their Semi's placement here at Finals, you can be sure that lots of Corps wil be bringing back staging props next year to do stationary playing. And you can take that to the bank.

Same here. I understand the points being made on this thread about the visual design, the lack of flow, the visual execution, theme, and use of swing music that some beliieve does not fit into the theme and with Phantom's " rep " , etc...... all valid observations. But strip away the keen analysis, and this will STILL be one of the first Corps I reach for from 2009 to listen to their music in the future.

also Visual Perf. But Zimbelman and Fugett have so far been receptive to Crown this year... so it might be a wash.

This is some of the research data I was interested in learning about to support some of the tendencies of these judges as opposed to " so in so hates BlahBlah Corps " or " BlahBlah Corps has no chance or moving up " and so forth. Thanks. a quick read on TENDENCIES....Chumley appears to really like the Blue Devils..... Zimbelman likes Crown over Cadets....Peppitone likes BD.....Costanza generally not a fan of Crown...... but Fugett seems to like Crown..... Marie Czapinski and Costanza have a tendency to like the Cadets........ overall, nothing sticks out...... seems a panel that is balanced going in from this data.

The good news on all this is that eventually DCI won't need human beings to judge either. They could get artificial robots to make the sound of a pencil on the judging pad. ( then watch the Cavaliers do a retro show entitled " The Machine... Part Deux " )

Bump this thread. I'd like to know from MORE people what Corps they think might benefit and who might not from tonite's Finals Judging panel..... who do these judges tend to like this year ?, and maybe not so much ? I think it's a good thread as we await tonight.

2009 Phantom Regiment still plays music that I'll listen too in the off season.

And of course, this just could be the ultimate destination down the road. Also, bear in mind that people who like and support change at every turn, would be completely ok with this., and would tell others to simply " stop complaining ", because as they've told us " change is inevitable ".

after looking at the judging recaps in both the quarters and semi's, I really think the Blue Devils are competing against themselves in the Finals to see if they can break 99. There are really no glaring weaknesses in any of their captions that lead me to think that the Blue Devils can be overtaken by any other Corps at Finals. Phantom shocked the Drum CAorps world by coming from 4 tenths back in the semi's last year to nip by a tenth the Blue Devils. But the Blue Devils were not undefeated last year, and frankly they had vulnerabilities that could be exploited, ie percussion perf. This year, the Blue Devils have more than DOUBLE that 4 tenths lead aftter the Semi.s and I see this as now a slam dunk for the Blue Devils unless they have a complete meltdown at Finals. I don't see this happening. Frankly, I think they they can taste it, and will win and do so convincingly too with a great performance.

If more than half an audience doesn't have a friggin clue what the theme is the Corps is trying to convey, it doesn't mean that a few thousand people in the stands are braindead morons. It means, frankly, that the show designer is orbiting around the earth and someone needs to stop him or her before they enter the next galaxy in their orbit. The shows that typically do well placement wise are those that tend to have a coherent theme readily understood by most in the audience. Conversely, those that have an exotic theme that is convoluted ( in plain words.... dopey ), these Corps tend to struggle all season to reach their potential. Here's a bit of advice to all current and future Drum Corps show designers : " keep it simple, stupid ".

But the Blue Devils would only get better as well. We could have all these Corps go to Labor Day, and guess what ? The Blue Devils would add more dance, equipment tosses, change the brass parts, drum parts or what have you, and would still win for the simple reason that they have lots of talent in their membership and in their staff.

Boy, is this getting silly or what ? Such wackly political caricatures would mean that fans who like all the new things in Drum Corps are... what ? " LEFT wing liberals " Whew, what a bunch of political cowdung to assign one's political views based upon whether or not ( say ) props like chairs, or the use of ( say ) narration, or synths or whatnot are a good thing for Drum Corps. Good grief, what a jaded thought process. Where one might sit on the political spectrum has ZERO to do with this thread topic.

Fans who wern't around to see a Drum Corps DCI Finals in earlier decades, but have to rely on bad video tape with bad audio can't be faulted for not being all that impressed. Video tape, even todays advanced video tape, is a very poor substitute for being there live. Those crappy videotapes don't do justice to those Corps, just like a tape of last year's top DCI performances stored on Fan Network doesn't come anywhere close to capturing well those performances compared with seeing them live.

No Corps in DCI history that has been undefeated after the Semi's and has gone into the Finals with over a 8 tenths lead has ever lost the following nite. Last year was the first time that the Blue Devils won the semi's, but lost the following nite. It would take a monumental collapse tomorrow nite for the Blue Devils to lose. The judges know what an excruciating loss it was for the Blue Devils to lose by the smallest of margins after winning both the quarters and the semi's, last year. This thing is over. The Blue Devils will win tomorrow nite and you can take that to the bank.

Congratulations to the Troopers. Jim Jones is smiling tonite in heaven.

BD 's guard might be the best I've seen in a long time.They don't just dance, their equipment work is the most difficult out there, and they execute the heck out of it.

I see Cavs beating SC Vanguard then tomorrow, as the Cavs were a little flat tonite, and SCV seemed " on ". If SCV couldn't beat a so so performance from the Cavs, tronite, I don't know if they can catch them tomorrow.