hrnguy500

Troopers! - Classy show Crossmen - I was really hesitant to like this show at first but they really sold me by the end. They got a good thing going 2 years in a row SCV Crown - I get giddy listening to the brass

I like Troopers. SCV has a nice low brass sound. I love the tuba feature. In general though, there is a lot more goo in the groups so it's hard to distinguish the true brass sound.

I gotta give my vote to the mello soloist for SCV. Solid sound and musicality. And the corps really supports him well, especially with the back field playing.

The weather decided to hold up for Omaha. We have had some nasty storms roll through in the past here in Nebraska. Luckily there was only some spritzing rain during the first few corps. Cascades - While their show needs a lot of work, they have a good foundation established. They look to be pretty solid in the battery and guard but they are small in the hornline. This made it hard to hear the horns at times as they were covered up. Their uniforms are really sharp looking. The neon green plumes really pop out against the field. Troopers - Great field entrance. Wow, what a sound. They pack a punch and march with pride. I'm always impressed by Troopers. I found this show to be very enjoyable. I had my reservations as it was another Western themed show but they changed my mind right away. Overall this is a very classy show. There are a lot of tributes to the Troopers of old in this show including a starburst and the old Trooper guard uniform. Their show concept is coming along well. Hints of "11" are being put nicely into the drill and the guard. Maybe they can throw in some Spinal Tap references too? JK Academy - Very long "pre-show". There is an "MC" at the beginning that tries to pump up the crowd. I bought into it for the first 15 seconds and then got annoyed with it. Let's start the show, I want to hear some horns! There are some entertaining moments of the show but I think it's a little cluttered with the drill and guard. The chairs are somewhat effective but I think they would be better served in the cafeteria. They didn't pack nearly as much punch as the Troopers, which was disappointing. The Piano Man closer is entertaining and encourages an audience sing-a-long. To me, this show screams BOA. BK - This show has me disappointed. The show concept is so cool and there are some big GE moments but it really lacks something. The first half is more enjoyable than the second. I feel like the show looses steam when they go into First Circle. The big gigantic blue ball is pretty dumb imo. Bigger isn't always better. The gigantic tarp near the sideline is neat to look at but it also scrams indoor guard. It's hard to like this show. I think BK was onto something a few years ago but they seem to have ventured off into the abstract world. They were not a crowd favorite in Omaha. They only got tepid applause and a few standing ovations. Yikes, even the crowd stood for Cascades. SCV - Wow, what a great show. This was the crowd favorite by far. I think the popularity of the music and the excitement of the drill really connects with the average audience member. This might be the crowd favorite of DCI '13, it is for me. Probably the coolest part of the show is when the corps plays backfield behind the panels. Sadly, that will probably not sound as cool in Lucas Oil. I think it SCV can pop some more vis GE in to the show they can gun for 4th. Crown - They blew the walls down. Very cool moments laced throughout the show. The crowd was starting to dig it by the end. I think there is some turn off by the vocals (me included) but that hornline melts your face. It's hard not to like Crown. This show is innovative without being extremely obscure like BD. I was able to watch these guys rehearse in the afternoon and it really helped to get a sense of what is going on. To the average fan, they might be turned off by this show. The ballad is pretty cheesy. I haven't hear such poor dialogue since Sara Jones told us her life story in '08. I'm not sure that Crown had their best run though. There were some sloppy moments in the hornline that I didn't hear in the afternoon. BD - Wow...that is a lot of poles. There is a lot of stuff going on in this show. I feel like I've just contracted ADHD after watching it. I think the first 2 minutes are pretty dang clever and effective, after that I'm lost. I was really hoping to like this show more. I haven't like a BD show in years. They are back to being "cutting edge". I don't think they were a crowd favorite. I actually thought some of the drill was sloppy. There is a lot of scatter drill stuff but the stuff that is suppose to pop out didn't really for me. I heard a lot of talk about how "clean" BD is already but I didn't see it. Encore: Crown performed a couple of pieces (Brass only). The first was a march (Rolling Thunder?). My friend said it made his night because that is his favorite circus march. I'm not sure what the 2nd piece was but it was more contemporary. Then the treat of the night was a joint encore! BD hornline came out and joined with Crown for another piece. The announcer came on to say that this was a special tribute to Jim Ott. It happened to be the anniversary of Jim Ott's tragic death. Both hornlines combined to perform Jim's arrangement of the Naval Hymn. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! It was such a classy tribute to one of the greats of DCI. This was one of the highlights of the night!! In the end, Crown took honors. They almost beat BD by a point. It was a great show. Really nice to see some western corps take on Crown.

*bump* Saw Cascades last night in Omaha and they have the start of a good show. They have brass spots to fill. If you are interested in marching this summer, check them out. They are heading to Minnesota this weekend. If you want to march and are in the area go talk to someone in the corps and see what can happen. There are many kids that join mid way through the season so it's not too late.

Just saw Troopers at the Omaha show. It is such a great show. They have so many great moments and they were a crowd favorite. They play with confidence and the sell their show. It might not be as flashy as some of the other corps but it's a classy show. With regards to the "American" flag, it's easy to tell it is not the real American flag. Even from a distance you can see the Troopers logo in the blue area. There are also 11 stripes in reference to their show title. (Seems like this show might have been perfect for 2011.)

I watched both groups last night in Omaha. I was also able to watch SCV in their afternoon block and caught a run through of BD. Both groups are doing excellent work on the field. SCV is probably my favorite show this season. I enjoyed BD for the first couple minutes of the show but then they lost me. I don't see SCV overtaking BD this season. The gap is too big. BD's show plays to the judges sheets more than SCV. I was telling my friends that SCV has more of a classic show and BD is cutting edge. I think if we were in the 90's, then SCV would be gunning for gold.

Thanks for the info. I totally just realized that they had it on their website. I just didn't dig very hard. :P

Can anyone discuss who all is on staff for this season? I'm curious if the "back to roots" thing is from an alumni perspective or another new staff member to the corps. I am enjoying the camp videos. Keep it up BK!

This is a trick question. No. The tick system was based upon judging corps on traditional marching and precision execution (a la military style). The blue devils execute and are clean. However, half of their show is filled with goofy visuals and running. The are far from a more traditional marching style that they had 20-30 years ago. Plus they started this years show in half uniform. That would never fly with the tick system.

You need field judges!! There should be two percussion judges. One for pit and one for d-line. The OP is correct in saying that the perc judge doesn't get an accurate picture. I listen to perc tapes for my band and always get disgusted when the judge misses a pit feature for some menial dline lick or vice versa. The field judges need to ##### individuals. As many have said, what is seen from the box isn't always the same as on the field. Judges can pinpoint what sections are not contributing or overplaying. This then gives the staff valuable insight in what to focus on in rehearsals. The idea of a judge on the field is also important for the performers. Knowing that there is an individual near you at any point in the show will help the performers to "step up" and impress the judges even more. It's a weird mentality but it just works. If the performer is told that there are only judges in the box then subconsciously they may not execute to the highest degree possible. They might think that they can hide within the group. Field judges help to expose your greatest weaknesses. I'm not too concerned about the professional look of a judge. I really don't notice them most of the time.

I think I got it backwards. 2012 Best to Crown 1999 loudest to BD

Cavies

I must admit that I have walked "toe first" around my house on occasion. It is in order to reduce the amount of squeaks and creaks from the floor boards. It tends to work. Walking barefoot in the house tends to be very noisy if you have hardwood floors. I also tried walking around at work "toe first". This was very weird to me. It didn't feel natural at all but then again, I have always walked around heel-toe while wearing shoes.

2006 Cadets 2008 Cadets 2012 Cavies

Seems like it would cause some issues on rehearsal fields. I remember marching on some fields with very thick grass. I would think toe down might cause more fatigue.

Could someone give insight into the marching technique of the Bluecoats? Particularly the forwards marching technique. If you don't know what I am referring to, check out a show from this season and watch the feet. It looks as though they go toe first on the forwards march all the time, not just slow tempos. Almost as if they are shuffling their feet everywhere. The only time I saw toes up was on the company front near the end. Does anyone know if this results in cleaner feet (timing) or if it reduces injuries/creates more injuries? I guess whatever works. It looks uniform throughout so it was actually hard to tell at first. Any opinions as to whether you think it looks good or not?

People, the be-heading's are part of the storyline of Turandot. The prop doesn't seem to be that flashy. I honestly don't think they could do better for what they are trying to achieve.

I watched the Allentown show today and was very impressed by BK's level of achievement thus far. Early in the season was VERY rough. I'm still not completely digging the show. There are many things that are turn offs for me. However, they have some good design and a tough book. I think they are executing very well. They should challenge for 10th

Can you please give evidence of this statement? I've heard (hearsay) that some staff of struggling corps get paid poorly, if at all. We have heard horror stories of corps that lack food to feed their corps so I doubt those corps were lavishing funds upon the staff. Granted, some staff members make their living by running a corps so they should be given some sort of respectable salary. I would agree with you that equipment is more expensive. Since pits have been grounded, we have seen them double, even triple in size. Corps numbers have increased, requiring more equipment. Sadly, corps feel the need to "keep up" with the top dogs so they max out their rosters and thus spend more money on equipment. Plus, electronics have factored in and those are not cheap.

The number of corps going down is sad to see. I'm sure no one is cheering the fact that these corps have gone. I would say that the level of musicianship is higher than that of 30 years ago.

Just watched their show for the first time. It is really cooking! They could hang tough with some of the world class corps.

This is interesting because there are Star Wars arrangements out there for marching band.

I like this thread. Now I'm going back and trying to catch all these moments that I haven't seen yet on FN.

Maybe we should create a BCS type computer system to determine the ultimate champion.