Stick Stack

Looks like INT is going to be my Hot dog corps tonight! Sorry INT!

I would go as far as to say yes, they would have probably beaten Vanguard or it would have been extremely close. Tonight will be different circumstances though, we'll have just have to wait and see!

You must have seen things I didn't, but I am a guard person and I would have had them in 1st. The sheer difficulty of what they are doing coupled with the way they are performing it is tops in my book. The only thing I can say for them is that they are tossing a whole lot! They are missing opportunities for other kinds of effects, but they do it so well that I don't mind. Another really odd thing is Bluecoats dropping to 12th in guard from 7th in quarters. Colts were 12 in quarterfinals in guard if I remember correctly.

I am Fausticus.

Maybe whomever told you that told me too because I've heard the exact same thing about a judge saying that corps in white will never be clean. Wierd.

The mileage sounds about right from where they are at, which is the Star rehearsal site. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's in Indy though. More like right outside Bloomington's North side. So... probably just a simple mistake.

I would say, Crown winning and being up their is on many people's wish lists. Fans and foes alike, I would say most people just want something NEW up there in the top 3! At the point when Crown passed the Cadets, I felt like it was a sign that they were gaining momentum and being rewarded for it. Crown up, Cadets down. Now that we have some more info, it seems at the moment that it was a momentary reward followed by a steady streak of "nevermind"! Just kidding! Why aren't the Cadets being predicted as winning? I personally would rather see others win, and I can at least speak for myself on that one. And aren't Cadets going to be happy either way, win or lose? It's like the point of their whole show. Give it to somebody who needs it and doesn't already have countless other championships to fall back on regardless! Other than that- Once you reach over 1000 posts on DCP I hear you get special secret priviledges that give out access Finals recaps a month before it happens. This is the only other logical conclusion. That or.... West Coast inflation combined with El Nino and Splooie the scape goat.

As people have stated, mus caption isn't specifically about a drumline's musicality. It is more of a content subcaption. Both Mus and Tech captions are strongly correlated to each other. This is why the scores are always fairly close to each other. As to why Mus is generally higher than Tech... I would venture to say that staffs want to give their members a challenge. They write a book that might not necessarily be fully achievable in it's entirety until later in the season. As far as I understand it, if the ensemble is scoring higher in tech than mus, this is because the level of playing is so strong for the book that is given that it goes above beyond what the face value content of the part is. As far as I know, the reason why they are so correlated and the reason that a staff simply can't write an immensely hard book that can't be achieved is because the judges will probably have little way of knowing how tough the book is on field. Painfully obvious example- If parts are written with extreme dynamics, yet a line plays at one level the entire show, how would a judge know this isn't how it's supposed to be? So the more a line achieves the parts technically, the easier it is to read the parts and here the musical content. Also, having too high of a degree of demand compared to the abilities of the player's would really only help to highlight their weaknesses. I think this is another reason why the scores are generally closer together in nature. P.S. Usual caveat, though, I know nothing about drums. Just spouting off ideas. The internet is fun!

Tony Hall is one crazy exciting guy. I could just visualize him saying this. I say it's a perfectly reasonable REQUEST. Something fun to do if you wanna feel like you're in the show. Vanguard's got some audience participation too. Snap and clap for Vanguard, Identity theft for Regiment... Dare I say scream bonzai!!! for Cavaliers? Box your neighbor for Bluecoats?

Is there proof that this really happens solely for the reason of peaking too early? It just sounds like the biggest waste of time to me, or somebody ran out of ideas on how to clean or... I don't even know all what. This really happens? It almost sounds like somebody comes up with a really bad idea and tries to cover up for it and play it cool. "Oh yeah, totally meant to do that. I could tell they were going to peak one day early, so, um, yeah. Part of my master plan!"

I hope it's more entertaining than Snakes-on-a-Plane. Where's that banana riding the green thing emoticon when you need it?

I disagree that perception equals reality. For example, someone who is anorexic often has the perception that they are fat, therefore they eat less and less, when, in actuality, they may already be well underweight. Their fear drives them to make unhealthy decisions. Their perception is seriously skewed with reality. I do agree that the common perception is that we are in a recession. And, unfortunately, unlike my example, this is probably either closer to the truth or soon to become very similar with reality for everyone. I just hope that THIS fear does not drive people to make poor decisions. Does anyone know the specifics on how this is affecting corps as it is and what they are doing currently to offset the costs?

I was thinking to myself the same thing yesterday.

By definition, it's factually correct. A recession is generally defined by two back to back quarters of negative economic growth. Despite all the chaos and helter skelter, the last quarter has yielded a very small amount of positive growth. (Something like 1%)

Well, I think the proof here is in the context. I think it's safe to say that noone really gets owned by, what, 5 tenths of a point on a regular season show? Beaten, yes. Owned. Probably not. 5 points, yes. 5 tenths... you get the point. If that was the case, you could be like, "Yo Crown, you just served by the Cadets in GE vis by like 3 tenths, what say you? Congrats Crown, shaking things up! This is what I like to see.

I would say make it cheaper to compete. Do corps need new uniforms as often as they get them? Do guards need new uniforms every year with new designs and sometimes multiple costume changes? New flags each year with new designs? Props? Electronic equipment? None of these are really necessary to do a drum corps show, yet more of these things are becoming increasingly more important to have competitive success. Regardless of their merit, if Drum Corps were in the interest of keeping costs down for all I feel that it would not go the route they do sometimes. With dues for members already being fairly extreme, I can really only see it getting worse for the future unless some kind of serious change happens.

Good point! Trying to calculate the scores based on side comments is not the easiest thing in the world.

I have to disagree. There is plenty of scientific evidence to support that smoking in public areas creates health risk. Wikipedia lists them on their second hand smoking page. If you don't trust wikipedia, here's a link to the surgeon general's report. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/ This is going to be tough for the Colts.

Spin it faster, and toss it lower. (All your other tosses) If your 7 is then the height of your original 6, then an 8 would be easier to get out.

Are you God or Chuck Norris? Otherwise, this would be pretty impossible.

Well, to answer the original question, I've never seen a show where they're too LOUD!!! Not a drummer though.

Yes, but it is a unique style, something that people have been begging to have more of!

I will try to back my predictions with loosely based logic! 1. Phantom - Because I like them. And I like where the show is going. 2. Cavaliers- Their design team will make them almost always tops or next to it. 3. Cadets- This is a difficult show, very gutsy. It reminds me of 03. 4. Blue Devils- Because I have heard nothing about them, they have already lost! Ha, sarcasm of course. Once I know more, it will change my mind. 5. Blue Coats- I really like this show idea. They have been on the rise, and they will stay near the top. 6. SCV- Will be of top caliber, and this will CERTAINLY not be typical 6th place show. 7. Carolina Crown- They'll get better percussion hopefully, and the whole corps will benefit from it. 8. Blue Knights- I don't think I'll like their show, but I think they will place around here, I guess. I actually don't know anything about them yet. 9. Boston Crusaders- New designers, new guard staff. Why not? 10. Glassmen. I believe they'll maintain where they've been at. 11. Crossmen!!!! Yeah. Mainly the move from Texas helps pick up their momentum. 12. Blue Stars!!!! Yeah. They've been on the rise. 13. Madison. The staff throwout, the lack of experienced members. I feel the show will still be of good calibur, but cleanliness and crisp Madison technique won't be quite there. 14-21? I've never really seen enough of these corps. I imagine corps like Spirit, Colts, and Southwind will be close, and Pioneer will be at the bottom but still manage to provide their members with a quality experience. That is all.

Yes, I'll have to disagree. I disagree that this activity requires dance as I believe you are meaning it. I think there are plenty of guards that do well in movement with "guard" movement and poor dance technique, yet it is cleaned and effective. Or, even the top guards that do skills in movement that are lightyears beyond some of their members in technique, yet they perform it extremely well that it does not matter. I don't believe color guard is to the point that every guard needs someone who specializes in dance in order to excel. Also, elements in color guard that are being added are borrowing from several kinds of other activities, particularly gymnastics. And instructors might add these elements, regardless of whether they know any technique about it or not, other than they know what the skill looks like or what it is called. Yet they still do it because it creates effect. I don't think we are to the point yet where a staff understands a thorough depth of technique in everything that is taught. Not yet anyways, perhaps it will eventually be like that. To tie this into the topic, I feel judges will look for the consistency indeed, but not necessarily proper or even safe dance training. It's all about performance and cleanliness.

I still can't always tell what I'm tossing all of the time, so when I got lost I use this method- I toss every toss until I get to the one I want. Example- If I want to toss a six (And know for sure that it is a six) then I toss a single, then double, then triple, quad, five, then six. If your rotation stays consistent then it should be easier to feel the difference between each toss when you move in succession like that. The counts posted above are pretty standard and are accurate guidelines. This is also assuming a moderate tempo and a clear, clean, crisp rotation speed. (Which is usually faster than what most people spin when they start) If you can toss a six without sending it to the heavens, than your rotation is probably fast enough.