littlebirdy

Yes. At the show I was at, every corps got at least one. Cavies are the only I've seen so far to get one in the middle of their show, but that doesn't relate to your BD hate at all. Yes. I heard lots of oohs and ahhs, as others have said. Different shows produce different reactions. Just because it isn't throwing babies, doesn't mean the crowd isn't digging it. Quite a bit yes. mostly the stuff that isn't from the City of Glass album. I can't hum a single part of the original album. General EFFECT. Dynamics? CHECK! Impacts? CHECK! Visual effects? CHECK! Hell no. I hope I covered all the bases there.

I can't imagine what the kids on the field were thinking. They announce them in 2nd in 08 and the crowd goes insane. THat's got to hurt. They come back ###### and ready for action, dominate all year, and then hear booing when their score is announced. It doesn't matter what you intentions were. From the field, it all sounds the same. Booing is completely inexcusable.

BD's streak is 32 wins in a row right now (this counts the undefeated 09). Add in the season before and you have 56-2. From what I have heard, age-out numbers have been below average after the 08 and 09 seasons. They are going to be a tough corps to beat. However, Cadets seem to be having an excellent year. It's going to be a close one tonight.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4160...id=118908788957

That really sucks. Get better blue team. We want some healthy competition this weekend :)

From what I understand, they had a member get sick a week ago, and since then a few more people have caught the illness every day. No idea what the number is currently, but with the sickness spreading, could this affect their chances going into finals week? I wish the best of luck to their members as well as any other corps still suffering from the DCI disease.

See, I wasn't crazy :)

People like that should be blacklisted from DCI -_- As for the original topic: I'm sorry to hear about that. Is this your age-out? If not, you can audition next year, yeah?

I was taking a look at their site to see if there were any hints, and I noticed that they have now released all the songs they are playing. Take a look: 1) Mosaic Get Happy - by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler © 1929 WARNER BROS. INC. and S.A. MUSIC CO Happy Days Are Here Again - by JACK YELLEN and MILTON AGER © 1929 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORP Playing Love - by Ennio Morricone © 1999 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC 2) Depression Piano Variations - by The Aaron Copland © Copyright 1932 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. 3) King of Jazz Rialto Ripples - by GEORGE GERSHWIN and IRA GERSHWIN I Got Rythym - by GEORGE GERSHWIN and IRA GERSHWIN © 1930 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORP 4) Hope Concerto in F - by George Gershwin's Caravan - by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills and Juan Tizol © 1937 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and EMI Mills Music Inc. Happy Days Are Here Again - by JACK YELLEN and MILTON AGER © 1929 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORP

ahaha well I'm not saying you have the luxury of moving anywhere you want. The "pinhead" idea is dot marching (which I wasn't referring to). Dot marching is where every member is responsible for his/her dot regardless of where everyone else is. Corps like the Cavaliers favor this style of marching because of their geometric forms. However, corps and bands which favor form marching will allow the form to wiggle a given amount. Typically, these bands/corps also use more curvilinear forms, which can be difficult to write/march and will always need slight tweaks. In form marching, everyone must be in the form on the move, and the goal is always to get to your dot. But when it comes down to it, members who form march will adjust to a temporary dot which is as close as possible to their real dot while still being in the form. Thus, the "beach ball" statement I made. P.S. Beach balls really aren't that wide in radius. Maybe an 8-5 step? So I'm saying you can have your dot be anywhere within a step, so long as you are in the form.

I've always learned and taught form marching so here's a short summary (emphasis on short): Except for the extreme cases of form marching, you will always have a dot. However, if your exact dot according to the page were to be the size of a tennis ball, your actual "dot" is more like the size of a beach ball. You always head in the correct direction and step size of your dot, taking even sized steps, but you must remain in the form the whole time. Essentially, there is a never a break of the "picture" on the field. If the entire form is off by a step, then if you are in your dot you are wrong. Once you are given a dress center or other dressing time, you fix the form by going to your dot, and then adjusting to the form around you. This can be terrible if people around you do not know their dots, as the whole form will drift away from what is suppose to be. However, if used correctly, I believe it results in cleaner non-linear forms.

I see The Doctor as a reference, not a crutch. As longer as performing members play within the group, and the group plays to the Dr. Beat, there is no negative effects. If members use it as their only source of tempo, then of course it is harmful. In terms of having the Doctor help out during a standstill, I see this as very essential. Can you imagine the delay if you are on the tip of one end of the arc and you attempt to sync with the other end? You don't stand a chance. By listening back to the Doctor, you can achieve a higher level of ensemble timing. From there, members apply the internal timing on the field and learn their tempo responsibilities. Arcs are a lot bigger than they use to be :)

I do agree with you that high school band does not equal drum corps (I'm pretty sure this is one thing that DCP users can agree on). However, I have taught a good number of high schools, and I have one favorite which exists in a lower-middle/upper-lower class residential neighborhood. There are many other high schools in the area, with the "rich" school up the street. At this school exists a marching band which by no means will be the next BOA champion. They have very limited resources (including no practice field or stadium of their own). In addition, they have changed band directors 5 times in the last 10 years, so staff and teaching is very inconsistent year to year. However, I am happy to report that over the past few years, members of their band program have advanced into drum corps. This summer alone there will be 10 current and graduating students touring with corps (5 in world class, 5 in open). I know there are high schools in a much worse economic standing than this school, but I believe they serve as an example that socio-economic boundaries are only semi-limiting. Where there is a will, there is a way.

That is the funniest menu ever

I do agree that art and "high brow" shows seem to have taken the field more recently. However, I don't think precision has fallen as much as one might think. In some ways, precision has been replaced with uniformity. For instance, many techniques have changed (or have been modified) in order for everyone to look more uniform with respect to the whole corps. The kids now seem to have less "individual perfection" and more "whole group perfection". This can be seen in the scoring system as well. Ticks were based on individuals. The scoring system now seems to heavily reward full group uniformity the most. I.e. If you all look bad in the same exact way, you all look good. The scoring system, the uniforms, the show design; everything is to make every member appear the same and not stand out in any way. Every person on the field blowing their brains out (but well) was drum corps then. Everyone on the field playing together (resulting in less volume) is today's corps. I'm sure I went off on a couple tangents there, aha. You'll have to excuse this tired brain.

Whelp... I believe you won the thread.

Ahahaha that seems to be a theme for this year. Last year was so out-of-the-box by some corps that most seem to want to return to their classics. I.E. your examples. However, you must remember that these shows were done in the past without synth. Although the show itself isn't wild and crazy, it IS a new take on the classic show, and therefore has a different chance of winning than in previous years. (Spartacus anyone?) I'm sure as time passes, and the synth becomes a more common item, show design will begin to evolve again.

It's a tough battle. Either drum corps continue to change and evolve, or they stay exactly the same. Either way, someone will be ticked off. Yes, seeing the same show a few times can be cool. But hearing the same tunes, played by the same people, with the same people winning gets boring. To me, changes such as the synth open up the competition and make it MORE competitive than ever before. This competition can be a thrill to watch over the summer (i.e. '08). With more ways to design a show, and more avenues by which to excite an audience, more corps have a chance to win (although we haven't seen a new champion in awhile. The most exciting thing recently was a new stand-alone champion).

I recently took a trip to Mars to watch the Devs do their thing. Their show this year has a lot of old fashion drum corps in it (finally!) from repertoire to the actual drill. I'm talking about concert sections, entrance from back field, a drumline that grooves instead of just shoving in notes, jazz, etc. What I'm wondering is what has really changed in drum corps through the years? We all can see a difference in each decade of drum corps, but what, in your mind, has been the biggest change in drill, music, and show design?

Wow, there are a significant more posts on this topic than I expected! Anywho, consider this situation: What if a corps A cleaned the heck out of a show on Finals Day and added things to their show which would affect their score of a specific caption in a positive way. Corps B also cleaned their show overall, but not in depth on one caption like corps A did. Let's also assume that corps B has won the caption both Quarters and Semis nights. If corps A rightfully takes the caption, but not by enough to win the week, why do they not deserve the caption award? Most people have used the anti-averaging argument that someone can sneak in on Finals Day and win (which is a good thing). Isn't this also possible for captions then?

Does anyone know why this practice was started? I can't think of a reason. Some might say "To be fair and balance out in case of one bad show or bad judge", but that argument would give way to averaging finals week to determine champion, not just averaging captions.

Caption awards, awarded on finals night, are awarded based upon the average of that caption's scores over the three days in Finals week. However, the Champion is awarded based solely on one performance. Why is this? I would love to see either averaging either go away or become worth something. As long as it is consistent across Finals week, I'm sure it won't affect anything too much. So, which would you rather see? A champion crowned based upon averages of three days? Or captions awarded based upon Finals Night performance? Also, would either of these choices have changed the outcome for past champions?

The Champion every year performs a 2nd time, typically within a few hours. Obviously , the early season woes will be upon them, so their endurance won't be as strong. And certainly the adrenaline won't be flowing as if you just won the gold. But I would imagine it would be fun to perform again for some of the members. It's like having an encore right after you went on... but harder.

Here's one to decipher: BD '08: Right when the stickman formed there is something yelled in that short halt. I want to know what it is :P

Hooray for that textbook!