uscorpsfan

Haven't read the 45+ pages...but... Fairly recent Cadet here and I feel like I was in the transition from traditional to change in the corps. I marched 01-05 then was on staff and I'm all for the change. Here are my few points, sorry if they've already been covered. 1) They know this is a BIG decision, therefore I would think it's a really solid concept since they're even considering it. 2) The new members have just as much love for that uniform as when the old members wore it. The difference is they don't have 10+ years after aging out to see it unchanged and become more attached to the tradition of it. 3) I bet you a large sum of money they win field visual if their pants are black. :)

It's an interesting read so far and I've figured out some stuff along the way. Whoever came up with the "multiple visual styles presented masterfully" hit the nail on the head and that makes complete sense to me. As far as the people arguing that BD didn't have any demand, I think it just needs to be worded differently. There are two "reasons" I continue to remain skeptical about the difficulty of the show. 1) Part of demand is endurance. Yes, Blue Devils moved quickly, but not for an extended phrase. I know The Cadets take this idea too far on extended phrases, but there's something to be said about challenging your members this way. This may be where many people do not find demand in the Blue Devil's show. There aren't any/many extended phrases. It's a lot easier for the human brain to focus on the task when it is fresh. I do think BD's design team is very smart with pacing the show and it allows for more variety in their program as well. 2) The Blue Devils seem to have mastered how to design an effective show while limiting how readable it is. There are fewer moments in BD's show where everyone is doing the same thing and the form is readable. Much/most of the choreography was individualized so you could not compare individuals to each other. A large chunk of the show was scatter drill. If it wasn't everyone in scatter drill, then the section that was the focus had a defined form and there was scatter drill in the rest of the corps. It was a brilliant way to prevent errors. I'm curious to see the BD drill book. I'm not naive enough to believe that 200 pages of drill makes something difficult, but keeping your show with clear defined forms throughout definitely lays it on the line a lot more than a show filled with many effective scatter drill transitions. I did enjoy how they worked though and loved how BD's show felt like a good stage production. I does seem like purposefully not airing your dirty laundry though. The Blue Devils had plenty of demand in their show, just in a differently way then is traditionally presented. Now while I do believe that running around for extended phrases and giving a judge a form to read the whole time has much more merit, the corps that are doing that need to do it at the same level. It makes it tough to match that type of demand with the recent "intellectual" demand the Blue Devils are now presenting. We'll see if and how other corps will step it up and whatever your opinions are on the subject it will certainly be very interesting to see what the trend will be in the next couple of years.

Long-time lurker here and I have a couple of ideas to get across regarding marching technique, not necessarily with The Cavaliers. I'm curious to hear responses from the crowd if you have one. I've been in quite a few visual performance critiques for the top corps and listened to many a tape. My first impression right off the bat, that still sticks with me to this day, is that visual performance is not as much about technique as you would think. There are a small number of comments regarding technique uniformity, a moderate amount of comments on color guard, and a HEAVY amount of comments on form control. The majority of judges these days, right or wrong, spend a high percentage of their time calling out ticks in the form. I wish there was more to the technique aspect, but that's just not the case with many judges anymore. Point is, the visual performance caption is not nearly as much about technique as most people think it is. I read earlier on about a band who uses Cavaliers technique going forward and straight-leg going backward. I work closely with a band that does this and they are very successful (enough to win visual performance and ensemble captions at major BOA events). The technique they use works well for them and it does look "good" on those standards because of the uniformity (for a high school group). Here's reasons why they choose to do what they do. Forward march: Why The Cavaliers technique? EASY to teach and EASY to clean. A little bit of time at the beginning goes a LONG way in the end. When a marcher regresses in technique the tendency is to go more towards this technique. You'll never see someone get straighter legs as they get tired. Lack of uniformity doesn't stick out as much as straight leg. Smoother and easier to play, especially for HS. Backward march: Why Straight-Leg? Easier to keep smooth going backwards than forwards with this technique. Looks better (in some opinions of course). As long as the leg stays extended and the entire leg is in time, it's relatively easy to keep clean. It's not a true straight-leg. As the step size gets bigger the knees give more. Basically, keep the heels as low as possible and move the knee back as fast or faster than the foot. Backward march: Why not The Cavaliers technique? The variables in foot angle both up and down as well as left to right make it look dirty even if it's "clean" (in some opinions). Both techniques (straight and not) are not quite natural. The students get on the same page better with straight leg. Straight leg looks better, especially going backwards (in some opinions). Yes, The Cavaliers technique is more like walking. Straight leg is more like running backwards, the sport version. The band used to march pure Cavaliers technique for a couple years. When the switch was made the forward march was a huge success and the backward march needed major adjustments. This is why the techniques got switched. There was a need for a new backward technique and none for the forward technique. It's usually best to not switch the whole thing up over the years, but rather space it out over time. I know the second part is about marching band, but I figured it was relative enough to interest some people on here. I feel like there is no need to flame for talking about band here on DCP, it was really meant for those who were taking interest in that particular post. Thanks for listening. It's a pleasure to hear people's opinions and continue to learn about what we're doing. Again, if you have opinions on this, please post. I'm curious to hear thoughts about it.