Shamu89

Cadets are about 1:15 away from the show site: Landisville Middle School 340 Mumma Drive, Landisville, PA 17538 Getting ready to get in the car and head up there to see my baby girl. ;)

She's having the time of her life. She's exhausted, but she said there's nowhere else she'd rather be. We're very thankful that both sides of the issues worked with us to make it happen. On the other hand, I know it would be darn near impossible for a HS kid to make it happen if they didn't have support from their family. We didn't have to fight very hard, but we did have to press the issues and make commitments for travel that a normal 16-17yr old kid couldn't do without help. For instance, when she needed to leave camp, I would pick her up as late in the day as possible and drive her home (DC area to Johnstown, PA and back). She'd sleep in the car and get up normal time the next day for school. To get her back, we either left home late in the evening or super early in the AM to make sure she missed as little as humanly possible. Lots of night-time or before dawn driving for me. Did some sleeping in my car, too before heading home. This probably saved 2-3 missed camp days due to "normal" travel. ;) So I could see how corps staff might be reluctant to take on high schoolers and the time issues they have. I'm just glad they took a chance on my daughter. She's not the type to blow you away with incredible talent, but she's no slouch either. Would she have made the corps if they didn't have 91 slots to fill? No idea, but I doubt it. She also went in with what I think is the right attitude for a rookie. Super-humble, grabbed 3rd part without a word, busted her butt to make sure she didn't stick out, kept her head down and mouth shut and followed the lead of the vets. She told me her mind set was, "I'm not good enough to do this, but I will be", and I think that served her well. Her goal for the season was to be the rookie that was least called-out from the box. After meeting some of the pit and perc techs and having the chance to talk to them, I think she's succeeded. They don't know her name since they never hear it over the bullhorn. ;)

I saw somewhere before the season started that BD was the oldest corps this year, and statistically, the oldest usually wins. No idea where I saw it

My daughter is a rookie marching Cadets at trumpet this year at 17 and will be entering her senior year in HS this fall. I know of one baritone that is in the same situation as her, so there's at least two with Cadets. We worked diligently with both the Cadets and her HS to make sure everything was communicated early and often, and that all requirements were met. My daughter left school early to join spring training at the beginning, missed 5 days in the 2nd week for school and band performance commitments, returned to spring training, and then missed another 2 days to return to school and take her finals. It didn't take her long to get back up to speed with the Cadets when she returned either. Both the school and Cadets were extremely accomodating and we really didn't get much flak from either side. However, we stayed on top of things with regular communications to both starting in January, plus my wife works in the school system, so she knew precicely what the rules are and I'm sure that helped. We made sure her teachers knew what she was doing and why, and made sure to have a plan in place for her to accelerate the workload so she would be done with the majority of her work before spring training started. The last couple of days she returned to school were necessary because the rules state that if you are absent for more than 10 consecutive school days, you are disenrolled regardless of circumstances. She also had her final band concert for the year and had solos, so it all worked out. Assuming she wants to do it again next year, we'll have an even bigger head start for her senior year. So to answer, your info about Cadets is incorrect. I'm not positive, but I beleieve they also have a 15 yr old marching brass as well, but can't say for sure. What I can say is that the Cadets staff has been nothing but positive from our standpoint, even with her missing so much time in spring training.

Is no one but me noticing the mini-z-pull the herald trumpets do in Procession, or does that not count??

Cadets are here: Pendleton Heights High School 1 Arabian Drive Pendleton, IN 46064

Gotcha. Thanks

Thanks for the example

So a "bad" brassline in sync with a "bad" drumline scores much better than each individually? And I put "bad" in quotes for a reason. Crown is very, VERY good. Just using this particular recap as a learning tool. I've got a 17 yr old rookie marcher, so I'll probably be reading and caring about these things for a few more years. ;)

My thoughts too. But Crown got scores the exact opposite of that. Looked off to me, but what the heck do I know?? ;)

OK, cool. Not complaining or whining. Just curious how it works.

OK. I'm new to really tracking scoring and reading recaps, so this may be a silly question. Under music, how can Crown finish 5th in brass and 7th in percussion, but finish 2nd in ensemble??

Exactly. Was fantastic until that. Maybe we can get full retreat back at finals if they play before scores are read.

Thanks, Ron. For everyone else, tickets are gone

BD is all talent and execution. Gotta give it to them on that. But not my cup of tea from an entertainment aspect this year. Loved previous shows, but not this one.

From Twitter George Hopkins yeaguy audience - audience - audience vs. criteria reference ??? or are they one and the same? They should be. But are they? and if not ? why ?

Real life has intruded on my plans, and we will not be able to make it to Allentown in time to see the first night (Fri Aug 6), so I'd like to sell my 4 seats. Section S Row 17 Seats 27-30 Seats are $25, and I'd prefer to sell them all in one shot. Please PM if you're interested Thanks

That's what my daughter tells me. Do they want to win and are they making changes based on judges' comments to try to win? Absolutely. Will they change who they are and what they do? Doubtful. The vibe I get (albeit 2nd hand from what my kid says) is that they are who they are, and while they do attempt to make adjustments to score higher, they're not going to sacrifice what they feel is their identity to do so. And I don't see any corps making the sacrifice either. All of the corps shooting for a title do it their own way and in their own style. And I would hope they all share the same attitude that MMs in every corps should. "This is what we do, and we do THIS better than anyone. If it's good enough to win, great. If not, so what. We are bad ###!!" Because they are. Every last one of these kids in DCI. They are friggin BAMFs!!!

Wow. Still no 90's. Interesting

Just guessing, but maybe they skipped INT at Houston.

Got my times mixed up. Scores should be around midnight EST. BD performing now and Cadets encore. People at this show suck at tweeting. Much better job from the folks in Houston, so it should be better tomorrow night for these corps. We can only hope. ;)

No. Scores won't be announced until around 1 AM EST.

Here: http://twitter.com/CorpsScores/dci-7-22-dallas-tx

More Hop yeaguy grrrrrrr - not a good way to end / great show and damaged horns - kids r ok

Hops tweet: yeaguy pretty good - but a drum judge took out 3 kids who then took out another 5 or 6 at the end of the show - ####