SCVBrass80

Mitch and Alan had nothing to do with that concept so assuming it would match that is a little unfair. Again, if you do judge and you are holding on to these preconceptions about groups and designers as your preference or not I am afraid I would make sure you did not judge in any of our local circuits or would at least highly recommend a retraining course.

Not gonna lie, not sure they took a step forward here, especially in the visual department. This is a HUGE step UP! Alan Spaeth is at the top of the creative game! His insights and contributions alone will be an added plus for The Cavaliers. Also, Mitch and Alan have collaborated on numerous projections around the globe. Adding Bart Woodley to the mix makes this one heck of a creative force! Great percussion staff already in place ... Wonder if there are any other announcements or if they are bringing back the rest of the day-to-day team? Either way ... great step forward.

Remember, the judges do not have your actual score of the arrangement you are playing either. Right notes for practice and just in the chord for performances?

My guess is The Cavaliers will go for more of a proven commodity to write the drill but his decision to not write for PC will at least allow him to focus more on The Cavaliers ...

It is NOT a tradition! It is something that has become forced and trampling on the show! How rude can we be to force what we think is 'tradition' into a part of the show and hide behind saying we are fans! It's become obnoxious. And if you think it is tradition you need to watch a little more SCV than the last 7-8 years, just sayin'

NCAA Division 1 and The NFL use numbers that are 6' tall The top of the numbers is mathematically half the distance to the hash (53'4" - Hash and 26'8" for the top of the numbers). For the top of the numbers to be 14 steps we have to accept that the hash is actually 28 steps (which it mathematically is not). Hash 53'4" = 640 inches/ 22.5 inches = 28.4444 steps Numbers (TOP) 26'8" = 320 inches/ 22.5 inches = 14.2222 steps Numbers (BOTTOM) 20'8" = 248 inches/ 22.5 inches = 11.0222 steps If we accept the numbers are 14 steps and the numbers are also 6 feet tall (72 inches/ 22.5 inches = 3.2 steps)then: Numbers (Top) 14 steps Numbers (Bottom) 10.75-ish (probably closer to 10.8 steps (less than 11 and closer to 10.75 since the coordinate system uses 1/4 distances) Really, it is up to the staff and system and I suppose it really is talking about a few fraction of inches spread out over the distance of 53'4". The NFL (Pro) numbers are obviously different and Texas uses the NCAA Division 1 markings for the high school level, from my understanding - but I could be wrong. A visual staff could accept the 28 steps and the 14.222 and 11.0222 if they so wanted, I suppose. Another great question is why did the activity accept the 28 steps norm for high school hashes? I suppose it does work out nice and even if you go 28-28-28, but who knows .. again, it's just fraction of inches spread out now over an entire football field. Just some fun with numbers.

Weber is not exactly a disciple/ student of Gaines. Sharing a Cavaliers' background is about the only thing they sahre in common. Gaines has strong elements of Brubaker that he embraced into his own style ... Weber ... eh?

This is pretty accurate ... the hybrid really started in 2007 with the forward and some of the direction changes (if watching carefully). 2008 was the first year of the non-straight leg on the articulation backwards (however, the goal was to have straight legs when the back heel touched) and then 2009 there were no significant changes to the technique - it was really just a matter of the performers having the technique 'under their feet' for a year. If anything, it reminded of older (late 1980's SCV or late 1980's/ early 1990's Cavaliers). The modern rendition, I am pretty sure is NOT, what the the staff envisioned in 2007. I remember talking with Sly and he did not want the Vanguard to look like The Cavaliers (which they do now). Rather, he taught the technique to reflect (and pay tribute to on some level I suppose) the older style Vanguard. The current staff is fine and the performers will be fine, but there is a different approach with this staff then the previous visual staff (both largely from the same corps). Which one is better? Neither! Each staff just a different approach ....

Wow! Andy Cook is one of the most genuine and honest people one could meet! I cannot believe someone who post something like this ... clearly you have NO clue what you are talking about ... not one ounce ...

Pretty sure the only person from that era of Cavaliers at SCV is the corps director... I think ... Weber didn't design anything on the level of the early 2000 Cavaliers and the visual staff, I am pretty sure, was either marching or had not even auditioned for The Cavaliers based on their ages and bios ...

1 The Blue Devils 2 The Cadets 3 Carolina Crown 4 The Cavaliers 5 Phantom Regiment 6 Bluecoats 7 Santa Clara Vanguard 8 Madison Scouts 9 Boston Crusader 10 Blue Stars 11 Blue Knights 12 Spirit of Atlanta

Blue Devils Cadets Crown Cavaliers Phantom Regiment Madison Bluecoats Santa Clara Blue Stars Blue Knights Boston Crusaders Glassmen Academy Crossmen Spirit Troopers Pacific Crest Colts Teal Sound Surf Mandarins Cascades Pioneer I am sure I forgot someone and my apologies if I did ...

Agreed! I place it right there along with if Star and The Cavaliers had another week ... results would be same

Denise is a WGI Hall of Famer and a WGI Legend a Fortune 500 Company thinks she makes good decisions ... not one of these traits or characteristics references the Santa Clara Vanguard! Are you referencing the Santa Clara Vanguard when you refer to a championship corps because I do not think she was member of the Vanguard staff in 2000, but I could be mistaken. Even if she was - it's been eleven years since a championship - hardly the sign of a successful staff coordinator. What qualifies her to evaluate brass staffs, percussion staffs, and visual staff staffs; color guard staffs she is probably more than competent to evaluate, but again she did not assemble that great team for the winter guard! It was actually a previous caption head named Dave Meikle who hired Jon, Jim, Carol, and Andy. The inner core of that organization has shielded itself from scrutiny an criticism under the veil of casting off staff after staff after staff - if it's time for another brass staff to go then I will be one of the first to sound off that 'Denise Must Go!'

Completely agree!!!! And the Staff Coordinators apparent ineptness to hire the 'right staff' has never been more highlighted! How many brass caption heads in the last seven years? How many Staff Coordinators? It's all in the numbers

So for all those clamoring for consistency - the Staff Coordinator has fired yet another brass staff! How is it that the person doing the most against consistency, consistently avoids scrutiny and retains job security! How is it that we continually turn-over quality designers, caption heads and staff members and still consistently place in the middle of the pack at the end of the year? These results are not acceptable for the Vanguard namesake. If this was corporate America this person would have been terminated long ago! SCV BOD, please take notice of what this person is doing!!!

Denise has been there since around 2006 and at least 2007. The recent one was the re-addition of Mike McCool ... so I am thinking 5 years for her, Pete and Key is long enough ... how many caption heads and techs have been let go during that time and who is responsible for that ... Denise on a lot of levels ... Sorry it is true ... People can clamor for consistency, but consistently producing results like the last five years does not warrant continued relationships.

Couldn't agree more!!! The problem is the same people have been making those programming choices for years. Again, I think it is time to take a different path from the likes of Mike McCool, Denise Bonfiglio, Peter Weber, and as much as I hate to write this ... Key.

I doubt the current administration will do a darn thing. They have allowed the current design team to become synonymous with mediocrity and sometimes ineptness. It's easy to place the blame on the music arranger, but part of music effect is staging from the drill designer and someone is coordinating the program and someone is coordinating the staff ... Gail would have fired all of them along time ago ... So sad to see the current regime allow 5th place to equate to a great year! BOD - here's your chance to do what's best for the corps ... protecting relationships forged in Illinois is no longer doing us any good. Very Frustrated Alumni!

The Cadets Blue Devils The Cavaliers Carolina Crown Phantom Regiment Bluecoats Boston Crusaders Santa Clara Vanguard Madison Scouts Blue Knights Blue Stars Spirit of Atlanta ** Not even going to try assign scores ....

Jay Murphy, Jeff Sacktig, and Leon May, all of who recently have had more success in placement and accessibility to the fans, may disagree with this ...

Why do we, as fans, have to put the effort into understanding the shows?? One component of design should be making the material accessible to your audience ... doesn't mean easy or dumb-down but come on ... Many fans attend one or two shows a year ... are they supposed to read a dissertation on the source material's composer, corps' arranger, cross-reference through YouTube and WikiPedia just to enjoy a show?

While it's true the genesis for The Cavaliers' marching technique is grounded in the old Santa Clara Vanguard marching technique, the modern version is very far away from the core of the old Vanguard technique (with or without pivots). The closest, in my opinion, was the 2009 technique. It was not as exaggerated as the current technique which more resembles the modern day Cavaliers' technique. It seemed to me that in 2009, the technique was similar to and respectful of the traditional Santa Clara look while still trying to have some of its own unique qualities (ie: no hip pivots). I have no idea why they changed philosophies and went with this hard-core Cavalier approach ... aside from the obvious aesthetic quality which a lot of people appear to not care for ... it just seems like it is more about The Cavaliers and not the old Vanguard style ... which is fine, I guess? Either way, I am sure they will be great come August