MalEightball

It's kind of silly that some people legitimately think that the Bluecoats are trying to "pretend" that they're playing the pitch bend. They physically move the horns away from their faces as part of the visual effect, which is kind of what it's supposed to be, an effect. I don't think it would really be feasible for them to actually play something like that, let alone while doing all the movement with it.

Yeah, that's a fair point. I guess if you are going to come out and actually say words in the English language, people are going to be confused when none of it that's being said makes any sense. After re-watching the show tonight I'm even more confused by the ballad stuff. It's like the designers suddenly decided 7 minutes into the show that not only are there "characters" in this show, but there's a love story. And then it immediately disappears for the rest of the show.

I don't think there really "needs" to be something to get, but it's not unreasonable to expect a drum corps show in 2013 to have some kind concept or theme that the viewer can get out of it. Pretty sure the OP is is just saying he doesn't understand what the theme is supposed to be, which is understandable. I don't completely understand it either, but I'm guessing that a lot of people are probably trying to find some sort of narrative in the show, which I don't think it's really trying to do. The original Einstein on the Beach was an unconventional opera with no narrative/storyline. I think the way the program presents itself is just supposed to be a broad portrait of a genius' mind (I guess this is where all the narration stems from). The hypnotic counting rhythms and muttering poetry are probably supposed to be some kind of poetic portrayal of this. Except for the part in the ballad where the narration starts talking about a love story, I don't get that. I could be completely wrong but this is what I get out of it. The Washington Post's review of Einstein on the Beach said "Einstein sometimes seemed a study in sensory overload, meaning everything and nothing." Sounds about right.

Pure speculation, obviously: 1. Carolina Crown 2. Blue Devils 3. The Cadets 4. SCV 5. Bluecoats 6. Phantom Regiment 7. Madison Scouts 8. The Cavaliers 9. Sprit of Atlanta 10. Blue Knights 11. Boston Crusaders 12. Blue Stars 13. Crossmen 14. The Academy 15. Troopers 16. Colts 17. Cascades

Bluecoats overall have my favorite tuning. Cavaliers snares have a nice resonant ring to them this year, and Blue Stars as well. Vanguards snares are nice, but all the tonal drums are a bit low and muddy for my tastes.

I see two synths in the back row of the pit, on the drumset player's right. Group sounds great for pre-tour

Ronald Reagan HS from San Antonio, TX. It's just odd to me that this new Crown uniform has the exact same collar cut and shako as this uniform that I had never seen anything like before.

Well those sure look familiar.. http://www.jolesch.com/smalls/75092/77/75092-077-022S.jpg

Two days ago I got to watch the FREE webcast of the first half of quarterfinals, and last night I got to watch all of the semifinals webcast (which looked and sounded GREAT, by the way), both from the comfort of my home a thousand miles away from Indianapolis. And tonight I will be following Michael Boo's live blog, then watching the free webcast of the scores announcements. For a drum corps fan who can't be in Indianapolis this weekend, it doesn't get much better than this! No mater what anybody says, I say this year is the best season to be a fan yet. Here's to many more just like it

BONES

1.5 jump for the Crossmen!

Brass is definitely quite a step down from the Crossmen. Visually Blue Stars do look a bit stronger though. Going to be so close.

I would have had it 1. Bluecoats 2. SCV. Just the sound quality alone coming from those lines could win them a drum trophy in my book.

Mandarins' percussion is killing it.

Sorry if it's already been asked, but what's the story with Revolution?

Well, no. The way you're explaining it clearly shows that "excellence" to you really just means a placement, or a number. A great example of true excellence would be to take a section with the lowest vet retention out of any of the world class drum corps percussion sections, then turn them into a 7th place percussion section. Shane and the kids at Phantom did that last year. As for this year, it's not over yet - and this is the best corps Phantom has had in many years. Why are we complaining again? Because it's not good enough? And again, I'll make this comparison.. Do you think people were demanding an explanation when Paul Rennick started with Phantom and his percussion section was placing below the full corps? I bet those people got their explanation a few years later. Key word being "years".

The difference is... in general when a staff leaves for another corps, that doesn't coincide with a 0% vet retention rate for the section in question. For example, I'm sure that only a small percentage of the Bluecoats brass vets went to SCV this year, and they still have vets to work with. But in the case of Phantom after 2010, every single one of those guys bailed. It's a bit silly to expect "maintaining a level of excellence" when the previous year was a championship-winning, firmly established percussion section from a staff that had been there nearly a decade - vs a literally 100% rookie section and a new staff. Not to mention that in Paul Rennick's first two years with Phantom the drumline hung in 5th place before improving... success is not instant. If you've seen anything from MCM, you know that Gwaltney has put out some of the best lines of any circuit in the last decade.

Given the theme, I really wish they had waited until this year to do "Creep". Would have been much more meaningful.

In the case of the Crossmen's use of the wireless mic, the soloist is playing quite softly, from center field, while pointing at the end zone. It's also put through a panning echo effect. If you can do that without the mic and have it sound even decent, then you deserve a medal.

1 Blue Devils 94.650 2 Madison Scouts 86.750 3 Blue Stars 82.200 4 Crossmen 81.650 5 Troopers 76.700 6 Pioneer 65.350

So it's not just me..

Man, Crosmen just cannot catch a break with these early performance times.

Cadets 93!!!!

Since when is being the 7th place drumline in DCI's world class a "disaster"?

They determine the performance order for the San Antonio regional by taking yesterday's results, putting them in groups of 3's, then randomly drawing for one of those 3 slots. So Crossmen could have drawn either the 13th, 14th, or 15th slot. The 14th slot isn't a bad performance time, considering that last night the Crossmen had a healthy spread over corps that performed up to 4 slots after them. Looking forward to an accurate read this Saturday