I find Glassmen to be somewhat of a paradox. Really good guard, OK drill, Ok drum line. Show does not flow well for me nor hold my interest, and the brass are simply not good (do not care where brass judges have clearly decided they should be night after night. My ears work well, really well. I know no trained musicians that would hear the brass and say they are playing with good fundamentals or good musicianship). Sorry Glassmen brass, this is not against you but more an issue with judging fairness. I have seen them several times, last in San Antonio. As an earlier poster stated, I would have Troopers, Spirit, Crossmen, Academy over them in brass. I know I am not on the field, but for the sounds I am hearing in the stands, there must be major issues on the field. This issue should (without slotting and judges afraid to put down the appropriate number for a perceived finalist) create scoring lows in brass, music ensemble, and music GE. Their brass performance in San Antonio was one of the hot topics for me and my fellow professional music career buddies. The discussion was initially about their brass sound (technique, artic., blend and tuning issues), then it turned to the issues of subjective judging: true fairness, judging each corps to the same exact standard and criteria, letting all captions be separately recognized regardless of a corps' rank, having judges who can accurately assess the what and the how. The higher a corps places overall and in separate captions is a realization of the standard; the higher a corps places, the more the judging community is stating "This is the standard. This is the example to follow. This is how it must be done for the higher reward to be given." If Glassmen's brass program is that standard for all corps placing below them in brass, I need to see judge resumes and understand the training they undertake in order to get their "wings" for what is a most important and standard defining role in adjudicating brass performance at what should truly be major league.
