jasgre2000

Sure it is surprising. I don't think it is anything to worry about though.

How can corps improve if judge's keep them in the same positions all year? That would seem to discourage improvement. I would think that the fact that Crown can improve from 7th to 1st encourages efforts to improve, rather than discourages them.

Superior or educated? Superior to who?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hyperbole

Well, remember that you are comparing 1st out of 10 to 7th out of 22. Crown was only .7 behind BD last week, and .3 ahead of them tonight. That isn't that big of a difference. Of course different judges are going to read things differently. If you take account for that and assume that Crown's percussion had a good night tonight and a bad night in Atlanta, it really isn't that hard to believe.

I guess I just don't care about bringing in new fans at the expense of artistic freedom. Also, I don't buy your premise ... the demographic that DCI should be going after if it wants to expand its fan base is not a bunch of teenagers and young adults. Drum Corps is not going to appeal to that demographic by playing more popular music. If DCI is interested in expanding its fan base, it should go after the demographic of people that already appreciate performing arts. Those people are not going to be attracted to a bunch of drum corps playing hokey Green Day music. Do you really think young people who aren't already involved in marching band are going to come flocking to drum corps if corps start playing Lady Gaga and Radiohead? Maybe ... but I am skeptical.

And yet ... despite the judging panel ... the overall placements have not changed much at all throughout the season. The caption scores are always close, and it is a good thing that corps are moving up and down in the caption categories. That shows that the judges are doing their jobs, and not just slotting corps before hand. It shouldn't be a surprise that different corps excel in certain captions on one night and falter on another night.

I would like to see General Effect weighted more heavily than the individual visual/music captions. I think often we see shows that are designed to feature certain instrument groups at the expense of overall general effect, because doing so allows a higher score in the individual performance captions. Drum corps is a group activity, and I would prefer to see a show that is designed to have the best overall effect it can have, rather than a show with some cool effects that features a bunch of disjointed runs that are intended to feature certain instrument groups in order to increase caption scores. I don't know if that makes any sense. I think the corps that should win is the corps that puts on the best performance, as that performance is perceived by a judge sitting about half-way up the stands on the fifty yard line ... not the corps that sounds the best to a judge standing right in front of a group of players on the field that are there because the show was designed to show off those players to the judges. Perhaps we should just take judges off the field completely. If something can't be clearly heard or seen from the stands, then maybe a corps shouldn't get credit for it.

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php/topic/153087-ive-come-to-the-conclusion/page__view__findpost__p__3193670

What is wrong with "high art"? Why should we be discouraging corps that want to be artistic from being artistic? It is this effort to dumb down drum corps that is really discouraging to me. I just don't get it ... sorry. Are you suggesting that corps are too artistic because of the judging sheet?

Did you ever stop to think that maybe it is YOU that is putting words in people's mouths? People complain about how shows aren't entertaining all the time on this board. And I don't get your point about inconsistency. What inconsistency? There has been very little movement between corps the entire year. If you are talking about caption placement, if you look at the scores ... they are often so close that it is not surprising at all that the rankings in the individual captions vary widely from night to night. You can't possibly expect that corps are going to perform exactly the same way every night, can you?

Amen!

Well ... I did, for one. If the complaint isn't about entertainment (the complaint that is commonly heard here), then what are you complaining about?

There is already revenue sharing in the form of show fees. A lot of the less successful corps are likely getting higher fees by performing in a show with the more successful corps than they would be getting if the successful corps were not there.

And then we would miss out on some pretty amazing shows ... like this years BD show. I still don't understand why people want to dumb down drum corps. Shouldn't we applaude people that are willing to take a risk and push the envelope? Who is being hurt by BD's show this year, besides the corps that aren't performing at the same level as them? BD is NOT winning because their show is unpopular with the masses. They are winning because their execution is remarkable. If you don't want them to win, start praying that your favorite corps gets better.

The judging sheet changes had nothing to do with entertaining the audience.

Bingo!

Worst idea ever. Competition breeds excellence. Take away the competitive aspect of drum corps, and DCI turns into a bunch of mediocre college marching bands without woodwinds.

Their percussion has been up and down all season. The fact that they won tonight doesn't mean it will stay at the same level.

$125? That is crazy. Are they expecting a sell out?

I find it pretty awesome already, but I am on board with going all out with the synth. I am not a synth hater. As long as it doesn't completely take the place of the actual musicians. I think the Bluecoats have done a pretty good job at showing what can be done effectively with synth.

I thought this thread was about pop music in drum corps. There is a ton of amazing music that has been and can (and will) continue to be used in drum corps. Jazz. Classical. GOOD wind ensemble music. Original compositions. One of my favorite recent shows was Crown's 2008 Candide show. The music there was awesome. SCV's Bartok show (2010) was pretty awesome as well.

I can't imagine the uproar that would occur over that much synth in a drum corps show. You and I seem to have very similar tastes in popular music. I guess I just don't have the faith that it can translate well into drum corps.

I agree. My biggest problem is with everyone wanting to make all the shows a certain way. I have no problem with a few corps doing shows that include popular music. I probably won't like it much, but that isn't a big deal to me, and I can watch and appreciate certain parts of these shows. But don't tell me we need to get rid of all the amazing classical music and the creativity that is exhibited in a Blue Devils show because you don't like it. The variety we see in drum corps this year is awesome. I don't understand those that want to get rid of that.

Good answer.