Splooie99

Of all of the lower tier corps mentioned in this list. There are 2 elements to this discussion. 1. Whom ever retains the most members and improves overall talent will move up. 2. Which design team provides a better design. I like OC's chances of moving up a little more. They were better than the prior year show design and performance. And most of their design staff was new to OC last year and they had issues with color guard staff as well into early June. If the design team stays together and become better aligned, this will help OC. But, they need to improve their talent level and for peat sake, no holes in the horn line. That is just not going to help at all. A solid year of guard recruiting will help a ton. If those things happen, I can see OC moving up a place or 2. Certainly not top 12 yet.

So far, top 12 has been entertaining for the most part. I think Cavies seemed to kick it up a notch compared to Madison and Phantom.

Great topic and one I have often thought about. What is the driving motivation for a MM to pay $3000 to march at any drum corps? Win, develop skills to go to a top 12, 0r 5 corps, or have an educational experience??? With my latest experience being in the Pacific NW, I realize it is very difficult, if not impossible to lead a corps in the NW to the top 12 without a huge influx of cash. That being said...... Can a corps like Oregon Crusaders or the Cascades ever reach the top 12? (again in Cascades case, 2002 12th) I believe it is possible, but it takes a couple of things. Strong management of the corps, especially finances. These corps budgets are 1/3 or less of the top 5. Finding cost effective ways of developing local talent at a younger age would help these groups out. There are several new Open class limited touring corps in the NW starting. I think its up to 4 now. The Columbians are really turning a corner and if they were touring all summer, would give the top 5 in Open Class a run for their money. Considering they are 3 years old now, they are turning heads. Developing strong fund raising opportunities. Find a home base, build a corps hall or facility to house the corps equipment and a practice facility and have a physical presence. Get a local community to support that corps. Saying your from Portland or Seattle, but no commitment from those large cities, leads me to believe that it is not helping financially. I would love to see a model similar to the Cavaliers where the city of Rosemont helps supports the corps. Part of the reason why the Cavaliers are not the Chicago Cavaliers any more. Rosemont has been an excellent supporter of the corps. A solid tie into a city that not only gains an ambassador opportunity for the city, but some financial support ($$, housing sites, rehearsal facilities...) in return for that exposure and assistance in educating youth in the city. I think this is an area that requires some thought on the corps BODs. Anyway, I think there needs to be some giving to the community in order to benefit from being "from xxx". Then, maybe placement is not as important as making a difference in kids lives, which is what the activity really does. Especially at the lower level corps where winning is not an option. Sure winning is nice, but that is not the only option out there. Sorry for the rambling.

I still believe there is enough material in Hindemith's Symphony in B-Flat

Heard that OC drum line had a problem at this show. Sounds like the center snare fell off a podium or something just before the drum feature in the closer. The snare line did quite come in after that which impacted the tenors entrance as well. I assume the center snare is OK. Sounds like it impacted the scores some for OC. But, I wasn't there so I don't know for sure what happened. I hope they are all OK and ready for today. Today is a new day. Pull up your boot straps and march on!

I will continue to praise the OC guard for their improvement week to week. You are making a difference and the harder you work the better you get. Keep on pushing to the end and no matter what happens on Aug. 7th, you have had a wonderful improvement this summer and no one can take that away from you. All I would ask, is that you come back next year and move forward from the level you end at this summer. If you all stick together, you can drive this corps forward. Also, I hope the staff learns from this year and continues to drive this corps book forward as well. It feels like a nice improvement in 2015.

Yes, the Columbians existed years ago. I believe it was 1955-1975.

I only use the app for live streaming. Which works great with my apply TV.

I totally agree, the NW is growing I would almost say too fast, but for the kids who cannot afford a national tour, there are options. I hope the Columbians take their time before they go to Indy. (Assuming that is a goal of theirs anyway). Once you commit to the national Tour, you must have the means to pay for it. It seems they have a good starting point with an older Alumni group from the past.

Very proud of this NW corps. I hope they continue to build momentum. The show is entertaining and I expect to make Semi-finals this year. Great job Cascades.

What's interesting to me, is that all of the scores from say 15 and up are getting higher for the most part. Mand. and OC are holding steady at 69.x and tied for over a week. I don't mind the tie, but I do mind that we all see they are improving, but no score increases for about 4 shows? That's just wrong. One of the tightest races will be 16-20 when you add in the OC corps. it should be interesting come finals week.

Definitely Newport Oregon

As I watched the SA Regional the other day, I was very excited to see how much the OC Guard has improved. OC Guard, Congrats on the amount of work you are putting into this summer. It is paying off. You have made great strides in the last month. It is being noticed and you should all be proud. Keep it up. As I said once before, The guard will determine how well the overall corps does this year. Work hard, have fun and please come back next year if you can. You are building a unit that if given the chance, can do wonderful things. Have faith and trust one another. Above anything else, have fun and love what you do every day. We believe in you. But you need to believe in yourselves.

OC should be used to the heat, it was over 90 for all of late June and Early July here in the Pacific NW. What's another 5 degrees. LOL

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't know that.

Its a toss up between SCV and Cadets. SCV show is very creative and still entertaining to this slightly older fan. Cadets seem to have the best vehicle to win from what I saw on the fan network. I believe Cadets will win this year from what I saw not only in performance quality and potential, but the overall vehicle is better designed this year. I also think the BD got hurt by the Europe experience, but I cannot be certain of that.(Practice time lost) I think the competition from 10-15 will be super tight as none of those corps have solid vehicles to ensure a top 12 finish. I also think on Friday Semi-finals, only 4 OC corps will make the show. Cascades should make semi-finals this year. Not too sure about JS. Another real battle will be in the 17-21 slots. Those corps are all tightly bunched as well. Go OC! San Antonio will not come soon enough to help sort out position. Looking forward to that show.

Been using IPhone5, Airplay thru Apple TV Had great feed from MN. Last night, it seems like there were some issues on the quality of the video to streaming translation as well as clarity of image. I am not sure f it was the multi-cam, or not. it seems the multi-cam has more issues then high cam. Decided not to try the IPad process until the software is available. IPhone's only have the 30 second rewind, which is very disappointing. Hopefully, this will be resolved when the IPad version comes out.

Cavaliers inconsistency ( since the MG retirement) AKA the last few years is all about Staff changes. The members are just as talented as they were in the early 2000's or at least darn close to the same level. When you change design staff especially one as talented as Michael Gains, you have a huge challenge in front of you to stay at that level. I believe the corps is getting better design wise and may someday, attain the top dog status again. but, for now, the staff continues to get better working together and improve the integration of all the design elements. Then, we may see them challenge for the top spot again. but for now, they are solid and entertaining as usual. I am not as aware of the Scouts decline, but I am assuming it is staff related as well. Corps with this much history, do not just suddenly become less competitive. Staffing makes a huge difference. Anyway, I do not expect either corps will become Coed any time soon. At least I hope not. Diversity is good. The norm of cores are coed and that's fine for all.

Cascades have made solid strides in reinventing themselves this year. I believe they are much improved and hopefully, started to trend this direction. The new Uniforms are a great change and I was glad to see the improvement. OC is going to be an improved corps over last year, but will it be enough to move up in the final rankings. Last year, was the first year they moved backwards in a long time. I like most of the design staff changes that were made in the off season. It is unfortunate that there was a guard staffing issue. Hopefully, that will be overcome by the time finals has arrived. I have not seen a show from a good viewing point since their preview in late June. The Columbians are growing and improving all at the same time. I hope they take it slow before the commit to a national tour and please take their time in making this decision. I love this years show and I hope they continue to grow.

For what its worth, OC got one of the best draw of all the corps. I didn't pay enough attention to everyone's position, but theirs is quite good for them. Yes, last year, they did get one awful draw. Maybe their luck has changed. Good Luck OC.

As a current NW corps fan, I truly appreciate the effort that Cascades have put into their program and staffing. This is a very nice program from start to finish and I believe it is good enough to get them into Semi-finals come August. That my friends if a huge step forward. They are much improved in all sections and the design of the show is perfect for their members. Kudos to the staff and I hope they continue to grow as a team. I am also wondering how the additional 3 new (and maybe 4th ) NW corps are impacting OC and Cascades. FYI, too bad the Columbians are not doing a national tour this year, I think they could easily make OC finals and challenge for top 6 in Open Class. Anyway, great job Cascades. I hope this corps can continue its steps forward from today towards the future.

After watching the nerves last night in the preview and not having the best vantage point, here is what another light review. I like the direction the new design team is taking. Integration of the drums and guard appears better (first time seeing or hearing the show and a low vantage point) Brass: The brass need to listen to each other more and blend the sound. They have plenty of volume and improved dynamic range, but playing with good tone and not over blowing is critical for this group. I think they will be improved over the last few years. Some of that is the style of music and the staff changes in this area. Time will tell on their progress over the summer (and filling a couple of holes) Percussion: I am a brass guy so I don't know much here. It appears that the book is written to the level of this section. They appear younger then years past, but, I still think Mike Stevens and crew will have them playing well by finals. Guard: Here lies the biggest weakness of OC. They appeared to be a little younger and had a lot of jitters last night, as well as a fair amount of missing guard work. They are behind the rest of the corpsand will need to work very hard over the next 6 weeks. This section will determine the future of OC this summer. The main thing for them is work hard together. Make sure the book is at a level they can execute it and add to the overall effect of the show. They will not win medals for difficulty in the design. They only need to add to the visual impact of the show. The guard will determine the placement of this corps in my opinion. Other overall impressions: This corps has an entertaining show that is fun. Visually, there is a lot of dirt and hopefully, once the drill in memorized and the thought process goes to space and technique, they visual design will come through. Musically, I think there is a lot more cleaning and emphases on technique required to stop the forcing of sound and let overtones do the work. Listening and understanding of the show will help here too. GE is lacking still, but it is a bit early and other then the guard, I think they are a bit farther ahead then the last few years. The main thing I see missing is confidence. This will improve as the summer progresses. This year can be a great growing year for OC. A lot of the kids who marched 4-5 years have aged out and now their appears to be a fair amount of new kids. The key this year (like every year) is to make it as fun as possible and aim to be competitive with the groups in the 19-17 range at semifinals. That kind of placement will bring back members to build for the future. This design staff needs a few more years of working together to really get familiar with this fairly new team. I wish them luck and hope they continue to improve all summer. I think they can surprise a few people if the complete visual package lives up to the potential. Good Luck OC. Work hard and have fun. That is really what it is all about anyway. To be fair, this is not to be critical of OC, I like the show concept and the potential it has. The first performance in public is always difficult and I believe by the time they get back to Portland on Thursday, the jitters will be significantly less.

As a former show Chairmen, It is extremely difficult to find great locations for staff members. We used to have a sky box (great vantage point) available until we were forced into changing locations. Anyway, We always tried to designate a spot for staff during their corps performance. That is the problem. Staff members feel that once their corps has performed, they can still stay in the stands where paying customers sit. That is not correct and should be enforced. The problem, is having enough volunteers to manage this problem. We always struggled having enough volunteers and making sure it was handled in a professional manner. Anyway, there is no room for rudeness by staff members as they do represent their corps. This is a top down problem. Also, if they do not have the layout of the location for staff viewing area, they should ask. Not just sit where ever they can find a seat. Some helpful tips: Be respectful of the paying customers as they are the ones who may buy a tee shirt that helps pay their salary. One never knows where the next great member may come from. The paying customer you disturb may have a kids getting ready to march someday.(But, if your rude, not your corps) The list can go on.

Work hard on learning the trumpet. if you cant make Blue Knights, try out for Oregon Crusaders. They are not that far away and there may be another brass player or 2 from your area marching OC already.

Basically, its a couple of things. The starting time in the NW for move-ins The cost of adding 10-14 days of touring The scoring penalty they would kind of see for not being ready to compete (lower scores will hold their score down all summer)