Drum Corps Nation

Ok, I won't apologize. The uniform makes them look like little boys who can't handle the heat so they have to wear short sleeves.

Major rewrites midseason are totally possible. See: Blue Devils 2002.

No one said anything about scraping it. We were talking about moving to to allow better use of the field. And personally, I didn't like the use of the scaffolding at the beginning of the year, but since they have finished it and integrated it MORE into their program, I like it more and it makes sense to have it there. It also really does add a dimension to the visual package, especially for the people in the audience who aren't sitting high enough to really see the drill.

Also, (again speaking from experience teaching in the activity) a lot of the time GE judges will consistently give corps conflicting advice from night to night... so it's difficult for a corps to make a drastic change to a show when half the judges are saying to leave it the same and half are saying to change it.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I know the people who teach at Blue Stars and design their show personally, and they are NOT above such criticism, nor are they idiots. They do what they think is best for their students and are constantly trying to give them the best summer possible.

It's very possible that Blue Stars are taking flak from judges for not using the whole field, although, seeing as how those scaffoldings have been in the exact same place since early season, they probably aren't getting negative feedback about it or they would have moved them.

IMHO, Madison has the ugliest uniforms in world class drum corps right now. Sorry.

As I have not seen BK live yet, I can't really say what the judges were thinking in scoring them higher than Blue Stars. However, visual GE (from listening to tapes) has a lot to do with Ensemble and Individual cleanliness, and has less to do with coordinating drill to the "theme" than it does to coordinating it to the actual music being played. It also has a lot to do with the coordination of colorguard work to the music being played. Essentially, does the drill, marching, body, colorguard work enhance the effectiveness of the music, the emotions being portrayed, etc...? If yes, then that's good visual GE. Also, staging of brass/percussion is a factor (are the members being put in good places based on their music?) and things like velocity, drill based effect ("wow, cool drill move!") and stuff like that. In short, a corps doesn't have to make something recognizably english to create good GE for an english show, there are more subtle ways to do that.

Energizer bunny playing bass drum that battles Godzilla until they both get eaten by a giant shark... Surely that hasn't been done yet... right?

Why do you think that is?

This is interesting that you should say this. I've seen the sheets, talked to the judges in critique, this is not the way they justify their numbers.

Why can't there be ties? Are judges being pressured to not score ties? Or do they just not want to because they're afraid of looking indecisive?

What he was saying is that a dirty show is NOT effective. It must be clean enough to be effective, and in general, the cleaner something is, the more effective it becomes. "An effective, yet dirty show" is not really possible because the dirt reduces effectiveness.

Best: Cadets, love it, nuff said. Runner-up: Cavaliers, I think this show is brilliant, but it's definitely hit a wall and was too clean too early... needs something more for cavies to win. Worst: Boston, I love the concept, but I think the musical arrangements and execution of the design are underwhelming. And I'm an East kind of guy. Runner-up: Glassmen. They get the prize for most muddled composition of the year with their ballad. If you're going to play Elvis, play Elvis. If you're going to play Beethoven, play Beethoven. If you're going to mix them together, you better be able to do it well. And I don't understand the idea behind playing the loudest parts of Verdi's Requiem at a mezzoforte.

If BD people don't like the "hating" they shouldn't call themselves the Yankees of drum corps. There's a reason why the Yankees are known as the evil empire.

Allentown has turf, but I have seen this show twice and the tarp does nothing for me. Not really sure it's that much of an issue.

Someone did do this. The show was called Juxtaposition and was performed by the Cadets in 2001

First, let me say, this is NOT a conspiracy theory or "this judge doesn't like this corps" thread. This is a completely honest question. My question is this: Mystery Corps consistently beats higher placed corps in a certain performance caption during the week. Let's say it's visual performance. They are scoring a full point and a half above their other captions every night. Then, Regional time rolls around, and all of a sudden that corps is placing and scoring lower in that caption than corps that are beating them, and the spread between that caption and the corps' other caption scores becomes much more similar. Why does this happen? Be aware, I'm not asking IF it happens, because I've looked at the recaps and it DOES happen. My question is why do YOU think this happens? Is it inconsistency with the corps performance? Nerves? Or is it the S word? (Slotting) Or something else altogether? Is it the sheer number of corps at a regional that makes it more difficult for a corps to get a fair shake? Is it judges afraid to pull the trigger and call it as they really see it?

Boston played Axel F with synthesizers back in the day and took a penalty for it every time.

Crossmen's Hallelujia

It's been a month since the beginning of July. There's just not that kind of time left.

I too have much respect for Madison's team, especially their brass staff, but this show was not designed for upward mobility. The visual program was just not designed effectively. I understand that they've been making a lot of major changes recently, but the fact that these changes are happening so late is a testament to the fact that they underwrote the corps this year. If these changes cannot be implemented cleanly soon, they may not be able to pick up momentum again, and if the changes aren't effective, it may not matter if they can't clean them.

I think in relation to your concrete example, If Spirit and Cavies were at the same show with the same judges, and Spirit performed like the would at the end of July and Cavies performed like they would at the end of June, Spirit would win. By 5 points? I dunno, probably. However, what I have noticed is that the standards are increased from year to year. So a corps scoring an 80 at the beginning of the season in 2010 is better than a corps scoring an 80 at the beginning of the season in 2000. In that way, Judges seem to be giving out those first scores of the season as starting points in anticipation that this year's corps will be better than last year's corps. What changes is the end of the season. We will probably never see a finals where every corps breaks 90, no matter how good they all are, unless judges stop thinking so much about spreads and start thinking about giving corps a simple raw score without relation to the corps around them.

Et tu, RockEuph?

1. Blue Devils 2. Cavaliers 3. Carolina Crown 4. Cadets 5. Phantom Regiment 6. Santa Clara Vanguard 7. Boston Crusaders 8. Bluecoats 9. Blue Stars 10. Blue Knights 11. Madison Scouts 12. Glassmen