jkmummer

What he said. And in fact means nothing no matter who is up and or down. It tells you that the shows and performances are all within the the same boxes which we already knew. Until they're head to head with the same judges having to put down comparitive numbers for each group and deciding who is better and by how much, it's a nice conversation at this stage. If anything MBI's number is a guess at best since they have no competition/comparison out there and the judges are using the boxes solely to define the show. Not their fault, you gotta compete where you can, but Bucs, Empire, Hurcs and Cabs have been going at each other all season and are a much deeper/stronger field and in the number comparison game a little more solid of a barometer.

It was for time, but I don't know if it was specific to show or getting on or off.

NO EXCUSES! But . . . the Buccaneers had last weekend completely off from competition and rehearsal and were getting back into it at Toms River. And I believe that they would agree with your assesment that they were rough around the edges this week. They paid for their weekend off by practicing through the rain all day yesterday.

No with Banjo's

They hang over all the time. They're always adding a couple of extra "chucks" for good measure. TRUST ME I have first hand experience on this one.

Plus you'll never hear those cross trained guys complain that your DRUMS are to loud.

No. I have backgound in both and judge both at the high school level. So I know it can be done and Mark would be one of those guys as well as Paul Smith. However,most of the times I see Mark's name listed on Percussion or GE Music and not M.E.. My point isn't that percussion guys can't judge M.E. You don't see it that often. Meaning that a majority of the time there are qualified horn guys in the box judging ensemble and moving the field guy up is doubling the read.

You all make it sound like there is not someone in the box who is judging this stuff. I'm a little new to DCA but isn't the Music Ensemble judge in the box. I'm also pretty sure that I haven't seen a drum guy judging ensemble. So there is someone of an instrumental nature looking at it from that view. Take a look at the Lewisburg recap and I think you'll see that it was judged the way you all believe it should have. Buc winning both Brass and Perc and MBI winning ensemble. We can't all have the judges in the places where it only benefits our strengths an hide our weeknesses. After all, that is the goal to identify the best corps in all aspects of that days performance. I'll preface this by saying that I enjoyed MBI's show and in all of the shows I've had the chance to sample live (Empire excluded) they have been the only ones that I would consider to be in the same conversation with Reading. That being said, they don't spread their horn line out a whole lot in comparison to Reading.. There's a lot of blocked, stacked forms, and them winning ensemble in Lewisburg was totally justified, and in my opinion by design. That's not a knock. You play to your strengths and they clearly do. Judging from the box and being able to truly evaluate will always be a moving target. It isn't based on whether or not the judge is good or not. Different stadiums, different heights. I haven't been to Rochester yet, but I'll bet it will be a higher perspective than most of the regular season shows. Plus if you don't believe moving a judge to a box won't lead to "Ode to a Block Formation" to hide the "ticks" than you're kidding yourself. Why risk it, if there is no one in your face holding you to an individual standard of excellence.

He was, but Al has spent the better part of the last couple of seasons touring with Crossmen for the last 1 or 2 weeks leading up to Championships as a horn tech. He was with them in Allentown on Saturday night.

Great review. I thought you were spot on. I'll offer this to those who are having the issue with the whole play and move thing with the Devils. Obviously it is more demanding to march the types of shows that Cav and Cadets are perfoming, however I think that needs to be balanced with the "other" visual responsibilities that are being asked of the BD's. I was at field level last night. The white 4 X 4's that they are moving throughout the show do carry some sort of demand level. There is some weight to them and they are awkward to carry and balance. You may not want to give them credit for that, but there is a difference of transititioning them through a performance and not looking like a bunch of guys and gals from ACME moving company hauling furniture around. For what it's worth, it's another perspective that you may only get being down on the field and watch them as they move the props that are not on wheels. All this being said, I came away from last night thinking that if any of the 3 top dogs should come away with the title, I would be pleased. It was nice to see 3 different shows all performed at a high level in which I liked them all for different reasons. IMO it may be the strongest (deepest) and most interesting DCI championships in recent memory and great way to end the season.

I would love to really get into this, but I'll be brief. My son marches in his first year with Reading. The main reason is becuase of the penetration they have into some of the local high school programs. From his high school alone there are 11 kids marching only 2 of which are still in high school. If not for 2 kids who moved to DCI they'd have 13. This is not uncommon from some of the other local programs in their area. Next year with Cadets 2 in the mix might be a different story. That wil be something to pay attention to since Cadets 2 is specifically targeting the age group that is one of the bases of Reading's membership. Most of their membership is DCI age up to their 30's and and some older. Younger members mean less missing at rehearsal due to fewer life demands which in the DCA activivty can impede the amount of practice time an individual can commit to. Their first "practice" member day is the Sunday after Thanksigivng and from that point they were going every other weekend. I had the opportunity to sit at that first presentation as I went up with my son to check it out. I can't tell you what other corps are doing and I only have a peripheral view of Reading, but that first day was incredibly organized and structured. The 2011 program was introduced and explained to the group. I'm sure there have been changes to that first "vision" that was presented, but the first presentation was clear that they knew exactly where they were going. The winning doesn't come by accident with those folks. They know what they've done in the past, how they've done it and how to acheive it again. If you want to use the term formula it's about everything that goes on in the planning and development of their show. Yeah the actual formatting of the show has something to do with it, but knowing how to develop the talent and having a good idea as to what they will achieve in the time given is the real formula. Consequently until someone beats them they are the only ones that absolutely knows what it takes to win in the here and now. Not to disparage any of the accomplishments of years gone by, but it's been 6 years since someone other than Reading figured out how to win. We've all been in this activity at some level for a long enough period of time to realize how much changes simply from year to year. What worked 6 years ago has very little bearing on the present method.

Totally agree! It was my first time seeing them Saturday night. They totally commanded my attention and made me watch them. I can't remember when a guard ever did that to me. And I'm a percussion guy!

63.40. Bush 64.50. Sunrisers 69.60. Windsor reg 73.35. Fusion 77.95. Cabs 81.55. Hurcs 84.15. Bucs

I think all comments and scenarios are valid on this. However we're only looking at it from the positive side for the corps that are in the chase position. What if they actually had a worse performance with the extra week? "Success is acheived when preparation meets opportunity" When the season schedule is released, all corps have the same opportunities to prepare for their success. At that stage it doesn't matter if the season is a week longer OR shorter. All groups know what they have to do and should prepare accordingly.

SCV Aug 6 Housing Site: DHH Lengel Middle School 1541 West Laurel Blvd Pottsville, PA 17901 Madison Aug 4 & 5 Valley Forge Military Academy 1001 Eagle Road Wayne Pa 19087 Blue Devils Harrisburg High 701 Windsor Street Harrisburg, Pa 19526

Thanks John, at some point I had to work today, and would've said the same thing about your example of an Applause Meter. "CLAP NOW" and get a number!!!!

I'm not sure what you're hoping to get from the communication caption. First, it's only a caption that carries 10% weight. I'm not sure how big of a spread can be achieved by a corps who may be the most entertaining to the crowd, but not achieving elsewhere. I understand that it only takes a tenth to win the championship, but the overall spread from top to bottom in that caption will probably not be the decision maker. Secondly, when the communication caption is also being judged by the effect judges, they are also being influenced by how they judge effect and relating that to communication. Personally I don't think you can judge communication when you are evaluating the how's and what's of the effect caption. IMO, communication should be a totally seprate judge or judges that simply takes it all in and determines if it does entertain and communicate to the audience. I also understand the slippery slope this presents. What is entertaining or entertainment? And here in lies the debate.

Th recap that was posted was a DCA Recap and The Renegades were listed by total score on the DCI recap with a link to their specific recap. http://www.dci.org/scores/recap/downloads/062611_21140_20110625_stanford_combined_recaps.pdf

For a second take the names of the corps out of the equation. Corps A performed a full show. The most important thing that Corps A recievied was a full judging read on the whole package at that stage. Corps A now knows what worked and what didn't and is that much further along in determining what may need to be re-worked or re-written than Corps B who didn't perform a full and completed show. If Corps A came out of Wildwood without any major overhauls, than they're on to cleaning the performance issues and continueing to add the things to put them over the top. As for Corps B, they're opportunity will come 2 weeks later, and as long as everything works from an effect standpoint, than it MAY only be small hurdle to overcome, but what if it doesn't??? This is the real problem with not being finished. Not style, history or tradition. It's the not knowing of whether or not you're on the right track 2 weeks later than the corps who you view as your competition. This isn't football where you get to play defense and stop the other corps from improving and increasing their own score. Their number won't stand still while your's increases. Let me also say that I was in WW, and it's been along time since I had been to a DCA show. Congrats to all the corps that performed. I was impressed and surprised at the level of shows this early in the season, especially Carolina and Fusion.