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rainshdw08

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Posts posted by rainshdw08

    Allentown Again!

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    'Ya never know! It's sure happened before! I'll just stay home and watch, if necessary. :smile:

    Well...as a Meteorologist...something I rarely do is guarantee the weather more than 24 hours out. But this one is a lock. BIGtime winter like Low Pressure moving across the upper midwest and Canada today heading towards Allentown. Once this moves through, clear, lower dewpoint, sensible weather will be the rule at least through Sunday. maybe some clouds from time to time but nothing to ruin a sunny day. it'll be a bit warm due to the drier air, but still, at least zero chance of rain.

    • Like 3

    Denton, TEXAS

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I don't even know what a cold front is, let alone Climatology (guessing the science of climate?) lol....

    haha wow. :cool: basically...its a cooler airmass overtaking a warmer one with a wind direction change. as for the Clima...just think of it as history. what happens in winter? its cold. climatology. summer warm - Climatology. lol.

    Are Corps rivalries worse for non marchers than marchers?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    in response to the original question, In today's world...I'd say yes. but..that's because of the BITD people, me being one of them.

    BITD, I was a young punk kid, skinny, scrawny, I didn't know anything about how the world worked. I had all these older kids telling me who to like to who not to like....almost like it was bred into us. lol. My first year, 81, our biggest rivalry was the Riverman, the Guardsman and the Blue Stars. When we'd see them coming off or going on to the field we had to be total military as some of them would jeer us going on the field. Mainly one corps which will remain un-named...we'll just say they wore long blue jackets and leave it at that. :tounge2: To me it was motivating to do better. I could feel the rivarly when we at retreat, lined up on the field after the show and they would have to leave the field before us.

    in 82 when we beat the Cavies for the 1st time in retreat we were all F yeah! but remaining still so the crowd couldn't see us moving. But we didn't dislike the Cavies like we did those other three corps from the previous years, they were just unattainable in 81.

    83 was just a blur as we were beating all kinds of top 12 corps. Toured with Garfield that year, those guys were awesome!! No rivalry there, probably because they were in a different league than we were...but it was motivating when they would come watch us warm up and play some of our show.

    Denton, TEXAS

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Are there any cold fronts coming?

    Temps to stay near 100, even getting hotter by the end of the week....Id say no. lol. Coming into this last week of July and first week of August are Climatologically speaking, the hottest time of the year in the US, well, most of the US anyways. The sun has already started to retreat the other way, but the earth takes some time to catch up. Kinda like the last week of Jan, 1st week of Feb is the coldest, even though the sun has started to turn towards summer.

    i know, I know. sorry, had to do it :):)

    Suicidal Judges

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by rainshdw08

    As for former percussionist, let me see if I can try to rationalize some of my thoughts.

    In percussion, all aspects, its not just the sound, its also the looks. What I mean here is several things, stick heights, stick movements, slight arm movements, slight hand movements some of these things you could see from the box, some you can't. You HAVE to be up close. Correct me if I'm wrong but does the brass judge look at a horn players lips and see how much he/she is pursing their lips? Do they look at finger position on the horn? I'm sure they look at how the horn is held/carried, how the horn is faced to the box or not at certain times...are they all the same angle or angled correctly. Just guessing as I am not a horn player.

    Projection. Horns have built in projection, most percussion does not. Hence the projection shell on the bottom of the snare and some toms. The bass drums are a much lower frequency so the sound wave carries further as the sine wave is much longer than a snare's. Cymbals make a loud crash, but to me, in the stands, its hard to hear them when they are just making a high hat type of sound or tinging the edge into the bell of the cymbal. I'm sure it all goes together, but for a judge to hear them from the box when they aren't crashing..would be impossible I think. If they are on the field, they can hear these subtleties. I'm also assuming this is why most pits are up front also versus behind the corps. Plus, when the battery is together, they are not playing all the same notes, it would be harder to judge from the box versus on the field listening to the ensemble, especially when the pit or horns are playing.

    I feel that when the judge is running around for his life trying no to get killed, he can still hear the battery as he is closer to them versus sitting in the box. I do feel that when he or she is running for theirs lives, they do lose an aspect of judging as maybe they missed a stick movement which makes no sound what so ever or some slight of hand trick in a hard lick area. So I totally agree with Granny on that.

    However, I don't like him on the field messing with the visual.

    Overall, i'm not sure taking the judge off the field for percussion is the way to go, alot would be missed.

    My 2 cents fwiw.

    • Like 1

    Wrangle in Warrensburg

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Weather for this show is going to dangerously hot. Excessive Heat Warnings from are in place for this afternoon with Heat Indices approaching 110 this afternoon. The warning starts at noon and lasts until 9pm. PLEASE STAY HYDRATED!! If you're not using the bathroom and sweating it all out, you aren't drinking enough water. Can't stress this enough here.

    As for rain chances, they are small, but exist. Convective energy this is area will be high today, but without a major trigger in place to create lift I'm hoping the CAP can hold storm development down or non existent until after the show. Time will tell.

    • Like 2

    Percussion on the Pearl - DCI Muscatine

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    And I will say on Blue Stars, they do seem flat in performance energy this year like they did last year and the year before at this point. Same reactions last year as well at this point and time, and after around Atlanta or so they turned up the notch to 11 energy wise and drew a lot of people in. I suggest giving it some time, they give their shows a lot of time to develop and grow, and when they do they really sparkle like they did at finals last year. I don't know how many people I heard concerning 2014 say "I did not like the show during the season, but they really sold me on it during finals week" or similar. And following Madison is gonna make you sound a little less high octane regardless of who you are, they know how to sell it. I suggest giving it some time, whether you see it online or in person later on, and watch it again.

    Might be the same reaction, that's totally fine, not gonna try to convince you otherwise, just a suggestion as to that's what seems to happen in recent years. Was surprised to see that spread over Madison as well, but we'll see. Based on what I've seen they're starting to layer/change things to give the show more cohesion.

    I get all that...and remember that from last year...people saying the same things.

    All I know is...I was at the show last night. I've marched, albeit years ago. Madison was better last night. Blue Stars were flat. Scores were out to lunch for me.

    • Like 1

    Percussion on the Pearl - DCI Muscatine

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I was too harsh. Sorry. The point remains - Madison's show lacks content compared to the corps around them. Just as they have the last few years, they'll continue to drop in the standings as the season goes on because of that disparity. This shouldn't be a surprise anymore to Madison fans (of which I am one).

    It sucks because it's outside of the members' control, but we've reached the point in the season where design is going to start mattering more than execution. Just like Blue Stars won't catch BK or Cavies this year, no matter how well they play their show, Madison won't keep up with Boston, Crossmen, or Stars. If they miss Finals - which wouldn't surprise me - it's 100% on the design team, just like it has been for years.

    I have a real problem with this.

    What I mean is, because a show "Lacks content" it's scored lower than a show that has content, even though the latter is clearly cleaner the the show with content.

    Now...I can see if a top 8 corps, that lacks content, beats a 12 thru 18 corps even though they have more content...cleaner wins here. Talent wins here. Roger that.

    What I can't see is two corps that are close, Madison and Blue Stars, giving the show with more content the nod just because they are attempting it. Madison doesn't have a Juggler, or a contortionist or large stage props etc, so because of those things the Blue Stars are gonna get scored higher just because they are attempting it?

    How do judges score a contortionist? or a Juggler? What/who else can they compare them to? Are the Judges experts in either field?? They are just getting points for attempting it? I get they go with the theme of the show...I also get VK and the Bridgeman used to do similar things, I just think talent wise, those two were better than the Blue Stars this year. If the Blue Stars had top 6 talent, I think you could pull a show off like this, but without it....it's all just gimmicks to me to gain more points.

    Lets put it this way, The Blue Devils do similar things as the Blue Stars do...Gimmicks to gain points. The difference is, the Blue Devils have the talent to pull it off.

    Do i think Madison should be killing the Blue Stars? No...But I think Madison is better talent wise. and talent should be rewarded, not shunned because they don't have enough Gimmicks. Madison clearly had the better show last night. I felt they were about 1.5 ahead of the Blue Stars, they should have scored closer to the Crossmen.

    • Like 2

    Percussion on the Pearl - DCI Muscatine

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    A few points on yesterdays show I missed....too busy enjoying everything lol.

    I really really liked Crossmen's use of moving the pit back a few yards and letting the corps be closer to the crowd several times. Like the drum lines feature of moving the sound from one side of the stadium to the other (without using amplification.....whaaaat!?!?!)

    Madison was cleaner than a week ago for sure, more powerful it seemed. Show was growing on my since it was the 2nd time ive seen it.

    Blue Stars show was just ok for me. The crowd agreed as they didn't get nearly the response as Madison. But even so, they seemed flat to me. That first mini company front walking from right to left diagonally seemed flat, off, no power. Maybe it was designed that way...but in Whitewater a week ago, it was louder. Decided not to watch to juggler on purpose to see what else was going on lol. Like I said, i didn't hate it, they just seemed off to me last night.

    As for the scores. I saw one poster say Legends/Music City beat Pioneer. Correct me if I'm wrong but Legends/Music city are scored on Open Class sheets, Pioneer is World Class, hence the difference in scores. Not to say, in Quarterfinals, those two corps couldn't beat Pioneer. But I don't think they will, Pioneer was better IMO. You could tell the difference for sure. Even though they are at the bottom of World Class, you could tell they were WC and the other two weren't listening to each show in the stands.

    I thought Jersey Surfs score was a bit low. Can't see them 10 points behind the Crossmen. 6 maybe, not 10.

    Blue Stars and Madison...meh. I'm a Madison homer, so what's the point. lol.

    • Like 1
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