Quad Aces

Not a problem - as long as you stop using the word “maths”. Hate that 😀.

Technically not an equation - no = (says the math major 😀). A typical line chart result. It would be more logical for the results to look like this (not sure how to embed the picture directly): https://apexcharts.com/javascript-chart-demos/line-charts/basic/

Thanks for the reply. Sure, but by roughly the same amount every day, every year? Wouldn’t a fresh set of judge’s eyes with different opinions on the performance, and a blank sheet every night yield some swings up, then down, then up, then down, etc. throughout the season? Yes, there are SOME swings like that - but it is almost rare. My hunch is that the judging is not as “fresh” every competition as we would like to think it is. I would love to hear more thoughts (particularly from anyone who has done judging in the past).

Why is it that every year the top corps start the season in the mid to upper 70s, then each show adds about 1.5 - 2 points, magically ending up in the upper 90s by season’s end? Every. Single. Year. Honest question. It’s almost as if the judges pull up the scores before a show, and say, “Ok, what was <insert corps name here> at yesterday? Alright, need to put them 1.5 - 2 points higher tonight somehow. Here we go...” And if a corps has x days off from competition during the season, when they return, their score will be (1.5 - 2) times x points higher. I get it that every corps works on their show in between competitions, and that’s why their score increases. But shouldn’t there be more volatility in between shows? it seems to me that mathematically, if judges are not the same from show to show (which I know, sometimes they are) and they all started with a brand new blank sheet every night, it would be close to impossible for the scores to be as linear as they are every year throughout the season. Or would it??

But all of these issues that you write about aren’t new - this started probably 25 years ago. This surely didn’t just happen at Zionsville 2019, right?

Correct, but once that Drum Corps World edition showed up in the mail in the Spring, you had a good idea of what a lot of the corps were playing. So the way corps release show info today is definitely not like it used to be.

I know what you’re saying, but that isn’t the way it used to be. The Super Secritive Nuclear Codes Not Release Anything Until the Last Possible Nanosecond stuff is a recent phenomenon.

Correct. However, I wasn’t thinking just about the switching of instruments. Yes, that has been done before. I was thinking of the much bigger gap in switching from woodwind to brass (and vice versa) than from switching among the brass family.

Didn’t Marian Catholic High School in BOA do a show recently where the brass switched instruments with the woodwinds (and vice versa)? That’s pretty innovative...

And I three bet you - include the drum majors, and teach the guard and percussion enough to be able to play a few sustained chords...😀

Because drum corps don’t win in the court of public opinion - they win on the field with the judges.

But not a huge amount from this year, right? What exactly is Carolina Crown doing this year?? Bluecoats?? Cavaliers?? Santa Clara?? Etc., etc., etc. You have zero knowledge about their shows, but you already know that they will beat Cadets this year?? Wait, I forgot - Blue Devils have the best show announcement, so they automatically win this season...

But what are the “predictions” based on? If they’re not based on ANYTHING, or if they are based on very little like a show announcement, then they are not “predictions”, they are wild a** guesses.

Well, at least now you open the door for something above 9th place - but still before the first note in competition has been played. And since those made up placements are all relative to one another, also before you have heard the other shows too...

What’s so magical about the May date? Why does everything get settled by May every year then? I understand that securing all the different rights involved (performance, sync, etc.) isn’t just point, click, and pay - that part I get. What I’m referring to is this idea that all the corps waiting to announce are waiting for the rights to fall into place. Then - poof - they all fall into place around the end of May/beginning of June - always, every year, like clockwork. Doesn’t seem likely at all. Maybe a small portion can be attributed to that, but the vast majority that wait to release seem to be purely following the trend that waiting as long as possible to release builds some sort of hype about the program or doesn’t give away some sort of competitive advantage or prevents the corps from being criticized too early for their design - whether any of that is actually misguided or not.

And I’m not really buying the “securing the rights” reason anymore for the delay. So magically each corps that hasn’t announced yet has taken until now to all secure the rights, and they will all be magically secured at the same time (despite being vastly different and numerous sources of music) right before the season begins??

If the corps continue down the path of not revealing their shows until the very last possible nanosecond, it will make for a pretty interesting Season Preview podcast in a couple of weeks. “For their 2019 show, Carolina Crown brings us, well, we can’t really say anything about it yet. But they sound great in spring training, and they will be doing some really cool stuff this year!! And for Bluecoats, well, pretty much the same. Cavaliers, yep, them too. Santa Clara? Yeah, not much there that we can share either, but we look forward to them defending their 2018 Championship!! And...” 😀

Welcome to the offseason everyone - boy that season went FAST!! Cadets came in 9th place...before anyone played one note in competition, and based only on a show announcement, that is.

While I agree with your first paragraph, how does the show announcement “reinforce the fact that no current top 12 corps has a better handle on their identity and strengths than the Blue Devils” for you? Honest question. Do the Blue Devils write show announcements that much better than every other corps? Do their show announcements just scream “we are so in tune with what we do in this activity, and we know our strengths lie in how we design our shows and move, spin, and play”? If so, how? I know this sounds sarcastic, but I’m not trying to be. I’m genuinely curious as to how you get all that from the Blue Devils show announcement.

As always (well at least as of the more recent era of drum corps), it’s going to be all about how the arrangers decide to mash up all the pieces into their own creation. I agree - after looking at and hearing the rep that is trickling in, I am hopeful so far that there will be some good musical moments this year.

While all of that may be true, that doesn’t appear to be what chaddyt was getting at. I’m with HockeyDad on this one. The show announcement comes out, and as a result, the post says now, the Blue Devils once again are the corps to beat - before anyone has played one note in a competition.

First Law of Performing Arts - if you have someone in the the group that can do a back flip, it MUST be put it into the performance. Don’t judge - I didn’t create the law, it’s a natural observation of the performing universe 😀.

True. I would love to believe, though, that these kids (and the staffs for that matter too) are being taught like any well-trained performer to tune out the noise no matter what the circumstances. The book “The Inner Game of Tennis” comes to mind.

Point well taken. But does this affect the judging and outcome of shows? I would hope the judging community isn’t partaking in this sort of info and therefore prejudging the shows.

Thanks for the response - I appreciate it. With all due respect, though, I would hope everyone involved in a performance-based activity (both performers and staff) are much more think-skinned and not as fragile as this.