MidWAmericanArts

Would heavily recommend checking out the groups from this year (especially Hebron, who gave the most musical performance I’ve ever heard in BOA). You missed a heck of a year!

‘13 Cadets, ‘14 Blue Knights, ‘15 Blue Devils

You really think Tilt would’ve won any other year? I loved that show, but the only year I think it could have won against was maybe 2018?

No, judging is subjective. It’s designed with parameters to guide the score, but I’m not arguing that it’s an objective analysis. But sitting here and saying that we shouldn’t allow a corps that performs better to win because they won previously is insane. If scores don’t matter, don’t you want to see each corps at their best? Excluding a group from competing for a year would ruin the group financially and kill its member education. I think absolutely everything is wrong about that idea. For somebody that complains that placements are meh, you seem very placement driven, rather than focused on putting on the best production and providing for the best educational experiences.

Yes, good idea. Let’s rig the competitive results so we don’t keep having the same winner. That’ll legitimize the activity!

Side x Side paid a huuuuge disservice to that musical book. One of my favorite music books of all time, with that show design.... AGH!!! One of those shows that it’s almost better to just shut your eyes and listen.

Both sets of scores were incredibly close and could have gone either way. There are 11 different expert judges who all had to make judgment calls in an incredibly tight year. The chips fell how they did. It could’ve gone either way and it came down to preference and opinions. I personally thought Devils had it by an inch and Crown would barely pass SCV, but I’m glad that they have experts to decide this (from far better vantage points than mine).

I sat in the blast zone during finals, which gave me a completely new perspective of the programs. I’d argue that this vantage point is the worst to judge the entire program, but with that being said... here are my blast zone enjoyment rankings: 1. Blue Devils 2. Blue Knights 3. Bluecoats 4. Carolina Crown 5. Boston Crusaders 6. SCV 7. Blue Stars 8. Cavaliers 9. Phantom Regiment 10. Cadets 11. Mandarins 12. Crossmen Let me also add that this was my favorite year of finals too to bottom since 2014. Really enjoyed all of the groups, when I usually only like about half of the programs.

I agree with everything said here. I don’t like the programs that he has put out. I don’t have a problem with the arrangements for where the program is at right now. Once they are back on the rise (hopefully), they’ll need to make a change. I just don’t think that people realize how hard it is to find a quality arranger. Rarely do we see a group that finds a new arranger that takes them to the next level. We’ve seen arrangers move to a new corps (SCV, Crusaders), but unless somebody is about to jump ship for Phantom...

10th isn’t a major accomplishment, but it was their biggest achievement of the year. I’d be hesitant to push that aside, unless you knew of someone that would be a solid improvement. I think this was the best arrangement from Will Pitts yet. He does some great work in BOA and his work at PR is improving (although not at the speed we’d all hope for). I did forget that he was in charge of the program. I’d be in favor of replacing him in that capacity, but I still am in favor of him for arranging.

I know Phantom wasn’t on par with where they’ve placed in the past, but their issues seem to be GE and Visual. They placed 10th in music last night and even grabbed a 9th in achievement for brass. I believe that the biggest issue is the visual design. Will Pitts isn’t the permanent solution for Phantom, but I wouldn’t try to push him off of a ship that hasn’t sunk.

Uh... I’m pretty sure everyone was talking about Crown and SCV winning before the season started... I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to argue with the 100 cap. If you’re upset that you can’t compare 2019 scores to 2018, you’d be correct, but I’m not sure why you’d want to compare scores between years when you can’t even support the scoring system for one year. And then you complain about how things are predetermined and you know who is going to win, but get angry when a judge placed BD ahead in percussion? I’d think that would be exactly what you were hoping for. And comparing it to football, I don’t even know where to start. Points don’t represent how good the team is. The only thing it does is tell us a winner. A team that wins 9-0 would be dominant. One that scores 62-53 would probably be considered less dominant. A team doesn’t care if they win by 1 or 50, a win is a win. You’re competing against one team at a time and the goal is to keep their score lower than yours. Blue Devils aren’t trying to limit what others corps are scoring, they’re trying to perform their best show. I.... don’t understand one bit of the argument. I’m not trying to shut you down and say that you’re wrong, I suppose I just don’t even comprehend any bit of the points that you’re trying to make. But to each their own! Sorry that things didn’t work out your way!

I agree with the vast majority of what you said. What I don’t quite understand is why you’re fighting the way things are judged. These are the parameters and everyone has an equal chance of achievement under the scoring. Some days it might work in your favor, some days it won’t. The problem comes when you try throwing a subjective art form into a system that everyone demands consistency from. It’s never going to be perfect because people have different opinions. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% for improving the system. I’m just not quite the person to demand change without any solution. The people that I usually hear complain are the ones demanding that GE become a popularity contest, without any legitimate system to accurately gauge popularity. Propose some legitimate solutions and watch how quickly people can tear them apart! (This criticism isn’t specifically at you, moreso at some DCP members that keep complaining about scores)

There were several shows that BD beat SCV in one of the two sub captions. The same thing happened last night, with just a slight edge to BD. The score came from the best judge in the percussive activity, who NOBODY has ever complained about until it negatively impacted their corps last night. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he was in the right position to evaluate something that others judges had missed. Maybe he spent more time evaluating the front ensemble than other judges have. Maybe SCV didn’t have their most stellar run. I have no idea! But I think most educated opinions would also depend on the wisdom of Prosperie’s field level read, rather than their own less educated view from a worse view. Their are judges’ opinions that I don’t always agree with, but I trust their more informed professional judgement than my own, especially when they are the most respected in the activity.

They didn’t have the strong typical marching demand in terms of ridiculous drill, but their hornline’s dance work was the most demanding and impressive of the night. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that deserves credit. I think most people would find it easier to march 16 counts of difficult drill at 180 than to perform 16 counts of difficult dance work. It’s relatively easy to learn 16 counts of drill, but filling 16 counts with dance specific to that moment takes time and new skills.