Hirsbrunner

Mandarin’s show has soooo much potential. It was great tonight, very dark, complex, aggressive etc. ”True Colors” ballad had a pre-recorded vocalist (I think). There was a lot of downtime for the horns, but when they came back in, a fantastic moment for sure. Most demand I’ve seen so far tonight.

Yes! Sorry. They were very solid

Acadamy’s show is filled with lots of great music and they’re doing a great job with it. I’m not sold on the voiceovers, it’s not always super clear how they relate to what I’m seeing and hearing. I really like how sharp the uniforms look.

I enjoyed Trooper’s show a lot. Fairly traditional show for the most part. Lots of great moments. Brass are playing their book pretty well already.

Scvc hornline/perc in slacks and red long sleeves. Uniforms coming in later I’d assume

Unfortunately took longer to get into town than anticipated. Missed BDC and now watching SCVC from the gate.

I’ll try to post some comments and maybe some pics here and there. I usually get too caught up in everything though.

I believe his theory pertains specifically to a corps winning for the first time, not those that have in the past.

Let's go Santa Clara!!! Regardless of tonight's outcome you've had a fantastic summer. A medal of any kind and potentially three caption awards makes for a great 50th. So proud, there's no place like Santa Clara

..... I'm not functional right now after that .... So proud of my corps past and present. There's no place like Santa Clara

I feel quite a buzz of energy from SCV as an organization this finals week. The corps is nipping at BDs heels, SCVC is finishing out strong, and the Alumni corps members are currently traveling to Indy for there semis performance. I don't think I've felt this presence, drive, and purpose from Vanguard in my brief time in the activity. Regardless of final placement, this is great year for the corps.

Fun fact I think most people miss: I know there is a piccolo trumpet in that group. Not sure about the rest of the instrumentation. I would guess 4 mellos, 4 baris, 3 trumpets, 1 piccolo.

It's so hard to compare the top shows. It's apples and oranges. This is me looking at the books semi-objectively but that's just how my brain works, not necessarily how it is or should be judged. To take with a grain of salt: I watched some posted vids of both SCVs and BDs show today and compared how much their hornlines play and how much they move and play. BDs book has them playing 7:54 of their show and SCVs book has them playing 6:34 of their show (including solos and small ensembles for both corps). With the exception of Bumblebee and some of the closer, BDs book is at slower tempos, compared to SCVs faster, note-filled show. BD moves and plays about 2:48 of their show. SCV moves and plays about 1:55 of theirs, which surprised me. Vanguard has added a lot of technique to their horn book this year but is moving less when they play. That being said BDs movement is at slower tempos and apart from their usual rectangle rotation, have less velocity. SCV on the other hand is usually performing higher velocity movement with high physical demand when they do move and play. I also don't see physical demand as the main determining factor of visual content. I considered "moving and playing" to be marching, or anything that decently changed a performers left to right or front to back. If it was lower body visual that didn't seem intensive I did not consider it to be " moving and playing (which is subjective). I also was a lot easier on BD on the subjective decisions, given that they have a more individualized visual book and because I'm and SCV homer. So I might have given BD a few extra seconds here and there that I didn't give to Vanguard but it wouldn't be by much. In a way SCV could be considered more guilty than BD this year for the park-and-blow and chop-and-bop, but BD still gets a worse hit for it from many.

Anyone know if the show is sold out? I didn't get a ticket ahead of time and would rather not make the commute if I can't get a ticket.

For a lot of the ballad they are end zone to end zone

Can't wait to see how their real closer drill wraps up an already fantastic show

I agree. That's why I feel like SCV should have gone for a bigger risk with their uniforms rather than follow what others have done, but that's just my opinion. The show is my favorite this season, and I hope it takes it all.

This is pretty much how I feel about the uniforms. I like that they give more freedom for movement, and besides an entire other post I could write about SCV and headgear, the lack of it also gives them more freedom. However, a lot of those at SCV I know keep going on about how much the uniforms are innovative and pushing the activity. I thought Bluecoats and even Oregon Crusaders were the first to that boat last year, and this year a majority of corps have gone that direction of uniforms. This years SCV uniform doesn't rock the boat, it's more amongst the crowd for me. I wish they had gone more out there in terms of its design if they had really wanted to push things. The uniforms are more of a miss for me, because the higher up you get (like in the box where it matters), I feel like the uniforms don't add any more to the effect of the show than any other world class uniform would have. Lots of up close detail work that relates, but it doesn't read from higher up to me. I do think the show as a whole pushes things in a new direction though, there's some really awesome unique things happening in it.

I will gladly rescind all my GE skepticism. It has been an issue in the past, and seemed to continue on that trend so far this season.

They took part of the baritone solo and gave it to trumpet

I'm afraid that once the top six all meet up, the GE scores will clutter up and push SCV even farther behind. Hopefully as achievement cleans up to match content, judges will reward them for more effect. Otherwise, something's gotta change

Vanguard has got to figure out GE if they want to have a hope. A .8 spread from Coats in GE caption alone, that's like the judges saying they aren't in the same league as far as effect.

In feel like SCV design has yet to figure out what judges/sheets reward as good GE compared to others in 1st-4th range. Hopefully for their sake this year they see those GE numbers climb with this show as it changes and tidies up. But so far it seems to once again be what is holding them back the most.

A lot of the visual elements combined with some of the mallet runs remind me of Niagara Falls

The small ensemble is mic'd a majority of the show, playing melodies and counter melodies to what the rest of the hornline plays. From what I remember at their rehearsal earlier this week.