brichtimp

Yep.....the Cadets music selection was such a failure that the Coats were not able to squeeze by them until the very last show....Cadets were something like 33 and 1 against Coats......failure???? hmmmm.

Great analog playing with great marching never needs an apology, IMHO..... Just a perceptive audience that can appreciate the difference.

I want to hear a great brass line play without electronic embellishment. It's like.....I would never want to hear the Chicago Symphony brass (first trumpet played in DCI, by the way) muddied by synthesized or sampled sound.

I'd say that something changed for Coats between Semis and Finals....not before, in terms of placement. The fans would have placed them above Cadets far earlier in the season.

That is not what I said...was there all three nights. There were 30+ head to head shows during the season where the electronics and pitch bend did not work to place the Coats above the Cadets.....only happened once.

For 30+ judging panels, it did not lift them to where the fans thought they should be.

For me, the most impressive brass sounds made by the Coats were the soft and well controlled sections in their Vienna Teng ballad...really nice. After about three hearings of the juiced bend and final hit, the 'novelty' wore off to a degree with respect to the electronic sounds.

We sat in a different section and level in LOS each of the 3 nights. The echo was present to varying degrees in every instance....an annoyance that muddies audible detail.

Yes....either average the complete body of work over the 3 nights to 'equalize' the impact of the judging panels, or don't average anything, including captions.....never could understand why the latter made any sense.

Viewing Coats and Cadets' shows in person all three nights, my take is that both corps brought their best each night. Having been at the Cadets' final rehearsal, there is no way they were performing to be safe...their intent was to go out there and bring their best. Judging opinions varied from Thursday to Saturday. Coats were excellent...did not see them as a point and a half better on Saturday (from their Thursday result).

At Prelims where we first saw that banner live, we spontaneously started laughing for the reasons you stated....and then, we felt sad because the result could never rise to the intent of its use, and the kids were cranking like mad to deliver a performance that continued the trend of the entire season, placing above everyone except BD.

Yes, and if they averaged the total scores for three nights like they do for captions.....well, that would have been interesting too.

From section 343, Cadets were on fire.

We loved the superb talent and creativity on display last night. BD played at a level seldom if ever seen in DCI. Cadets were very strong...sweet brass, guard was superb and the battery run across the field was primo. I do think they will improve some more. They seem to be edging away from those below them, despite that final banner at the end, which actually had us laughing (not the hoped for reaction). There is a purity in drill design and musical arrangement that is lovable with Cadets, I think.....it is our first time at Indy, and a very cool venue, except for the echo. Tonight will be epic!

Me thinks much ado about nothing. Those kids are relaxed, in great spirits and primed to kick butt and take names tonight....can't wait to see it.

How about some well designed drill to Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain or the Hindemith Mathis Der Maler? Either could be awesome.

Yep, my only concern is when I hear from my son that the drum judge was not tracking a lot of their stuff. That group does not serve up their goods to the front field enough for my taste; but just another challenge to surmount, especially given the quality of percussion this year.

Coats drums are great! No question.....but, not sure that they are .3 better in Achievement compared with Cadets.....percussion will be a 'knife fight' in Indy with BD in the mix.

The quotes are reminders of some of the reality of those times that challenged our nation and required effective communication from the President to set a course and an attitude.

Don't believe Cadets have peaked.

Clean= perfect.....eternally elusive for everyone.

Thus, you have The Cadets :-)

I don't think the Cadets have peaked....still quite a bit to clean and refine. I think the show design choices will limit their ability to get inside of a point of BD, but they have a legit shot at a strong silver, scoring somewhere near 97.5.

The La Strada theme and the Goodwin chart make the music book memorable. BD's mastery of musical styles is most impressive. Scores are almost irrelevant for this group....just enjoy and be amazed.

My favorites so far: 1. Cadets 2. BD 3. Blue Knights 4. SCV 5. Bluecoats