brichtimp

To paraphrase the legendary William D Revelli, I know whether a band is really good by closing my eyes. Everything else follows in importance. IMHO, the greatest high school bands don't have the musical maturity and horsepower of BD, Crown, Cadets, et al. Design is up for grabs.

On the other hand, I thought the voice over speaking numbers was kinda goofy and did nothing, IMHO, to enhance the Cadets' performance.

I love a good guard, but the 2015 Cadets took high brass and were 3 hundredths of a point from high percussion as well, and their drill was beast (although not perfectly clean). In my simple mind, this should not translate to a 4th place overall result; especially when the musical elements are so strong. Contrast with 2014, where guard was second and drums were 4th, and the Cadets just missed holding onto Silver at Finals.

IMHO, 2015 Cadets had an awesome show, but never really got the drill as clean as it needed to be. Percussion and brass were top shelf and I thought the guard was variable in design staging and execution. Personally, I do not like the idea that the guard scoring carries more weight than either brass or percussion....ymmv.

Yes, my son, who played C2 the first two years and aged out of C1 in 2014, really enjoyed the opportunity to assist in teching C2 snare line this year...he really respected their work ethic and teachable attitude, and it's great for the C2 kids to get some of the C1 mojo from those players.

Yep.....a lot of burying going on, but I think a salient point was that Bucs deserved the win....challenging arrangements and drill, but they did not decimate the field.

Reading's percussion dirt was confirmed by the fact that C2's percussion execution score beat them, even with a suspected tear between battery and pit. Bucs deserved to win, but were not close to pristine, and C2's guard buried the Bucs.

C2 also was just 0.1 below winning the percussion caption, and also received a higher Percussion execution score than Bucs. So, they were nicely balanced this season.

Intense show but phasing and alignment were sketchy at times.

Feed quality looks good tonight on the Fan Network.

Last year's Blu-Ray was my first for DCI, and the audio is excellent through my Audioengine computer speakers (with sub) and my Vandersteen main stereo speakers. The other revelation is how fine they sound through good headphones, transcoded to MP4 on my iPad for enjoyment on the train to work....well worth the cost to purchase and the time to transcode, IMHO.

2014 didn't have the sustained blizzard of notes rammed by brass and percussion that 2015 had (Shosty vs Copland); but within the context of musical phrasing, precision exposure and field coverage, 2014 was deceptively difficult; and without the dubious cheese, I will always think of the 2014 Cadets as a silver level ensemble. I will never think of the 2015 Cadets as a 4th place ensemble....ridiculous.

Of course, there is so much emphasis on the Saturday night placement in labeling the Cadets 2015 (for example) a 4th place corps. But, within the context of the last month of the season, they were never a 4th place corps. Similar to 2014 where they were never anything less than a 2nd place corps until Saturday night that year. I will continue to enjoy the 2015 show for its musical quality and some of the drill design, while looking past the considerable visual dirt (intervals and phasing) that were evident all the way to the end. The musical execution of the brass and percussion was superb!

I believe that gentleman was from Indiana University, and he also said that he hoped the kids would want to seek out the source music after being exposed to the work in this activity.

IMHO, all of the top 4 corps had visual dirt....none were pristine....the 'hidden' subjectivity is in what the judges notice and to what degree that impacts scoring. One could argue that the Cadets had more visual dirt that was noticeable, and also had more attempted visual drill exposure where synch precision was in play.

That was pure awesome! Somehow, we gotta hear Prosperie's tape for BD and Cadets.

Cappybara, that mp3 file does not allow access on my end....is it a protected sound file?

Well, I appreciate the relative perfection of the BD GE execution and design; but in my opinion, their show totally lacked the relentless intensity that the Cadets show brought to the field. I will enjoy both on BluRay (I hope) because excellence takes many forms at this level. Cadets were three hundredths of a point from sweeping Ott and Sanford awards, so that ensures an enjoyable listening experience even if a fan doesn't care to view the shows down the road.

I wonder if anyone on the DCP forum has any influence in shaking loose some judges tapes from Indy. I, for one, would really enjoy hearing percussion and brass and GE judges for any of the top four corps this year. I know that historically, some of the percussion tapes have landed on youtube....any insights on this from the DCP hive mind?

Didn't Cadets guard place 2nd last year and had a bunch of vets returning this year?

A little like the last two nights in 2014 when a 1.1 point advantage for silver dissipated almost miraculously.

However, one could also opine that the Cadets' relentless intensity, sourced from their execution of the demand was a cumulative sustained effect unequaled by the other top corps. I guess comparing this to a competitor sustaining a chord while slowly moving to a final set with a gold banner swooping above them might be seen, subjectively as superior GE....YMMV.

"Pulsing"can look really false to me and detract from the unbelievable mallet work going on in the pit (IMHO). And, I think excessive Duts are also a crutch to some degree. I don't want to hear it....the composer did not pen Duts into the score.

Absolutely, and the Cadets percussion came within 0.03 of capturing the Sanford.....19.48 to 19.45.....just wow!!

I loved the insane demand of this show. I loved certain elements of the 2014 show: almost inhuman musical precision with massive field coverage; competence in playing a variety of Copland styles. And, the 2014 talent level was quite similar......but, I was able to look beyond the stage and narration for appreciation.....others could not. And finally, that Cadets corps was not exactly parking and barking for 10 minutes (my son survived on the snare line while losing around 20 pounds). That said, 2015 was truly epic!