Relics

Not gonna say Coats, because it's already on everyone else's list. Crown-it's so "in your face." And "see what we can do?" Love it. Caveliers-The only show I watch the guard the entire time.

No. What I meant was was it the stadium features or acoustics that led to the poor performance or was it a random bad day?

Was it the stadium or just a random event?

Mine was great. Plugged my computer into home theater and got it in surround sound. I can't believe it took me this long to do this. We've been huddling around the desktop computer all season.

Listening to Crown tonight, they started out really strong. Then started hearing some intonation issues and cracked notes from the trumpets after the percussion feature. Mellos and low brass sounded better than ever. My thought was that the trumpets were over-compensating for the dead acoustics of the venue. Sounds like from another poster, trumpets had a rough night at Rutgers. If the brass judge camps out in the front on side one, those trumpets are exposed. Somehow I think they will correct this by finals and take home the Ott. They certainly have the book, staff, and the talent to do it. Just need to relax and pull it together.

What's going on? Anyone at the show?

Hmmmm. I wonder who you're referring to.

If Phantom would do a "David Copperfield" and instantly go up and down with the black shower curtain to reveal the black swan costume change. It's actually kinda funny when they pull those things up and you see a bunch of elbows and knees punch out as they're changing. It's like, "gee, I wonder what they're doing in there"

My agreement with TQM is that I don't believe any of the top corps "emulate" anyone other than their own traditions. Crown strives for their own identity. Just because that identity reminds you of another corps, doesn't mean that they emulate or try to copy them or any part of their "essence." In other words Crown is Crown, right TQM?

This

I think the staff pushed the MM's harder than they ever had. They are leveraging that immense talent with a level of difficulty that only they are worthy of. That is what the staff are telling them and making them believe. They are all proud to be a member of the Crown organization no matter where the judges place them.

I agree. The Jupiter ending is such a WOW moment, but it's lost (compared to BD's trumpet fanfare), because people miss the switch, and they're standing backfield. I believe BD's trumpet fanfare is just mellos switching. Crown has all low brass playing trumpet.

Yes, I think it can win gold, but my gut tells me no. It is not in the same ballpark in level-of-difficulty as the others in the top 5 (BD, Cadets, CC, SCV). However, cleanliness is next to godliness. They have a shot in any given night. With that being said....their show is beyond cool! I think Crown has the exact opposite problem. My hope for DCI is that Crown can clean their show and medal this year. I want level of difficulty to be rewarded because I love nothing more than a demonstration of excellence and skill.

Is there anyone out there who was a fan of DCI and what it stood for pre-2004 who is actually excited about the direction it is now headed? It's called "progress" my friend. Come, join us. Don't be afraid.

I totally agree. Crown's problem is that they've hadn't had a chance to clean this demanding show because the designers are making so many changes to fix that elusive GE placement. I believe Crown is attempting to demonstrate that they are on a different plain with the music and drill, and I see it. There is no one (BD included) that has the demand from start to finish that Crown does. I'm hoping they will settle in and clean, clean, clean, because DCI needs to recognize and reward this type of achievement so the others will step up their game.

Here's one of best brass rehearsal videos of Crown that I've seen. It's a bit long, but it shows an example of almost every brass technique they employ today in one clip. http://youtu.be/h9efpfNMlOc

Yeah. There was a part where Klesch just had the mellos in in the opening hit. Mellos alone blew my face off.