shofmon88

The Battalion will undoubtedly push for world class in about 5 years. They’re building a smart organization, expanding their tour each year, and they know how to design for their members’ abilities. posted from the DrumScorps app

I was able to make it out from Australia and see their Memorial Day preview. Their brass and percussion are monsterous. As someone said, they do have an aura about them. They have an odd way of shining while playing dark and expressive music, and while I despise spandex, I think their uniform colors are fantastic. Whatever else 2018 brings, I know I’ll enjoy their show.

Favorite: 1) 2014 2) 2015 3) 2007 Least favorite: 2016

This.

The Cadets thread is the worst. It’s the only thread that’s ever regularly updated in the off-season, but it’s nothing more than a constant parade of whinging alumni. Any details about the show/music/staffing are lost 20 pages back. And so many bludging galahs saying they know something but won’t post any info “because everyone knows.” If you actually have info you should fair dinkum start your own thread for visibility.

People are making projections based on available data. As clearly outlined, the trajectory for Phantom is downward. We won’t know if that trajectory is continuing or reversing until after 2018 finals, when we can add another data point. But one point does not a vector make, and it is likely we won’t be able to confirm a trajectory reversal until after finals 2019.

After last season they’re a pretty low hanging fruit.

Yeah, I know. Too many colorguard leads to visual cutter in my opinion. I haven’t really watched a show since about 2007. The clamoring for visual and GE points has generated a race to the bottom.

Less usage of synths and amplification of brass. Smaller colorguards Fewer pre-recorded sound patches (how about you play there instead, brass, percussion, or both). None of this will happen, unfortunately.

After Blue Stars, I also listen to: Blue Knights Crossmen Mandarins occasionaly Boston ...and that’s about it really. Try as I might, I still can’t make it through BD’s show; it’s so incredibly dull that my attention drifts without fail. Same can be said for SCV to some extent. Overall, I find that 2017 was an extremely lackluster year in regards to re-listening, and I find myself switching to 2014 and 2015 instead.

Blue Stars for me as well. I did not pay much attention to the show during the season. But I’ve noticed that it is the most appealing show to listen to of the top 12 for one reason: the show is predominantly acoustic. They have the least synth bass of any corps, so listening to the recording doesn’t strain your ears like most other corps. (I listen to the lossless audio files through a DAC and headphone amp with a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX reference headphones. Anything weird in the recordings is very obvious, and synth-heavy shows are riddled with pops and snaps of amplifiers that the on-field microphones pick up. The Blue Stars recording is very clean.) It also helps that the music and arrangements are just darn good too.

I’ll have to vote the whole run from 2014 to 2017. Despite slipping in and out of semifinals, you can definitely tell the corps itself is on an upward trajectory, and each of these shows is enjoyable, well performed, re-watchable, and also an improvement on the year before. “Bird Set Free” is easily the most underrated show of 2017, and sits in the #1 spot of my list. HM: I watched the 2002 show for the first time a few weeks ago. Undeniably good.

I am really at a loss trying to understand how this works...

Phantom Regiment had their hornline dialed back all of last season. Seriously though, it's probably harder to dial back the volume of electronics than it is to tell the performers to do a run at 80% volume. Electronics can be finicky, as has been proven time and again. If you go messing with something, there's a chance it might just stop working altogether.

What about them? Did G lines never play smaller stadiums? I thought drum corps fans loved sitting close to powerful G lines. The instructors could always tell the players to dial it back a bit for certain shows; the hornlines are certainly capable of that, as they do that sort of thing in rehearsals/warm-ups all the time.

It would probably cost less to buy an entire set of G bugles every year Seriously though, that's extremely expensive. Maybe corps should go back to tweaking sound acoustically. Need more bottom end? Add more tubas. Sometimes the simplest solutions are best.

1995 - the opener had enough energy to be the closer of any other Madison show. Then they played Malaga. 1988 - what's to say that hasn't been said? This is why Scouts own Malagueña. 2003 - good solid show, and really the last powerhouse hornline from them, as it was the last G bugle year. 1989 - I love Make His Praise Glorious as an opener 2015 - this show just worked, and felt very Madison without really being something they had done before. I had such high hopes for them after this year.

End of DCI? Hardly. For all its foibles, DCI is a vibrant organization. It'll take a lot to kill it outright. However, depending on how the amplification of brass is handled, it may be the death of DCI that I and many others enjoy.

I sincerely doubt it. It's becoming a race to the bottom.

With the failure of the brass amplification rule, I just can't be excited about the coming season. Of last year's top 12, I only listen to Blue Knights, Blue Stars, and Crossmen. Everything else just doesn't sound good on recorded media. Now I can't see this situation getting any better, and I'm seriously considering not investing in any media at all next season. What's the point when electronics are so tedious to listen to? The talk at the end of the video is just that: talk. If the designers really wanted to listen, they would have agreed on the limitation.

If you want to dig up a more non-partisan source than the TPC (which is very specifically non-partisan), I'll gladly link it in my post. I don't think DCI or the corps will be able to make up for the drop in donations via revenue from shows, media products, or other merchandise. From what I've heard in the past, the media portion breaks even, at best. Too, discretionary income has not kept pace with inflation since the 1980s, and the fastest growing DCI demographic, young people, are also the least economically well-off. I certainly anticipate my discretionary revenue to decrease next year, with the tax hike I'm seeing for my bracket certainly part of that impact. One of the first things I'll be cutting is DCI, and I'm already afraid I won't be able to afford to stream shows. I know I'm not the only one in this situation. No, the future of revenue for DCI is not a rosy one.

This study indicates there may be a reduction of donations across the U.S. of up to $13 billion, or 4.5%. This does not bode well for DCI or the corps involved. Many different sources indicate that benefits are overwhelmingly skewed towards higher income households, and many lower and middle income earners will actually see their tax burdens increase. Most of the corporate cuts are expected to go to shareholders instead of to investment or wage increases. The national debt will balloon over $1 trillion over the next ten years. All of this disincentivizes donations. DCI and most corps probably won't be affected immediately, but expect their financial situations to worsen over time with this trajectory, especially smaller corps or those with marginal finances.

Except with the increase of the standard deduction, there is little incentive to itemize deductions, which could have a cooling effect on tax-deductible donations as a whole.

The Cascades posted their full show to YouTube. Not sure how long it will stay up, but as it's their official page...

Correct, except for the last bit. An apostrophe denotes either possession or a contraction, never plurality. The plural of corps should be, and is, corps.