pudding

It's funny that people are mentioning Crown and Bloo's first golds. I believe that E=mc2 is Crown's best production to date, with its excellent incorporation of Einstein on the Beach. I don't feel the same about Down Side Up; while it was definitely fun, and incredible with their exploration of the z-axis, I think that both Kinetic Noise and Tilt had superior designs, and Kinetic Noise was cleaner. Of the past four years, my rating of the Bluecoats shows goes Kinetic Noise >> Tilt > Down Side Up > Jagged Line. For Crown, it goes (E=mc2) >> Inferno > Relentless > Out Of This World >>>> It Is. Yes, I included 2013 Crown but not 2013 Bluecoats, but 2013 Bluecoats is sort of in a different stylistic era than 2014-on.

You know, I've always found it interesting that everyone seems to love Tilt as much as they do. I certainly enjoyed being fan favorite all season, and I recognize the ways that Tilt is both enjoyable to a casual fan and just deep enough for a more dedicated fan. To me, Tilt is a masterclass in more "traditional" drum corps show design, in terms of opener->drum break->ballad->closer, with appropriate build and climax in all movements. That said, and perhaps I'm just more familiar with the imperfections in the show than most, to me it's less unbelievably genius, and was executed less perfectly, than Kinetic Noise. If Tilt was a masterclass in the old style, then Kinetic Noise was a masterclass in the new style that has come to define the modern design aesthetic.

Kinetic Noise. 1.) Brilliantly utilized a completely minimalist book of source material, something that no other corps has ever done. 2.) Brilliantly innovated the realm of possibility regarding electronic soundscape effects. The way that they manipulated sound in space was nothing short of genius. 3.) Extraordinary percussion. Jeff Prosperie gave them first in percussion on Finals night. That's practically better than the Sanford. 4.) The satellite trumpet feature in the Reich. 5.) The transition from Mr. Maps to Dens. 6.) Woods was beautiful, and was perfectly juxtaposed against the hyperactive body work. 7.) The front ensemble was off the chain. What a brilliant pit book, with none of the nonsense "fake hard" parts that other group like to use (e.g. throwing octave on the outer mallets during an inner mallet run). 8.) In my opinion, the strongest brassline they've had. The 2016 trumpets were better, but overall the 2015 brass line was stronger. 9.) Managed to not only follow Tilt (one of the most popular shows of the 2010s), but actually exceeded it in terms of both depth of design and level of execution. 10.) The props perfectly reflected the minimalist, transparent music, while also being versatile enough to meaningfully contribute to the visual package.

You've revealed yourself as nothing but a hater and a homer. I'm not going to respond to you anymore since it's obvious you have nothing but vitriol. Good night.

You so clearly aren't even trying to understand the show. Did you cry foul in 2002 when the Cavaliers turned backfield but sounded louder in their ballad? It's the juxtaposition of what you see vs. what you hear, which is consistent with their show theme of juxtaposition in general (most obviously left/right, but also front/back, black and white/color, and see/hear).

Perhaps if you'd read further than "mic", you'd see that I'm not complaining about the existence of mics in and of themselves, but rather Vanguard's specific use of them to solely amplify their strongest brass players to the level of being almost equal to the entire rest of the brass section for the sole purpose of giving their brassline less musical demand. That you think that visual is so important that it trumps both Music and GE in terms of accreditation is laughable. There's really nothing more to say on this matter, since any time anyone brings up music to you you immediately swerve straight back to visual as if that's some kind of panacea. Since you want a breakdown so bad, let's go. Bluecoats first: Sure, they do a lot of standing/body movement and playing. I'll note that in the other thread, you were incredibly in favor of body movement as having superior demand to traditional marching, so in the name of consistency I'd expect you to actually like that the Bluecoats are doing body visuals while playing. That said, about 2:30 into the Bluecoats show is an extended period of marching and playing, around 190 BPM, only 16 counts of which are half time. You also conveniently ignored the rhythmically difficult section at the end of their opener, while they are doing the follow-the-leader through the prop. Lots of body movement during the ballad, including hip movement, kneeling, and standing up. There's also marching and playing, too. You're quick to criticize the closer. Let's examine. Sure, there's a lot of park and blow. There's also a lot of your favorite, body movement while playing. You also seem to be ignoring the last moments of the show, the unwinding drill while the full brass line is playing melodic material (or countermelodic in the case of the mellos). Also, I would note that the brass line is playing in front of the staged shotgun mics, so there is no ambient amplification at the end of the show. Let's move on to your Vanguard, shall we? The opening bars are just random chords. Sure, there's timing challenges, but the big thing to notice here is that the small ensemble (hereafter referred to as The 12) are playing all of the difficult parts. By the end of the opening statement, the full brassline has not played anything more rhythmically interesting than a quarter note triplet, and has not done any more difficult visual challenge than a plie and some marching while holding a long tone chord. Percussion break 1. The brassline plays chords, while The 12 play triple-tonguing. Percussion break 2. The 12 gets featured as they stand on the props. When the rest of the brass comes in, they are immobile after having posed. Percussion break 3 (long one this time). The 12 plays a jazzy little number before being joined by the full brassline, which only starts playing once they hit an extended halt (the big > sign). The body movement during the halt consists of individuals swaying. Percussion break 4. Finally, some full brass playing and marching that's more interesting than long tones. It's short lived, though, as we quickly go back to sporadic punches in the brass and then chords while The 12 play the rip into the impact. Percussion break 5. Three whole seconds of sixteenth notes in the brass line as they jump back and forth before... Theremin break 1 (Percussion break 6). I get super excited when the brassline gets into pods, because they play interesting music (no moving, of course), but literally as soon as the third pod starts playing, we're immediately into: Percussion break 7. During percussion break 7, the brass moves freely into position to park and bark some ascending chugga-digga-duts. I'll allow the 16 counts of front ensemble to not be counted as a percussion break (although it is, since the next brass statement is a completely different musical idea). This next statement is a very Gaines-esque drill moment, which I enjoy, but again, the entire brass moment is only 14 seconds long before: Percussion break 8. Some nice brass after Percussion 8, especially with the jazz running. This is getting tiring, so I'll stop here. You get the idea.

I'd also like to note that I seem to be the only one around here that's willing to address the drawbacks and weaknesses of every corps (as well as their strengths), as opposed to simply screaming about how my favorite corps is the best and infallible and how every other corps is terrible.

Oh, of course not, but you see I've actually posted why I feel the way I do about Crown's show, and you conspicuously haven't addressed it except to say that people you know would agree with you, so I assumed that your feelings and anecdotes were all that you had to fall back on. For your convenience, here are some direct links to my posts outlining some of why I don't like Crown's design this year:

You seem to not know a wide variety of people, then, because many people that I've spoken to regarding Crown's show would tell me I am right. Or am I to assume that your feelings and anecdotal evidence count more than my feelings and anecdotal evidence?

Your point of comparing two completely different usages of electronics? SCV is using their small brass ensemble to play most of their most difficult parts, while Bluecoats use their electronics for effects (discounting the ambient amplification that all corps are guilty of this year). That's like saying two different chefs are both using chocolate in their dishes, except one is using it in a mole to enhance a sauce, while the other is using it to cover the imperfections in a cake.

Just in case anyone actually think that I don't "get" Crown's show, I do. It's about drum corps, its tradition, its evolution, its stylistic loss of direction, and how the way forward is to marry the old traditions with new styles. Conceptually, it's a fine idea (obviously, since both BD and SCV are doing the same thing), but it falls short in execution. It uses Bach as a representative for "the old tradition", but Bach was never a part of the old school drum corps tradition. The Wicked is stylistically inappropriate for the drum corps stage; even discounting whether I or anyone else personally enjoys the singing, the vocal style that the performer is being asked to do is not suitable when juxtaposed with the drum corps around her. The Akiho is nice, but it loses steam about halfway through when the trumpets have their feature with the triangle props and kick drums. The "transition" back into the Bach is way too abrupt; for a show that's supposedly about unifying old and new, one would expect a smoother transition (a la Promise of Living). On that note, why is the singer so angry when she finds the Bach? She should be happy that she's finally found a direction.

How ironic that you accuse me of bias while being so obviously blind to the drawbacks of your own home team. Are you actually unaware that SCV has mic'd their 12 strongest brass players and feature them prominently? Meanwhile, you appear to not be reading what I'm actually saying, and your response isn't even consistent with itself. Yes, I believe that Bloo should be receiving higher repertoire scores in GE and music. You then go on to list several personal issues you have with their VISUAL PROGRAM. A trend that I notice from most of your posts, by the way; you only ever harp on visual. If you read what I actually said, I have already stated that the Bluecoats this year are deserving of their low visual numbers, because they are in fact dirty.

No, no, NO. A deconstruction is NOT simply something that challenges a tradition, or which is blatantly against what is "accepted" as the "correct" way of doing things. It is a deliberate breakdown of a structure into its elements and recombining them in a way that focuses on the elements instead of the whole structure.

I wrote up a huge reply to this, but I got a 500 server error and I don't feel like writing it up again. Suffice it to say that you are not only horridly wrong, but insulting at the same time. If you actually care to see whether I "care enough to look into any shows past the surface level", feel free to go through my post history.

You got sold a bridge. Crown's show is nonsense design with post hoc justification. They put out such an abstract, non-cohesive show that anyone could conceivably look at the show and find some kind of hidden meaning, but it is fundamentally not good design to shift the onus of intent and meaning from the designer to the viewer, it's just lazy.

What would you say their ballad is, then? Anything more rhythmically interesting than a quarter note is played by the small ensemble (which is admittedly also spread fairly far). Crown's Akiho is not as intricate as Bluecoats' Thank You Scientist or Zappa; sure, the baris have a very difficult ostinato (wait, is this a dirty word? It sure seemed to be last year), and some 3/8 bars thrown in, but any rhythmic challenges are soli or tutti, where Bluecoats' brass book has inter-section hocket rhythms and more complicated tuplets than any other brassline is playing this year.

Spread alone is not difficult. When you're playing long tones, it doesn't matter how far the spread is. Bluecoats have by far the most intricate book rhythmically, and no other corps is attempting anything like what they are if they're not in tight pods.

If you don't see the demand then you are blind. Their drill is comparable to other corps, but as we all know drill doesn't mean anything anymore. In terms of visual design, they have the most cohesion in theme (Fosse-esque dance), just like 2014 BD had their Fellini-esque visual program. To reduce that to "just using a big prop and different dance steps" in incredibly disingenuous. They move far more than your Blue Devils, who literally stand still to play Bumblebee as well as most of their huge hits (yes, I watched, I'm not simply regurgitating the park and bark hate). Their usage of the hats ties in with their Fosse choreography, and their uniforms are nods to 50s and 60s dance fashion. Obvious hater/homer is obvious.

I've been pretty consistent, I think, in saying that they absolutely deserve their low(-ish) execution numbers. What bothers me is their under-recognition in terms of repertoire and design. Brass judges only rewarding long tone chords or double-tonguing while ignoring cross-field hocket rhythms; percussion judges rewarding the incredibly lazy front ensemble writing technique of throwing octaves on the outside mallets in an inner mallet 16th note passage over the legendarily intricate One Study, One Summary; Music Analysis judges rewarding singing Broadway over playing Zappa.

Because Crown is playing more traditional music for more of their show than the Bluecoats, because they're appealing to the highbrow, artsy airs that the judges like to reward, and because Bluecoats are essentially daring the judges to not reward their design that focuses on energy and audience enjoyment, and the judges are calling them on it.

On the topic of SCV, I feel that their show is just so completely unremarkable. They have many nice, little moments, in between extended periods of either percussion features, small brass features, or nothing. They don't build to any particular climax, and the pacing of the show is disjointed (again, because of the many interludes). They look nice, and they have some nice visual effects (such as the four-person snake pods), but every time I watch their show I find myself wanting more. Their props are much-vaunted this year, but I personally don't find them to be that interesting; after a few minutes, they actually become an eyesore for me. As someone else mentioned in a different thread, it almost comes as a relief when the props get turned around to reveal the solid black. I like SCV, and I want them to be successful, but I don't think that this should be the show that wins for them. I felt that Force of Nature, Scheherazade, and Les Mis were all better designs than this show.

Bluecoats are only getting shafted in GE (both music and visual) and music repertoire. They absolutely deserve their low visual scores, since they're extremely dirty visually. Additionally, while I wouldn't call it "extremely", they are still dirty musically as well. In terms of execution, they are clearly the dirtiest of the top four corps. However, professional judges at this level of activity should be able to see past dirt to repertoire, especially once the group breaks Box Five. Their GE repertoire numbers should be at least 96s, their brass repertoire numbers should be at least 94 (rhythmic and timing demands are STILL not getting recognized), their Music Analysis repertoire numbers should be at least 95 (environmental demands far superior to the 3 in front of them), and their percussion repertoire should be at least 96 (widest battery intervals I've ever seen, as well as freaking One Study, One Summary in the front ensemble). Execution scores I will absolutely concede, but it is criminal how they are being under-recognized in demand.

Every top-level corps uses ambient amplification to boost their sound levels nowadays. Personally, I'm not a fan; if you want to use electronics to generate some kind of interesting effect (such as the Blue Knights snare solo, or the 2015 Bluecoats soundscape) then that's great, but simply throwing up a few shotgun mics and passively making your brass sound louder is so against the spirit of the activity. It's the loudness war for drum corps, and as we all know the loudness war ruined every album that it touched.

It's pretty obvious to tell when the full ensemble is not playing, because their horns are down. I watched the show several times with the specific intent of timing the brass, I'm quite intimately familiar with it now. I'm not a brass player, I'm a percussionist. That said, I'm familiar with brass pedagogy from my music ed degree and my experience teaching low-level marching ensembles. Both traditional marching and body movement have their physical demands: traditional marching is more demanding in terms of lower core activation and separation of upper and lower body, while body movement can be more disjointed and difficult in terms of specific movements causing jerking in the upper body or face. They are difficult in different ways, much like breaststroke and backstroke are difficult in different ways but are both called swimming.

BD and SCV are in first right now because they are the cleanest corps that also have strong GE (discounting who has the strongest GE). Crown is clean but has weak GE. Bloo is dirty but has high GE potential (GE isn't counted unless it's readable). That's what it boils down to. If Bloo cleans up fast, they might be able to challenge BD and SCV (they'll need a LOT of cleaning though, not sure if it's possible with the time left). I don't think Crown can challenge since they are already clean and it's too late to do huge show overhauls to improve GE. On another note, I did a playing-while-marching timing and analysis in the BD design thread, which I think would be more unbiased in this particular discussion.