BaritoneMarcher

From what I saw I'd honestly say Bloo BD Crown with BD possibly in 1st. BD seemed to be the cleanest and most in control of their performance. Bloo was super high energy. Crown seemed like an obvious 3rd to me. Of course I'm no judge :)

I honesty thought Crown was a bit dirty visually from where I am in the stadium

I think what he may have meant is lots of diatonicism and triads, LOL

Alright so that explains how, after 5 matchups with Bluecoats, BD has beaten them in GE 3 times, and after 5 matchups with Crown, BD has beaten them in GE 3 times and tied once. Sorry but if they really had the worst design they would be consistently losing GE to the other top corps at every competition, but in reality GE has been a toss up at every competition, with BD winning GE at their most recent matchup with Bloo.

Haha thank you! I was very confused if it was supposed to stand for a corps. I though maybe it was like BAC referring to the "Boston Area Crusaders", but I have no clue what corps INT could have been, LOL

Go BD!!! Let me just say I called it that BD's show was designed better than the rest - and the GE score seems to reflect that. I wish BK would score higher than they are, but hey, you win some you lose some. Also excited that the top is so close, as well as SCV and Cadets.

Does anyone know when the scores are going to be announced? Or if anyone will be periscoping the announcement?

Can someone tell me what INT stands for/means

Not necessarily sure I agree with all 3, but that is a good point. I would say if anything they are doing the same thing as BD with western style imagery instead of oceans, but I would still say BD is doing it better. I think for most people, since they know the story is, or at least is supposed to be there, they get frustrated when they can't find it, which is what is making so many people complain about it.

Crown is the only top corps that is really trying to tell a genuine story. Other corps (i.e. the Cadets) are telling a concept, but it isn't exactly what i would describe as a story with different characters, several events, plot etc. BD - only using imagery from the Tempest, not retelling the story. The theme is obvious through the storm noises, fluid drill, props, etc. In addition, the voice overs quoting the play let you know which character each movement is about. Bloo - not telling a story at all, just a visual concept. Cadets - they are telling a storyish thing, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a story. Its more similar to Crown last year, where its more of a progression that doesn't need specific characters or events to be told. AKA statues -> humans -> don't like being humans -> statues again. (Crown last year was entering hell -> experiencing hell -> escaping hell). Those types of shows you don't really need to look at specific places on the field to understand whats going on for the most part because the "story" can be told more through a feeling that is evident across the whole corps through music choices, props, flags, etc. THAT is the issue that crown has this year. They are telling an actual story where you need to know where to look on the field if you want to be able to follow it, and they haven't made it obvious enough yet for a lot of people where those places are.

BD 0.7 spread Bloo 0.1 spread Crown 1.5 spread SCV 0.5 spread Cadets 0.5 spread Cavaliers 1.0 spread Phantom ? spread BK for the record I haven't been paying much attention to the scores lately so i'm somewhat guessing on some of the mid to lower spreads. However I do think the spread of BD over Bloo will be larger than some people (namely bluecoats and crown fans) will want it to be . I just think BD's show is designed way ahead of everyone else's, but really there is nothing unusual about that LOL. Who knows though, I could be completely wrong. I just get a really good feeling about their show this year.

To be fair, I feel like BD has also seen a relatively large/quick jump in score due to making great strides in developing their show.

Bluecoats entire style for the past 3 years has been to pick a music book that for the most part hasn't been done before and apply it to some kind of visual concept that they can do a lot with. That is exactly what they did with Tilt and Kinetic Noise, and its what they've done again this year. I would honestly say this year they've done the worst job at it out of the three years they've done it. They are just really really clean at this point in the season this year, but I think their placement is gonna drop as other shows have more room to improve (but i would be glad to be proved wrong). Crown has had the same style or formula as well for the past 3 shows. I would say they've done more differently than Bloo or BD though, but you can still tell all their shows are similar. They pick some kind of story to tell (lovers on the moon?, going to outer space, going through hell, getting revenge), and play with an amazing brass sound, but usually don't have the same level of thought put into their shows as BD (which is probably why they are such a fan favorite. That, and they are usually the underdog against BD). I guess its just my opinion against yours, but I think it is fairly evident all 3 of these corps have been doing a similar trend for awhile, and there is nothing wrong with that. Having an identity is important.

To be fair, the Cadets are the only corps from last years top 4 that are really changing it up. Bluecoats have done the same thing since Tilt, and Crown has done the same thing since E=MC^2. All 3 of these corps have the same style shows every year, just with a different twist or storyline each year. EDIT: For the record, I enjoy ALL of these corps' shows year after year. I'm not trying to rip on Bloo or Crown by any means. Just pointing it out.

Can someone tell me specifically WHAT is wrong with the design this year? I, for one, think this show is a huge step in the right direction for the Cadets. It shows they are willing to learn to become a modern corps. The music is undoubtedly stunning. Could the props look better? Sure. All I've seen is the picture going around on this thread, and it was taken from extremely far away, and you can't really get an accurate read on how they look from it. Does the theme need to be more obvious? Yes. But that also goes for Crown and BD, but no one is calling those shows a disaster. That's what the rest of the season is for. And for the concept itself, I think it's really unique and interesting, but I guess that is personal preference. And people complaining about the closer, well that's gonna be redone too. I honestly don't think the Cadets have any design issues that the other top corps don't have as well. But this is just how I see things, and I'm no design expert. So I'm wondering if someone could explain to me what they are seeing that I'm not?

Couldn't be farther form the truth. After rewatching the show a few times on youtube, its obvious that they definitely have some visual dirt. Especially look for it in foot timing. And they still are yet to achieve that crystal clean precision on the dancing. There is definitely room for them to grow, and I would expect an entirely new closer at some point as well. There certainly is tons of potential for Bluecoats to add on to their show. As a matter of fact, I would even argue that Bluecoats have more potential than Crown. Crown is basically limited to making the story line more obvious and minor music changes (and of course the new closer), whereas Bluecoats can add in whatever innovative visual ideas they like. The possibilities are really endless for them. And they will have a new closer too. I'm not saying Bluecoats are gonna beat Crown, I'm just saying both corps still have a TON of room to grow.

This is definitely true. My only concern would be that last year I felt like Crown definitely needed to develop the show more by finals night, especially visually, and they really didn't end up doing much aside from the ending. Hopefully they don't repeat that. This year I think the story going to be even more difficult to portray than last year. Last year the story would have made sense if they had just played angry music then happy music. A murder story definitely needs a lot more visual development. I have no doubt that they will be able to pull it off. I just hope they actually DO it.

My admittedly hypercritical opinions as I watch the show for the second time: I like the tone set at the opening of the show. It really sets up the western vibe, with the chains and other ambient noises. I do feel like it could somehow have a sadder tone, or sound forewarning. However, as soon as the hornline plays their first note, it completely makes up for it. That opening brass music sounds exactly how I imagine the prologue to Romeo and Juliet would sound, which fits perfectly for what the show is about. It sounds like the hornline is the narrator and setting the stage for the story that is about to be told. Really wish this moment could be a little bit longer. Once the battery begins playing, the mood switches and you can immediately tell that you are now being told the story. Great transition in my opinion. Everything leading up to and including the first impact is excellent in my opinion, but its lacking visually. I believe this is the part where the first murder occurs (as signaled by the bell sound afterward). I'm not entirely familiar the source music, so I won't call it by name, but the next movement is a bit too chaotic. Its clearly a very difficult passage, which I appreciate, but I think it changes too much. There is almost no repetition and I feel like nothing lasts long enough. There is no melody to be stuck in your head after you listen to this part. Everything is so abrupt and changes so quickly. It is really not very comfortable to listen to, although I guess that could be the point. Hopefully this is a moment that sees some redesigning. I believe the next movement is called Roxanne? I really think this section fell flat for me. It feels like something straight out of high school marching band. During the whole percussion feature in the beginning all we get is choreography. It doesn't take much to design some stand still body movement for the hornline. And percussion features are always the PERFECT time to really show of some visual design skills, because you have the majority of the ensemble not playing for such a long time. After the tempo increase, I think everything is much better. The trombone soloist is wonderful, but the actual solo is just okay. I feel like there could be more substance to what she is playing, but they just didn't give her much. The opening of the ballad was nice. The ballad really is more powerful than beautiful. And we've already seen the corps's ability to play powerfully. I want to see them play beautifully. We saw a small showcase of that ability at the very beginning, but I want to see more. I also wish they had more of a visual impact during this part. Maybe they could drop the sabres out and replace it with a flag feature? I think it would be much more effective. As for the closer, that hornline feature was crazy. Really cool technical moment. Stunning playing by the hornline the whole way through. And of course this movement will end up changing a lot before finals night. Overall impressions: I think the show has a nice concept that needs to be fleshed out more. Aside from the first few minutes, you really cannot tell the story line at all (at least in the videos i've seen). Hopefully this improves throughout the season. I do think the show is really lacking visually. I think with this concept the setting needs to be more obvious in terms of visual elements. I think they need more props, and more meaningful props. The stagecoach is cool, but it really serves no purpose other than setting off the western vibe. I think more could be done to create the real ambience the show needs. I think BD and Cadets are putting out much more cohesive visual packages currently. I also think their hornlines are currently ahead. There are some bright sounds coming from Crown's hornline and some dirt towards the back end of the show. However, I'm sure everything will be fixed by finals. Currently though I would have my money on one of the other two corps, mostly from a design perspective. I will end it by saying I have a much better first impression than I had last year! It definitely is an awesome show

WOW! I cannot wait to see where this show goes. Definitely an amazing visual package, and thats without guard uniforms and props, AND its only June 19th. By finals night this show I'm sure will be one of the top 2 visual designs of 2016 (maybe to be beaten by Bluecoats). The ballad was absolutely stunning as many people have said already. I personally didn't find the trombones/glissandi to be overdone. All in all, i'm super impressed by this show. I think its ahead it has the potentially to be even more emotionally powerful than INK. The ballad and closer are going to make people cry on finals night for sure.

What I want to happen: 1.) Blue Devils 2.) Bluecoats 3.) Crown 4.) Cadets 5.) Blue Knights 6.) SCV 7.) Cavaliers 8.) Phantom 9.) Boston Crusaders 10.) Madison 11.) Blue Stars 12.) Crossmen What I actually think will happen: 1.) Bluecoats 2.) Blue Devils 3.) Cadets 4.) Crown 5.) SCV 6.) Blue Knights 7.) Madison 8.) Cavaliers 9.) Phantom 10.) Bluestars 11.) Boston Crusaders 12.) Troopers

I would say that, although averaging the scores from all 3 nights probably would determine who was the best corps of the year, I think the biggest drawback is that it takes away a lot of the excitement of finals night. Had this system been implemented this year, Crown would have been almost guaranteed the championship, so finals would have been a lot less exciting. However, when it comes to caption awards, I think it makes more sense to average all 3 nights, because then we find out who really was the best at each caption for the year. I think since there is a lot less hype surrounding who is going to win each caption, averaging all 3 scores doesn't really take away from the excitement as much, if at all. So when it comes down to it, its all about the entertainment factor, for me.

This makes me sound really basic but... 1.) BD 2.) Bluecoats 3.) Crown 4.) Cadets 5.) Blue Knights

Since a lot of people are saying BD has so few ageouts, and they were STILL able to win in such a competitive season this year, that next year they will probably finally 3peat. Maybe they will even challenge for another record high score, who knows.