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ContraFart

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Everything posted by ContraFart

  1. My question is what technique are they using? Since so little of their visual program is form to form marching, are they being rewarded for dance positions and body carriage? They use a fundamentally different visual vocabulary and skillset than the rest of DCI, which you really cannot do with other captions, so to me it becomes comparing apples and oranges. To use your example, wouldn't calling staging, marching come off as pretentious as calling a burlap sack "haute couture?"
  2. I dont want to hear about anyone going out west until somebody comes back to Florida. I feel like I am on an island down here.
  3. Its based on a recording by JacobTV and Masanori Oishi. The same voice is used in the recording and its even modulated the same way the Bluecoats did it
  4. But I would say that the developments over that time had very little to do with visual innovation. Sure there was expansion of the musical book, but that had more to do with the evolution from single rotor bugles to 2 vertical valve bugles. I guess we should ask the question was there more progression in the activity from 1940 to 1971 or from 1972 to 1980 because getting away from the design restraints of the VFW probably did a lot to move the activity forward. As far as general excellence, by 1980, we had many more marching members who were actual high school and college musicians then in 1940. Today, you need to be a top tier player to be in a top tier corps.
  5. I am with you on 1993. That is where I was introduced to drum corps as well. It was a magical year with tons of innovation. Phantoms pit placement, SCV using hand bells in the pit and a soft ending going off the field. Cavies and Cadets bringing the cutting edge of the band repertoire. BD and Scouts both playing the same piece, but in completely different and entertaining ways, the Phantom crab walk, and then there was Star, redefining what music can be heard on a football field. 30 years later I can still hum entire shows from this year in my head.
  6. I dont hate people, and I am not going to yuck your yum. My point is that BD uses a completely different skill set and vocabulary when creating a visual program that is such a departure from the paradigm of what we think of drum corps. When it comes to brass or drums or even spinning guard equipment, you cannot rewrite the foundation, because the skill sets and vocabulary are going to stay the same. It seems corps like Bloo are being punished by the judging community for not keeping up, even though their visual program was absolutely gorgeous and near perfectly performed. I want Bloo to win. they have finished second to BD 4 times in the past 10 years. If Bloo is going to win consistently, I think we need to figure out why the judging community values the completely different visual approach of BD so much and how to be "strategic" about movement, without giving up identity. Beat them at their own game in a way.
  7. Bump, as far as ensemble timing and spatial responsibilities is the hardest thing I have ever seen put on a football field. It was awesome.
  8. And you are always right there too to give me snark.
  9. Honestly the only timing I have heard of was based on last year's shows. Bluecoats moved and played much more than the rest of the top 5, but BD was second .
  10. If I lied or provided a false narrative, call me out. I'm a big enough person to admit when I am wrong.
  11. I am not saying there isn't an outline, but they don't use dot books or drill books. If you teach choreography for a stage musical, there is usually an outline and written counts, but it's not put on paper like a marching drill.
  12. Anytime BD is given good faith criticism, BD fans think it's pettiness and bitterness.
  13. Funliner Productions YouTube channel, who is a 2019 vet, says there is no drill books and no dot books. Everything is taught on the field
  14. It's sort of hard to explore how a 3 time in a row silver medalist can win gold without comparing them to the winners.
  15. It is well documented that they don't use a drill writer and everything is taught on the field. If you really think about it the only 2 times in the show where there was more traditional drill was in the opener with the moving squares ending in the Maltese cross, and the very end with the Matisse star. Everything else was staging and FTL.
  16. The best word I heard about BDs movement was said by Rondo and Lindsay Vento and that is "strategic". Do they move a lot? Yes, and much much more than in previous years, but less than 10% of their movement is in form to form drill. They actually do not even write drill and everything is 100% staged. I guess the days of a 200 dot book are gone. Some people love that they are shattering the drill paradigm, I for one hate it, and I hate even more that the judging community seems to love it. To me it is such a departure that it's like brass judges giving a group super high scores for playing only woodwind instruments, because that is an outside of the box element.
  17. can I get just get a Mandarins drum line hat?
  18. Does BDs bottom line change if they finish 3rd rather than 1st? Will they lose recruits or interest? So I am not sure what business we are talking about. In the end its about the member experience. If I am the creative director of BD, I would want to make people like me shut up. I would ask, what can we do that has never been done before, and how do we do it better than everyone else? You can push forward without changing the approach.
  19. I dont agree with the quality argument either. I look at it this way. Other corps have sort have caught up to BD in Brass, Drums CG and GE. Where BD has the stranglehold is visual. (which is another conversation). So since other corps are always competing for the Ott, Sanford and Zingali their really cannot be that much of a difference in quality of staff. I commend BD for how they pass down their legacy from the inside. I think its sort of cool. I hope that the other top 4 corps start doing that with long time greats like Doug Thrower and Matt Harloff.
  20. Would the longevity argument still work if Keith Potter and Leon May were still at Crown, or Gino and Colin never left Cadets? To me a HOF designer/instructor is a HOF designer/instructor. It only took JD Shaw and Michael Gaines 2 years to bring a title to SCV and Gaines did not even write the drill his first year. Also if you look at BD, besides Chandler, Johnson and Glyde, everyone else in high positions have not been in those positions very long. At the same time, what BD does so well is cultivate their future leaders from inside the organization. Downey got to train his successor and still stick around as an advisor. I am sure whenever Scott Chandler retires, he will do the same. Longevity can be a reason for BDs success, but its not the only reason. If adding Shaw and Gaines can win you a title in 2 years and adding all the names at BAC can bring you from 12th to 2nd in 4 seasons, then maybe its more about quality than longevity.
  21. I am inclined to agree and I much prefer Bloo, but the judging community does not, hence my original irony.
  22. The thing is, I agree with you 100%. I HATE how BD approaches the visual design, yet they are rewarded for it, I believe they have won all but one visual proficiency award over the past 15 years. (I could be way off on that, but I know BD has won it a ton) Bluecoats have BD matched on Brass, Percussion, GE and almost guard. Visual is the last thing I think Bloo is far away on, and that is a matter of philosophy, not quality.
  23. i would love to see them move back to the bent leg marching. With all of the throwbacks in this years show, seeing the strait leg always seemed off to me.
  24. I cancel it right after I pay for it. It doesn't auto renew after the 30 days
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