Candid Insight

Although I am new to DCP I have been involved in the activity as a marching member, instructor, arranger, and judge for over 4 decades (brass). Because of that, I have seen the transitions the activity has made and the posts in this thread reflect a breadcrumb trail of the progression, plus the diverse perspectives people have regarding the design changes we now see. Although I am an older fan, I appreciate most of the innovation that we are seeing. Park and play has become a staple for corps for the 'compulsory' sixteenth note segments seemingly written into all all brass programs. Some corps do it (play while not moving) more than others (as noted with Blue Devils). Even the 'walking to the next set' approach is not particularly offensive to me if well coordinated and not drawn out. What seems a bit unfair is when one top 5 corps (Corps A) walks to the next set for their transitions and does a ton of park and play while another top 5 corps (Corps B) delivers a continuous orchestrated and difficult visual design, and much less park and play, yet Corps B gets lower scores. This seems to reward a corps for attempting less. An example from 2016 is Crown versus Blue Devils. Both corps performed at an extremely high level. Crown had very little 'park and play', and no significant walking to the next set in their show. The Blue Devils had significant 'park and play' and quite a bit of 'less organized' transitions. I appreciated both shows very much, but it seemed Crown got less credit in the content areas, specifically lower scores in Visual Analysis and Music Analysis. From my perspective, it seems easier to perform while stationary and visual sets that are 'free form' act as almost as a 'break' from the visual being judged. Some people will disagree and cite Blue Devils' less organized transitions are part of their design and should get higher credit. I enjoy a difficult brass passage played well, and I think doing that on the move should get more credit. Personal preferences are huge and artistry is very subjective, so I know many people have a totally different take on this. I am not saying that Crown should have been above Devils in overall scoring. I am just pointing to those specific scores. In my opinion, the brass books and performance levels were equivalent and since Crown attempted more they should not (in my opinion) have been under Devils in those specific captions. Many of my friends are highly critical of the Blue Devils for doing less yet scoring more. Some of them actually LOOK for where the Devils 'do less', even timing the amount of the park and play segments. I try to look past the scores and just appreciate the incredible performances of all the corps. My thanks to the original poster - this thread was interesting to read.

There is some great music from film composer Miklos Rozsa (1907 - 1995) some of which I don't believe anyone in DCI has ever done. Or, if they have been done it was wayyyyyy back. Most of his best scores were from the 1950s and 60s. Ivanhoe, Spellbound, Thief of Bagdad, Quo Vadis, El Cid, just to name a few.