NewArpege

This year in my controversial (at the time) pre-season rankings before themes were announced, I had Bloo in first and BD in third bc the signs were there of a brewing competitive season. While it’s too early to rank pre-season yet, I agree with @DAYGO that BD is likely the odds in favorite from most people next year. I’d be very surprised if BD doesn’t return to top 2, even in the midst of other shakeups I think we will see in Top 7 rankings. But I could see Bloo pulling a repeat next year and PR sliding into third. And I’m for sure, not sleeping on SCV…if they were this good with no props and a year off, the potential is there for a mighty slingshot upward. It’s gonna be another helluva season.

I don’t know Joe, but I work with Executives and Board Members every day. One thing I see with people like Joe or Kevin Smith is they’ve built something to level it’s at, are guardians preserving it, and often want to see it thrive. It’s more than a drum corp to them; it’s their legacy and something they’ve intertwined their identities around. Yes, Crowns top priority is around educating youth and delivering a great experience to marching members. That’s not mutually exclusive with providing opportunities to compete for championships, which Joe, Kevin, and other board members may or may not prioritize. Certainly, I think these leaders want to compete which is why we see so much poaching and staffing changes after each season. Moves like PR or Boston pulling from Crowns design team are very much wrapped in a combination of personnel dynamics and brazen ambition of various corps and their leadership. It took a long time for Crown to become known as a top corp or the heavyweight in music. A series of off seasons can sway perceptions. And suddenly, Crowns competitive recruitment advantages slowly transition to other rising corps...Cavies a really good example of that rn. No doubt, these are the types of things on EDs minds. And they are going to make moves that defend the corps, and thus, their legacies.

I’ve heard rumblings about confrontation and disagreement, which I presume was about the style of book writing. I understand why so many people like that book. But I question if it’s a good fit for Crown or dci, in general. Percussion needs to match the brasses energy stylistically, and it hasn’t been. They are better off in the long run going different ways.

Careful @Terri Schehr….i made a similar comment in the BD forum this year and fans from another certain corp came running with their torches at me. 😂. But we got your back here and agree with ya.

We, as fans, don’t have to care about placements. Joe does though to some extent, as he’s got to keep the corp flush with talent and also build the best team for his organization. He’s also got an aging music head too that could experience changes in near future. He’s wise to prepare for all those scenarios and strengthen the weakest areas of the organization; it’s his job to do so.

I’m surprised so many people are in favor of keeping that percussion team for one more year. I read this change as Crown leadership being realistic about the terrain next season. PR is surging with a great design team, history of cracking top 4, and likely a recruit surge from this year’s show. SCV has strong design and percussion teams and shown very capable of cracking into top 4. BD will surge back with vengeance next year to fight for first. Bloo is steady, well rounded, unshakable, and will have a recruitment surge. BAC is an unknown and sometimes up and down. Look at this picture objectively like an Executive Director. Crown has one of the more challenging paths of the top 6 bc they haven’t shown they understand the design and visual game yet…meanwhile, the rest of the top 6 are locked and loaded if they hold onto their existing teams. If I were Joe, I’d be saying I’m at risk of 5th or lower if I’m running 1+ point deficits in both GE and percussion. And also, the way this team writes percussion, it lacks impact and hit that could be contributing more to both visual and music analysis scores. Joe flushing out percussion shows he’s playing the game. Now…..what’s he going to do with design and visual teams…that’s the big question.

Don’t judge me @brassboy and @IllianaLancerContra, I went to see Jerry Springer Show live! Was a bucket list item and had a blast. It was as trash and fake as you’d think. They film exactly as you see on tv. They had ladies fighting in a wedding cake, as soon as bell rang they threw punches, and when they cut to commercial, they just standup and walk off stage like nothing happened. They weren’t hiding how fake it was.

Pit sounded wonderful. When I heard battery play without brass, they sounded amazing. With brass, it felt like they disappeared except during breaks. I agree with you the overall music effect might benefit from a different style of percussion writing. He’s talented. But I think it’s better for Crown to fail fast with this team and bring in new blood.

Very talented guys, but it wasn’t working well. I hear they brought on Bloo and Cavies staff as replacements.

Your band director has exquisite taste — what a killer show to be in! It’s the perfect type show to thrive in today’s design trends. Triple down and fill the entire field with drums this go round…come on BD….!

Thank you for that edit. One can love a show like PRs (you already know it’s one of my favorites) and also still critique it; those are not mutually exclusive scenarios. Judges do as they do, and we as fans, have every right to discuss, analyze, and reflect. Just as we as fans are literally posting in a thread about what staffing changes we’d make for various corps, even though none of us are drum corp executive directors. That shouldn’t and doesn’t disqualify us from discussing. It’s fine. Freely talk about your ideas and thoughts, but do so respectfully. I never once attacked nor halted you nor anyone from very strongly worded statements on Crown this year, and all I ask is similar respect to be shown back…bc honestly, I have good intentions on here and am here bc I like openly learning and ideating from and with very knowledgeable people. Lets move on, please, and get this thread back on track. DMs are best, buddy, if we want to continue and hug it out.

Not remotely true, @Vuitton and you know better. Early season, you and I had many great conversations that I believe preserving drill and pushing limits of difficulty in music are things I value, because it’s my fundamental belief without drill drum corp becomes WGI and without music difficulty drum corps becomes marching band. Not everyone has to agree with me on this (that’s ok), but I believe these elements are essential to differentiating drum corps. When PRs first marched this year, I was consistent about pointing out how much they standstill and play and lower brass play time than their peers, and I was concerned that judges rewarding that could have negative effects on the activity. You and I spoke about that MANY times throughout the season in a very cordial way well before PR ever beat Crown. I’m very disappointed after many valuable conversations on here and running friendly DMs that you’d say some of the things the way you are about me. I thought better of you than that. As I requested earlier, let’s take it to DMs or simply not interact further. Best of luck.

Rhythms at the Edge of Time, Part Two. Jazz and Percussion forward show with this design and CG team would a nasty heavyweight champion.

They were theme appropriate the past two years. Whoever suggested to bring back the purple uniforms, I’d love that….assuming it works with the theme. Crowns purple is very aesthetically pleasing to me.

He def has a lot on his plate. And you could see the impact of his absence on Crowns brass leading into Broken Arrow while he was away with Avon. But not hearing any rumblings that he’s leaving.