joe c

Vanguard was on the schedule for 2023. Then they put out an amended schedule that had them missing the Rose Bowl (first weekend). Try as they might, the numbers still failed them. This go 'round, they may be keeping things closer to the vest (the recent and horrendous press release, notwithstanding). I'll lay odds that 2024 is a 200:1 against. 2025 would still be a 50:1 proposition to field anything.

The incentives just changed in a pretty meaningful way. Imma bet looking forward Indianapolis lights an earlier fire for all concerned.

This was expressed by the staff to the students (almost word-for-word) at the banquet.

I feel you on the disappointment.

I feel you

100%. The brilliance of BD horn scoring is finishing on a high, then releasing / resolving with the same melody as it bridges to the next tune or phrase. The listener is "helped along" the musical arc, maintaining unbroken interest. General Effect is an arc of emotion. Anything abrupt moves the listener into the other side of their brain. If they are made to "interpret," that's the opposite of emotion. Shows fall off the cliff when that happens (see Cadets). Colts, Troopers and Spirit of Atlanta use the dragging melody to keep interest level high. That's why Spirit of Atlanta is my dark horse for the Saturday show in Indiana.

I have a kid in BD and a kid in Crown. (I am rooting for a tie).

A young group that doesn't know any better than to listen to their staff, play without fear and have each member give his or her best. When people buy a ticket, that's what they came for. The show is sparkling in all facets.

Karuna - the switch to music derived captions (especially GE Music, aka GE2) attempts to incorporate the layering of the ensemble as it pertains to both brass and percussion. In this way, the front ensemble is certainly included in the scoring (and to a meaningful degree). However, your point is well taken, when it comes to the percussion caption, as the FE might be getting short shrift from the "drum corps" guys as opposed to the "education" guys. This is a natural bias that is mostly based on their experience as participants and educators. A concert trained percussionist will simply have a different locus of experiences when it comes to "ear" and method than a field trained person might. Of course, judges training seeks to recognize and compensate for these leanings but, at the end of the day, the stripes on the tiger are the stripes on the tiger. It's a big reason why we have double panels at the big shows; to reduce the impact of the lean, both statistically and interpretively.

Said since day 1: Crown's choice of musical interpretation, specifically in the battery, is high-risk as the broad, Scottish-style, left hand pick-ups are notoriously "fat" sounding. The risk is that certain judges will be on board from a musical standpoint, and give credit for stylistic interpretation (vocab first, then achievement) while others may emphasize clarity (achievement) first, which is not as easily achieved with the multitude of legato-written passages (especially in the battery). My feeling is that judges like Jeff Ausdemore (who is not judging this year) would give Crown credit for their commitment to the style, and would add even more credit in the vocabulary caption for the concert-hall quality of the writing in the keys (and tympani). IMO, he is an "education" guy. On the other hand, Mike Davis (Little Rock judge) is a clarity-first person who may not (yet) be buying into the interpretation because it may not appear (to him) to be (1) authentic enough, (2) consistently delivered for the duration of the program (8.1 in achievement suggests this is probably true) and (3) might be more apt to credit it from a vocabulary standpoint once the group dials in the left-hand pickups with more accuracy. In other words, he is a "drum corps" guy. Crown's percussion score may depend largely on which type of judge is assigned. This week will give the corps plenty of opportunities to hear from both sides.

The fail was people following each other off the cliff. From the other side of the stadium, it was walk up and walk in. Nobody parking and walking in from that side could see “a line” (or even knew it was there because it was on the other side of the building). Apparently, those that queued in “the big line” were unable to see that there were 11 open turnstiles at the E gates just past the 4 they were bottlenecking into and, through what amounted to peer pressure, kept themselves from the show by assuming the others around them were doing it correctly. Turns out they weren’t. Would a little outside crowd control or direction have helped? Probably. I imagine posting a few volunteers outside next year will improve this situation.