gak27

Kevin, Yes I was at Montrose Movies - sat a row in front of a couple old Bluecoat/Cadet alums. One of the best parts of the evening was telling the 10+ group of teenagers several rows in front of us to "Shut. Up." just before SCV... Work in Cuyahoga Heights, live near Stan Hywet Hall...

They also had the soldiers marching sound effect w/ the wood block contraption where there were a bunch of blocks suspended from a frame and it was "marched" on a board... In all seriousness, what are the odds that today if someone did that it would be via a sound clip/patch?

I understand your point (and the following posts that continued the conversation) but IF there were a situation where a corps "maxed" out every subcaption and was scored at 100, many, many, many people would equate (and understandably so) that 100 with "nothing wrong, nothing missed" even though you're saying that's not the case. Truthfully, there's something not right with that methodology.

I agree with a lot of you wrote b/c I saw a lot of similar behavior in the theater broadcast. I will say, however, that you may not get much backing for your point 3, as in the past when this was tried there was A LOT of griping about missing the flow of the show and the corps drill b/c an inordinate amount of time is spent on the pit members. In general, I'd rather see drill, horn and drum line with the occasional pit member.

Paid $18 @ Akron theater (in Montrose)... Had to inform manager that they had started the Akron theater event instead of the Big and Loud, was promptly rectified. During the delay no announcements of any kind, talked to manager to see if they were going to rewind - got no answer until the Bluecoats/SCV replay was announced (was pretty @@@@ed until then)... No free passes/refreshments, but did get to admonish some kids to be quiet prior to SCV's show...

But do you like waffles?

For the most part I'll agree with what the other posters have said: it was a really enjoyable night of watching drum corps, I REALLY appreciated them replaying Bluecoats and SCV, and the camera work was really good (for the most part -- a couple of the sweeps were too fast/dizzying and a couple of camera cuts were of the roof ). But: - Reliable Rondo and Co. almost always ran long in their between corps comments and were talking over the pre-shows. Rondo's been at this for years and you would think he would have a better sense of timing. And wouldn't you think the broadcast team would have a timing person indicating that they had 30 seconds (or whatever time) to let them know to wind up? - the placement of the mics could have been MUCH better. For almost every corps, the pit sounds were WAY too loud. In some cases it was almost painful to listen to, and WAY too many times the pit would cover up the softer parts of the battery and horn line. When you can't hear 4 Madison trumpet soloists b/c of the pit, it's too loud. ---- Our theater (Akron, OH) was about 1/3 full (pro-Bluecoat crowd) gave the biggest ovations to BC, Crown and Madison. BD response was polite.

It depends... Are they playing? Is the horn line 'synchronized' in their dance choreography or are they all 'reaching to the stars, emotionally' at different times as they move from one set to the next? It's one thing to have them do some type of jazz-sashay and be 'in step' and quite another to have them doing the move 'out of step'...for many of us, all too often it's the latter and it doesn't look good, even if the choreography fits the music/drill, but the corps are compelled to put so much of it in b/c of the judging system. For example, the chorus dancers in a ballet more often than not are synchronized in their movements while still being beautiful, graceful, etc., so let's get the choreography 'in sync' and meld these disparate aspects of the visual portion of a show -- let's drop the "posing for posing sake" and only do it when it makes sense (enhance the music, visual set, etc.)...

1975 Finals?

I think part of the problem is perception: most people/fans who are familiar with marimbas, xylophones, wind chimes, bongos, etc. know that they are naturally not loud. In order to make them more noticeable (and more and more, they are becoming prominent/primary), they sound unnaturally loud; it isn't what we are expecting when we hear them. Do I see the need for some amping? In general, yes. Way too often, though, it is too loud for a lot of people.

I have not seen them live, but have seen them online, and for large portions of the show it looks like each marching member is doing whatever he/she #### well pleases. Even if they are executing the crap out of their part, it looks sloppy and on the whole isn't very exciting.

Anaheim '74 - "So Very Hard to Go" into "Firebird" SCV '78 - "If You Believe" from The Wiz (love the soft tenor parts!) into the Bottle Dance

Mike, I think you meant '72 for Anaheim (although the '74 show is awesome!) Great choice! They had to bring out the grounds crew for cleanup afterwards... My choices: SCV 1999 Phantom 2008 SCV 2009

I agree, I guess I was more referring to once the prior corps is out of the way, having a more "regimented" process so the corps setting up doesn't look like they're just wandering around.

This. The corps are putting huge levels of effort into their shows, why not a little put towards planning an orchestrated setup (and post-show teardown), rather than the uncoordinated, inefficient mishmash that happens sometimes...

Some more musing (and granted, Madison is doing something similar): - Horn line begins strains of "Music of the Night" like they are now as corps slowly moves toward a front sideline set - (With the music/drill appropriately synched) Reach their set, bring their horns down - Look up to the crowd and reach a hand up, singing "Help us make, the music of the night" - Bring horns back up and continue music phrasing to big push/hit (played more slowly, of course)

Even this year?

Oh yes they did! And we were there! What's a little rain to drum corps fans?

1981 Santa Clara Vanguard - "We're Baaack!" reflecting their rebound from 7th to 1st...

Complete with the rifle line doubling as the saloon's swinging doors, a risque dance number, a fight between two patrons over said dancer, a preacher berating the lowly, and 'redemption' under a white cross... Oh yeah, baby!

FWIW, the NBC Olympics broadcasts do this, and I can't stand that either. It was around the Atlanta Olympics (I believe) when they started all of the background, touchy-feely, rest of the story crap instead of primarily showing events. And we don't NEED 5 minutes of ads for 11 minutes of shows - soccer and hockey broadcasts go long periods of time w/ no commercials (sometimes with a screen bug in the corner) - but you need to have sponsors willing to accept this.

Well, they WERE playing "Firebird"...

I'd rather see that minute (or two) shaved off the pre/post-show Allied Van Lines exercise that each corps feels they need to go through; the shows have already been shortened (from dino days)...

Yeah, and they tried to fool us by changing it to "Music for a Starry Night"......like we weren't paying attention

Phantom 1991?