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gak27

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Posts posted by gak27

    Little Rock, AR - Wednesday, July 20, 2019

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:

    After watching the periscopes from way up high, I’m even more convinced that I actually do have the best seats in the house in Indy.  This kind of drum corps should be watched in the lower sections.  You miss a lot of nuance way high.  

    Honest question (and Terri, I only quoted you b/c you mentioned the highlighted portion):

    How do all of the box judges pick up the nuance, and how much of it do they actually pick up?

    • Like 1

    drill vs. choreography in drum corps shows, 2 questions

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    2 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

    I'm glad someone already said this.

    My two cents: regardless of whether drill choreography or non-drill choreography is more difficult to teach or perform (and obviously that depends on the drill and the choreography, but I'll concede that having to be clean with your whole body moving is harder than having to be clean with just the lower half of your body moving usually in the same regular way -- although as others have said, there's a case to be made that choreography in drum corps gets nowhere near as clean even by its own standards as drill needs to be), I find drill to be more visually satisfying on the large scale at which corps/bands visuals are presented.

    Again, it reminds me a bit of figures in figure skating, except chronologically in reverse. The judges would be down on their knees to check the fine details of which competitor skated the cleanest figures. The audience in the stands couldn't tell and didn't care. Television wouldn't show it. And eventually figure skating stopped doing figures.

    Whereas the audience in drum corps can generally tell which forms are cleaner, but they can't discern between the various individual body responsibilities the judges are sampling. And yet drill has become much less used in the past three or four years. I'm not sure why. Sometimes it seems as if designers are planning visuals more for close-ups than for the big picture. See also the repeated use of tarps that wash out in glare for many people in the stands.

    Your points that I highlighted mesh well with some observations I made on one of the excellent video comparison threads.  They also make me kind of wonder exactly how much of that individual emoting, dancing/choreographing, body movement, facial expression stuff is even visible by the judges in the box who are the ones that are (supposedly) to be most affected by it.  Anywhere other than the first couple of rows and facial expressions are totally lost on the audience, let alone the box personnel.

    • Like 2

    It’s just standing around. It’s also running around.

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    These threads have been very enjoyable - thanks to the OP for providing such thoughtful topics.

    To me - and to some unquantifiable number of other fans - some of this perceived lack of difficulty comes from what visually looks to be not difficult. When you watch the examples of breakneck Cadets or Cavies drill moves from the past that are combined with electrifying music, and then they hit a set with a music impact, it looks more difficult than a corps jazz trotting to a blob set for a quick music hit while the guard is performing individual movements, tosses, etc....to be followed by the same (yes, I know the previous is an oversimplification). Furthermore, the lack of unison movement (feet, body, equipment, etc.) contributes to the feel of what is being done now not seeming difficult.  Even though we know that it isn't haphazard and random, it appears to be - it looks fuzzy, unformed, imprecise - which I guess can easily contribute to the impression of not being difficult.  I must confess to wanting more field visual "WOW" moments (e.g. SCV 17 flag visual) to go along with the incredible musical performance we're being treated to.  Emphasizing the individual visual movement at the expense of unison movement takes away some of the feel of excellence that drum corps has always had...to me....but I still love it

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

    "Stop standing around! That's not how this works!" (Another Show Comparison)

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    2 hours ago, frachel said:

    Definitely agree with the above.. I remember there being at least two sopranos that year that were essentially learning the instrument - including writing in all the fingerings at the first few camps. Doubt you'd see that nowadays in a top corps.

    BITD, almost a universal activity for a lot of corps...I learned to play on a valve/rotor soprano, and when I went to HS and was handed a trumpet I looked at the band director and was like "what do I do with this...?"

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    Why GE1 and GE2???????

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Box5Opinion said:

    Here we go again, so I took this from the DCI site. Just to clarify!

    Responsibilities: One of the GE judges has a music background and the other has a visual background, but each utilizes the same judging sheet because they are effectively judging the entire show, not just the effect of the music offering or the effect of the visual production. GE judges must be the most experienced, most knowledgeable, and most flexible members of the audience. Plus, they know how to manage numbers in order to give a proper score. The GE judges are doing the romantic job, they’re feeling what the show is offering and responding to what the show is. There are three parts to GE, the intellectual, the aesthetic, and the emotional.

    And here I was thinking it was Brass, Percussion, and M&M...:peek:

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    2019 Uniforms

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    On 6/23/2019 at 9:55 AM, Terri Schehr said:

    It always looked so comfortable to me. 

    Having moved from a lined, WOOL cadet-style / Eisenhower-style jacket (with top hook closed, of course :blink:) and shako to "just a SHIRT???" (albeit w/ a green ascot) and 2-7 Aussie was, in a word, REFRESHING...

    • Like 1

    It's the day before the season starts-what is your favorite 2nd place show?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    38 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:

    Tough to say:

    • 1980 27th Lancers
    • 1987 Santa Clara
    • 1988 Santa Clara
    • 1989 Phantom Regiment
    • 2002 The Cadets
    • 2014 Bluecoats
    • 2015 Carolina Crown
    • 2016 Carolina Crown

    It's probably a toss-up between '88 Vanguard (Phantom of the Opera) and '89 Phantom Regiment (Dvorak New World Symphony)

    jw, I like how you think..

    The 78/79/80 and 87/88/89 timeframes had some AMAZING 2nd place shows (and I LOVED 2014/2015 2nd shows)...

    I'll throw in '75 SCV - perfect GE score and just a great show that had to go up against THAT Madison show...

    • Like 1
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