Fincis

I like the double panel and water and am iffy on the brass amp. I have a hard time as of now picturing the effect of this in a show and how it would be used. However, if done right I'm sure it will work and vice versa. I'll just hope it's done the right way.

and to stay on topic a bit... Madison 95. I LOVE that show. HM: Phantom 03

Haven't posted in a while and hesitate with this one, but wow. No extra points for distracting parts. Read the judges sheet, that one would count as fact. Of course it is subjective for them as well how they interpret those sheets and what they find distracting. Given a push because of who they are? Have more of a personal bias please. After reading your posts on this thread so far it's easy to know you've been around for a long time and have experience. That's obvious. What also pops out to me is how you dislike The Cadets in some way. Let me explain on that a bit before you get caught up with a statement that's too general... I think The Cavaliers are fantastic and they have some of my favorite shows. I would love to march their 04 show or 06, 00, etc... A lot of their views I agree with, a lot I don't. However, even after being out of competition for a little while, I still have this small bit of bitterness about them. I'd say it's mostly because they whooped up on us on the field for my first four years, but what can you do, they were effective, entertaining and clean. I still have a ton of respect for them and love a lot that they do. Friends of mine ask me about if they should march their and I say, "Absolutely," and don't even try to mention Cadets, I push Cavaliers. But...when I post about them, I typically have this little bit of inner angst that comes through. This seems like it could possibly be the case with you, like myself, I don't know. But it does come across like that bit of turmoil comes through when you've posted on this thread. There have been a number of people defending The Cadets and neither side is right or wrong. However, you say how everyone's opinion count, then belittle people when they try to state their own. Again, that may not be the case at all, and that's the wonders of making arguments on the internet, but that's how it comes across to me. One thing I'd like to ask politely, because I'm curious, is...Could you mention other specific examples and years when you feel like The Cadets have gotten their obligatory push from the judging community? Also, do you have those same feelings about any other corps and what are some examples of those if you do? Thanks for the response.

2001 - Madison 2002 - BD 2003 - Phantom 2004 - Cavaliers 2005 - Cadets 03, 04, and 05 have my favorite shows of the year. The others I enjoyed but were more filler. Edit the "I"

Almost forgot... Had a pass through between 2 tenors. The hole closed some and I turned my hip slightly to make it through. I got nailed right where it hurts. It was more funny than painful.

You get my vote for best avatar by the way. That's awesome!

Here's mine: My right foot has a couple hard "boney" parts that protrude significantly more than my left. It happened in corps, but never had it checked out. Stress fracture in my tibia. (Which they originally diagnosed as a tumor) Pulled ligament in my knee. and of course Massive Diarrhea. My fiancee tore the cartilage in her knee cap as well. 5 years later and she still can't run full out.

In 03 with The Cadets my leg hurt badly for the last 2 months and i never knew what it was. You should've seen me leaping across the field to run back to my set and I had a killer bandage tan. It got it checked out with a bone scan when I got home and they said it was a tumor. The next day I went to have a CT scan to see if it was cancerous and they happily told me it was only a fractured tibia. It's all healed now but I still feel the pain creep back in every now and then.

Here's wishing a Happy New Year to everyone. Have a Great New Year!

Here are three more I put up. One Part: Without a Door Remember the Alamo! Sparta!!!

Thanks for the kind words. About writing "real" drill, nope. However, I've always wanted to and have been highly considering it for a while. I've had the chance to write with counts and odd numbers and I tend to like it better that way. It's just a matter of getting my foot in the door. It's nice to be "new" to it though because it doesn't seem like it would be a job, but rather something fun you get to create. Here's a couple more. Forgive the odd titles. One is for a student and the other is just to be funny. Men in Capris? Pure TESTOSTORONE

Here are my first two shots. Walker, Texas Ranger Hasselhoff!

Here's a couple things that will help the band clean itself. 1: For curvilinear forms on Pyware especially, adjust the form slightly to give key reference points. For instance, as you get to a yard line, adjust the form to get the person on the yardline instead of 1/2 step off. 2: At the top of the Pyware screen is an option to create the forms down to the whole step, 1/2 step, 1/4 step, 1/8 step. I usually only use the 1/4 and the whole step and here's when... For a box form of anything that has lines with people that are a whole number off the yardline or sideline/hash, switch that option to a whole step. That way once the coordinates print out, everyone's dot is a whole step off the numbers. If not, you'll have someone be 3 3/4 or 3 1/2 instead of 4 steps off the yardline, which makes a huge difference. For a curvilinear form, use the quarter step. If not it rounds to the nearest whole step. For example, you have a straight line going horizantal across the field. One person is 1 1/4 steps off the yardline, the next is 3 1/2 steps off. That's an interval of 2 1/4. If you have it on whole steps, the coordinate sheet will print out as 1 and 4, rounding to the nearest number. That's an interval of 3. Little things like that allow for bands to clean themselves much easier. 3: Take the bit of extra time to keep the labels of the performers readible. You can change the angle and the distance the label is away from the performer easily and it makes a world of difference on how easily the directors can read the charts.

Oldest - An old Garfield Cadets shirts from the 80s, maybe 87. I got the highest bid for it on Ebay. Newest - Cadets 2007 shirt that's in the mail right now.

Finals week in Cadets 04 we ran the closer during marching rehearsal with our eyes closed. The chunk was a total of around 10 sets. We stopped way before anything "dangerous" like some of the pass throughs at the end.

Reasons I would march next year: They change things up from year to year. Jay Bocook Gino Cipriani The Marching Technique (Man do I love watching the corps during slow roll with that stripe! (05 Ballad for example) Difficult Music that is played as productions instead of short, segmented, chunks. Like Nick said, "Work smarter and harder." Hear the hornline play full out for the first time at camp. Sing Holy Name on Finals. After 5 years of marching in The Cadets, the only show I can watch of any corps and still get that feeling of awe and pure astonishment at what the corps is doing is 1993 Cadets. That gut feeling of amazement we all had the first time we saw a drum corps show. For me it was the 2000 Cadets in San Antonio. I've gotta tell you 2007 Cadets, your closer is pretty darn close. I can't tell you how many times I've watched the ending with my jaw dropping to the floor. and finally... The meaning it is to be a Cadet. Anyone from the 2007 hornline, you may remember a random rainy night in Beverly, Massachusetts. There were about 20 alumni watching you warm up in the dark. I vividly remember listening to that stunning warm up rendition of Appalachian Spring with the feeling of being surrounded by The Cadets hornline. When the last chord was held I found myself crying and laughing uncontrollably at the same time. The same type of feeling we get many times on finals day. On the release of the last chord I looked around and found that EVERY SINGLE alumni there was doing the same thing. You have a way of effecting people that's hard to comprehend when you're marching and is crystal clear once you age out. Despite all the controversy, know that you touch the souls of so many people and make this one alumni extremely proud to call himself a Cadet. I'll just put one big ETC... for the many many other reasons to march in the The Cadets for 2008.

Everyone gets slammed back and forth depending on the judges. Do I find it little suspicious? Yes. Does it hurt when it's against The Cadets? Yes. Does every judge have a different emphasis of what to look for in their caption? Yes. I really don't think they're trying to slam anyone on purpose, just judging what they see/hear.

Nicely done BD. Congrats!

That video was amazing! I love how when asked about any innovations he doesn't like he says, "Backwards marching." Thanks Michael Boo and Thank You Blue Devils! Have an amazing performance tonight!

Commence ignore button.

Here's my view. Hop made the right decision. I don't like how he went about it. It was made with safety in mind and also that The Cadets rely heavily on hashes for cleanliness. Yes, I think a lot of it had to with both of those reasons. The penalty should be assesed. DCI should have known better, which almost gets me to agree with taking the penalty away. Booing tells a lot about a person. My guess is Hop threw the tantrum more about DCI dropping the ball, which caused the delay, than the penalty. I know many will disagree with this, but knowing him that's my guess. Really, the penalty wouldn't matter either way. What matters is that delay that threw off the feng-shui. When something like that happens at a show, it's very easy for the mind to wander like crazy. Brass, 5th? I agree, but I'm positive it was a bad show for them. I haven't heard that many stick outs since June and that comes from the somewhat frazzeled minds of some of the members. The members are mature enough, but when you have 135 people, they all react a different way. The delay had much more effect on the score than the penalty. That said, looking forward to an anticipated bounce back tomorrow. Without the penalty I'm not suprised that BD won pretty handily. I am suprised how close Cadets and Cavies were. At the level The Cadets are at, the hashes are used heavily for guides. If you think they should perform just as well with out them, go get some more marching experience.

Muscle memory isn't all it's cooped up to be. Who cares if you can march an 8 to 5 with your eyes closed from muscle memory. That doesn't mean you're an acccomplished marcher at all. If you were to march 8 counts to the next yardline you use your peripheral vision to march 8 even counts. Same thing goes with the hashes. The hashes are used as a guide, just like the form. It's a sationary part of the field to dress to. And before anyone asks, I'm not saying to stare at the field. Another reason why Cadets need hashes. They are used to create consistency, just like yardlines. When I marched if I crossed the 50 on a move, I knew that on count 7 the back of my heel would touch the edge of the yardline closest to side 2. There are checkpoints like this throughout the entire show, including when and what part of the body crosses the hash. The education that Cadets get in how to clean is much stronger than just knowing your dot and muscle memory. Just to be clear, we all have built up muscle memory, but marching consistently takes a lot more than that.

Great post man. ^OO^

If you look at it this way, the thread could be seen as a way to be nice about beating around the bush and bashing the three corps listed. The OP was quite clear about how only positive things should be said and that's about every corps except Cadets, Crown, and Madison. I think the OP is being sneaky about his hatred for these three corps by keeping them out of the love fest!!! Not really. Love the Bluecoats show. Suprisingly enjoy BK. Cavaliers have some awesome moments throughout. Props to the trumpet soloist at the beginning.

Sounds good. I'll pack all 5 of mine in my back pack. I only marched Cadets, but since so many people wear theirs at shows in Texas where it's over 90, I try to out do them and wear 5 at the same time just to be more ridiculous.