hboyce

Sounds like something Lee would do. My criticism of the style is that their heels were coming far too high off the ground for that type of technique.

Piquing. Pique. I've seen this error far too many times on this forum.

To the Blue Devils. Don't ever change. And by that I mean keep changing. Keep doing something I haven't seen before on the field.

Every single show from every single year epitomizes what the future of DCI should look like.

I said I didn't like it. I didn't say I was surprised.

I really really really don't like it when people make this comment that have no affiliation with the organization.

Much more adequately than any member of this forum.

We were outside the stadium on a nature walk because we had no clue what was going on. I don't remember having issues seeing any markings though.

I'm all for freedom of speech. It's great. It isn't an excuse for being a ###### person though. (censor edit: poopy, crappy, fecal mattery)

This little guy is sad. Let's cheer him up with some positive comments.

I have a small world drum corps story! A month or so ago I was going to get some Indian food (http://www.punjabitandoor.com/ best in San Diego.) and I walked by someone I recognized, but I didn't know from where. I ordered my food and sat outside to wait. I just sort of stared at this guy and then blurted out, "Do you play baritone?" At this point I still had no idea why I knew this guy, but I just pictured him holding a baritone. He said, "yeah, you are [my name] right?" Kind of stunned me. Apparently, this guy had auditioned for the 2007 corps and I drove him back down to San Diego. (Auditions and banquet are the same weekend.) He didn't make it, but he ended up marching 2008. We shot the #### about drum corps for a bit. What makes it even more of a small world story, is that he lives in Vancouver now and was only in town for a short time.

All this negativity about drum corps' apocalypse makes me sad. A positive outlook makes me feel good. This is the feel good thread. No "would've/should've/could've" here. No criticism, be it constructive or not. Only positive posts here. Drum corps is awesome this year? Heck yeah! The hot dogs are fresh and the beer is cold? You betcha! Is today awesome? It always is! So post away. And remember, be positive! please

You said that BD's shows are less physical than the rest of the top 6. You based this off a specific example of one section of two corps from what I assume to be one year. What would you call that?

I saw my first drum corps show in 2000 and saw SCV live. I fell in love with drum corps and was a die hard SCV fan. Then I saw BD live in 2001. I knew that is where I was going to end up. That was what I wanted. I had no clue about their past success. I didn't go there for a ring. I went there to be a Blue Devil.

Then maybe you shouldn't be making sweeping generalizations.

How about watch the entire corps. Watch the color guard. How about not ignore the rest of what I said.

You don't get a sense of the physicality of an entire group based on one individual in one section. For every set that one member is doing 12 to 5, another is doing 6 to 5. The physicality of a jazz run is far less than that of a 6 to 5. Marching at slower tempos requires greater body control and a stable core. For example, I can do 50 push ups for endurance. But if I did slow down for 2 hold for 1 slow up for 2 I would probably be shaking by 20. Another example, I would rather sprint a 400m than walk a marathon. There are physical demands in big and fast and physical demands in short and slow and any other combination. You seem to be saying that because Sally in corps 'X' covered a greater distance than Bob in corps 'Y', corps' 'X' show is more physical.

Your idea of difficult is far different than mine. I don't agree with you at all. As I said before though, I don't think any one group is doing anything harder than anyone else; it is just different. I don't feel there is any way to objectively say something is more difficult. I'm sure an archer would have a hard time doing long tones with 12s and 4s. Likewise a horn player might have a hard time hitting a bulls eye from 50m. But to each, their respective craft is #### easy. It's relative. A Cavalier might have a hard time with a Blue Devil show and vice versa.

Explain how BD places less physical demand on their performers than other groups do.

The Blue Devils 'C' is clearly the most demanding show on a football field. (It's also the most adorable)

To preface this, I don't believe what one corps does is inherently more difficult than what another corps does. Comparing the visual books or musical books (or the combination of the two) in terms of difficulty, is pointless. Across a given section in a given corps the difficulty may vary wildly from person to person. So you think you can accurately say, across 150 people, cumulatively, that one corps is doing something more difficult than another? If you prefer one corps to another, fine, but don't credit BD's success to a lack of difficulty compared to other corps. It just makes me glad that people that are qualified to judge captions are on the field, and not the general DCP populace.

Thanks for your opinion.

I had a new horn each year I marched. They tuned and marked each horn before I ever touched it.

Even with more shows lack of sleep was never an issue. We always got 1/2 time on bus plus however much floor time to get to 8 hours, and that was at the very least. (4 hours bus trip = 2 hours + 6 hours floor time to total 8 hours.) Pretty sure that was just family day and not a judged performance. Though there were a couple of times we had to wait on the field for the lights to come back on. I must have been super out of shape, because that crap was difficult. Jay-Z would say, "Difficult takes a day; impossible takes a week".

His specific question was whether a member would still be happy with a bad performance and a win. I agree that your question is subjective.