hboyce
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Posts posted by hboyce
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Peaking
Piquing.
Pique.
I've seen this error far too many times on this forum.
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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.
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I see a lot of whining about the fall of drum corps (one show from this year being a common thing to grips about). How about we be a little more constructive.
What show, from the last ten years, do you think epitomizes what you think the future of DCI should look like?
Every single show from every single year epitomizes what the future of DCI should look like.
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Through multiple interactions with Blue Devils through the years, and when I see former members on this website list all their world titles in their signature lines, along with wearing championship rings on their gloves during performances, plus various other things that have been mentioned before on this site and in other places, why does this surprise you?
I said I didn't like it. I didn't say I was surprised.
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They are in it for titles and very few other reasons.
I really really really don't like it when people make this comment that have no affiliation with the organization.
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Just throwing out a question to ponder:
Have judges been adequately trained in the new judging system/sheets?
Much more adequately than any member of this forum.
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but I bet the corps that went on after Cadets was thankful the hashmarks were repainted.
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.
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It's freedom of speech.
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)
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This little guy is sad. Let's cheer him up with some positive comments.
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Drum Corps makes the world a smaller place;
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.
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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
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read my previous posts and you will see it not a "sweeping generalization" I am talking small degrees between a small group of elite corps. I am talking about different types of demand. Maybe I am framing the question wrong, but the premise is not without merit.
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?
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People don't go to BD and expect to be "good" (even though they do). People don't go to BD for a "good summer" (even though they do that too). People go to BD to win. Of course, that's not the only reason, or even the most prevalent all the time, but BD is basically THE corps you can make expecting to win or get second place. It's part of the culture. Why get all worked up about it?
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.
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Maybe the problem is that the WGI approach to drill no longer makes it an apples to apples comparison anymore.
Then maybe you shouldn't be making sweeping generalizations.
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Then dont watch the individual...watch the section and still get the same effect.
How about watch the entire corps. Watch the color guard. How about not ignore the rest of what I said.
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I never said a BD show is not difficult, just less physical, in the end the only arbiter that can truly tell us who is more difficult is a person who has marched both BD and another elite corps in the past 5-8 years. However with your logic, are we now giving more weight on how the show is designed in October, then how it is performed in August?
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.
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Simple, follow a contra player march BDs show, then watch a contra player march Crowns show. Notice intervals, playing while marching, pass throughs and how often they are integrated into the main form, then ask yourself which player marched the more physical show.....then do the same thing with Cadets and Cavies. If you are honest with yourself, then it will become apparent that of the elite corps, BD is the least 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.
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But my argument is that BDs show is not much more conceptually or mentally challenging than the other elite corps. Also since BD does not really do conventional drill, there are some skills that they do not even attempt. I think all things being equal, you have to start looking for the inequities.
Also I am not quite sure what you mean by a corps doing a single skill a zillion times. Is marching not the fundamental skill of a visual program? Look at other subjective judged sports like diving and gymnastics, do you not get a higher score performing a very difficult skill at 95% than you do performing an easy skill at a 100%?
Bottom line is that mental demand is much easier to accomplish when you are not putting a great deal of physical demand on the performer.
Explain how BD places less physical demand on their performers than other groups do.
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So Crown's show is no more difficult than, say, Pioneer's?
The Blue Devils 'C' is clearly the most demanding show on a football field.
(It's also the most adorable)
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true it is an opinion, but compare BDs visual book to Cadets and Crown, and it becomes a prevailing opinion.
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.
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It is simply because they have a much less demanding visual show.
Thanks for your opinion.
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Not as applicable now, when you change horn inventories every other year, but in our day, when the horns stayed around for years? Oh yeah.
I had a new horn each year I marched. They tuned and marked each horn before I ever touched it.
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The amount of energy lost and lack of quality sleep
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.So....going out and marching a show with no lights from the get go is a good thing? You WANT collisions and injuries??
Yes, I know they marched the 2nd half of the 99 show in the VERY early season in the dark due to a sudden blackout...I have the video. But they were in the middle of the show at that point and the corps as a whole elected to continue....with no stop in the action. I don't see a way for the staff or show sponsors to have been able to STOP it, given how loud the crowd was when they kept going.
Running a show from the beginning in the dark is just stupid.
I've heard this before and I don't buy it. I feel that the show is designed below the performing level of the corps. They are so good with so little practice because their show is fairly easy every year.
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".No, they just make it look easy. What you said here is a very common misconception that's been perpetuated for 40 years. Heck, it's been addressed by Steve Rondinaro on a number of occasions on the broadcasts.
As Wayne Downey has said: "We do the difficult immediately, the impossible takes a little longer."
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Oh dear.
How is "Does the BD organization have class?" a question with a yes or no answer?
For what it's worth, I suspect that many BD alum who are "owning" this thing are wishing it was phrased/presented a bit differently. My understanding is that "winning" (which is an absurd notion, in my opinion) is important to them on a level more than most other corps. That's fine. (Although, I think it a bit silly to count "wins" and "losses" over the years, since winning and losing is 100% up to HUMANS.)
The messaging, though, is a bit cringe-worthy for an organization that is usually spot-on with its materials. I suspect they realized this and removed the material.
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.
Bluecoats marching technique
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
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.