NSUMusician

Or call his desk. That phone number is out there now!

Anyone read Acheson's email?! I'm curious as to who was offended by Lotz's post as Acheson stated? Furthermore, Dan comes off extremely snide, condescending, and extremely unprofessional in his email. He's gotta go!!

Some thoughts... I had zero problems with Mesquite last night. Got into the parking lot with ease. Found a parking spot very quickly. Already had my tickets so I didn’t have to mess with will call. Walked the souvie tents. Talked to a friend. Caught some of the end of Cascades. Got in the seats I paid for. Did all of that and I didn’t get to the stadium until 6:55. I thought the quality of all corps has gone up exponentially in the past 20 or so years. Wow! Now, to step on a bit of a soap box... last year the Bluecoats pit was lambasted, and in my opinion, blackballed over their pre-show hype at DCI Minnesota that bled onto the field during SCV’s ballad. Did anyone else notice that Blue Devils were hyping it up during SCV’s ballad? Where’s the criticism? posted from the DrumScorps app

Dave Matthews?? I know Teal Sound did a DMB show.

Just my thoughts... I posted a bit on this issue last summer. I think corp staff members do recruit performers quite often, but my problem lies in the lack of loyalty to a corp. Yes, you only sign a one-year contract to be a member of a corp, but to spend an entire summer with a group of adults who are giving you their all and in the back of your mind you aren't commited to them isn't cool to me. BD this year has two former Bluecoats and one former member from SCV in the battery this year. Why did those members jump corps? A championship ring? A high-drums award? Closer to home? Didn't like staff members of former corp? With performances at the level they are now in the upper echelon of corps you'd think there would be much less jumping from corp to corp. I also get tired of seeing posts calling these performers kids. Let's get real for a second. A large majority of every corp in the top 12 will be college aged students, and most of those will be 20+ year olds. Corps haven't been regional in a long time, but when corps started having camps in different parts of the country is when regionality truly started falling to the wayside. Compound that with the death of DCM, DCA, etc. and there's no longer any regionality to the activity. On top of that, I think the cost of corps has hurt corps from being regional. Back in 2002, it cost roughly $800 to be a member of the Bluecoats. If memory serves me correctly, The Cadets and PR were around the most expensive that year being around $2500 (I could be completely wrong on that, but I'm positive on the Bluecoats). It cost an arm and a leg to run a corp and to be a member of a corp now. Hopefully we'll see more regionality in the activity pop out of Sound Sport. If done correctly, students who get cut from bigger corps and students who can't afford the big named corps will be able be activce.

Still not digging The Cavaliers this year. Doesn't seem to have that iconic "Cavalier energy."

I'm watching the webcast on the 15 YARD wide screen at my school's auditorium. I soooo wish they'd fixed and keep fixed the audio issues!

I've had it for at least the past 5 or 6 years. I usually throw watch parties at my school's auditorium for the webcasts. It's awesome watching a live show on a 12 yard wide screen!

So if rankings are unlikely to change, then what's the point of the competition side of drum corp? I think that's where it goes into a personal experience thing. Most of the people I knew during drum corp didn't care about placement. It was 100% about the experience and the performance, but we knew we weren't going to win! So if there were no competition aspect to DCI would the same kids go out for The Cavaliers, Carolina Crown, Blue Devils, etc.? I guess it's the proverbial chicken or the egg arguement.

If you look at the graphical representation of scores that the Blue Knights has out, there has been virtually NO PLACEMENT changes from what "slotting" was from the second show to the placement of last night's show. There haven't been many placement changes in regards to scoring since June 24.

41 Years only 8 World Champions! Two of those corps are now inactive! Finals Past 5 Years and Placements (Showing 2008-2012) Blue Devils - 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 Blue Knights - 9, 11, 11, 9, 10 Blue Stars - 8, 8, 8, 11, 0 Bluecoats - 6, 6, 3, 7, 6 Boston Crusaders - 10, 7, 9, 8, 7 Carolina Crown - 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, Crossmen - 0, 0, 0, 0, 12 Glassmen - 11, 10, 12, 0 Madison Scouts - 12, 0, 10, 10, 9 Phantom Regiment - 1, 9, 6, 5, 3 Santa Clara Vanguard - 7, 5, 7, 6, 5 Spirit of Atlanta - 0, 0, 0, 12, 11 The Cadets - 5, 3, 5, 1, 4 The Cavaliers - 3, 4, 2, 3, 8 Troopers - 0, 12, 0, 0, 0 Aside from Phantom there has been very little movement in placement. Well the downhill slide of The Cavaliers is very noticeable.

While I shouldn't have singled her out I think you get the point.

Hopefully it won't. I didn't start it to have people bash and get mad. Just merely to gauge peoples opinions.

I've been to plenty of shows and I watch everything I can on the Fan Network. I think the experience is different for each person and that was the root of my post. I think you're missing the point on the amount of shows. If placement doesn't change, why do we have rankings at the shows? If it's already slotted or whatever, then why can't we take the competitive aspect out and just enjoy drum corp. If it's about competition, then why isn't there any? That's my point.

I guess the entity. But to be honest, what about the activity. Because for each person it's very different. Take the center snare for example, she started at Bluecoats and then went to Blue Devils. Let's be honest, I know she's from California, but if the Bluecoats were winning championships and had Scott Johnson would she have left?

This has probably been hashed and rehashed, but I'm just bored. What's the purpose of what DCI has become? Is it for the performers? Is it for the fans? Is it for the money? Why do we have so many contests when there will be VERY VERY VERY little movement in rankings from now until finals? I'm just curious. I've got a REALLY REALLY long winded opinion on this, but I want to hear other's opinions first.

Crown winning guard was a bigger deal, imo. Not to mention that the Crown hornline sounded "off" last night. I also heard too many out of tune chords and individuals from what I've been seeing so far this season. Just sounded like they were in a little funk last night.

Here's are my seats tonight! While not in person, this is pretty good!

Can't wait. Watching the webcast on the 12 ft. by 6 ft. screen in my school's auditorium. It's pretty sweet!

+1

I didn't say that some directors DON'T do it. I just said if they do they're idiots! Haha.

Show me a High School band that has woodwind still playing with good characteristic tone while MOVING near 200 bpm? Next, the band director that allows horns to go outside during weather that could destroy, not damage but destroy,that instrument is a complete idiot!

You're exactly correct. Not to mention the technical side of playing a woodwind instrument. You can't tell me that a student would possibly be able to hold a proper firm embochure on a clarinet while jazz running at 200 bpm. Then their is instrument upkeep. Are corps going to use plastic clarinets due to the wood horns cracking? Of course not because the quality would diminish, but how many instruments would be fully destroyed due to weather? How about reeds? How many reeds are you going to go through? This just doesn't make logistical sense.

Wow. I haven't posted on this site in well over 5 years! Welcome back! I'll be honest, after watching some videos on YouTube I was a little down on it. I had high hopes of it being this really dark, beautiful, and intense show. Well, I was wrong and everything I hoped it would be it is! I'm still humming the opening fanfare of Masquerade. Doug Thrower, no doubt, is one of the best writers out there! The horns are playing well, but kuddos need to be given to Doug on his writing.

A good person to talk to would be Ken Fanti.. He's more than likely with the corp right now, but if you want, i'll email you his email/screen name.. he knows basically everything about the corp.. and there is also someone who posts on dcp that marched that year.. But I don't know off of the top of my head who did..