MikeD

Exactly so. The GE judge can read how all of the listeners are reacting to a show in evaluating that aspect of the Effect sheet. It has nothing to do with what the GE judge happens to "like" musically. Of course, that is but one portion of the Effect sheet.

The Jethro Tull show is my all-time least favorite Cadet show. They really needed the A&E elements of today to do Tull justice, IMO (probably better once flutes are allowed). 2006 was a very good show to me. I loved 2007, including the narration. 2008 was saved for me by the final couple of minutes, otherwise it would have been a race to the bottom with 2004.

Cadets played "White Rabbit" in 1970 as well...it was the first year we did the Peace Sign.

...thankfully. 😀

Those that judge continue to do so as long as their interpretations of the sheets are in line with how the corps have decided the sheets should be interpreted.

We sometimes had metal containers of Kool-aid-like liquid, basically flavored sugar water. For added protein, there were LOTS of bugs floating around who wanted the sugar. We called it bug juice.

Our main uniform person, Aunt Nellie, lived close to Garfield HS. She had a fenced in yard, and she would hang our unis inside out all around her fence to air them out as often as possible. We as members did not really have access to our unis outside of performance times.

Oh yes! We used to go through tubes of A&D ointment after some of the parades on hot days! OUCH!!!!!

That might explain our dinner one night of Kibble.

As was shown, I have commented on the 71 Dallas heat. Absolutely awful in our wool Cadet uniforms. For prelims it was 135 on the field according to two stadium workers I heard talking as we (Garfield) came onto the field. Our unis were already damp, as we had marched a Dolphin/49'er preseason halftime in Miami the week before VFWs in Dallas. It poured on us that evening, totally drenching our uniforms. There was actually a photo in one of the Miami newspapers showing our marching timpani line with water bouncing off the drums. The great folks who maintained our unis (led by Aunt Nellie!!!!) did the very best job they could to dry them out between that exhibition and VFWs, but they were still damp and sticky, on top of the heat.

Yup. In 1971, our "America, the Brave" show about the Revolutionary War, we passed out a printed libretto to the crowd, a decade prior to PR doing the same. Dave Shaw wrote it. DCP's own Ironlips, a history major (and our primary brass arranger/instructor) provided the factual information for the libretto. In 1972, the "No More War" show, we passed out a placemat sized poster with three photos. One was two young children, a boy and girl, playing. The second was the now-grown boy saying goodbye to his girlfriend (both in uniform, BTW). The third was the young woman standing next to a casket.

If you would have mowed the lawn anyway, you would have had your own red tide!

Don Angelica pushed for a 30-point GE caption back in the 60's. Actually, even near the end of the VFW era, GE on the World Open sheets and CYO Nats was a total of 30 points. Prior to the Analysis captions, the execution sheets had a number of points allocated to 'Difficulty'. If my memory serves, at the 1971 VFW Nats, Drumming Execution was 17 points for tics and 3 points for Difficulty, but don't hold me to those number breakdowns...just a rapidly fading memory! Thank goodness Cadence was eliminated. Also, Inspection was a 10-point caption on VFW sheets. All of those changes you quite properly noted went into the change in judging concepts, as those who decided these things (staffs, directors, judges, etc) realized that the progress being made in all areas, M&M, Brass and Percussion, made tics a lousy way to evaluate performance in those areas.

Yes, he was amazing. I recall that visit. 72 was my final marching year.

Be well, George. Take care of yourself.

Hmmm....in my Garfield years, 70-72, I could have said the exact same thing! Bobby was our visual person too!

Don't let Jeff read this! We have had our differences on lots of things in the past. On this one, we tend to agree.

I did, my entire career, from 64-72. I also judged under the tic system, primarily in the Garden State Circuit, from 76-80'ish. That is how I was trained in the beginning of my judging career. I judged band shows from 1978 to around 2005. The last drum corps I judged was a couple of DCA shows in 1990.

Music ed majors take courses in many areas of music performance. Even in my dinosaur college era (71-75) I (as a percussion major) took courses in strings, woodwinds, brass, singing. I took 6 semesters of piano. Sang in choir for three years in addition to band and orchestra. Judges who judge marching band competitions have been doing just fine for many decades evaluating a wider array of instruments than drum corps, actually, when WW are added in.

The tick system worked when drum corps was a much simpler activity. Drumline elevator drills up and down the 50, for example. Squad moves and more linear drills. More vertical arrangements. No front ensembles. Etc.... The impetus to change it to eventually #### we have today came as drum corps expanded beyond the old model of shows and design. Mallets and timpani, even marching versions, were not able to be completely judged using the tick system, as one example.

Ticks were just as subjective. Was the moment being evaluated worthy of a tick or not? The judge had to decide. In the case of a group tick situation, how bad was it? How many ticks should be assessed? Further, the judge had to be directly in front of the moment being evaluated to mark a tick. If the judge stood in front of the snares, for instance, and thought a bass phrase may have been dirty, the judge was not deemed to be in position to assess a bass tick. Recording ticks let to watered down shows as the season progressed, to eliminate every possible error, esp in percussion. I recall one hall of fame drum instructor who used to have a lot of cymbal crashes at the ends of battery phrases to cover up potential battery errors. There were lots of games back then, for sure. Brass charts were more vertically aligned, as opposed to independent horizontally aligned independent voices to make sure judges did not hit the line incorrectly for attack and release errors. I really can't imagine todays shows, as complex as they are, being able to be judged using any sort of tick system. That system went away because it was just not a sufficient way to truly evaluate the corps performances.

1990 Phantom Regiment Saint-Saens Symphony #3, the Organ Symphony, has always been on my list of favorite symphonic pieces performed by a drum corps. Actually, their entire 1990 Saint-Saens show with Carnival of the Animals and Bacchanale is wonderful.

No idea on that question. I would think they would tell the new prospective district of any "unsavory" issues with the person, but I don't know how specific they would be.

I saw my first show in Sept 1963, sponsored by my dad’s VFW. Dad signed me up in the fall. I was 10. I find each decade has been amazing. The 2010’s have been the very best to me. Amazing shows from the creative staffs performed at an incredibly high level by the members.

In NJ, a recent law (couple of years ago) was passed so that when a staff person has applied to a district for a position, the former districts can and must share the reason for the person leaving, even if there was no charge and conviction. Before that, many times the first district just let the person resign, especially if parents of involved students did not want to subject their children to further stress by pursuing a court case. In those days, the first district was not permitted to discuss the reason for the resignation, otherwise the teacher could sue that district, as legally all they did was resign. I think most of us old timers know of lots of cases of teachers moving around various districts due to the old policies. That is thankfully no longer the rule.