vferrera
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Posts posted by vferrera
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....after attending 3 Madison shows, I think the horns/drums/pit is fine.
Its the guard. They blend into the corps during the show.
Where is the color?
Even if they just added a red belt or suspendors, it would help a lot. Or have them wear something white, bright white would help.
most guards could improve their uniforms just by changing the tops to white t-shirts. kinda sad.
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and for killing 2 birds with one stone, is there anything keeping DCI World Class Corps from using G bugles again? (rule wise)
The rule is ANY key, so, yes, G "bugles" are allowed. as are A, B, C, D, E, and F, flat or sharp, conical or cylindrical.
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Believe it or not, corps played on one-valve bugles until the early 60s.
Then came valve-rotor horns. The rotor was the equivalent of the second valve. Mechanically, it was the same as used by french horns and rotary trumpet.
ALL corps carried valve-rotor bugles until 1976. In 1977, the sops changes to 2-valve. 2-valve mellos and french horns came a year or two later. By 1980 or so the the entire brass choir was 2-valve.
A little history here: http://www.middlehornleader.com/Evolution%...Section%204.htm
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Right now, visual GE and ensemble are their weakest captions.
Over the past few years, color guard has had an increasing impact on visual GE. This is good news for Scouts since they have a relatively strong guard this year. Also, it's easier to make changes to guard drill/movement/equipment work. They don't need to change the entire drill, just add movement and equipment work and maybe change the staging in some areas.
It will be interesting to see how Madison's visual numbers fare when guard is judged separately. If their guard scores well, then it could lift their entire visual program.
It's also worth looking at their music numbers. Drums are a bit behind glassmen, but madison's music ensemble scores are well ahead. This suggests that madison's brass scores will be much better than glassmen's and that could lift the scouts when brass is judged separately.
In terms of tempo, there are some opportunities to pump it up in Slaughter. Also, I am expecting a new ending to Rhapsody with some kaleidoscopic drill.
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Based off what I am hearing, I think it will. I think BK, Blue Stars, BAC, maybe SCV will be going at each other come August...
Wes P
based on current scores
7. SCV
8. BAC
9. BK
10. BS
but given that Troopers went up 2.0 and BK went up 2.4 in one night, I think tonight's score may be inflated. From what I've seen/heard, BK will have a hard time beating bluestars head to head. They may have a hard time staying ahead of glassmen and madison.
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I should have said the crowd booed Scouts score placing under Glassmen. Glassmen performed OK but there is only so far that show can go - it is pretty dull although the ending isn't bad. It was a night and day difference on the fan reaction. The crowd loved the Scouts show and everyone sat on their hands for Glassmen. I think the Scouts are slotted and they may not be able to overcome it. They did improve over Normal that 's for sure and the Scout's sound is coming back and getting better every week.
Scouts might close the gap when Brass is judged separately from ensemble music. But they need to do something about visual GE and ensemble to move ahead of Glassmen.
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Forgot Phantom...
when did they break 83?
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5 corps are above 83:
84.9 Cadets
83.5 Crown
83.3 BD
83.2 Bluecoats
83.0 Cavaliers
Seems likely that those will be the top 5.
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I suspect, as always, that wayne, david and scott are not done with this yet. It will evolve as they approach finals. Remember they didn't add Rapsody until Allentown last year (I think). La Suerta is clearly the hook, but there is more to this piece than meets the ear. There will be babies flung...mark my words!
that's good because last year they were just flinging the diapers.
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When are scores?
Cavies still on field according to twitter posts.
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But let's be honest...is it REALLY feasible for a group to improve almost three points in a single night?
I'm NOT saying Phantom didn't deserve the number they got tonight, but, the way I see it, something was amiss either tonight or last night. Not knowing the judging panels from the past two nights, I would venture to say that the two panels were very different, and thus the difference in scores.
Or, perhaps, they just had an "off" show last night, and tonight was really great. The possibilities are numerous.
In any event, without taking anything away from their achievements, some extenuating circumstance likely cause a near 3-point jump in 24 hours.
they were underscored on friday and overscored tonight. pretty obvious, no?
But I was simply addressing Geno's observation about BAC sneaking up on the top group, which doesn't seem to be happening. I mean, BAC's initial score of 75 might have taken people a bit by surprise, but by now they are on everyone's radar and some other corps seem to be improving as fast or a bit faster.
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Wow! Great competitions this year
Seems like the "silently approaching" and poised to put the surprise smack-down on the unsuspecting few is the Boston Crusaders.um, yeah, except BAC was tied with PR last night. Tonight, Boston went up 0.7 while PR when up 2.7.
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My Advice:
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide every trace of sadness.
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying.
You'll find that life is still worthwhile-
If you just smile.
~C. Chaplin~fyi, those lyrics are by Turner and Parsons. Chaplin wrote the melody.
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Listening to people around me.
Disappointed with Madison. Show is slow.
Hmmm.....maybe this accounts for low visual GE?
BTW, it was 84 whitewater when Cadets had the "train wreck" and still had a perfect visual ensemble score.
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Vince if you're talking about Mr. T S from out East. He snuck up from behind me at a practice somewhere up in Canada in 81' and just leveled me. When I collected myself and shockingly looked at him with a "what the heck was that for" look, he got in my face and proceeded to scream at me for what seemed like a 15 minuet tirade!!! After practice he privately told me how much he enjoyed that spectacle. He explained that it was for no reason at all and that in his warped way of thinking it was a good thing to periodically and indiscriminately tear down the "leadership" to size. He said something to the effect, "Jerry, you're a good leader and you lead by example.....but I cant let you or anyone else think their a good leader". Huhhhhhh??? He said, "don't let it bother you, you were just the closest one to me at that particular moment, and I just had to let someone have it....nothing personal" I think I plotted for the next several days all the evil things I was going to do to him, I was ticked!!! But in the end, I and everyone else loved the guy and he really knew how to clean our dirt.
I was thinking of a different incident. It happened at a Whitewater camp.
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Held accountable !?!?!?!?! ...................... In 81' we had one staff guy that would throw rocks at ya ! ........
One time he knocked a guy on his ### just for looking the wrong way.
push-ups, how cute!
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Well, I just checked the recaps, and i know I'm not as smart as most of you, but what I saw was this: Bluecoats took a 7.6 in a caption they won with an 8.1 at their last show. Wonder if that was just a bad night, eh?
Which also tells me..and my son marches contra there, so I am biased...that if they'd hit a number like they're accustomed to in said caption, they would have won tonight. Which means we've still yet to see the best they've got to offer.
I'm looking forward to that.
0.5 fluctuation in a sub-caption is not atypical. it all averages out.
if you took all the best subcaption scores from their last 3-4 shows, their score would be a couple points higher. but that's true for any corps.
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Everyone that is over analyzing, picking apart, and thinking they know whats up, need to quit your jobs and go do it your way. There are tons of Corps that would love to have you. Their job is hard, and it is only June. Lets not critique that auesome show I saw Sat. night. Live! You all know its early, so let them do there jobs. They have all done this before, just not with our Corps. Hell that spin move in Slaughter is not even in the show yet, what about putting the end of Brians Song somewhere? You know, that tag ending thing. All kinds of stuff still to go with this show. Dont you all for one minute think things arent a coming. This is pretty serious for Cris and Company, lets let them get it done. No tone intended for all you arm chair staff members. Cant wait for the next show- LIVE!
Jason
These comments make me question why I bother to support the corps at all.
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I am forever ashamed....can you find it in your heart to forgive my misdeeds?
Hey, Jerry, I didn't see your name on the list of alumni donors (http://www.madisonscouts.org/Madison_Scouts/Madison_Corps.html).
Double shame. Ease that guilty conscience by relieving yourself of some cash.
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I didn't mean to make a big deal out of this. It's really a minor issue, and, as Dan S. says, it's June and they are no doubt adding layers. Hopefully one of the layers will be some screaming sop, er trumpets.
The 82 version is my fav. 75 was a bit top-heavy, no doubt due to Jerry taking the 3rd soprano part up 3 octaves
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They most definitely do not, and I think it's obvious quite frankly that Madison's demand is no where near Blue Stars, at this point. You can only add so much throughout the season before you have to just get down to cleaning the product that is there. Sure there will be re-writes for Madison as the season goes on, things will be added, made more difficult (maybe not always), but you have to remember most other corps will be doing these things throughout the season as well, so while the effort is likely to affect their score I don't see it as a mode for gaining ground from a spread standpoint. If there is one thing the Blue Stars staff has mastered in the last few years it is changing the show throughout the season to allow for as much growth potential as possible, this season will be no different.
hopefully there's more to the build-up score than technical demand. You can only add so much ornamentation before it starts to sound gratuitous.
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Go back to G horns. Problem solved. Wasn't that easy?
That was NOT what I was trying to say. But I do thing the Bb/F horns present problems for arrangers. You have to compromise between not writing the trumpets too high and the mello's too low.
One idea would be to put the lead mello's on Bb horns. They might have an easier time matching pitch with the trumpets.
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From what I've heard, they most certainly do. And I've heard this is all by design. Start with a fairly simple and easy to clean show, and keep adding
and cleaning as the season progresses. Not like the last few years of re-writing, overhauling and then trying to clean....
but adding and layering everything in progressive levels. This show has a lot of room to grow. I continue to expect great things from the Scouts!
I have no reason to doubt them. However, one minor area of concern - and this is based on FN videos so take it with a pile of salt - is Slaughter. It's just not popping like it should. Part of this is tempo - which will surely be increased as the season goes on. But part of it is the key. It's just too low, imo.
Baumgardt wrote slaughter so that the main them is in B minor (I'm pretty sure), which is a great key for G horns. You get to play a lot of nasty F#'s as well as sweet B naturals. Translating this to Bb/F instruments is problematic. To have the same key relative to the fundamental of the horn, you want to go up to to D minor. But that means the lead trumpets have to play a lot of high D's and that could kill their chops for the rest of the show. It sounds to me like they actually went the other way and took it down a few steps. And it sounds like they are playing in a flat key. I'm not sure, but I just don't feel it has the same vibrancy. A lot of the harmonies seem to have lost their brilliance.
Then again, I could be full of it and maybe I just need to hear it live. Or maybe it's just the mellos playing out of tune
(when in doubt, blame the midvoices). -
And as far as scores going down, #### happens. It's early. They are seeing judging panels for the first time. Lots of other corps experience the same thing all the time. Right now, Pioneer, Colts, Crossmen, Troopers, Glassmen, and Madison have all had scores go down as of their last performance. Now, we know these corps didn't get any worse. Just relax and be patient. Good things will come.
I do think it is a tad odd that all the scores going down are all corps 11th place or lower. But whatever.
1. Fluctuations.
2. Madison's show doesn't have as much technical demand as Blue Stars. Hopefully, the staff knows how to fix this.
Madison's visual program
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
cavaliers guard uniform is all black, but they stand out more due to their staging.
what I'd like to see:
a guard feature during the "slaughter dance"
more flags during the company front and finale of slaughter.
lose the cymbals, they're not being used effectively.
guard featured better during the end of rhapsody, with more colorful flags.