Crown vs. Bluecoats in ‘07

[LAMystreaux]

Hey, I would actually consider adding BK to the list of corps that outperformed SCV at Finals week. ;)

I am still dumbfounded at how BK does not get a tremendous amount of love around here. They had one of the best designed and performed shows on the field this summer.

[Pinwiz]

In general, I think that Bluecoats had the best creative moments of the year. It was their pacing and a couple of captions that placed them in 7th.

Or maybe it was seeing them live four times in a week that burned me out on their show.

[Jared_mello]

I am still dumbfounded at how BK does not get a tremendous amount of love around here. They had one of the best designed and performed shows on the field this summer.

yeah....the thing that surprised me when i watched the espn broadcast was how CLEAN they were, from a lower-body standpoint. i had never seen the corps look nearly that good before. really entertaining show, one im really looking forward to seeing on the dvd.

[euphguy]

I loved both shows in different ways. From the beginning, I loved Crown's show! The guard was simply phenomenal, right out of the gate. The hornline's powerful chords were great, and to top it off, Crown's percussion book was great in the show. MUCH better than last year!

At first I didn't care much for Bluecoats show, but as the summer progressed I got more hooked. Having gone to both Semis and Finals, I noticed a distinct difference between the performances, and for me, it was enough to sway me into a fan. I loved the colorguard feature (nuff said). That was ridiculous. The horns and drums were phenomenal as well. My only beef was some of the musical selections.

That said, I cannot decide. I do tend to agree with the overall scores though.

[Crowncontramom]

Well, having spent the summer with the Bluecoats, I'm decidedly biased towards our show. I listened to Crown's a little bit earlier from the finals CD. The music makes sense with the show, I just still haven't seen the whole thing. So, I'll never really know, since I couldn't be in the stands to watch it. I just imagine people were drawn to the show for various reasons. They had horses, what American doesn't like horses? The played the william tell bit. Everyone has heard that, and can recognize it. Basically, the show was full of things most people are familiar with, and enjoy. That's pretty hard not to like. Our show had things people are familiar with, but they all had negative connotations. Goes with the territory of Criminal, though, I would imagine. Plus, our show had ONE major chord in it. People are more comfortable with major harmonies, instead of minor ones. The list can go on about simple things that people feel, and that could be why. Then, the simplest answer of all could just be that they had a fantastic show concept.

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Crown's music was more "the kind you know". And you have a very valid point about minor vs major chords. (But what else would you have with a show called CRIMINAL?) I personally loved CRIMINAL, particularly the CHEESY parts, "Freeze" and "drop your weapons!". b**bs b**bs

Wasn't this a GREAT year in drum corps??

[LAMystreaux]

yeah....the thing that surprised me when i watched the espn broadcast was how CLEAN they were, from a lower-body standpoint. i had never seen the corps look nearly that good before. really entertaining show, one im really looking forward to seeing on the dvd.

Yes, I know they catch a lot of crap for their unique marching style, but for me it only adds to why I love the corps. There is a great move shown on their ESPN clip where there is a cutoff of a big chord, followed by the leg pop and an "about face" type move in opposing directions. . .so freakin' cool!

[marimbaman89]

there was one major sustained chord by the way, yes. last one of the show. picky, picky.

That was actually my least favorite part of the show this year lol. But I suppose it had to be done.

[marimbaman89]

Hey, I would actually consider adding BK to the list of corps that outperformed SCV at Finals week. ;)

For me, Crown seemed to come the farthest this year. I was kidding my buddy (another Bluecoats alum) with whom I work when we were watching Semis and I commented "how mad are you gonna be when Crown passes Bluecoats tonight?" He didn't think it possible. For me, I saw Crown gaining steam and support. Everything Crown did improved over the course of the season.

As for the Bluecoats, I don't feel they had the same advancement that Crown had visually. A million fingers can be pointed but those blames are all irrelevant now. I remember Larry Hershman telling me in early June, "this may be the best hornline I have heard--and they are not clean yet," which is quite a statement if you know Larry Hershman and his amazing history in drum corps. Accordingly, I think that much of the Bluecoats' success this year relied on an amazing drumline and hornline. I think as the season progressed, there were not enough significant elements added to the visual part of the show. Additionally, weak statements in drill did not help GE Music when needed (for example, having the hornline break the Miranda silence on the 15 yard line is not really effective...musically or visually) and when it was apparent that the drill and additional visual elements were not working, they were not changed in order to make the program more inviting. As scores were not raising like they were expected, I can imagine that the hornline and drumline staff did their best to help raise overall scores on their end by making things as absolutely clean as possible (i.e., watering down some difficult music prior to Finals). This course of action, which probably seemed good at the time, had a devastating effect; it raised scores in Brass and Drums, but had a terribly negative effect on General Effect--one perceived weakness of the program, as GE has plays a larger factor in scoring (40%) than does MUSIC (30%).

The CC/Bloo 2007 argument/discussion really boils down to the way a show is scored. As long as GE and VISUAL get 70% of the overall score, corps that place a larger emphasis on visual are going to score higher. Ask the Cavies. In comparison, winning DCI is kinda like trying to win the board game Risk by winning South America and Australia; while important in the grand scheme of scoring, you have to have the goods in the higher scoring areas to win it all. Sadly, one can also make this comparison to Presidential elections and the Electoral College. Corps that continue to win have figured this out and have made it work to their advantage. I proffer that if MUSIC was factored as 40% of the overall score (instead of VISUAL), Bluecoats would have finished no less than 3rd in 2007.

Elmo Blatch

Great post. Even though I'm auditioning for Bluecoats on marimba this year, what really sold me on this show and what makes me want to audition is the absolutely AMAZING hornline they had this year. If only they didn't water those parts...

[Jared_mello]

Yes, I know they catch a lot of crap for their unique marching style, but for me it only adds to why I love the corps. There is a great move shown on their ESPN clip where there is a cutoff of a big chord, followed by the leg pop and an "about face" type move in opposing directions. . .so freakin' cool!

yeah i know exactly where you mean.....the technique is stunningly more effective when executed correctly, and this was pretty evident in 2007. they sounded great, too. one of the best hornlines theyve ever had as well.

[thePerfectbuzz]

Coats were pretty BA this year....not gonna lie