Hornline Scoring in 2008, or before

[TerriTroop]

And I'm discussing how tired I am of hearing how Phantom's show was the best show of all time and they should have gotten a score of 100 and how I AM SPARTACUS!

Apathy Jones needs to change his name to Antipathy Jones.

(Just teasing a little. Many of us have our own "I'm tired of hearing XYZ corps is amazing..." moments on DCP. This is his.)

I'm not a Phantom honk, and I liked BD show a lot. I've listened to the APD's a lot in the last three weeks. (I almost always listen to them both during my workouts, and that's at least 5 times a week.) In THOSE shows and those shows only, I felt Phantom's performance quality nudged out BD. But that wasn't finals night, and we're months away from those recordings.

I don't really care who came out first. They both had incredibly good shows on that field and as a fan I get to enjoy the heck out of them on a nearly daily basis. All I can say is THANK YOU to them and the other corps who laid their hearts out for the fans.

[Slow Adam]

I golfed with Paul McGarr last weekend, and we talked about finals night...

I can't believe I've had no replies or PMs.

[PR ROCKS]

I can't believe I've had no replies or PMs.

So, what did Paul have to say about Finals night?

[Phantombari1]

Ya Adam, How many times do we have to ask? Adam? Adam? Bueller?

[ApocalypseTissue]

I think it's hard to say for sure which brass lines are better if you're not on the field sampling each player's and each section's quality of sound, intonation, blend, articulations, etc....

Excellent

Perhaps true to an extent, especially in a close call,......but if there are problems evident in the stands, then they are usually REALLY evident on the field.....conversely, if someone is absolutely stellar in the stands, that usually shows up on the field, too......

This is why a certain corps uses derived achievement to hide from the field judge. Field judges sample, and oh certainly won't hear some things on the other side of the field.

[Bob984]

Excellent

This is why a certain corps uses derived achievement to hide from the field judge. Field judges sample, and oh certainly won't hear some things on the other side of the field.

(1) Who would the "certain corps" be? Tell us all in detail, how they "hide" their sound, so the secret

gets out and other corps can use this tactic, too.

GB

[ZealJ03]

(1) Who would the "certain corps" be? Tell us all in detail, how they "hide" their sound, so the secret

gets out and other corps can use this tactic, too.

GB

Well Blue Devils are known for their smoke in the mirrors. 2004 BD used it a lot. Everyone fingered the notes, but only select members played it.

The Cavaliers hornline stops moving in their pods that fly across the field.

Corps that are very extensive in staging will do this a lot.

I know that the Cadets are huge about equal contribution only bring volumes down. Jeff Sacktig doesn't seem to care as much for staging of the hornline, the ensemble plays all the time. Santa Clara back in the day did the same thing. I'm not sure about Phantom or Crown though..

[salad315]

Well Blue Devils are known for their smoke in the mirrors. 2004 BD used it a lot. Everyone fingered the notes, but only select members played it.

The Cavaliers hornline stops moving in their pods that fly across the field.

Corps that are very extensive in staging will do this a lot.

I know that the Cadets are huge about equal contribution only bring volumes down. Jeff Sacktig doesn't seem to care as much for staging of the hornline, the ensemble plays all the time. Santa Clara back in the day did the same thing. I'm not sure about Phantom or Crown though..

Meh - the cadets water their books and cheat just as much as anyone else. I know they cut people front parts that cant play it, or have people in the back of the block go 'full out' while people in the front play with a better sound. I heard a story from someone who marched in 03 that the mellos had this crazy continuing run in rocky point as they marched in a circle. The mellos in the back would relax and breathe, while those in the front would keep up the playing. Worked great until a judge jumped INTO the circle

Point is - everybody plays the game. Gino is an old Blue Devil, so im sure he learned some tricks from them, and thought up some new ones of his own. Sure - the cadets are known for their full ensemble playing, and some balls to the walls endings where they seem to never let up, but for those other 10 minutes of their show, you can bet theyre using some smoke and mirrors as well. Someone had this quote in their sig once upon a time... "the corps who hides their mistakes the best, wins"

[CM76]

Not a brass player, but in the tick era, we were always taught to be aware of the judges position. Rule #1, don't tick.

quick story - we were at a small show in the midwest. We came to a part in the music that ended with a sfz rimshot. We were all not focused, and the release came out completely obliterated.

After a short tacit, the next phrase we were supposed to play also began with rimshots, but everyone was spooked, and we all faked it. So the drumline looks like we're hammering rimshots, and there is silence. It was pretty funny...

[Bob984]

Well Blue Devils are known for their smoke in the mirrors. 2004 BD used it a lot. Everyone fingered the notes, but only select members played it.

The Cavaliers hornline stops moving in their pods that fly across the field.

Corps that are very extensive in staging will do this a lot.

I know that the Cadets are huge about equal contribution only bring volumes down. Jeff Sacktig doesn't seem to care as much for staging of the hornline, the ensemble plays all the time. Santa Clara back in the day did the same thing. I'm not sure about Phantom or Crown though..

Ok....people are talking about people not playing at places as the "hiding" going on.....I was actually referring to hiding/covering mistakes/problems, or the judge not hearing them. if they are played, they are going to be heard and hard to hide....no denial that cutting out/having people not play happens, and most everyone has done it. I actually do not know how that is responded to by the judging community currently. I remember a prominent corps coming out one year. They had major membership problems, but they managed to fill the horn line from 20 at rehearsal/30 total to 60 in two weeks (I kid you not). They taught the new members the entire drill but "impacts only" playing-wise for the 1st show. The rest of the show was handled by around 30 brass players. They actually pulled it off pretty well, and won the show! in 1981, we had a soprano (and a lead at that) removed from the corps for disciplinary reasons. We had no alternate horn players, and we didn't want to carry a blank, but we had an alternate in the guard. She learned the drill in a day, and was out there faking it as a lead soprano at prelims/finals! I still think that if a hornline sounds fabulous from the stands, they will probably sound quite good on the field as well, and if there are problems in the stands at places, that is usually even far more evident on the field. I would agree, though, that if one corps has ALL of it's players playing the demanding parts and nobody cuts out, and another has several players who do not play during the difficult parts, that should be considered, and you have to be out there to find that out.

GB