Current SCV era

[chaos001]

The competition level at the top is indeed higher than it has ever been.

With the exception of 2004, I think SCV has become increasingly less interesting to me personally for one reason..... Key Poulan. I never really like his stuff. I love SCV though. I hope something changes. They are a classy group of people and I want to see them challenging every year.

agreed.

Even so, I think SCV is taking steps in the right direction with hiring Fiedler, re-hiring JW Koester. Just get rid of Key, and keep the Brass caption head longer than a year.

agreed^2

[AzEuph]

I agree, Key Poulan's arrangements are so blaaaah; 2003, though, was awesome. SCV has been suffering in the music captions; very un-stellar brass, percussion performances/books since 2004. Visually, they've been spot on-- the drill writer is one of the best, their color guard is always improving, but marching is still not as clean as the the other 6 or 7 corps. And show design is very bleh personally. I mean, cmon, "moto perpetuo", "!", and "3".... not very coherent, tangible, exciting, or memorable (for me anyway).. perhaps Key is to blame for this?

Even so, I think SCV is taking steps in the right direction with hiring Fiedler, re-hiring JW Koester. Just get rid of Key, and keep the Brass caption head longer than a year.

Key is just the brass arranger not the program coordinator. Therefore blame for show design shouldn't be on his shoulders only as there are more than just him who pick music. IMO Key isn't the best drum corps arranger, but he's still up there as far as arrangers go. The only show that I didn't enjoy as much as the others was 2006 (irionically).

I actually liked "!" show design! Atleast visually there is a lot of depth in there if watched closely. I do agree w/ moto perpetuo, but at the time I think the idea was to design a thin show that they knew wouldn't hurt them, very little gambling on that design. It worked out for them as SCV moved up 2 spots from the pervious year and prevented themselve from falling into a deep spiral.

Marching has been dirty, but at the same time I feel their drill has some of the most demand. Maybe instead they need to write less and clean more

[cmathis]

Key is just the brass arranger not the program coordinator. Therefore blame for show design shouldn't be on his shoulders only as there are more than just him who pick music. IMO Key isn't the best drum corps arranger, but he's still up there as far as arrangers go. The only show that I didn't enjoy as much as the others was 2006 (irionically).

I actually liked "!" show design! Atleast visually there is a lot of depth in there if watched closely. I do agree w/ moto perpetuo, but at the time I think the idea was to design a thin show that they knew wouldn't hurt them, very little gambling on that design. It worked out for them as SCV moved up 2 spots from the pervious year and prevented themselve from falling into a deep spiral.

Marching has been dirty, but at the same time I feel their drill has some of the most demand. Maybe instead they need to write less and clean more

Key was the program coordinator from 2003 to 2005.

Anyway, they need Dean Westman and Myron Rosander back.

Edited June 4, 2009 by cmathis

[Jeff Ream]

That's been their problem ever since 2000 imo.

The last few years, their shows have come off to me as being lofty and striving for... something, I'm not sure what- and never quite reaching it. I'm hoping this year's show is more like '04 with solid story-telling rather than vague intangibles.

I think Moto came the closest to reaching the level everyone expects.

[NR_Ohiobando]

Honestly I think their shows are some of the more likable ones of this decade. I like 04-07 the most.

Competitively I think they just need to keep retention rate high and get their brass going a little better. Everything else has the makings of a medaling corps to be. They've got a heck of a drill writer, a winter colorguard that won champs for WGI, a percussion section that had a nice run the past few years, and a great history.

[general_tsos_chicken2]

can't agree more about key poulan....just can't get into his arrangements AT ALL

I'm sure I'm going to catch a lot of grief too, but I really do not like their current drill writers work (pete weber), it's all very 'cool' and lots of 'tricks' , but their really is no emotional value to it, which I think myron rosander was GREAT at capturing. It's almost as if their drill is just a bunch of ideas written down, without too much tie to the music. If myron rosander were to write their drill again, i would be a very very happy guy.

vanguard used to be my favorite corps in the late 90's early 00's, now they are just...bleh to me

Edited June 4, 2009 by general_tsos_chicken2

[cmathis]

I'm sure I'm going to catch a lot of grief too, but I really do not like their current drill writers work (pete weber), it's all very 'cool' and lots of 'tricks' , but their really is no emotional value to it, which I think myron rosander was GREAT at capturing. It's almost as if their drill is just a bunch of ideas written down, without too much tie to the music. If myron rosander were to write their drill again, i would be a very very happy guy.

I think Weber's drills fit very nicely with the music, but I think they're too demanding to clean very well. I'm willing to bet that if Rosander came back, we would see an increase in their visual scores and overall placement.

Right now, their forms look pretty good, but it's the incredibly demanding transitions that kill them.

Edited June 4, 2009 by cmathis

[BRASSO]

Some of my favorite shows over the years have come from SCV.

That said, we need new Corps to have a shot at the top.

Even Major League Baseball with their lack of payroll constraints and team payroll gaps between teams has more parity in playoff Championship particicipation than DCI Drum Corps.

If we want SCV to retun to the top, we are really asking for more not less variety in placements from 1-5. Which is of course fine, if we don't like to see change.

Edited June 4, 2009 by BRASSO

[ussglassman]

Jay Bocook writes for marching bands too, and that obviously doesn't affect his drum corps arrangements one bit. I think that Key just arranges for too many groups. If he only had a few groups to arrange for per year, I think his stuff would be a lot more entertaining.

Then he'd be out of a job, and whatever your opinion of him may be, could you do all those arrangements for all those groups better than he? It is not Key Poulan who arranges boring music. It's the design staff as a whole who chooses boring music, then sends it to Key Poulan to be arranged for drum and bugle corps. Key has composed music for the SF Renegades that will tear your face off, so don't knock him, knock his clients! I have met him before and he is a gentleman and a scholar, and I admire him for his composing AND his arranging skills. Keep on going Key, dont take S**T from anyone!

[cmathis]

Then he'd be out of a job, and whatever your opinion of him may be, could you do all those arrangements for all those groups better than he? It is not Key Poulan who arranges boring music. It's the design staff as a whole who chooses boring music, then sends it to Key Poulan to be arranged for drum and bugle corps. Key has composed music for the SF Renegades that will tear your face off, so don't knock him, knock his clients! I have met him before and he is a gentleman and a scholar, and I admire him for his composing AND his arranging skills. Keep on going Key, dont take S**T from anyone!

Oh, he is a gentleman, and a very very nice one at that! I agree with you that he does have very good composing and arranging skills, but they are being stretched too far. SCV hasn't chosen boring music in my opinion... Key has just arranged boring arrangements because he has so much other work he has to worry about.