SpiritOfJSUFan Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Spirit's Show was very innovative and it took a big risk to put it on the field. The Brass, Battery Percussion, and Front Ensemble can all Perform musically and guard can spin and dance very well. best i have heard since 2006. 2007 was good and it looked like a step in the right direction. Spirit 08 was just bad choices from design team. charts were great and sounded great. VISUALLY is were spirit is hurting. Keep the instructional staff intact that was there this year. Replace visual. dont go after gaines again cause i really wasnt a fan of the drill except in 03...... go for someone that has a proven visual program and put it in place. we are in Alabama and can be outside as early as February. we should have the visual advantage from being in Alabama. never gets too cold. Alabama doesnt have the visual in the high school department at all. Alabama is the state that sucks in marching visual performance and design. Spirit will come out again next year with a great musical book and it will be of the right difficulty for the members playing it. lets just hope visual is up to par. Members put all they have into their show when they march Spirit. Spirit is a very good corps. haven't ever heard anything bad about spirit except from a management to staff thing. but thats for another post in another time. Just find a instructional staff that can teach visual. thats all spirit will need. 2009's show design was very well planned and executed. but you call can see where spirit is lacking in the scores and recaps. it is visual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84skyrydr Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Sorry but no - the Crossmen are not a great corps. They have not been for a few years now. Not a big fan of this years Crossmen show but, yes, they are a great corps. Every corps out there is a great corps. All the talent that used to make up 100 average corps now comprise just 22 world corps. There is no weak corps, just corps that aren't as talented as the top elite corps. There isn't a show in the 80s or 90s that would win a DCI championship versus the champions of the 2000s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Unfortunate for the Crossmen.. but the majority of the drum corps community is not on the inside and cannot see how good this corps is. This year was a step back in the vis performance aspect of things... that can happen with a new field staff who is inexperienced in teaching. However, the biggest issue was not the performer, it was the show they were given to perform, the brass book made no musical sense, so the drill book made no sense, and they ended up running for the sake of running. THe horn line did the best that any horn line could do with that book. That horn line can play, and they were better than many horn lines that were well into finals, but who would know, cause they had a horrible book. THe guard book was written way to hard, the drum book was awesome, the kids performed the hell out of it, but I will say that slotting definitely happened at semis. Give this corps a show they can perform, and it won't be a problem.... and the upset fans of the past and alumni can stop #####ing... who have a right to be upset that their corps is gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_G Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Spirit's Show was very innovative and it took a big risk to put it on the field. The Brass, Battery Percussion, and Front Ensemble can all Perform musically and guard can spin and dance very well. best i have heard since 2006. 2007 was good and it looked like a step in the right direction. Spirit 08 was just bad choices from design team. charts were great and sounded great. VISUALLY is were spirit is hurting. Keep the instructional staff intact that was there this year. Replace visual. dont go after gaines again cause i really wasnt a fan of the drill except in 03...... go for someone that has a proven visual program and put it in place. we are in Alabama and can be outside as early as February. we should have the visual advantage from being in Alabama. never gets too cold. Alabama doesnt have the visual in the high school department at all. Alabama is the state that sucks in marching visual performance and design. Spirit will come out again next year with a great musical book and it will be of the right difficulty for the members playing it. lets just hope visual is up to par. Members put all they have into their show when they march Spirit. Spirit is a very good corps. haven't ever heard anything bad about spirit except from a management to staff thing. but thats for another post in another time. Just find a instructional staff that can teach visual. thats all spirit will need. 2009's show design was very well planned and executed. but you call can see where spirit is lacking in the scores and recaps. it is visual. I'm not a fan of most of the arrangements they were given this year but it wasn't the weakest part of their show. Dust in the Wind was very well done and very effective so we know that Scott has it in him to give the corps a gem, so I wouldn't be against bringing him back. But in regards to the visual this is spot on. Visual affects the total score more then anything else when you get a good look at the sheets and what they say when breaking things down within some of the captions themselves. I have to take another look at them here some time soon just to make sure I'm not mistaken on that one. And while Alabama might not be a band hotbed, it's also not that far of a trip from Georgia or Florida (depending on where in Florida) which both have some very solid HS marching programs. I'm sure there's someone that can easily be found taht would be a few steps back in the right direction simply from a design standpoint. Someone with a more encyclopedic knowledge can help me with this one. When is the last time a corps has made finals placing 15th or lower in one of the visual subcaptions at semis? I really can't think of any off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corps-mudgeon Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Wow. Methinks I touched a nerve here, and simply by saying that the top 12 corps are interested in teaching too, instead of being only about winning. Guess I was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Sorry but no - the Crossmen are not a great corps. They have not been for a few years now. Is finalist status your single criterion for evaluating a drum corps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) . Edited August 21, 2009 by Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) Is in the world class, yes. Should be? Juding by their on field efforts, no.Sorry, you can say the members are getting a WORLD CLASS experience because they attend and compete in WC shows. But the bottom line is they do not belong there. Scores bear that out. You're putting too much stake into the name "world class." It's a marketing term. Just keep calling it "Division 1" and there's no problem. And please stop the patronizing "sorry" at the start of your posts. You're not really sorry, and if you have to apologize in advance for your comments you should maybe think just a bit longer before you insult hundreds of people at one stroke. Edited August 21, 2009 by Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engsubman Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) Wow...Ok, thats not only the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard, it's the dumbest thing I've ever read on here. Just who are you to distinguish the level of playing ability in today's corps? This post was just insulting, demeaning, and dumb. Do you really know what corps is? Its a brotherhood. This kind of #### shows me that you dont want corps or even deserve it. Stick with band, it requires less thinking on your part. And, just btw- its pretty bad when three great names in this activity come on here and tell you that your comments are bs. Perhaps you should think about editing them or getting up close and personal to that fraternity of sound that you have no idea of. I have to side with corps mudgeon here. The top corps are NOT beginner teaching corps. Last I checked this is still a free country and groups can define themselves as their owners or leaders see fit. They select members that suit their needs and criteria. No one has a right to tell them how to operate or set standards for membership. To try to put beginners in advanced groups, no matter what the activity or subject is what is ludicrous. It would also be unfair and could be dangerous to all participants. It not that uncommon to literally get run down in an advanced drill and that is no place for newer marchers. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. You have to walk before you can run. And you have to spend many hundreds of hours practicing before you are qualified to march in an elite drum corps. All corps are run by people who for the most part know very much what they are doing and what their responsibilities are. They know who will fit in with their group and who won't. Give them some credit. I have been up close and personal with a corp, been to audition camps and everydays and toured with a corps. I have a child who marched first with Pioneer for a year because as a beginner that was the place to start. After that year more advanced corps were a reasonable alternative. I am very grateful to Roman and Pioneer for that opportunity. That certainly doesn't mean my kid had a right to march just anywhere. Edited August 21, 2009 by engsubman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd_Star_Brigade Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 I have been up close and personal with a corp, been to audition camps and everydays and toured with a corps. I have a child who marched first with Pioneer for a year because as a beginner that was the place to start. After that year more advanced corps were a reasonable alternative. I am very grateful to Roman and Pioneer for that opportunity. That certainly doesn't mean my kid had a right to march just anywhere. The problem here with the statement that Corpsmudgeon made is not about feeder vs. professional corps. The problem is that drum corps used to be about touching kids lives through making them the best that they were able to be, even if they had limited experience in marching or playing. Everything is slipping away for the good of marketing the Major League. Music as a whole is a sacred art because it touches those that listen to it so much. Inside the hornarc, with your rookie buddy that has worked so hard over the season, learned a new instrument, and is playing at a high level... do you know what that must feel like? Do you know the absolute bonds which can not be shaken, the corps bonds which no marching band can match? And now, it all just slips away. Music in corps rarely has such a sacred duty as to provoke an emotional response to those inside the hornarc as times like these. This is why corps' songs are so impressive and meaningful. They mean something to everybody, especially to the Regiment member who played a saxophone and learned a contra, who thought he was awful at the winter camps, or the Cadet Sop who played bass drum before joining them because he wouldn't get a chance in the drum line (Brian Prato). These kinds of people worked hard then to make the grade. But, you know what the best thing was? They stuck around. They stuck around and they got better. They stuck around and they became staff and forerunners of the activity. I will take dedication over talent any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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