byline Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 (edited) 5. Back to the demand vs. design vs. performance issue: Generally speaking, the corps that wins combines the best balance of those 3 ingredients. They have design, demand, and great performance. It can't be all demand. Some folks may have watched SCV and thought, "hum...not much demand," but in reality that show was very demanding. Speed, volume, and range are not the only indicators of demand. Timing, tempo changes, types of movement, style, key, musical nuance, and more all add immeasurable amounts of demand to a show, providing they are added with taste and purpose. BD can sometimes show us what's in the left hand (chairs), but in the right hand we miss the true grit of their show that gains the points. We couldn't see it because the flashy elements hide the underpinning of show (execution). Great post, jwillis35. I am in complete agreement with your observations! Edited November 6, 2009 by byline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 5. Back to the demand vs. design vs. performance issue: Generally speaking, the corps that wins combines the best balance of those 3 ingredients. They have design, demand, and great performance. It can't be all demand. Some folks may have watched SCV and thought, "hum...not much demand," but in reality that show was very demanding. Speed, volume, and range are not the only indicators of demand. Timing, tempo changes, types of movement, style, key, musical nuance, and more all add immeasurable amounts of demand to a show, providing they are added with taste and purpose. BD can sometimes show us what's in the left hand (chairs), but in the right hand we miss the true grit of their show that gains the points. We couldn't see it because the flashy elements hide the underpinning of show (execution). well stated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan9 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Some interesting posts. Here are some of my observations from this past season.1. Hardest show of 2009: probably Cadets, but Crown's show was darn hard, and BD does not get the credit they deserve. It takes some training to lock in on the demands in their show, especially when listening to the arrangements, key, range, musical line, and demand on the performer. 2. Hardest show of all-time: not the Cadets 2009. Perhaps visually I would take Cadets 2009 over their 1997 show, but in 1997 they did not have to water the horn book down as much. If you listen to that horn book you will be in awe that anything like that could really be performed on a football field. Trust me. You need to hear it if you haven't. Star 1993, Cadets 1993, Blue Devils 1993 are also excellent musical books for which there are not a lot of equivalents in this activity. BD 1997, or even 1986 or 1988 are also amazing. The interesting thing with the Cadets this past year was this: they had a great visual book, but as exciting as their music was at times, some of the connectedness of themes and ideas didn't always gel. Still, many kudos to Holy Name for, by and large, entertaining the heck out of most of us. It was a great show to watch, with tons of energy. In the end, what hurt them was not being able to truly clean all aspects of it and perhaps being able to amend some of the transitions. But why be picky, I would watch a show like that any day. It doesn't have to win to be great. Superb...you get 99.05!! 3. As for the BD argument, I felt their score should have been right where it was. They deserved to win and they were the best overall corps on the field this summer. Maybe the visual was not your cup of tea, but it wasn't easy, and man did they march the holy heck out of it. As Jeff mentioned, they set the bar high, give the members appropriate demand, and they achieve. I, personally, enjoyed their show, but I could understand why others didn't. I would not have argued with the judges had they scored a perfect 20 in visual. They were flat out amazing. 4. As for Crown. I loved their brass performance. It is tough to compare years, but that was one heck of a horn line. Deserved the top honor. Their show didn't excite me the way 2008 did, but I still found things to enjoy. They took 2nd largely because Holy Name couldn't quite clean the spots off of their show, but that's how it goes sometimes. 5. Back to the demand vs. design vs. performance issue: Generally speaking, the corps that wins combines the best balance of those 3 ingredients. They have design, demand, and great performance. It can't be all demand. Some folks may have watched SCV and thought, "hum...not much demand," but in reality that show was very demanding. Speed, volume, and range are not the only indicators of demand. Timing, tempo changes, types of movement, style, key, musical nuance, and more all add immeasurable amounts of demand to a show, providing they are added with taste and purpose. BD can sometimes show us what's in the left hand (chairs), but in the right hand we miss the true grit of their show that gains the points. We couldn't see it because the flashy elements hide the underpinning of show (execution). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 ...The interesting thing with the Cadets this past year was this: they had a great visual book, but as exciting as their music was at times, some of the connectedness of themes and ideas didn't always gel. Still, many kudos to Holy Name for, by and large, entertaining the heck out of most of us. It was a great show to watch, with tons of energy. In the end, what hurt them was not being able to truly clean all aspects of it and perhaps being able to amend some of the transitions. But why be picky, I would watch a show like that any day. It doesn't have to win to be great...5. Back to the demand vs. design vs. performance issue: Generally speaking, the corps that wins combines the best balance of those 3 ingredients. They have design, demand, and great performance. It can't be all demand. Some folks may have watched SCV and thought, "hum...not much demand," but in reality that show was very demanding. Speed, volume, and range are not the only indicators of demand. Timing, tempo changes, types of movement, style, key, musical nuance, and more all add immeasurable amounts of demand to a show, providing they are added with taste and purpose. BD can sometimes show us what's in the left hand (chairs), but in the right hand we miss the true grit of their show that gains the points. We couldn't see it because the flashy elements hide the underpinning of show (execution). You articulate something I felt but hadn't quite been able to express. What felt nearly manic about the Cadets show was partly the awkward connections (or lack thereof). I wonder had the source material not been so familiar would we have felt that way? Most of us know where Tonight is in relation to Boy Like That or Somewhere in West Side Story. To the extent the Cadets jumbled the narrative we know so well, they might have made the flow of their own narrative all the more difficult. Meanwhile BD flowed effortlessly through a rather amorphous design concept. We credit their expertise while wondering what this show is all about and what is it supposed to represent. 1930? To me it sums up the difference between the shows and the approaches. Cadets' design over-reached and the corps underperformed as a result. BD's design under-reached and the corps over-performed as a result. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 HH, I think if anything, it isn't that the Cadets tried to go out of the WS show order as we know it from stage or movie ( since there is a slight change from stage to film) I think it was some of the awkward cuts, or in the case of the ending, they tried to cram too many tunes in too fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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