Open Class Discussion...Thoughts on all Corps

[cccgmom2009]

Just wanted to get others thoughts on the Open Class Corps that are out and performing. I have only seen four of them and must admit I am a tad partial to Colt Cadets. It was nice to see Blue Saints n Michigan City, small corps and didn't really understand the four guard members with the honor guard who did not move. Legends look good, but heard that isn't their complete show... Racine is small once again but nice to see more snares, last year they had one. These kids work just as hard, if not harder(Colt Cadets practice T,W,Th, and Sa), for all they do and seems they get lost in all the talk from the World Class, let's make these kid proud and show them the respect they desrve for all of their hard work. Good luck to all the corps and can't wait to see them at semis, quarters, and finals.

[ItsOnTheField]

Just wanted to get others thoughts on the Open Class Corps that are out and performing. I have only seen four of them and must admit I am a tad partial to Colt Cadets. It was nice to see Blue Saints n Michigan City, small corps and didn't really understand the four guard members with the honor guard who did not move. Legends look good, but heard that isn't their complete show... Racine is small once again but nice to see more snares, last year they had one. These kids work just as hard, if not harder(Colt Cadets practice T,W,Th, and Sa), for all they do and seems they get lost in all the talk from the World Class, let's make these kid proud and show them the respect they desrve for all of their hard work. Good luck to all the corps and can't wait to see them at semis, quarters, and finals.

It's interesting that when the G7 announcement came out, several people seemed to be upset about the future of drum corps and Open Class. Now that the season has started, we are back to the status quo with the focus on the "top" groups again.

Anyway...very good to see Blue Saints still up and running. I wonder if the honor guard was present to give them the numbers they need to be a full DCI member OC corps.

Looks like Legends had a decent start, but very incomplete right now. I'm sure they will be great by the time we get closer to the end of the season. I'm always a fan of the Colt Cadets (who isnt? lol), but expect many OC corps to pass them up as the season progresses.

[pete]

I was at the Drums Along the Columbia show tonight and here's what I saw regarding Spokane Thunder, Oregon Crusaders and Vanguard Cadets.

Thunder: Small corps with only 15 horns, but it's great to see them back after a one year hiatus. The little corps that could... They were very good in 2008 placing 7th at finals with a score of 91.025. This year they are off to a decent start with plenty of room to improve. The drums sounded impressive for being together for only a short time but they still need a bit of work. Also, their bottom bass had to fly home and he was replaced today (7/5/10) by a new player so good luck to him. The 15 horns (compared to the 18 of 2008) can play loud, but it isn't balanced yet. The guard is small as well (6 members) but at least 3 are multi-year vets so thats a plus for them. They got a low 61.9 which is up from a few nights ago and beat Oregon in music effect.

Crusaders: Another year, another show. These guys consistently crank out good, conservative shows. I am not the biggest OC fan mainly because I think that they can pull off some harder things in their shows, but I was impressed at how the show sounded tonight. I didn't care for the use of the synthesizer (or any of the synthesizer use in DCI right now) but it worked for their theme. The bass line was incredible! It's good to see OC with a good bass line again (remembering the great line of '06). One big thing for me though was their show length. I know on July 3 in Hillsboro, OR they didn't have their full show on the field and tonight I couldn't tell if it was a complete show or not. It's July, and I know that it's early for some of the corps that started late, but a full show is a must (at least for me). Other than the bass line, none of the sections really impressed me all that much. However, the brass was sounding pretty loud! :) Oregon's score dropped 2 points from their last show getting a 69.2.

SCVC: Cool show! I really liked the show theme here and the writing of the show. It's interesting to see how Casey Brohard (ex-Blue Devil) works with the percussion and how his Blue Devils experience translates into the notes being played, but he's doing a great job cause they sounded good! From their lot, I wasn't overly impressed, but I didn't get to stay that long. With that said, they put it down on the field. The brass really brought it tonight showing how great they can be. While their score didn't rise from 2 days ago, it didn't drop either (which can't be said about all the corps here tonight - troopers, cascades, oc all dropped). Their 75.4 gave them first in Open class tonight.