How will announced changes effect the corps?

[corpsband]

As far as Bluecoats -yes. although they always seem to peak early. yes I know they had a great year BUT.......what if ?

the Cadets have been stale for a few ( besides WSS )

Toy soldier ,Pusuit of happiness , This I believe ,looking glass II , The Zone , Tull , Favorite things .

Crown has peaked . A second chance led to a 4th place finish. Not the crowd favorite it once was.

Blue Stars 8th 3 years in a row. not bad , not great. a good place to be.

Spirit looses drum staff

Boston looses brass and percussion syaff

Phantom looses visual and percussion staff.

complacency will always lead to stagnation.In some cases this is a good thing. In some its not.

Didn't they win fan favorite (again) ?

[DrillmanSop06]

The last time Jason Buckingham was a caption head, he put his corps in Finals. Don't count Bones out.

[Barifonium]

Didn't they win fan favorite (again) ?

Nope. I think that crown (pun kind of intended) went to Madison Scouts. At least that's the impression I'm getting.

[3rd Glasgow BB]

1000 years ago we all assumed the earth was the centre of the universe.

500 years ago we all assumed the earth was flat.

2 years ago at the start of finals week we all assumed BD were going to win on the Saturday night.

2 days ago we all assumed the hiring of Shane Gwaltney as percussion arranger and caption head was a bad idea.

Lets face it, as a race we quite often suck at predictions.

[roosevelt]

The last time Jason Buckingham was a caption head, he put his corps in Finals. Don't count Bones out.

Yeah, but he was also fired after that season too. He took over at the colts in 2006 when they were coming off a year where they finished 13th and finished 13th in 2006 too. It was in the 2007 where they made it into finals. So, this is a little bigger climb.

Also, he was at Troopers before that where they finished out of semis every year he was there. I don't think he ever got them in the top 20 in horns and he was let go from there too.

[actucker]

I disagree. He has done good work with a number of different groups (DCI and WGI). Paul Rennick wasn't winning drums before he got to Phantom and if my memory serves wasn't anywhere close to winning drums either. Also, who else (that's on the market) would have been better?

Before Rennick came to Phantom, he was working with Crown, which at the time was nowhere near the top 6. It's almost impossible to win the Sanford if the corps isn't finishing in the upper half of the finals standings. Despite that, Crown was finishing pretty reliably in the top 5 in percussion, cracking the top 3 once or twice despite the corps humble placement. Then you have to think about the consistently nasty line at UNT where Rennick has taught for a very long time. I don't know anything about the guy Phantom hired, but it would be pretty difficult for him to be as good as Rennick.

That said, it makes me sad that Rennick is headed to SCV. While SCV has its ups and downs, they've always had a certain point of view and approach to drumming that I've always admired. That will no longer be the case now. While its possible that the percussion section will now reliably place better, I will miss the musical risks they took in their approach to the drum. The technique that they achieved under Murray and others was the most applicable of any of the top percussion sections to other real world situations. A lot of people will talk about how it won't be the same watching them play on Dynasty drums, without a tilt, and that they won't play stick control, basic strokes, double beat, martian mambo anymore. But the real loss is the approach to playing. SCV will never be the same.

So, in regards to Phantom, I think they've probably taken a step back. While I don't know much about their new guy, Rennick is a tough guy to replace from a consistency and results point of view. SCV will probably place better, but it will still make a lot of drummers like myself very sad.

[roosevelt]

Before Rennick came to Phantom, he was working with Crown, which at the time was nowhere near the top 6. It's almost impossible to win the Sanford if the corps isn't finishing in the upper half of the finals standings. Despite that, Crown was finishing pretty reliably in the top 5 in percussion, cracking the top 3 once or twice despite the corps humble placement. Then you have to think about the consistently nasty line at UNT where Rennick has taught for a very long time. I don't know anything about the guy Phantom hired, but it would be pretty difficult for him to be as good as Rennick.

That said, it makes me sad that Rennick is headed to SCV. While SCV has its ups and downs, they've always had a certain point of view and approach to drumming that I've always admired. That will no longer be the case now. While its possible that the percussion section will now reliably place better, I will miss the musical risks they took in their approach to the drum. The technique that they achieved under Murray and others was the most applicable of any of the top percussion sections to other real world situations. A lot of people will talk about how it won't be the same watching them play on Dynasty drums, without a tilt, and that they won't play stick control, basic strokes, double beat, martian mambo anymore. But the real loss is the approach to playing. SCV will never be the same.

So, in regards to Phantom, I think they've probably taken a step back. While I don't know much about their new guy, Rennick is a tough guy to replace from a consistency and results point of view. SCV will probably place better, but it will still make a lot of drummers like myself very sad.

Really? What years was crown in the top 3 in percussion? Reliably in the top 5? Are you sure about that> What years were they in the top 5 in drums when Rennick was there?

Also, Phantom was nowhere near the top 6? Really? The only time that I remember them being far from the top six was in 2009 and they were only 3 spots out and that was a year that Rennick was there!

WIth that being said, Rennick has done incredible things at Phantom and his indoor lines were nasty good at UNT (and still are), but this other guy has had his fair share of success too in the indoor arena. Will it likely be a bit of a step back? I bet it will. Right now, Rennick is arguably the best percussion guy out there, BUT I still think that they (phantom) will still be quite good in the percussion department even though Rennick is gone and most of the people in the line will likely follow him to SCV.

As far as SCV goes, I agree about loss in the approach to playing. I think SCV made a great hire with Rennick, but I will miss seeing Vanguard drum the way that they did. I am glad that we will see that old skool approach at Academy though.

[chris ncsu]

Cadets gaining Bruno Zuccala in a more permanent role as visual coordinator should be a good catch for them.

[BRASSO]

Lets face it, as a race we quite often suck at predictions.

I predict a new prediction thread coming on DCP within a few days. I'm hoping my prediction with this doesn't suck. (But no predictions on that from me )

[DrillmanSop06]

Yeah, but he was also fired after that season too. He took over at the colts in 2006 when they were coming off a year where they finished 13th and finished 13th in 2006 too. It was in the 2007 where they made it into finals. So, this is a little bigger climb.

Also, he was at Troopers before that where they finished out of semis every year he was there. I don't think he ever got them in the top 20 in horns and he was let go from there too.

Jason leaving Colts was a HUGE detriment to the hornline and it showed the following seasons.

But you have a good point; there was more momentum and more drive. Even still, 13th to 10th in a year is somewhat of a decent leap.