Cerritos Review

[saugusbandgeek]

Scores

http://www.dci.org/scores/index.cfm?event_...59-0d282455d9a6

Okay well here's just a quick review of from memory and some notes.

Blue Devils B- They looked okay at first, but once they started playing they were struggling a lot. Their drill was not incredibly difficult and neither was the music but they definitely weren't very ready for it. I think that Impulse should have beat them by quite a bit, but what would I know?

Vanguard Cadets- Visually stronger than Blue Devils B in design, technique, confidence, and form control. They were stronger musically as well, but their balance needs some major work.

Esperanza- Wow first goosebumps of the night. They went above and beyond anything I would have expected from them. First off they were way way way better than Vanguard Cadets and BD B. They were much louder, their music was harder, they played it better. The drill utilized the entire field, had much more complicated moves, and integrated the colorguard much more than the previous shows. I actually found myself watching, and enjoying their colorguard as well.

SD Alliance- Okay so they marched on the field and everybody (including me) were wondering if they just had a lot of people missing. One soprano, one contra, 4 other horns, 4 snares, 2 tenors, 4 bass drums, and 7 pit. Somehow the staff managed to teach the drumline not to smash and crash and play louder than the winds. That amazed me. I also enjoyed watching them march, you can't do much with so few people, but they did have really good technique, it was consistent in the hornline (I wasn't paying attention to the drumline) and was IMO better than BD B.

Impulse- Okay well their guard needs to do some cleaning, and maybe write some new work. With that out of the way I'll say that I enjoyed the show, felt like they played and marched with much more power and confidence than BD B and Vanguard Cadets, and had a better balance. The only exception is towards the end of the show the balance started to get messy. I definitely feel like they should have scored higher than they did, but I guess I'm wrong.

Okay SoCal dream was not terribly impressive. The tempos were pretty slow, the balance was bad, the marching was dirty (the technique was decent) ummmmmm hate to sound so negative, but I'm not going to sugar coat everything. Yeah they scored weher I thought they would.

Pacific Crest- They use these silver box things in their show. They were really cool, but eventually I was hoping they would just throw them on the side line and get back to the show. Other than that I really enjoyed the show, and was glad to see that they are off to a great start for their first year of full touring. I really thought they were going to place high in the show.

Mandarins- So they came out and we were all like ummmmmm why are they going division I? They are not full size by any means. They are small. However, I'm a believer in quality over quantity and I saw the quality in their show. It was very impressive, not as loud as PC (or any of the other Div. I corps, but I didn't know that when I saw them), but visually I liked the design more and I think they were much cleaner than PC. Musically they played well and had very good balance. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed them and would have been surprised, but not upset, if they beat PC because they really are good especially for what they have.

Blue Knights- I was really excited to get to see them because it's not an opportunity I'll get at every SoCal competition. Okay so yeah, they were really good too. Visual was a weak spot, they definitely have a lot of dirt in their show, but it's a great design, it's challenging, but they should be able to clean it up very well by the end of the season. I wouldn't count them out of finals they are very impressive. Musically their show was very emotional, they had the largest dynamic range of the night. It was just loud soft loud soft, they had the in betweens too. Just as a side note, their cologuard uniforms have issues. Yeah ummmm when you airbrush spandex and then stretch it out the original color shows through. So when a bulge, maybe around the crotch region on a guy, is present it stretches the spandex, white shows through the blue airbrush and it's like someones shining a spotlight on the guys' crotches.

Santa Clara Vanguard- Wow, they have a lot of work to do. They were very dirty visually. Very dirty. I mean they were marching 8to5 and a guy was an entire step out of line. The rotating lines tended to be curved for the rotation, and straight when they hit, I doubt it was written that way. Musically it was strong, but kinda repetitive in the opener. The colorguard was pretty good, but I was overly impressed. I thought the Blue Knights would finish closer than they did.

Blue Devils- Wow (this is a good Wow), I'm not a Blue Devils fan, but I might become one. Their show (The Phenomenon of Cool) was by far the coolest. They were confident, maybe even arrogant, and they were fun to watch. Visually they were much cleaner than Vanguard. Musically they outplayed everybody, I mean they were on another level from everybody else. If somebody drops out of the top 4 it's not going to be the Blue Devils. Yeah they were the most impressive show of the night.

Okay so that's my first review. Just a few more quick things.

Favorite Show: Esperanza, they just amazed me with how sophisticated they are compared to the other Div II corps.

Loudest Show: Either PC or BD, they were both pretty darn loud.

Biggest upset in Scores: Impulse, sorry, but they were better than BD B

Biggest Mess up in the show: Esperanza had an awesome show, the audience loved it, the judges loved it, I only wrote down one flaw. The uniforms zip up the back like a lot of uniforms, and the drum major on the front podium had his unzipped. To top it off the black shirt he was wearin had a huge logo on the back. So the whole time there was a distraction there.

[BDev85]

Awesome review......thanks

[GMichael1230]

Very nice review. GO BD !!

~G~

[Laubster]

Thanks saugus, I agree with the observation about the boxes in PC's show they nedd to lose them after about the 1st half of the show the stack of them on the sidelines during the last part of the show is very distracting. Use em or lose em. PC"s problem this year as in past years is going to be feet. They march like a high school band they dont have a glide to their movements and this only comes with time and practice i saw a lot of people out of step last night and that is not acceptable in a Div 1 corps, hopefully this can be remedied, also they are lacking in the bottom of their horn sound they were loud at times but unbalanced which left sound holes within the ensemble. There is more to the than what you hear with your ears it's something that you can feel that is the difference between the SCV's, BD's and other top corps. This just comes with time and hard work. A top 12 corps? probably not this year mid teens is were I think they are going to find themselves.

As for Impulse I was very disappointed inthis corps I thought they were going to come back after last years Lucy fiasco Iwas at many of the early rehearsals in sept and october and they were getting some quality kids to come out and play but it is not showing up on the field right now. Drill is written to be friendly to a mid size and weak sounding hornline and I think this will hurt them in the long run. I don't remember them venturing beyond the 35's or farther back than the middle of the field. They are going to need to work really hard just to best last years finish.

[saugusbandgeek]

Pacific Crest- They use these silver box things in their show. They were really cool, but eventually I was hoping they would just throw them on the side line and get back to the show. Other than that I really enjoyed the show, and was glad to see that they are off to a great start for their first year of full touring. I really thought they were going to place high in the show.

Yeah I should add that I thought they were going to place high, and then I saw the other people. I definitely thought they were pretty dirty compared to the rest. I was actually hoping that Mandarins would beat them, but they just didn't have that big sound that the rest had. I have to agree that their marching wasn't as good as other people either. So yeah after seeing everyone else and comparing, I was less impressed by PC.

I'd say that when they go to Orlando, they won't be fighting for a finalist position unless they really clean up the show. They're going to have to work hard to place decently in Semi-Finals, and I wouldn't be surprised if some Div II corps beat them.

[surfrose]

By the way, the problem with the DM's uniform in Esperanza wasn't that he had it unzipped. The zipper actually broke when he bent over, so it wasn't really his fault.

[Azuldiablo]

We call him the Hulk Major.

[lil paradiddle]

"Biggest upset in Scores: Impulse, sorry, but they were better than BD B"

wow, you dont know how much that means to me. i wish all of the other members could see these awesome reviews. Thanx for your support, we're all working so incredibly hard. This being my second year, this year has about 300 % more comitment and focus. You can bet we'll be doing well this summer. thanx again

[contrasteve2001]

Scores

http://www.dci.org/scores/index.cfm?event_...59-0d282455d9a6

Okay well here's just a quick review of from memory and some notes.

Blue Devils B- They looked okay at first, but once they started playing they were struggling a lot. Their drill was not incredibly difficult and neither was the music but they definitely weren't very ready for it. I think that Impulse should have beat them by quite a bit, but what would I know?

Vanguard Cadets- Visually stronger than Blue Devils B in design, technique, confidence, and form control. They were stronger musically as well, but their balance needs some major work.

Esperanza- Wow first goosebumps of the night. They went above and beyond anything I would have expected from them. First off they were way way way better than Vanguard Cadets and BD B. They were much louder, their music was harder, they played it better. The drill utilized the entire field, had much more complicated moves, and integrated the colorguard much more than the previous shows. I actually found myself watching, and enjoying their colorguard as well.

SD Alliance- Okay so they marched on the field and everybody (including me) were wondering if they just had a lot of people missing. One soprano, one contra, 4 other horns, 4 snares, 2 tenors, 4 bass drums, and 7 pit. Somehow the staff managed to teach the drumline not to smash and crash and play louder than the winds. That amazed me. I also enjoyed watching them march, you can't do much with so few people, but they did have really good technique, it was consistent in the hornline (I wasn't paying attention to the drumline) and was IMO better than BD B.

Impulse- Okay well their guard needs to do some cleaning, and maybe write some new work. With that out of the way I'll say that I enjoyed the show, felt like they played and marched with much more power and confidence than BD B and Vanguard Cadets, and had a better balance. The only exception is towards the end of the show the balance started to get messy. I definitely feel like they should have scored higher than they did, but I guess I'm wrong.

Okay SoCal dream was not terribly impressive. The tempos were pretty slow, the balance was bad, the marching was dirty (the technique was decent) ummmmmm hate to sound so negative, but I'm not going to sugar coat everything. Yeah they scored weher I thought they would.

Pacific Crest- They use these silver box things in their show. They were really cool, but eventually I was hoping they would just throw them on the side line and get back to the show. Other than that I really enjoyed the show, and was glad to see that they are off to a great start for their first year of full touring. I really thought they were going to place high in the show.

Mandarins- So they came out and we were all like ummmmmm why are they going division I? They are not full size by any means. They are small. However, I'm a believer in quality over quantity and I saw the quality in their show. It was very impressive, not as loud as PC (or any of the other Div. I corps, but I didn't know that when I saw them), but visually I liked the design more and I think they were much cleaner than PC. Musically they played well and had very good balance. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed them and would have been surprised, but not upset, if they beat PC because they really are good especially for what they have.

Blue Knights- I was really excited to get to see them because it's not an opportunity I'll get at every SoCal competition. Okay so yeah, they were really good too. Visual was a weak spot, they definitely have a lot of dirt in their show, but it's a great design, it's challenging, but they should be able to clean it up very well by the end of the season. I wouldn't count them out of finals they are very impressive. Musically their show was very emotional, they had the largest dynamic range of the night. It was just loud soft loud soft, they had the in betweens too. Just as a side note, their cologuard uniforms have issues. Yeah ummmm when you airbrush spandex and then stretch it out the original color shows through. So when a bulge, maybe around the crotch region on a guy, is present it stretches the spandex, white shows through the blue airbrush and it's like someones shining a spotlight on the guys' crotches.

Santa Clara Vanguard- Wow, they have a lot of work to do. They were very dirty visually. Very dirty. I mean they were marching 8to5 and a guy was an entire step out of line. The rotating lines tended to be curved for the rotation, and straight when they hit, I doubt it was written that way. Musically it was strong, but kinda repetitive in the opener. The colorguard was pretty good, but I was overly impressed. I thought the Blue Knights would finish closer than they did.

Blue Devils- Wow (this is a good Wow), I'm not a Blue Devils fan, but I might become one. Their show (The Phenomenon of Cool) was by far the coolest. They were confident, maybe even arrogant, and they were fun to watch. Visually they were much cleaner than Vanguard. Musically they outplayed everybody, I mean they were on another level from everybody else. If somebody drops out of the top 4 it's not going to be the Blue Devils. Yeah they were the most impressive show of the night.

Okay so that's my first review. Just a few more quick things.

Favorite Show: Esperanza, they just amazed me with how sophisticated they are compared to the other Div II corps.

Loudest Show: Either PC or BD, they were both pretty darn loud.

Biggest upset in Scores: Impulse, sorry, but they were better than BD B

Biggest Mess up in the show: Esperanza had an awesome show, the audience loved it, the judges loved it, I only wrote down one flaw. The uniforms zip up the back like a lot of uniforms, and the drum major on the front podium had his unzipped. To top it off the black shirt he was wearin had a huge logo on the back. So the whole time there was a distraction there.

feel free to catch our Glendora show . birth is ugly! ^0^

[FYWW]

feel free to catch our Glendora show . birth is ugly! ^0^

Steve, Dream isn't bad, dude. You know we don't have a high vantage point to see the drill from. Which was why it surprised me even more when I finally got to see the show from the press box of Cerritos College and thought WOW, I can actually recognize the forms they are trying to make! lol

Actually, you guys have done a great job and worked pretty hard the whole weekend. Just think if the corps had worked that hard since November, how good they would be now? Scary. Lets think about that for 2004.