Columbus Observations

[BTBeck1]

Americanos: the guard is definitely the leading section this year. I believe it was this corps where two saber soloists did a toss, one of them dropped and the tip went strait into the ground and stuck strait up. The performer attempted to recover, but it was the end of a movement so he just kinda went along with it by improvising a pose on the ground right next to the saber. The audience got a kick outa that and applauded him. However I was quite disappointed in the hornline. There was no real strong support in their sound.

Marion Glory: I ended up missing these guys. I was voted by my group to make a hot dog/drink run for everyone.

Capital Regiment: They have a pretty cool show this year. The hornline sounded pretty good at some parts of the show. The 16th note runs are certainly sounding better. The drill looks pretty dirty at some points, mainly because there are about 4 or 5 holes that need to be filled.

Southwind: I don?t particularly care for the show itself. But they are performing very well. Just like Capital, they have a few holes making the drill look very dirty.

Madison: A much better performance than the Harrison show. The drill is clean (for June) and the hornline sounds fantastic. I love how the Fleur de Lis randomly shows up during appropriate parts of the show. They also have some of the most difficult and entertaining drill I've seen this year. A note on the drill: There current drill writer was previously writing for Glassmen. My Glassmen buddies and I were very surprised that the drill style is completely different from the drill we marched.

Colts: VERY Impressive. I think they have a good chance at getting back into finals this year. The drill was fairly clean, with a recurring drill theme that is effective to the show. The hornline was LOUD! Although they had a few tuba holes, the lowbrass still had a very dark sound.

Phantom: I've seen the show 3 times already, and each time I get goose bumps. The opening melody that passes from section to section absolutely beautiful. My friend made an appropriate comment "Get that bathtub of chocolate, I'm ready for my bath" (If you don?t get that, watch the 95 video and check out Michael Cesario's Phantom commentary). There is no doubt it my mind that these guys will be in the top 4. I'm amazed how the hornline can be so loud, and still have great tone. Of course it helps that they have the largest hornline, 72 I think.

Glassmen: Much improved from Wednesday! After a productive rehearsal day yesterday, the show was noticeably cleaner. They also made a lot of changes to the fire movement. And for those of you who have been waiting for this, they make use of the uniform arms as a visual. They do a primal dance during the drum feature, moving their arms up and down to show the cream on one side and the black on the other. Personally though, I didn?t find it very effective. That part of the show has changed 3 times in the last week and will probably continue to do so until they figure out what works and what doesn?t.

Final thoughts: I thought the scores were WAY off. Glassmen dropped in score tonight and they were clearly better than Wednesday. I also expected Colts and Madison?s score to be higher. Of well, its still June, the judging is never all that consistent this time of year. There was about an hour delay of the show for some reason, things didn?t get going until 830 or so. Boooo to the show coordinators

Good luck to everyone in Louisville tonight!