Atlanta

[skywhopper]

[musicfan779]

Maybe so, but I think that we as audience members can at least judge General Effect categories. And I completely disagree with the judges' ordering of those captions. If we're talking about "General Effect", how can you reward a show that receives polite applause from the audience over one that literally pulls the entire crowd out of their seats on multiple occasions? If the rules are set up to do just that, then either the rules or the caption titles need to be changed.

I freely admit that I have no idea who should have won the percussion and brass captions in Atlanta (the dome makes things too muddy to really know who is playing cleanly), but I have a very strong impression of which brass timbres were most appealing and which ones weren't. Surely that has to be at least a factor in determining scores.

I get your point, but I don't think the fans--especially those who have marched somewhere at some time--are completely clueless when it comes to "judging".

Letting the audience have any say in GE shouldn't happen. Many in this thread talk about how scores are important and fans can easily manipulate the outcome of a show based on how they respond to each corps. I volunteered with The Academy this year and drove an equipment truck from Page, AZ to Minneapolis. I was able to see 6 or 7 shows and Academy received standing o's from many crowds. OK, WI, and MN audiences stood in appreciation of The Academy's effort to achieve - not because they were the best show. Academy received golf claps in TX but many of the competing corps hail from TX. Come on guys, we're as opinionated and judgmental as the judges and leaving a portion of the score up to us may not be the most accurate way of scoring GE - IMO