A Travesty Called Lawrence

[Swine]

Face it: BD has the judges right in their corner. Look at their Finals recaps from 2007-2010. It's not very interesting for the paying public to watch, but apparently, they follow the judging sheets to the letter. How many counts DOES it take for us to smell out their next block? Their next park-n-play? They're doing the same stuff from 2007. It's visually predictable and so uninteresting, but the ones who count (and tabulate)love it. These corps that want to win need to lower themselves to this kind of visual. Thankfully, Phantom vets judged drums in 2008 or we'd be looking at a 5-peat. No offense to anybody in BD or even the judges. I grew up in DCI watching the Cavies and Cadets when they were the at the forefront of visual design and had to travel from CA to see them live. It was magnificent to watch. Crowds ate it up. BD's programs are very predictable.

BD will win DCI again because of that 30 points of visual. They aren't wowing the GE and brass judges for a change, but they'll probably get those numbers finals night (even if Q's and Semis don't add up that way). This whole "activity" has become predictable. When the $$$ stops coming in, will they THEN reevaluate what makes a show LOOK appealing? Cavies/Cadets look MUCH more interesting, but that doesn't matter. Cadets are full of effect and entertainment this year, but they don't march in the BD style, so they won't win. And nobody claps for BD's marching. It's only because they are very loud and in tune. I can't figure out why Crown hasn't copied BD's visual style. They're wasting trophies by not doing so. They are the only corps of late to beat BD in brass... I would think THAT would be the hardest task. Now write a BD drill, and win DCI! How hard is that?

Edited August 6, 2011 by Swine

[CloudHype]

Now write a BD drill, and win DCI! How hard is that?

Harder then you realize because it is not traditional drill, it is more like staging a winterguard but on a football field. They have their own look and style with this "stagging" style they do and it works BUT the problem is, the average drum corps fan or marcher has no clue on how difficult it actually is and how big of a feat it is to design.

You see, it's not the "Drill" caption, it's the visual caption and when it comes to the members vocabulary and variety of demand, Blue Devils have more of it. We tend to ONLY look at demand in terms of velocity, that's not the case. Visual is not also sheer demand, SCV wins that because the drill is nearly impossible at times. Variety and refinement of that variety is what separates Blue Devils from the pack these past few years.

That said, Go Cadets!

Edited August 6, 2011 by CloudHype

[Swine]

"Variety?" Really? I'm not talking about velocity. BD's "staging" (whatever the hell license THAT is) isn't interesting. Nor is their battery placement. Even their color guard isn't as entertaining as some (check out the mid 80's Spirit guards for entertainment value as well as amazing talent).

Edited August 6, 2011 by Swine

[Grumpy]

I would just like to give props to the four corps who appeared at the contest in exhibition, since the OP didn't include them in his/her review...Defenders Alumni Corps from Plymouth County, MA...Muchachos from Manchester, NH...Mass Brass mini-corps from Boston, MA and the Crusaders Sr. Drum & Bugle Corps from Boston, MA. Thanks to all four for very entertaining programs.

[CloudHype]

"Variety?" Really? I'm not talking about velocity. BD's "staging" (whatever the hell license THAT is) isn't interesting. Nor is their battery placement. Even their color guard isn't as entertaining as some (check out the mid 80's Spirit guards for entertainment value as well as amazing talent).

I think their battery placement is brilliant and use of the guard to bring focus to them was fantastic during the feature. As far as the rest, it's obvious I'm talking to a troll or a person who can only enjoy a drum corps show only if who he wants to win.. wins.

[emc2]

Face it: BD has the judges right in their corner. Look at their Finals recaps from 2007-2010. It's not very interesting for the paying public to watch, but apparently, they follow the judging sheets to the letter. How many counts DOES it take for us to smell out their next block? Their next park-n-play? They're doing the same stuff from 2007. It's visually predictable and so uninteresting, but the ones who count (and tabulate)love it. These corps that want to win need to lower themselves to this kind of visual. Thankfully, Phantom vets judged drums in 2008 or we'd be looking at a 5-peat. No offense to anybody in BD or even the judges. I grew up in DCI watching the Cavies and Cadets when they were the at the forefront of visual design and had to travel from CA to see them live. It was magnificent to watch. Crowds ate it up. BD's programs are very predictable.

BD will win DCI again because of that 30 points of visual. They aren't wowing the GE and brass judges for a change, but they'll probably get those numbers finals night (even if Q's and Semis don't add up that way). This whole "activity" has become predictable. When the $$ stops coming in, will they THEN reevaluate what makes a show LOOK appealing? Cavies/Cadets look MUCH more interesting, but that doesn't matter. Cadets are full of effect and entertainment this year, but they don't march in the BD style, so they won't win. And nobody claps for BD's marching. It's only because they are very loud and in tune. I can't figure out why Crown hasn't copied BD's visual style. They're wasting trophies by not doing so. They are the only corps of late to beat BD in brass... I would think THAT would be the hardest task. Now write a BD drill, and win DCI! How hard is that?

Some one from the east will win . Go back and watch east coast classic on youtube. IMO Cadets BD and boston are closer than people think.

[saxfreq1128]

Just got in from Lawrence and still can’t believe the results tonight! IMHO, there were two travesties of justice in Lawrence tonight.

I’ll start with the local corps – the 2011 Boston Crusaders are arguably their best corps since Red, and in some ways, even better than both 2000 and 2002. This corps really performs and makes a great production out of the combination of Les Miz and 1812. I really appreciate some of the countermelodies that pop up regularly throughout. The color guard is also really selling this show. They are so brave to use those flame flags right from the start – very exposed and extremely well done. And the drill is really well conceived and executed at a higher level than SCV (tonight, at least). And horns were superb (a real fifth to seventh place corps level playing). Even the netting wasn’t as bad as in early summer – and the lights they added inside the mesh is starting to give it a more interesting effect. And I cannot stop praising their baritone soloist!!! Such control while playing a very exposed piece that requires a soft touch and lots of caressing the note – and he nails it every time! Good luck Boston, you were the better corps tonight.

Now I absolutely loved SCV’s show last year and tend to be a consistent fan, but this year is just not doing it for me. First is that the concept is not coming through – if I hadn’t watched them on every Fan Network stream and not heard the announcer say the name of the show, I would have no idea what the story was supposed to be. I read others say the same thing but the black outfits on the guard confused me – where does black come in with the devil? Isn’t his favorite color red? And why do they keep holding hands and then trapping or chasing or dancing with horn players? There just feels like no reason for much of what happens in the show, it’s just a hodge-podge of ideas. And (again, IMHO) I wasn’t prepared for the quality of most of their horn line’s job tonight. There are just too many places where the main note in a chord is overshadowed by some other voice, or the melody gets lost while some harmony sticks out. The sound was somewhat weak while marching but settled in and gave a few powerful and well balanced loud chords when stationary. Guard was very good but hard to see a lot with the black outfits and some of their flags aren’t that inspiring. Sorry, but I don’t hold this up to the creativity and execution of the Bartok or Ballet for Martha .

The other travesty was DB beating The Cadets. I’m sorry, but there is a noticeable difference in the entire character, design, flow, spectacle and throw babies feeling of The Cadets' versus BD’s shows this year. The Cadets are back to doing what they do so well, and that’s portray a simple concept through a number of different characterizations that connects together as a story that is a roller coaster ride through this battle. The guard is doing a wonderful job at making you feel they are the characters they portray. There is one section to look out for that is about the most beautiful flag feature I have ever seen – it’s when the angels come down from the back left corner when they start Amazing Grace. They are dancing wonderfully while doing single hand tosses and catching it with the other single hand followed by a beautiful move where the flag is draped downward close to the body in such a way as it becomes a dance partner for a few turns. The flags are gorgeous and appropriate throughout. And the horn book and drill throughout are just so wonderfully written and expertly executed. Demand, schlamand! I’ve found that the corps that gets the most respect from me for their titles have been those that challenged themselves to do what others would think impossible. This show (and Cavies and Crowns from what I’ve seen) all have shows that seem more at the same grade level, for lack of a better way to describe it. It’s like when I did vocal individual and ensemble way back, and I did one of the bass aria’s from Handle’s Messiah because it had the highest possible grade value (because it was considerably more difficult/demanding than the art song of one grade lower that I sang the year before). So to close off with The Cadets, they received three spontaneous and enthusiastic standing ovations from the crowd that was up on its feet applauding so loud that you could not hear the final chord of the show! They won the crowd several times over. Oh, sorry but one more thing – the fight scene with the metal poles is unbelievable in person, under the lights. Was it Phantom that did a bare pole thing years back that had a great strobe-like effect? This takes that idea and magnifies it tenfold. The guard expertly handled their poles while transforming them from single length poles, then into double length poles (I assume it telescopes out somehow), and then they break the poles in half and dance and spin (while flying across the field) and spinning one pole while doing single hand tosses with the pole in the other hand – why aren’t they winning guard again?

Sorry, but I have felt that ever since Pasadena and the return of the butterflies that BD has been allowed to get away with doing shows that are not a challenge for their talents. I hate it when you see that young group that is struggling to perform some complex concept that is way above their heads – it’s not fair to the kids. But I’m equally dismayed when a corps that has had some of the best talent these past few years decides to put out shows that are below their abilities. Again, I say that the corps that pushes themselves beyond the limit of what a human can do will win my respect. Put some octane in this drill, get rid of the crutches called props, play something impressive while offering a visually impressive (demanding) drill move that gives me something to throw babies about. I was hoping it would be as others have said, and I would have understood and liked it more live than on Fan Network. Ended up that I understood it less and did not feel it was any more appropriate for the talent level of this corps than I did via the stream. (By the way, what does a house have to do with any of their drill or guard work or the show title – The Beat My Heart Skipped? Where does that come in??) Way too many times the corps stops to play the difficult stuff and way too often that the guard is doing nothing but dancing (although expertly done) and then setting up in a simple formation and doing the hardest equipment work standing in one spot. The density of the horn book is fabulous as always, but the trumpets are getting away with some shrill tones (and even some intonation issues here and there) that should be affecting their horn scores but don’t seem to be. And I was stunned that the drill was not as squeaky clean as others have made it sound. Maybe it’s just that the season is almost to its end and everyone is better. But I saw a number of spacing issues and crooked lines that I did not expect. Their drill writing of the past few years has frequently used four or five different moves going on at the same time. You can only concentrate on one or two at the most. If you, or the judges, are not looking at the right rotating box or sweeping arc or follow-the-leader lines at the right time, you’ll miss the imperfections. So let me end by saying that I think, once again, BD has put out one of the most talented corps there is, unfortunately, they gave them yet another show that doesn’t challenge them.

It’s just how I saw it.

Thanks for this.

Only response is that I think you might be misjudging color guard difficulty.

[saxfreq1128]

"Variety?" Really? I'm not talking about velocity. BD's "staging" (whatever the hell license THAT is) isn't interesting. Nor is their battery placement. Even their color guard isn't as entertaining as some (check out the mid 80's Spirit guards for entertainment value as well as amazing talent).

I don't know, probably the reason the judges think Bd's staging is interesting is that they guide your eye across the field pretty masterfully. No one besides the Cavaliers have mastered the focal point like BD. Props, as BD uses them, mean that the visual stage is always changing. It's pretty hard to pull off show designs like these.

That doesn't mean you have to like it, though -- obviously. But I always find it useful to at least try to figure out why the judges respond in certain ways to things.

[CloudHype]

I don't know, probably the reason the judges think Bd's staging is interesting is that they guide your eye across the field pretty masterfully. No one besides the Cavaliers have mastered the focal point like BD. Props, as BD uses them, mean that the visual stage is always changing. It's pretty hard to pull off show designs like these.

That doesn't mean you have to like it, though -- obviously. But I always find it useful to at least try to figure out why the judges respond in certain ways to things.

Bingo!

[emc2]

Bingo!

Interesting comment and you think Boston dose not do this.