cheeselad Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I attended DCI Northern Virginia yesterday and was confused on how visual GE is judged. I'll use BK as my example, I understand how they have musical GE, but how does a show like that attain a higher Visual GE score than Blue Stars? I didn't see any sets that made me think of an English Folk Song suite. Can some please explain to a first time poster a little on how visual GE is scored? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Corps Nation Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 As I have not seen BK live yet, I can't really say what the judges were thinking in scoring them higher than Blue Stars. However, visual GE (from listening to tapes) has a lot to do with Ensemble and Individual cleanliness, and has less to do with coordinating drill to the "theme" than it does to coordinating it to the actual music being played. It also has a lot to do with the coordination of colorguard work to the music being played. Essentially, does the drill, marching, body, colorguard work enhance the effectiveness of the music, the emotions being portrayed, etc...? If yes, then that's good visual GE. Also, staging of brass/percussion is a factor (are the members being put in good places based on their music?) and things like velocity, drill based effect ("wow, cool drill move!") and stuff like that. In short, a corps doesn't have to make something recognizably english to create good GE for an english show, there are more subtle ways to do that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralTsoChicken Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Could it be because Blue Stars have a giant scaffolding that effectively cuts the field into two pieces and they don't utilize half the field very well, at all? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Corps Nation Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Could it be because Blue Stars have a giant scaffolding that effectively cuts the field into two pieces and they don't utilize half the field very well, at all? It's very possible that Blue Stars are taking flak from judges for not using the whole field, although, seeing as how those scaffoldings have been in the exact same place since early season, they probably aren't getting negative feedback about it or they would have moved them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralTsoChicken Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 (edited) It's very possible that Blue Stars are taking flak from judges for not using the whole field, although, seeing as how those scaffoldings have been in the exact same place since early season, they probably aren't getting negative feedback about it or they would have moved them. I think you are giving anyone (even corps staffs) ability to take constructive criticism, way too much credit. Edited August 6, 2011 by GeneralTsoChicken 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Corps Nation Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I think you are giving anyone (even corps staffs) ability to take constructive criticism, way too much credit. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I know the people who teach at Blue Stars and design their show personally, and they are NOT above such criticism, nor are they idiots. They do what they think is best for their students and are constantly trying to give them the best summer possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Corps Nation Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I think you are giving anyone (even corps staffs) ability to take constructive criticism, way too much credit. Also, (again speaking from experience teaching in the activity) a lot of the time GE judges will consistently give corps conflicting advice from night to night... so it's difficult for a corps to make a drastic change to a show when half the judges are saying to leave it the same and half are saying to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralTsoChicken Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 (edited) I'm sorry you feel that way, but I know the people who teach at Blue Stars and design their show personally, and they are NOT above such criticism, nor are they idiots. They do what they think is best for their students and are constantly trying to give them the best summer possible. I would think that since several were on the ground floor from the Tarpon Springs program, this has been a facet and intended integration in their program from day one. To think they would scrape it, after the planning and effort they put into utilizing it to what they thought would "add a third field dimension"... seems a little outlandish. This is a huge part of their program. Probably something that has to be ridden out, regardless. Edited August 6, 2011 by GeneralTsoChicken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Corps Nation Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I would think that since MANY were on the ground floor from the Tarpon Springs program, this has been a facet and intended integration in their program from day one. To think they would scrape it, after the planning and effort they put into utilizing it to what they thought would "add a third field dimension"... seems a little outlandish. This is a huge part of their program. Probably something that has to be ridden out, regardless. No one said anything about scraping it. We were talking about moving to to allow better use of the field. And personally, I didn't like the use of the scaffolding at the beginning of the year, but since they have finished it and integrated it MORE into their program, I like it more and it makes sense to have it there. It also really does add a dimension to the visual package, especially for the people in the audience who aren't sitting high enough to really see the drill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralTsoChicken Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 No one said anything about scraping it. You were talking about moving them. Moving them or scraping them... there would have had to been major rewrites from top to bottom to consume that space, or they wouldn't have received any more credit than they were with them there. This is one of those things that is "in too deep" to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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