Marvelous Minneapolis

[jmc5682]

What a great show tonight. BD and Crown both dirty as S**T, but neck and neck. I see The top three at Finals and it will #1 BD, #2 Phantom, and #3 Crown. BD will probably go undefeated in 2012, just to shut up the Boo Birds.

[the lone ranger]

Guard: flag drop in Cadets, Crown has 1-2 girls not with it. PR wins guard is my prediction.

Crown was second in guard. .1 behind bd in each sub caption.

Crown has the show to win guard. Easily most demand, and integrated seamlessly. They have to be great at it as well as they are so exposed. Blue devils do great stuff as well. Just much less exposed As the show is so layered that there performance will flat out allow for more dirt.

Time is on crowns side.

[Grandpa]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, audioclips why WHY????

And so many. They suck the excitement out of a show.

[wallace]

Considering the recaps, it looks as though percussion is the major difference between Crown and BD. In matter of fact, the difference equals the spread. Can Crown gain enough ground in the other captions to compensate for this factor?

[Tone Quality Matters]

What a great show tonight. BD and Crown both dirty as S**T, but neck and neck. I see The top three at Finals and it will #1 BD, #2 Phantom, and #3 Crown. BD will probably go undefeated in 2012, just to shut up the Boo Birds.

You must have watched a completely different show tonight. Crown may very well move ahead of BD in Rockford tonight

Edited July 15, 2012 by Tone Quality Matters

[RockyGranite]

1) Synth covers up the things that the horn players are playing. Synth also leads to thunderous goo coming from teh bass which is annoying to hear. If the show is memorable the judge will think about it when comparing to the next groups they judge. If they leave a memorable impression they can make the bar higher for the groups following. For instance Cavies going on after crown you have fast paced drill and loud brass then cavies came in with less of both and you see how the scores reflect. It is always harder to go on after a memorable show.IMO

2. This isnt necessary but for me I want to understand a show. Best example is Phantom 2008. You understand the storyline behind it you get more into it. The point of the show is to please the audience and have a fun time (right?) The thing that makes BKs show hard to understand is that in 07 Phantom did "On Air" which played firebird suite. So when i hear the song i think of birds and not aliens. The drill and concept just dont make sense to me.

just my $.02

Thanks...this helps, but leads to two more questions:

1. What, exactly, is "thunderous goo"?

2. Do you think the synth stuff used by BK covers the sound of their horns?

[MotorCityMusician]

Considering the recaps, it looks as though percussion is the major difference between Crown and BD. In matter of fact, the difference equals the spread. Can Crown gain enough ground in the other captions to compensate for this factor?

The visual caption was actually the difference. BD swept and was .45 ahead. Just want to point out everyone saying no corps can catch crowns brass well BD was only .2 behind.

[skywhopper]

Considering the recaps, it looks as though percussion is the major difference between Crown and BD. In matter of fact, the difference equals the spread. Can Crown gain enough ground in the other captions to compensate for this factor?

I thought the same at first but you have to halve all the scores other than GE with an 8 judge panel. So Crown's percussion deficit only accounts for half of the 0.5 spread.

Still definitely a valid point. Perc is where they could theoretically make up the most ground.

[supersop]

I try to stay as far as possible from being critical of the judges, but GE Visual is all over the place tonight. It looks to be way out of whack with what all of the other judges saw and heard. I won't point out anything specific but take a look for yourself.

Actually, I don't mind that at all. It just tells me that the judge was giving an honest read on what effect them the best. I wish more judges did this. Recaps should be "all over the place". I agree with The Academy's placement ... I don't get BD's but that's for the judge to know and us to wonder.

I'm new to this whole Drum Corps thing, so I don't know much about the scoring and how to make predictions. Now, please don't think I'm disputing anything you've said (I really don't know enough to dispute ANYONE), I just want to learn. So, if you will be so kind, could you answer a couple questions?

1. Which is more important...whether someone likes synth and such, whether a show's music is memorable or not, or whether the show is well executed? I'm more thinking about these issues from a judges point of view, I guess, since that's where the scores come from...right?

2. How important is it...in terms of scoring...that the spectators "get" the show?

I chose you to ask these questions because of your comments about how unmemorable BK's show is, but I would appreciate viewpoints from any other knowledgeable forum members.

Thank you.

1. Synth and show memorability aren't really important at all. Execution at this point in the year only holds so much weight. It really depends on the caption we're talking about.

Example: GE Music - is going to look at how the entire musical production is effective. Not any particular section .. but there is also caption bleed. This judge has to take into account the show concept, music being played .. it's execution and the visual design of the show, staging etc. GE Captions are probably the worst to figure out and carry way too much weight in DCI.

Example 2: Music Ensemble - is going to look at how well the drums play together with each other and the pit, how well the brass play together and with the percussion. It's not looking at how a synth part fits in .. if it's effective or overused or whatever. They just want the corps to play together.

Example 3: Brass: Tone Quality, Sonority of sound, articulation, playing technique, breathing fundamentals, approach to the instrument, are ppl sticking out (balance and blend) ... those sorts of things.

On your second question .... whether we get it or not has nothing to do with scoring. However, these new judging sheets this year are supposed to bridge that gab a lil bit. Just remember, as you get more experience (depending on the time you put into learning and grasping the different concepts, techniques and vocabulary the designers are using) the more you'll come to understand what is being scored well and why. This isn't a system that scores based on mistakes. It's scores more on recovery and achievement. In other words, you get credit for WHAT you're doing in the GE Captions.. and HOW you're doing it in the other captions.

Confused? Dont' sweat it ... it takes years and a lot of love to get it. That doesn't mean that you'll agree with what the judges award ... but at least you might come to understand where they're coming from and why.

Hope this helps.

[MotorCityMusician]

Thanks...this helps, but leads to two more questions:

1. What, exactly, is "thunderous goo"?

2. Do you think the synth stuff used by BK covers the sound of their horns?

Thunderous goo is all the bass that comes out of the pits amps. ITs everything you dont want to hear. It is used too play out the bottom sound of a corps which most believe is not needed.

I think the show would be better without random technoish sounds.