Pete Freedman Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 It's possible to read too much into history, as in what types of show styles seem to win vs. not win. You can draw apparent correlations, but I don't see enough cases to draw accurate conclusions. In general the judges seem to do a reasonable job of ignoring the (sometimes awful) artistic decisions of the show designers and focusing on how well the corps members express it (Cavaliers 2012 would seem to be an exception?). I'm no expert on Dada, but from what I looked up there didn't seem to be a whole lot of connection visually with that anti-art/antiwar movement. Yes, there were the hobbyhorses, but that's just a theory about how the name Dada came about. Did they reject the art of brass or percussion instrumentation? Or marching, or precision visuals? Nope. They certainly wouldn't have won if they had. I didn't see anything antiwar either, although I might have missed it. A couple of additional points: Rocketman, you say Phantom could do Hair because it contains references to Shakespeare. Um, Phantom doesn't normally do Shakespeare, either, do they? Skywhopper, your list of drum corps "compulsories" is fascinating. I mean, we've always thought about how corps must show a range, or depth, of skills, but I never thought of it in such concrete terms. I bet many of the corps lower in the order (below the top 12, say) don't think of it that way, but it would be an effective way for small corps especially to make sure they are covering all the bases. Maybe we can start a thread on the compulsories the different top corps seem to hit each year; I bet it's somewhat different set for each corps, and they certainly wouldn't want to publish their secrets, so we would have to tell by reviewing the shows. My guess is the Blue Devils score has more to do with how well they do whatever they do, than how much the show style deviates from preceding years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 BD can't do a Romeo and Juliet show? They won prelims in 1998 with one and were 0.7 away from winning finals. Does that meet your standard for versatility? Absolutely not. BD is simply not as versatile as other corps. And many corps aren't that versitle. Like I said only 2 truly are. And I didn't say BD couldn't do a Romeo and Juliet show I said they couldn't tell te story of Romeo and Juliet as well as phantom could. In that I'm saying BD has strengths but other corps have strengths over BD too. It's not like BD is better than everyone at every aspect of drum corps just because they won. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkingqm Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 The 2013 Blue Devil drum major and color guard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobchilds Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I think part of what BD's victory proves is that jazz running at 4 to 5 at 220 bpm while playing articulated 32nd note runs in 7/8 does not necessarily entitle any corps to win. If you want to do all that, fine, but don't assume that your corps is going to win just because your show is more difficult. It seems to me that being clean generally trumps higher demand. Now, I admit that the specs above are an exaggeration. But it is also an exaggeration to say that BD just stands around putting on their jackets and only marches half tempo at 8/5 when playing the more difficult passages of their show. Let's give all of the corps credit for what they do and realize that the judges' scores are based on their specific vantage points, subjective perceptions and opinions and pre-set criteria. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsdrummerman2012 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) Absolutely not. BD is simply not as versatile as other corps. And many corps aren't that versitle. Like I said only 2 truly are. And I didn't say BD couldn't do a Romeo and Juliet show I said they couldn't tell te story of Romeo and Juliet as well as phantom could. In that I'm saying BD has strengths but other corps have strengths over BD too. It's not like BD is better than everyone at every aspect of drum corps just because they won. BD has done Jazz, Classical, Rock, Pop, broadway, ragtime...name the musical genre and they have done it. More than any drum corps in the activity. Furthermore, they span the extreme of visual variety and their guard does more from a content standpoint than any other. To not think they are "versitile" is to not know the definition of the word. Their "versitility is why they win every other year and never place out of the top 5 and most of the time are in the top 2. Let's think real hard about what you are saying here. Edited August 19, 2012 by drumcorpsdrummerman2012 Personal attacks removed. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobchilds Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 (edited) BD has done Jazz, Classical, Rock, Pop, broadway, ragtime...name the musical genre and they have done it. More than any drum corps in the activity. Furthermore, they span the extreme of visual variety and their guard does more from a content standpoint than any other. To not think they are "versitile" is to not know the definition of the word. Their "versitility is why they win every other year and never place out of the top 5 and most of the time are in the top 2, I agree with all of your points, but not the namecalling. If BD is not versatile, I'd sure like to know in what way. Charlie? Just because a corps chooses a certain genre or approach to design does not mean that they are incapable of doing something else. Designers make artistic choices, which are certainly tactical choices as well. Edited August 19, 2012 by Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 So, what do corps need to do to be (competitively) successful? Pretty simple: march, spin, play near-flawlessly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Also, BD's victor really means that they had the highest score in 2012 Finals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn trumpter guy Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 their guard does more from a content standpoint than any other. Yes they are versatile. But I can't agree with the snippet I have quoted. They are very clean, yes, but from a content standpoint, I have to say that Michael Shapiro's guard does more, if not the most in DCI. At the moment, that is Blue Stars, I believe. Sorry to nitpick, but I couldn't let that go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobchilds Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 BD's victory means that dada is still alive..still alive...still alive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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