Marvelous Minneapolis Matchup

[DrumcorpsmademeaTuba]

Kind of knocks the wind out of you doesn't it.

It's crushing, that's for certain. I imagine that the Colts camp had extremely high hopes for this year after Dubuque, and they were swept out from under them just 24 hours later. There's still a month of drum corps to go, but I'm now more interested in how they deal with having the carpet pulled out from under them than I am about any other storyline this season has to offer.

[N.E. Brigand]

Why does SCV play "Land of 1,000 Dances" in the middle of their show?

I haven't seen SCV's show yet, but I think I know the part you mean, since there's a passage in the Cadets' 1989 Les Mes show that sounds like the "na na na na" melody in "Land of 1,000 Dances". Someone who knows Les Mis better could probably tell you what song that is.

[Tim K]

Interesting results. I'd love to be able to better comment but internet issues made seeing the show impossible.Thoughts

1. Crown should be pleased with their victory but nervous that BD was so close. Percussion may be their Achilles' Heel again.

2. Cadets should be nervous that SCV is edging closer.

3. I expected Cavies and BAC to be closer to Madison, though Madison placing 7th was not a surprise. I was surprised with BK. I would have thought they would have been closer to Spirit and behind BAC. I think the fact Cavies, BAC, and BK were all within a point could make things interesting this summer.

4. Troopers and Crossmen will keep things lively.

[fsubone]

I haven't seen SCV's show yet, but I think I know the part you mean, since there's a passage in the Cadets' 1989 Les Mes show that sounds like the "na na na na" melody in "Land of 1,000 Dances". Someone who knows Les Mis better could probably tell you what song that is.

It's from "Attack on the Rue Plumet". It's from the original. It's an odd quote that does sound like "Land of 1,000 Dances," but it's from Les Mis. Most of the song is made up of small 4 note figures

[DarkHorner]

As opposed to a lot of people on this thread, I think the judging was pretty spot on tonight except for a few subcations that came out weird. In fact, only two placements were different from where I placed them, and they were Troopers which I had behind Crossmen and Boston which I had ahead of Blue Knights.

I do not think Crown will hold off Blue Devils for another week. That show was miles ahead of where it was Thursday. It will be a hard fought battle between these two until finals, but right now, Blue Devils seems to have the edge as far as upward potential goes.

Cadets' score seemed a little too far behind Blue Devils, and I thought the spread would be less between them.

SCV might be doomed to 4th. I love their show, and it is my second favorite of the year, but unless they just clean like crazy and fix some of the flaws in the exposed brass parts, they won't have a chance to medal this year. There is just too much strength in that top 3.

Phantom is going to be 5th. Their show is being performed well, but it is much weaker than the last two programs from them. It was a show that left me feeling "meh."

Bluecoats' design confuses me. Sometimes I feel some patriotic themes from it, but then other times there are those weird Metropolis-esque voices. Is the show actually about America at all? I am lost as to the design. They probably will hold onto 6th, though. That brass is still pretty incredible.

Madison's show is honestly not as amazing as I thought it would be. I like the arrangements, but it never wowed me like last year's show. Also, perhaps they haven't realized that 95% of the crowd has no clue to the lyrics of MYNWA. That drum major should just stay facing forward, and they should bring the corps proper closer to the audience in that portion for volume. I don't know if they will hold 7th, and if the Cavies clean up and get better on the shaky brass parts, Madison may be looking at 8th come finals.

Cavaliers have a better program than I thought. Those gear formations are great, and I want more of them. The brass sounds 100x better than at Akron, and the show is getting noticeably cleaner. Also, that last guard uniform change is a really nice effect.

Blue Knights have a hard battle to hold on to this spot or progress forward. Their show theme is a little confusing to me. I really do not like that ball. It is distracting and adds nothing to the show. If they could incorporate it better, I would not mind it. As of now, scrap it.

Boston's placement surprised me. I love the uniform change at the beginning of the closer. It was quite significant. However, I still hate those gray uniforms that they wear for the majority of the show. The brass has some weak spots to work through, and they get out of control at times.

Spirit's show disappointed me. They should have cut down on the number of music choices and just played the ones they kept longer, especially with Sweet Georgia Brown. That song should have had an enormous park and bark that would be remembered for years. Instead, we got a single phrase of it. I felt cheated. Their corps isn't as good this year talent wise as the past couple either. They will need to work hard to hold off the hungry corps behind them.

Blue Stars have a great show concept. If they could get some volume out of that brass, they might take 11th from Spirit. Their drill design is much better than the corps around them, and they are performing it quite well.

The Troopers deserved the score they got, but I had them behind Bones. Their brass has some balance issues (baritones need to cool it), and they need to clean those forms to have a chance at finals.

Crossmen are still cool and funky, but that drill design is just bad. It is boring. The music is miles ahead of the drill at this point, and I fully expect it to remain that way. I don't think this is a finals worthy vehicle this year.

Colts' second half of the show is why their score is so low. It takes forever to develop, and it never pays off. If they can make the second half of the show as good as the first, they have a chance to move up. Also, where is the "field of dreams" theme in all of this? It feels like that is just a tacked on name right now.

Academy deserves a better show. Those kids deserve a better show. The designers obviously called it in this year. It was the worst show design of the night. The kids are doing their best with it, but I don't see this as a successful year.

Cascades' show isn't great either. I don't really know what is the issue, and I think it may be a combination of everything. The design isn't great, but it isn't terrible. They have the lowest talent of any of the corps, but the kids are showing some spirit out there. I think they will keep improving, but as of now, semifinals will be missing Cascades.

[xbones7480]

They don't use enough of the field...watch them compared to the corps they are trying to overtake. They spend way too much time in the center of the field with very tight front to back spacing. I think this is going to keep them out of finals...I hope I'm wrong!

maybe he keeps it tight because they only use 72 horns vs. 80... not sure why

Edited July 14, 2013 by xbones7480

[N.E. Brigand]

Why does SCV play "Land of 1,000 Dances" in the middle of their show?

I haven't seen SCV's show yet, but I think I know the part you mean, since there's a passage in the Cadets' 1989 Les Mes show that sounds like the "na na na na" melody in "Land of 1,000 Dances". Someone who knows Les Mis better could probably tell you what song that is.

It's from "Attack on the Rue Plumet". It's from the original. It's an odd quote that does sound like "Land of 1,000 Dances," but it's from Les Mis. Most of the song is made up of small four-note figures.

Thank you!

[Cop]

I just got home from work, and dang if FN will not connect..... I want to see me some shows!! I have it all hooked up to my big-screen :sad:/>/>/>

Go Scouts

So it loaded and blacks in and out :-(

Edited July 14, 2013 by Cop

[perc2100]

That is crazy! How can a corps go down 5 points in one night? I guess this goes to show that none of us should take the judging too seriously. I really like the Colts this year. I hope they bounce back.

It likely has to do more with a show's "dynamic," which is to stay the show's lineup. At any given show, the show dynamic can affect actual spreads. At big regionals, with nearly every corps participating, scores will naturally change from scores where there are only a handful (relatively speaking) of corps participating. The judges have way more corps to rank/rate, but there are still the same amount of numbers available. Since we are in mid-July, the odds of groups scoring in the bottom half/two-thirds of the spectrum is unlikely (though possible a small handful of corps will end up there), that really means there are roughly 15 points tonight to go around 22 or so corps. The corps at the very top of the shows will possibly go up a little bit, as the judge has more room to work with at the top of the sheets. Groups on the bottom might skew lower than previously at smaller shows, because a judge has to start somewhere + make sure from a numbers management standpoint she doesn't run out of room in the top third of the participants.

Also, corps sometimes are inconsistent or their competition has improved at a faster rate. Or even a judge notices different aspects of the show (both positive and negative) that previous judges might've missed.

I'm having problems pulling up DCI's website now, so I can't speak specifically as to what they happened, or what they dropped significantly in store, but since this is the first Regional competition, I would stipulate that score fluctuation has to do at least partially with show dynamic

[wesleyrp]

Great show this year