Denton, TX

[Sideways]

and let's be honest. for those that have never judged at any level, it's easy to assume judges get their "scoring orders" before a show could begin.

nothing could be further than the truth. But, you do have judges with histories with some corps that have beendocumented...you do see a pattern. But that's not DCI telling them what to do.

Chuck King anyone?

You can't blame him for the tie in '99....oh wait...

[TexasPRfan]

I blogged along the way on this thread last night, though I may throw a real review out in the review forum (which sadly seems to be forgotten for the most part), but a few thoughts based on comments above and a night's sleep are below. Also, I'm not buying the giant conspiracy theories. I thought placements were spot on last night, as well as relative gaps. The top 3 are in a virtual dead heat right now. Who can bring it with emotion and execution every night with consistency?

BD DOES have more audience impact and effect than they did in Denver, certainly. The first 8 minutes of the show are kinda cool - especially musically. The visual program is way too cluttered, but if you do look closely you will see more drill from BD with some real demand, since say 2008. My problem with this show is the last 2 minutes. All momentum is lost and it starts to feel wearying and repetitive. Definitely still in the title hunt, for sure.

CROWN did have a bit of an off night - by their standards. And to the poster who said maybe it was the close proximity to the stands, LOL. Really? I was 3 rows from the press box, on the 50. Nowhere near the volume or passion the corps had in Denver, though the show is still fabulous, and I am unabashedly rooting for them. This show - and especially the Abyss sectoin can sparkle and take your breath away, and it has to if they want to win.

Cadets were my biggest pleasant surprise. Most powerful brassline of the night - with great quality and a variety of musical effects. Awesome drumline. Guard is not as impactful, and the boxes are distracting and quite dirty from an alignment and spacing perspective. Will be eager to see if better received from the upper deck in San Antonio tomorrow.

SCV is improving rapidly, but still has far more dirt to clean than the 3 above them. I don't see how anyone can say this is a rehash of 89, ummm, no. This is vintage Vanguard with emotion, class, beauty and entertainment, but the design is also vibrant, current & fresh. Love the new (I think it's new) drill near the end with the Fluer De Lis and the full on logo shield in quick succession. Also loved the 2 pieces layered in when corps comes back in from backfield - I don't know if that's new or I just didn't notice it above the crowd roar in Denver. Favorite show this year, followed by Crown & Troopers, so far.

Cavaliers - Oh my. Cavalier note to self - never follow Cadets & Crown's hornlines. I think BK is actually stronger, with a better design too. Back to back, BK might have beaten Cavaliers last night. Still, likable moments in this show - especially in the closer. Music ensemble (Ok, Analysis) defintiely a weak point, agree with scoring.

Blue Knights - Show is growing and gelling nicely. Such a nice mood created & sustained. Not Crossmen's first circle, but the whole show accomplishes a great deal for mood and effect and is very enjoyable. Great visual design and colors as well.

Spirit - More polished, and with more depth in programming than either Crossmen or Blue Stars at this point in the year. This show sold me much better in person than at the movies or online. Both Crossmen & Blue Stars have more glaring weaknesses at this point. Not saying Spirit can't be passed, but far less certain of that than I thought I was last weekend. Ending needs work, and Sweet Georgia Brown would be much more effective as a complete or longer musical thought.

Crossmen - I think the performance levels are stronger with this corps this year. Their program, though, is not. The visual program is WAY to compac, and GE Visual & Visual Analysis scores were spot on. Musically, way too many different thoughts or pieces crammed into 11 minutes. At times the protest theme seems overdone and a bit forced. Some nice moments though, like the Some Nights phrase. Unfortunately, it's way too short and would be far more effective if expanded and emotion could sustain & build. Top 12 caliber corps and performance levels, but program makes them very vulnerable at this point. Ending also feels tacked on and too brief.

Blue Stars - HUGE volume, but not always with great quality. Loud and intense, but often I struggled to stay engaged with the show. I miss the more melodic shows with more musical depth that Blue Stars brought from 2007-2010. The voodoo them comes across nicely, and there are some neat moments from guard, horns & drums with visual references to the theme. Hopefully Stars can work on bringing more polish, tone & depth to their brass sound in the next few weeks.

Colts - nicely entertaining. Hate the uni, though. I thought their red uni of past 6 years was FAR better. Obviously a youthful group, but the show is well designed for the most part and fits their talent. As they work to emote and make the Field of Dreams section more fluid and less mechanical, it can be very special. I think they are missing something, though to not have any visual reference to baseball when they both PLAY music from Field of Dreams and use it as their show title? Visually, this design & performance could challenge for Finals, but I don't think the corps is quite there musically.

Mandarins - Bravo, Mandarins. HUGE step forward from 2012. Great new unis, very tasteful, impactful show. A quality, quality show worth seeing folks.

Harvey

[shaners]

Thanks Harvey ^^^

I'm about to right my Denton review in the review forum.

[scv_chuck]

seems to me you need to do a search on here for general effect. myself and several others have broken down the sheet, the triad of effect and everything else. GE is not just clapping in the stands

I'm not saying GE scores should be just the result of people clapping in the stands, but if ANY part of the sheets refer to audience reaction/engagement, shouldn't the lack of reaction be reflected in the score for that sub-caption?.

If a sub-caption has a possible total of 100 and the audience engagement part of that sub-caption counts for say 10. Shouldn't corps X recieve a 1 or 2 for audience engagement if the crowd sits on their hands?

What's the point of including audience engagement on the sheets if the judges are just going to ignore how the crowd reacts?

[Jeff Ream]

You can't blame him for the tie in '99....oh wait... :cool:/>

I'd look at ensemble visual first

[soccerguy315]

I think all the movement in the top 3 and the 12 range is great.

This season is very exciting.

[ContrasAreFun]

I'm not saying GE scores should be just the result of people clapping in the stands, but if ANY part of the sheets refer to audience reaction/engagement, shouldn't the lack of reaction be reflected in the score for that sub-caption?.

If a sub-caption has a possible total of 100 and the audience engagement part of that sub-caption counts for say 10. Shouldn't corps X recieve a 1 or 2 for audience engagement if the crowd sits on their hands?

What's the point of including audience engagement on the sheets if the judges are just going to ignore how the crowd reacts?

There is a little truth to this, but it's hard to measure. Part of it could be a geographic thing. For example, if Corps X did a show of Nirvana music, don't you think a show in Seattle Washington would have a bigger reaction than say Nashville, Tennessee? In retrospect, Broadway shows don't stay on Broadway if it receives less than stellar acclaim. But then again, audience and critic reaction doesn't represent how well the program is performed. Just a thought...

[Jeff Ream]

I'm not saying GE scores should be just the result of people clapping in the stands, but if ANY part of the sheets refer to audience reaction/engagement, shouldn't the lack of reaction be reflected in the score for that sub-caption?.

If a sub-caption has a possible total of 100 and the audience engagement part of that sub-caption counts for say 10. Shouldn't corps X recieve a 1 or 2 for audience engagement if the crowd sits on their hands?

What's the point of including audience engagement on the sheets if the judges are just going to ignore how the crowd reacts?

engaged can come in many forms.Remember the triad of effect is the emotional, the aesthetic and the intellectual. Not all of them require the crowd to do anything but sit there. BD has obviously gone down the super intellectual path ( I prefer Cesario's faux intellectualism line), and just touching on the other two from time to time. as the sheets work, it works for them. Personally, the show that hits all parts of the triad equally should be the highest GE scoring show, but that's not how it works in general.

And lets face it...BD isn't programming to us. So our reactions mean little to the design team. Sure they and the kids will compain and FTW etc if the crowd doesnt gush over them, but it's been obvious for 5 years they are on this path and don't care or something would have changed

[wesleyrp]

Hey Jeff...

Great comments. From someone that has judged and is a long time educator I can say this. Drum Corps is so different from any other the marching arts. Marketing is so important as it is how the activity continues to grow. With the advent of FN and Social Media DCI is best served when u have scoring intrigue between multiple title contenders and finalist contenders! It's a jackpot. That said, all those groups are worthy no doubt. I don't believe it's a conspiracy so much as common sense that from time to time a victory from an underdog shakes it up. Look at this forum alone and you'd think the world is coming to a fiery end when BD wins. I think the judges get it right and also do a great job with a subjective art. That said, its human opinion and influence so things sometimes turn a different way;)

[MikeD]

Percussion Judge M. Griffin that had Crown in 5th in drums tonite will also judge Percussion Sat. nite in San Anton. Regionals.

Thats not neccessarily a bad thing for Crown, as it gives them a 2nd chance to impress with him in back to back shows. Its better to get this judge's read now, because he might be doing Finals Nite in August, who knows. Crown lost by a tenth, so its not like Crown needs a lot more from their Percussion line. They just have to carry their weight a little bit more as a section, thats all.

Marty has been judging percussion in DCI for quite a while, even though he is a young guy (well, in relation to me, anyway! :tongue:/> ). I have known him since he was in college, where I judged the band he was working with as percussion instructor up in Morris County , NJ. He is now a fine band director here in Central Jersey at a HS about 15 minutes from me.