cowtown Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 If I had recordings of what the brass first sounded like on the bleachers you would not think it was so easy. Crazy listening environment. Each kids bells pretty much right into the ears of the kid in front of them. So, each kid has to go on physical sensation alone since they really couldn't hear themselves well definitely not hear to their left and right. Kids were overplaying. Timing issues galore. One bleacher had no idea what the other was doing. Again, they couldn't possibly hear across. Tubas way in front so no using them for pitch. They weren't just sitting there. Lots of choreography, playing with one hand, leaning on the 45. And the melody in the trumpets, full of 6ths and 7ths in a legato style. Oh, and did you notice they were behind the 2nd hash. Al Lo, tried to go there as you did early season and we had to educate him as well. For the rest of the show, we were running. I say more visual demand than the teams in our area. We let Jon do his thing regarding the visual content. Regarding the music staff not allowing visual to do their thing, no such thing at all. We worked together with those guys and again let them do what they see as best. Believe me when I say that the music staff wants to see the corps succeed visually, obviously. With "caption bleed" high visual scores help brass and percussion scores and vice versa. There is no holding back of visual scores or teaching by the music guys. You are right that by and large Bluecoats play better than they move historically but trust that the full staff would love to see that trend change. I really think you are grasping for straws. Decent hypothesis. Just not correct. I thought the brass on the bleachers was a bad visual and hearing how much effort they spent on cleaning it now I’m sure it was a bad visual because the effect payoff was not worth all that effort to this fans in the stands. It reminded me of Regiment 95 in the picture frames but felt less effective. A lot of the Bluecoats visual seemed recycled and thrown together….they did that quadraphonic 4 corners spilt again (2011) and I still don’t think they nailed the design and balloon girl was good but I kept bet the Bigger Idea feel (2009) and I didn’t feel any patriotism at all from their American show, it felt negative which is fine but it didn’t seemed to be backed up fully. The guard got lost with their uniforms or lack there of…the musical book was way to chop and bop with only 3 musical highlights to my ear so without out a strong visual, the show just sort of went along without much impact. My initial thought upon viewing it in DeKalb was still stuck with me at finals …their big visual impact drill moment is parade formation, something every drum corps has been doing since there was drum corps. It seemed weak. Overall, I felt their show was over thought, got lost in a design rabbit hole of trying too hard to be artistic…that it was self indulgent, not clearly coordinated with respect to the audience. I wanted them to give it up and only got that jazz bit in the center. I think 1 bleacher would have been enough and 4 was a handicap…IMO, this show was a disaster. And I know it failed to connect with some casual fans that I took to DeKalb I found the Bluecoats show this year to be the most frustrating show of the top 12. They sounded amazing, I would have pushed their music caption higher than they ended up but they book the played and their visual package completely lost me. The talent and teaching was clearly there but the show wasn’t. I welcome a visual and a design change there but keep the music performance in place. Pander to me even if just a little 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 ... Once you win, there is only one other direction to go.. And when BD wins, what direction does Downey, Johnson, Meehan, et al go? To a bar to celebrate... then to another corps? Nope; then back to work planning for another BD win. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCHEZman Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) And when BD wins, what direction does Downey, Johnson, Meehan, et al go? To a bar to celebrate... then to another corps? Nope; then back to work planning for another BD win. Where is Phantom's 2008 staff? Where is Cavalier's glory years staff? After CADETS won in the eighties, Zingali, Sylvester, VanDoren, Twiggs all went to STAR for the increase in paycheck and to build another team. Just saying that the guys that built up Crown are now officially the DREAM TEAM by winning the Gold and people will be contacting them for sure. Whether they stay or go, time will tell but for every BD group that stay together, there are staffs that start to market themselves or just want a new challenge. Edited August 22, 2013 by newjerseycorpguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Where is Phantom's 2008 staff? Where is Cavalier's glory years staff? After CADETS won in the eighties, Zingali, Sylvester, VanDoren, Twiggs all went to STAR for the increase in paycheck and to build another team. Just saying that the guys that built up Crown are now officially the DREAM TEAM by winning the Gold and people will be contacting them for sure. Whether they stay or go, time will tell but for every BD group that stay together, there are staffs that start to market themselves or just want a new challenge. Don't think the music guys are going anywhere for a while. Visually the cleaning/technique guys just got there (Ron Hardin and team). Guard had a new caption head this season. Rest of touring staff are pretty much former Crown kids. And the design guys work together outside of Crown -- not sure that team's breaking up anytime soon. Percussion. Guess we'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmathis Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Don't think the music guys are going anywhere for a while. Visually the cleaning/technique guys just got there (Ron Hardin and team). Guard had a new caption head this season. Rest of touring staff are pretty much former Crown kids. And the design guys work together outside of Crown -- not sure that team's breaking up anytime soon. Percussion. Guess we'll see what happens. I didn't realize Hardin was there. I wonder how long that will last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 I didn't realize Hardin was there. I wonder how long that will last. His team came in when Andy left for Madison. I think it's been a pretty good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Where is Phantom's 2008 staff? Where is Cavalier's glory years staff? After CADETS won in the eighties, Zingali, Sylvester, VanDoren, Twiggs all went to STAR for the increase in paycheck and to build another team. Just saying that the guys that built up Crown are now officially the DREAM TEAM by winning the Gold and people will be contacting them for sure. Whether they stay or go, time will tell but for every BD group that stay together, there are staffs that start to market themselves or just want a new challenge. Just sayin'... that when BD takes first overall, or first in captions, very rarely does any from their staff bail and go elsewhere; and when the corps takes fourth overall, or even fifth in captions, the BD staff does not get automatically canned. I am not saying that BD is utopia (least we forget the time surrounding the Tom and Catherine Float release); however there is a strong sense of loyalty within BD, that most corps 'used' to have but now spit upon; and that is a major, and I mean a major reason BD has such a great family atmosphere organization as well as the 15 rings. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doyle Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Can you say bigger salary keeps them AKA. BINGO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medeabrass Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 ... If crown doesnt feel their current perc staff is up to stuff they might look for new staff/arranger. But i have a feeling they are confident in them. This quote is going to garner my first post on here in a year or two lol. Without trying to sound condescending, I am quite positive that Crown is happy with Thom Hannum as their percussion caption head. From an outsider's perspective it looks like they are only in the first stages of building their percussion program. Keep in mind that Matt Harloff and Donnie Vandoren came to Crown in 2003 and it took 7 seasons before they won the Jim Ott in 2009. To me it's obvious that Crown percussion program doesn't have that far to climb but sometimes it can take a few years of recruiting and teaching before things really start to come together and gel...no matter how good the staff is. We can't all be as lucky as Star of Indiana '93 when Hannum brought in a truck load of his very finest and DCI-experienced students from UMass all at once. (Not to derail, but coming from a guy in the brassline that year, the first camp I saw our percussion line, thoughts of the first US Olympic Basketball "Dream Team" came to mind...a true embarrassment of riches. The collective experience of the battery alone almost equaled the hornline ;) lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan9 Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Just sayin'... that when BD takes first overall, or first in captions, very rarely does any from their staff bail and go elsewhere; and when the corps takes fourth overall, or even fifth in captions, the BD staff does not get automatically canned. I am not saying that BD is utopia (least we forget the time surrounding the Tom and Catherine Float release); however there is a strong sense of loyalty within BD, that most corps 'used' to have but now spit upon; and that is a major, and I mean a major reason BD has such a great family atmosphere organization as well as the 15 rings. Spot frickin' on!!! Greenies for you Sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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