Jump to content

World Class Percussion to Watch in 2014?


Recommended Posts

To me this seems to be a testament to the quality of the top twelve corps these days. The effort it takes to improve is exceptionally high. either singularly (percussion, brass, guard) or collectively (show design and performance). Maybe subconciously or instinctively, there is an amount of latitude given to corps who have proven themsleves in the past, that make it difficult for them to drop a bit and other corps to rise. A benefit of the doubt shall we say, that makes it more difficult for the judging community to accept that some drum lines, brass lines or guards do in fact dimiinish in quality from one successful year to the next not as successful a year. At least enough so, for the scoring to reflect a drop enought that another corps passes them. It may be especially hard to consider this in the very top tier of corps. Just my thoughts. So yeah perc, the competition is off the hook. What would it take for BAC to move up? How much better do they have to be? Or how do they show how much better they are?

I think it has more to do with success breeding success than anyone getting the benefit of the doubt. A group that has been in the top 6 for a few years and hasn't had a ton of staff turnaround is going to draw a different type/caliber of talent than a group that hasn't (obviously a generalization, I concede that some people want to march certain places for other reasons). The Blue Devils have a reputation for competing for the sanford trophy almost every year as of late, and as such, they draw some of the best talent in the country. That gives them an advantage next time around, as it becomes easier to fill spots vacated by age outs with kids who will be able to handle the same level of excellence. The same can be said for Crown's brass. The opposite effect can also be an issue, as a program that doesn't do well, is less likely to draw upper tier talent. A particularly good or bad year, of course can alter those trends, but I think this tendency has more to do with why placements don't change drastically from year to year, than any conscious or unconscious bias on the part of the judging community.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me this seems to be a testament to the quality of the top twelve corps these days. The effort it takes to improve is exceptionally high. either singularly (percussion, brass, guard) or collectively (show design and performance). Maybe subconciously or instinctively, there is an amount of latitude given to corps who have proven themsleves in the past, that make it difficult for them to drop a bit and other corps to rise. A benefit of the doubt shall we say, that makes it more difficult for the judging community to accept that some drum lines, brass lines or guards do in fact dimiinish in quality from one successful year to the next not as successful a year. At least enough so, for the scoring to reflect a drop enought that another corps passes them. It may be especially hard to consider this in the very top tier of corps. Just my thoughts. So yeah perc, the competition is off the hook. What would it take for BAC to move up? How much better do they have to be? Or how do they show how much better they are?

having the upstairs judge back i think can help open up the race further

Link to comment
Share on other sites

where are the cool visuals?

Mostly in the Guard these days. Yes, the Percussion lines do visual things, but its mostly the Guards that drive the visual scores today..... and to that extent, BAC has been doing a comparatively good job in this respect fielding the largest Guard in DCI history last season and finishing 6th in Guard last summer. I think they can build on this.. as lets face it, it is the visuals more than anyrthing else that drive the placements and scores these days. Crown finished 6th in Percussion last summer lest we forget in garnering their 1st DCI Title. There is virtually no chance in the world a Corps could finish 6th in Guard or 6th in the Visual Design captions these days and finish 1st and win a DCI Title . But as we saw, you can do so in Percussion.

Edited by BRASSO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mostly in the Guard these days. Yes, the Percussion lines do visual things, but its mostly the Guards that drive the visual scores today..... and to that extent, BAC has been doing a comparatively good job in this respect fielding the largest Guard in DCI history last season and finishing 6th in Guard last summer. I think they can build on this.. as lets face it, it is the visuals more than anyrthing else that drive the placements and scores these days. Crown finished 6th in Percussion last summer lest we forget in garnering their 1st DCI Title. There is virtually no chance in the world a Corps could finish 6th in Guard or the Visual Design captions these days and finish 1st at Finals. But as we saw, you can do so in Percussion.

Take a look at drums allen town to finals bac vs MS very interesting. No disrespect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mostly in the Guard these days. Yes, the Percussion lines do visual things, but its mostly the Guards that drive the visual scores today..... and to that extent, BAC has been doing a comparatively good job in this respect fielding the largest Guard in DCI history last season and finishing 6th in Guard last summer. I think they can build on this.. as lets face it, it is the visuals more than anyrthing else that drive the placements and scores these days. Crown finished 6th in Percussion last summer lest we forget in garnering their 1st DCI Title. There is virtually no chance in the world a Corps could finish 6th in Guard or 6th in the Visual Design captions these days and finish 1st and win a DCI Title . But as we saw, you can do so in Percussion.

Your premise is flawed as your claim that visual drives overall placement is not supported by the placement of a sub caption and its affect on overall score. Sure, a corps can finish 6th in drums and win. A corps could place 6th in guard or brass and win. A corps could finish 6th in pretty much any sub caption and win. Could a corps place 6th in the overall music caption and win? Probably not.

Now, you could argue that if corps places 6th in guard, they are likely to also finish lower in other sub captions as well. That is certainly true. I think that's more a product of the fact that everyone in the corps has an effect on 2 out of 3 visual sub captions, while 2 out of 3 music sub captions are isolated to specific sections of the corps, and none include the color guard. Essentially, more members of the corps have an effect on the overall guard score, so those scores tend to agree a little more.

Lets also keep in mind that Crown won a championship while losing the overall visual caption, and the visual effect sub caption. Clearly visual did not drive the placement in that particular decision.

To stay on topic: I like drums.

Edited by actucker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your premise is flawed as your claim that visual drives overall placement is not supported by the placement of a sub caption and its affect on overall score. Sure, a corps can finish 6th in drums and win. A corps could place 6th in guard or brass and win. A corps could finish 6th in pretty much any sub caption and win. Could a corps place 6th in the overall music caption and win? Probably not.

Now, you could argue that if corps places 6th in guard, they are likely to also finish lower in other sub captions as well. That is certainly true. I think that's more a product of the fact that everyone in the corps has an effect on 2 out of 3 visual sub captions, while 2 out of 3 music sub captions are isolated to specific sections of the corps, and none include the color guard. Essentially, more members of the corps have an effect on the overall guard score, so those scores tend to agree a little more.

Lets also keep in mind that Crown won a championship while losing the overall visual caption, and the visual effect sub caption. Clearly visual did not drive the placement in that particular decision.

To stay on topic: I like drums.

Guards are about a 3rd the size of Brass lines. Judges judge the visual moves of Brass( and Percussion) Musicians, but Guards carry no musical instruments in which they are similarly judged. If you believe then that each Percussion marcher or each Brass marcher has the same equal weight value on the current DCI scoring sheets as each Guard marcher does on the sheets you are only kidding yourself, as you do not fully understand the value each marcher brings to the table in the scoring and placements. This is because it most assuredly is the Visual that has more weighted value per marcher for the entire unit in competition than the musicianship playing does per marcher ( where upwards of a 3rd of the performers do not play a musical instrument at all in the competition to be judged on ). If you disagree with this assessment, YOUR thinking " is flawed ", not mine, imo. But you are of course entitled to your assessments.. flawed or otherwise.

... now back to the thread topic... " Percussion " and predictions in this section for this summer.........

Edited by BRASSO
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guards are about a 3rd the size of Brass lines. Judges judge the visual moves of Brass( and Percussion) Musicians, but Guards carry no musical instruments in which they are similarly judged. If you believe then that each Percussion marcher or each Brass marcher has the same equal weight value on the current DCI scoring sheets as each Guard marcher does on the sheets you are only kidding yourself, as you do not fully understand the value each marcher brings to the table in the scoring and placements. This is because it most assuredly is the Visual that has more weighted value per marcher for the entire unit in competition than the musicianship playing does per marcher ( where upwards of a 3rd of the performers do not play a musical instrument at all in the competition to be judged on ). If you disagree with this assessment, YOUR thinking " is flawed ", not mine, imo. But you are of course entitled to your assessments.. flawed or otherwise.

... now back to the thread topic... " Percussion " and predictions in this section for this summer.........

A) That's not what he said.

B) Judges don't judge individuals one at a time.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A) That's not what he said.

B) Judges don't judge individuals one at a time.

... and in my reply, I never stated that the judges do.

Carry on.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess what I meant was that Boston doesn't really have something that the audience will go "Wow, did you see that!?". Something the top 5 usually has. The Cadets had flams, Blue Devils have clean lines, SCV has crazy cymbals, Bluecoats have insane tenors, Scouts have a great pit. Stuff like that is what I remember when I see a drumline.

Ok, that makes sense; you're saying that don't have some sort of stellar section or something that really stands out from the pack? I can see that: they're solid, but not over-the-top amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me this seems to be a testament to the quality of the top twelve corps these days. The effort it takes to improve is exceptionally high. either singularly (percussion, brass, guard) or collectively (show design and performance). Maybe subconciously or instinctively, there is an amount of latitude given to corps who have proven themsleves in the past, that make it difficult for them to drop a bit and other corps to rise. A benefit of the doubt shall we say, that makes it more difficult for the judging community to accept that some drum lines, brass lines or guards do in fact dimiinish in quality from one successful year to the next not as successful a year. At least enough so, for the scoring to reflect a drop enought that another corps passes them. It may be especially hard to consider this in the very top tier of corps. Just my thoughts. So yeah perc, the competition is off the hook. What would it take for BAC to move up? How much better do they have to be? Or how do they show how much better they are?

that's a tough one; the scores aren't just how good your corps is, but how good your immediate competition is. Judging is't just putting a score that fits criteria on the sheets, but also ranking how that caption compares to the competition. BAC just needs to have the designers in place to design a Top 5-caliber program, staff in place to be able to clean that caliber of a book, and members talented enough to pull it off

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...