FlamMan Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 I am surprised Crown took brass. Their show is complex, and They are too dirty still to perform it at top level. Crown needs another month or two to really learn their show, and clean it. You are surprised that Crown won brass? Wow. No surprise here. Crown clearly has tthe best horn line. No one is close. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesman Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) I don't have enough experience or expertise to judge whether you are right or wrong, I was just curious as to what your thinking was. As someone who is an outsider, I can't really judge difficulty or proficiency among the top corps. I do know what is effective to me, and I think BD is a step above everyone else. Maybe their show is easier than everyone else's. I can't really speak with authority on that. I do think the park and blow criticism is overstated though, at least this year. From my perspective, there is more to being an effective drum corps than playing loudly and marching fast. Those are important things, but being effective while playing soft or while marching slowly can be just as difficult, if not more difficult. You are right in that there is more to an effective drum corps show than playing loudly and marching fast. But if both are as clean as they can be then the group performing the more demanding show should be rewarded with a higher score. We have the same argument here almost every year about the lack of demand of Devils visual program. Then after finals we have the same discussion about booing from the audience. I think that is extremely rude, but we have to wonder why the audience does that. There is more to that than hating the Blue Devils because they win. Luckily this year when Bluecoats score is announced and their placement is below that of Blue Devils we can dismiss it as the audience yelling Bloooooooo Edited July 20, 2014 by bluesman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 they've got to take those masks off after the opening statement - really hurting them IMO The masks look ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) You are right in that there is more to an effective drum corps show than playing loudly and marching fast. But if both are as clean as they can be then the group performing the more demanding show should be rewarded with a higher score. We have the same argument here almost every year about the lack of demand of Devils visual program. Then after finals we have the same discussion about booing from the audience. I think but is extremely rude, but we have to wonder why the audience does that. There is more to that than hating the Blue Devils because they win. Luckily this year when Bluecoats score is announced and their placement is below that of Blue Devils we can dismiss it as the audience yelling Bloooooooo Fast marching (playing or not) isn't nearly as demanding as many people think it is. It just *looks* hard. Devils do things that *are* demanding and make them look easy. Since about 1976 or so. Edited July 20, 2014 by Kamarag 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KissMyBrass Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Crown had the loudest brass until BD hit the field and the clarity of both lines definitely set them apart from other corps with the exception of BC which have a great brassline this year and reminds me of how their 2010 line sounded. They have a richness to their midrange that sets them apart from other brasslines. i thought of Francis McBeth when i heard BC tonight. the pyramid voicing. he was one of my teachers and i never forgot the first demo he did with a clinic band. the corps is really hungry and they're not from the city of Charles Ives for nothing. this show has stuff Zappa would envy, Ives would embrace, Mahler would dig, and Hollywood could use. no wonder so many people don't get the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobe Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Fast marching (playing or not) isn't nearly as demanding as many people think it is. It just *looks* hard. Devils do things that *are* demanding and make them look easy. Since about 1976 or so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KissMyBrass Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Crowns shooting star section has 4 or 5 groups playing the same music offset a bar and the horns from the left speakers were perfectly in time with the right, and that to me is the most phenomenal brass moment of the season. true true. true spatial music, impeccably timed. too bad we can't get actual surround sound. the flanking mics are too close to the pit and i don't think the audio people have considered having a distant pair of shotguns using Blumlein shuffling to achieve stereo from a further perspective, in order to balance some of the pit. overall the video/audio people and live switchers are doing a very good job, considering all points. but surround *is* the experience missing here. their employers are letting them down by not hiring competent streaming services (or not spending enough money to get it). it ain't rocket surgery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KissMyBrass Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 George Dixon's sig block says Amplification in drum corps is like trampolines in the high jump. but after the talk about Crown's Trampolines, i thought it might become Trampolines in drum corps is like amplification in the high jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 No way. They probably counted all of the corps members & staff. It saddens me that fans dont even stick around for scores anymore. that was paid crowd numbers btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BariBone Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 My observations on this show from seeing it live. XMEN got a huge pop from the Alamodome crowd before they started. I saw them 2 nights before in Round Rock..what a difference. They deserved to break 80. Madison- not a fan of the all white. Go back to the green. I have yet to hear anyone play Niner Two or parts of it better than the early 80's 27th Lancers. If Madison was gojng to play Don Ellis why wouldn't they bring back Strawberry Soup. Blue Stars much improved since I last saw you in June. Solid performance tonight. Boston .. Don't care for the show but these kids are performing the heck out of it and I give them lots of credit for a very demanding show Colorguard vastly improved. Blue Knights....hornline wow. This might be the best BK show ever. Phantom I thought had their best show of the season tonight, which staved off the Blue Knights. I look for the hounds to be unleashed in Atlanta next weekend which traditionally is when Phantom starts sounding like Phantom. Cavaliers...keep getting better and better,.any other year this would be a borderline medalist show but look at what's in front of them...the best top 5 of all time. Crown....the dome hurt them tonight. I've seen them 3 times before this show and when they are outside that horn line just smacks you in the face. The dome can become a great equalizer in sound impacts. Crowns guard had an off night. SCV - wow. Best opening statement in 2014. I hate the concept of trombones in a drum corps show BUT the way SCV uses them in the opener gives them such a distinctive "SCV " sound. To hear it live was breathtaking. Kudos to Jd Shaw for arranging a show that takes advantage of dome acoustics. I noticed he did that with Phantom with Into the Light and Juliet. SCV was the most balanced sounding corps of the night. Which bodes well in the Oil Can. Bluecoats were amazing tonight. Everything seemed to click ..this is the show everyone will be taking about years from now and will wind up on the essential Blu rays down the road. It doesn't matter what place they finish up. Cadets ...any other year this show goes wire to wire. I'm going out on a limb and say we might see a corps hit 99 and NOT WIN. The top 2 will break 99 this year. Hopkins and team will work like a madman to put this show over the top and the fans will be the ultimate winners in this because in the next 3 weeks you are going to see unprecedented gamesmanship in the top 5 as they all push each other to perfection. Blue Devils - what more can be said. NO WEAKNESS ANYWHERE. They should have won horns tonight. What impressed me the most about BD was their flawless brush step technique they exhibited in their movement. They are a machine ..they make everything look so easy, it's an illusion to a casual fan. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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