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Right, and judging percussion from a tower box in a dome is so effective...Judge 1 had it right, and suspect we will see the scores move toward that in the next few shows...

What if the judge in the box is assessing different criteria than the one on the fiel? What if, instead of looking at every stroke and tap, he was looking for and listening to section timing, ensemble balance and blend, and ensemble cohesiveness? It just might be that some lines are strong both upstairs and downstairs, and some might not be.

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What if the judge in the box is assessing different criteria than the one on the fiel? What if, instead of looking at every stroke and tap, he was looking for and listening to section timing, ensemble balance and blend, and ensemble cohesiveness? It just might be that some lines are strong both upstairs and downstairs, and some might not be.

I agree, although the judge in the box in a stadium with so much indirect sound bouncing around has a difficult task to accurately assess those elements, IMHO.

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Right, and judging percussion from a tower box in a dome is so effective...Judge 1 had it right, and suspect we will see the scores move toward that in the next few shows...

Got any more good excuses? It's a good thing for you championships aren't in a dome. Oh, wait...

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I agree, although the judge in the box in a stadium with so much indirect sound bouncing around has a difficult task to accurately assess those elements, IMHO.

Maybe, but these guys know that and have experience judging inside. Hell, I wish they'd get a second brass judge and put him in the box. Why is percussion more important?

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..........................(Finals are in a dome. Just sayin.)

Will finals have 2 percussion judges or 1?

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Except that it isn't, and any brass instructor worth is salt will tell you that (slow, long phrases are FAR more difficult to play, no matter what your feet are doing. Example: Adagio for Strings). You're also making the assumption that hard = good, which is clearly not necessarily true. It doesn't matter how hard your show is if you can't achieve it. There is no reward in the attempt.

The key to the whole argument is right there on the sheet: VARIETY.

What the Blue Devils do is master many skills, and move from one to the other. Certain other corps master one or two (which may indeed be incredibly difficult) and beat you over the head with them for eleven minutes. I'll take the former, thanks, as will most good judges. Cadets have learned this, and have adapted to it over the last couple of years. They've transitioned from a corps that had two speeds (crazy fast and ballad), to a corps that is displaying a wide variety of styles and tempos. That's a good thing, too, and they are being rewarded for it.

I totally agree with this; however, here's my conundrum: I would want to perform with BD because their show designs and artful execution are so #### cool and thoughtful. However, I just went back and re-reviewed the top two shows last night. The Cadets perform more challenging drill while playing challenging charts in the first 5 minutes alone than BD outputs in their entire show. Then on top of that, the Cadets sequence from the diagonal drum line kill shot through the company front just prior to Simple Gifts is a riot of changing drill with sync challenge combined with immense field coverage.

On the other hand, BD almost never executes more than 32 measures straight of any brass drill at velocity, although I absolutely love the way they carry themselves and phase their slow stride routines....and, the maturity and quality of their soloists is top shelf in the activity. BD gives us a musical shell game with respect to the integration of marching and playing; yet, I still really dig what they do.

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Maybe, but these guys know that and have experience judging inside. Hell, I wish they'd get a second brass judge and put him in the box. Why is percussion more important?

It's all important!

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I totally agree with this; however, here's my conundrum: I would want to perform with BD because their show designs and artful execution are so #### cool and thoughtful. However, I just went back and re-reviewed the top two shows last night. The Cadets perform more challenging drill while playing challenging charts in the first 5 minutes alone than BD outputs in their entire show. Then on top of that, the Cadets sequence from the diagonal drum line kill shot through the company front just prior to Simple Gifts is a riot of changing drill with sync challenge combined with immense field coverage.

On the other hand, BD almost never executes more than 32 measures straight of any brass drill at velocity, although I absolutely love the way they carry themselves and phase their slow stride routines....and, the maturity and quality of their soloists is top shelf in the activity. BD gives us a musical shell game with respect to the integration of marching and playing; yet, I still really dig what they do.

You're still making the flawed assumption that fast=hard=good. Which again, isn't necessarily the case. Cadets are actually doing a lot less fast/hard segments of their show this year (it actually started last year). I love the variety they are now displaying. I just think a lot of it isn't as impactfull and effective as some GE judges seem to think it is. Sadly, there are many on this forum that think that it should be credited regardless....because reasons.

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