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Alabama Sound of the Summer - Opelika AL


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One GE Judge had Spirit 2nd over Blue Stars. The other GE Judge had them 4th. Well at least 1 judge isn't looking at last weeks score to determine tonight's placement.

Huh? And the other GE judge, and/or all others were looking at last week's score? Sorry to be campy, but . . . were you there? SOA in second to Madison by 6 tenths. Not even close.

This is a prime example of a judge just missing it. GE sheets are new. He is a music guy. SOA has some measurable music GE issues, but significant visual ones.

Perhaps that contributed to his "odd" decision. And, yes, I was at the show. Hope to find time to do a full review. Madison and Stars were in a league of their own.

Then Colts, who I loved, especially visually, and then everyone else. My opinion, if Jay's number was more accurate, Colts would be over SOA by three points.

Yes, having only 5 judges affects all of this.

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Huh? And the other GE judge, and/or all others were looking at last week's score? Sorry to be campy, but . . . were you there? SOA in second to Madison by 6 tenths. Not even close.

This is a prime example of a judge just missing it. GE sheets are new. He is a music guy. SOA has some measurable music GE issues, but significant visual ones.

Perhaps that contributed to his "odd" decision. And, yes, I was at the show. Hope to find time to do a full review. Madison and Stars were in a league of their own.

Then Colts, who I loved, especially visually, and then everyone else. My opinion, if Jay's number was more accurate, Colts would be over SOA by three points.

Yes, having only 5 judges affects all of this.

Good points you've made. No I wasn't at the show but I've seen 6 shows live this year and I am judgmental about other Drum Corps scores as well when I saw large improvements with several Corps only to get the exact same scores from different judges the next week.. And, they do look at the previous scores.

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Way to go Madison!!!! This show is coming together and you deserve the recognition. Keep it up!!!! You are going to blow everyone away in Atlanta.

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Good points you've made. No I wasn't at the show but I've seen 6 shows live this year and I am judgmental about other Drum Corps scores as well when I saw large improvements with several Corps only to get the exact same scores from different judges the next week.. And, they do look at the previous scores.

Good points you've made. No I wasn't at the show but I've seen 6 shows live this year and I am judgmental about other Drum Corps scores as well when I saw large improvements with several Corps only to get the exact same scores from different judges the next week.. And, they do look at the previous scores.

I understand. It is a bit complicated however in that though using the same sheets at every show all summer, something called "show dynamics" reflects

various things that can cause improved performances to not get improved scores:

A judge does have to look at the sheets and put a number down based on criteria, the things that determine a 16.0 versus a 16.6 versus an 18.5, etc.

BUT, along with that, the judge has to show appropriate spreads corps to corps. Say he starts two tenths two high with the first corps. Forgivable, but if he then

grants scores with appropriate spreads, and everyone get "boosted" above where they might should be. Next show the judge starts one tenth too low and does

show appropriate spreads, overall score does not go up.

Additionally, some stadiums hold sound, some do not.

One night a corps goes on under the lights and all their color palette becomes electric (in the sun it is washed out).

Improvement in three captions and a bad show in one or two captions will affect number to not move much, even if say, the brass were on fire that night.

Lastly, as the summer progresses and critiques come to a close, though improved technical aspects of the show (pitch, spacing, toss heights, roll quality, etc)

get better, if the effect is no greater when cleaner, the score does not often go up.

Improving performance with flatlining scores typically is a reflection of significant show design flaws.

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My two cents from Opelika...take it for what it's worth as it's only my opinion.

Location: Great stadium for drum corps. No track, field turf, fans on top of the action. Downfall...dadgum train tracks just off backfield bleachers. Loud freight train came through during Madison's show. Weather started out looking a little spooky but other than a random drop of rain hitting your arm early on, there were no weather concerns.

Pioneer: Busting their tails as usual. Huge drumline drowns out tiny hornline. Very recognizable tunes. Nice troop off the field with Stars and Stripes.

Mandarins: Opening horn lick wakes you up but it just kinda peters on out. Drumline had some pretty rough moments from where I was sitting.

Colts: Meh....I know the kids work hard. No knock on them. I'm just personally not a fan of narrated shows and especially narrated shows with some abstract meaning. All the wording especially gets lost and is distracting when there is a really cool drum or horn moment and you have that mixed with Mr. Narrator screaming something into his microphone. Thought the music overall was pretty decent when that voice wasn't thundering through the speakers.

Blue Stars: Holy stuff on the field. The joke around me as they were setting up was it was taking them longer to get all that "stuff" on the field than it would take to perform the show. Way too many unnecessary random objects out there. I get the idea of the blueprint backdrop thingies to hide behind and do the wardrobe change, but all the other...nah, not for me. Other than that I liked the music for the most part. Good show, but nothing that really sent me home humming tunes and anxious to watch again.

Madison Scouts: I was anxious and skeptical to see this show as an alum and seeing so many bad remarks on the Scouts thread, along with scoring lower than many had hoped. It was BY FAR the most entertaining show of the night. Very straight-forward jazz. Holy hornline and holy drumline. Guard...no expert on so I don't know. Not a fan of all the lower leg stuff going on at every given opportunity and not a fan of the tapered-off show ending. But overall it was great and got a huge crowd response.

Spirit: Neck and neck with Colts in scores but I personally dig their show much more. Nice screamer trumpets. Similar to Blue Stars, I enjoyed the show. It caught me at points, but overall not much memorable about it. Just a nice, solid program but nothing that blew me away.

Now....on to Atlanta. Can't wait.

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My two cents from Opelika...take it for what it's worth as it's only my opinion.

Location: Great stadium for drum corps. No track, field turf, fans on top of the action. Downfall... it's basically in Auburn.

FIFY.

Roll Tide. :tounge2:

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I agree Blue Stars will beat them in colorguard, just not by as wide margin that they have in the past.

I'd also expect the edits to help close some gaps in GE at least a little bit.

Good call.

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FIFY.

Roll Tide. :tounge2:

Spoken like a true Bammertard. Ha ha. Much better than Tuscalooser

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First of all let me apologize for the pictures I took not downloading. I was trying something new. I know what mistake I made. So I am sorry if a corps got missed.

Opelika was a great environment. I would say a full house of very energetic, vocal, and just appreciative of all the corps. Each corps was enthusiastically cheered by the crowd. One group had signs made for all the corps. As their pits set up the crowd would start chanting their corps names. Smiles on the members faces as they did this only fueled their performance. The audience is right on top of the performers which only made the experience more intimate. Standing ovations were common.

Pioneer- If they could just get as many horns as percussion and pit. Very upbeat show with music that was very recognizable and a theme that went well with the bible belt audience. Better color guard than in the past.

Mandarins- Large corps. Was a little surprised their sound was a little on the low size considering their size. The narrator sounds like the narrator they had in last years show. Sometimes I forgot what the show theme was until the narrator came back on to remind us.

Colts- First big sound of the night. Seeing this show live, I got it. The narrator didn't bother me at all. Visually the show is great. Lack of actual playing by the horn line was the only negative. They will keep pulling away from Spirit.

Blue Stars- What a guard and horn line. I personally enjoyed them better than Madison. I do think they have to much clutter on the field and could tone it down. The show is very audience friendly with great impact moments that got the crowd excited. I could see them as high as 9th.

Madison Scouts- Everyone know Madison's reputation and were expecting an in your face show and they did not disappoint. Loudest horn line with a very good guard. Screaming solos were stellar. Not a clear theme but good music and maybe a little old school with a modern day twist.

Spirit- Hmm. The were met with an enthusiastic ovation and the crowd kept it up through out their show. I have been highly critical of them. First time I have seen them live and they were better than what I thought they would be. They still have problems. They finally got rid of those tree branch flag poles and use regular ones in the opener. The work the guard does is very subdued compared to at least 4 corps ahead of them. Where was the sound Spirit? Opening impact was on the tepid side. Ending is flat. I think they realize the show is what it is and the content level is not up to a finals and dare I say a semi finals show. I see them as far 18th or 19th with a couple of open class ahead of them. OC will surpass them in ATL, maybe even Academy.

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