Roughin' It at Rutgers

[theCHEZman]

Great show. I agree with placements except Crown should have been over SCV. BD are in a league of their own but I question that gap tonight. They are fantastic but so are the Cadets and Bloo. Cadets energy level much better than before changes and Bloo is just fantastic but man they rely a bit much on electronics but still I really think they're great. I thought Crown was better than SCV, who's show I found boring. (Sorry). Nothing outstanding to me but the percussion. I also thought Cavies were great and would should have been closer to SCV. Phantom was beautiful and I thought their brass was vastly improved. Some great lower brass fullness. I know there are many homers here self included, but watching these corps tonight, there is such fantastic corps in the top few this season.

Edited August 1, 2014 by theCHEZman

[N.E. Brigand]

I'm sure they're going for equivalent quality.

So if Bloo's designers were asked and inclined to be honest, they'd say, "Yeah, if only we'd thought of including _____ in our show, we'd be scoring higher. But we didn't. BD did, and that's why their GE is higher than ours."

In which case, what's the "_____"? Now, I understand that different shows will need different "_____", so it's not that "Tilt" needs a guard who plays tambourines. Instead, "Tilt" needs--if tambourine-playing guard is one of those things that elevates BD's GE score, and I don't know that it is--an element that both fits "Tilt" and adds the whatness that those guarded tambourines add. But what is that whatness? What are the GE qualities that the corps have told judges to look, that they are finding in BD's show?

Or is it just too hard to put into words--are the judges just feeling it? (And I don't mean that in a bad way.) Is BD's design advantage really that they're consistently only slightly better than the next-best corps in all areas? I notice that in almost every content subcaption, that the second-highest corps is only one or two tenths--which means just five-hundredths to one-tenth in the performance captions--behind BD, or in one case tied:

GE1 -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 96

GE2 -- Blue Devils 98 -- Bluecoats 97

VP -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 97

VA -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 96

CG -- Blue Devils 97 -- Cadets/Carolina Crown 95

MB -- Blue Devils 97 -- Carolina Crown 97

MA -- Blue Devils 97 -- Cadets 95

MP -- Blue Devils 98 -- Santa Clara Vanguard 97

What is the difference between BD's 98 and SCV's 97 in the percussion content subcaption? One extra run in the marimbas? Something so ineffable the judge couldn't really name it but through years of experience knows it's there?

And then because no one other corps is consistently in that "almost" position, BD accumulates a lead. Maybe, because so many other corps are doing so well in their special areas, BD's being slightly better becomes a very high number indeed compared to the field as a whole.

[Jeff Ream]

Just delayed start of show ten minutes to get crowd into stands

Back up at parking and gates

Looks packed between the fives. Big walk up crowd.

traffic logistics were getting pounded on Facebook. it seems maybe things werent planned well

[jmc5682]

My son is in Crown's hornline and he said their chops were pounded today and Albert happened to be in the wrong spot at the right time and intonation was an issue clearly heard on judges recording.

Of course it could not be that BD (who has only been down to Crown in brass a few tenths all season) just has a better horn line at this point in the season. I realize the next time the two corps are in competition BD may be down a few tenths to Crown in brass again, but I hate it when people say we had a bad night and don't give credit to the corps that beat them.

Edited August 1, 2014 by jmc5682

[jjeffeory]

So if Bloo's designers were asked and inclined to be honest, they'd say, "Yeah, if only we'd thought of including _____ in our show, we'd be scoring higher. But we didn't. BD did, and that's why their GE is higher than ours."

In which case, what's the "_____"? Now, I understand that different shows will need different "_____", so it's not that "Tilt" needs a guard who plays tambourines. Instead, "Tilt" needs--if tambourine-playing guard is one of those things that elevates BD's GE score, and I don't know that it is--an element that both fits "Tilt" and adds the whatness that those guarded tambourines add. But what is that whatness? What are the GE qualities that the corps have told judges to look, that they are finding in BD's show?

Or is it just too hard to put into words--are the judges just feeling it? (And I don't mean that in a bad way.) Is BD's design advantage really that they're consistently only slightly better than the next-best corps in all areas? I notice that in almost every content subcaption, that the second-highest corps is only one or two tenths--which means just five-hundredths to one-tenth in the performance captions--behind BD, or in one case tied:

GE1 -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 96

GE2 -- Blue Devils 98 -- Bluecoats 97

VP -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 97

VA -- Blue Devils 98 -- Cadets 96

CG -- Blue Devils 97 -- Cadets/Carolina Crown 95

MB -- Blue Devils 97 -- Carolina Crown 97

MA -- Blue Devils 97 -- Cadets 95

MP -- Blue Devils 98 -- Santa Clara Vanguard 97

What is the difference between BD's 98 and SCV's 97 in the percussion content subcaption? One extra run in the marimbas? Something so ineffable the judge couldn't really name it but through years of experience knows it's there?

And then because no one other corps is consistently in that "almost" position, BD accumulates a lead. Maybe, because so many other corps are doing so well in their special areas, BD's being slightly better becomes a very high number indeed compared to the field as a whole.

I totally agree with you, but I'm trying to keep from "being corrected" and yelled at on here by some experts. Musically, they don't stay on one skill, they go down a list of skills and they do it cleanly. They also have a bunch of small ensemble stuff where the most difficult things are performed by a smaller group and supported by the larger hornline. Their "style" I feel is harmonic variety. Also, they play very well like everyone else which when that's all put together score points. Visually, what they do is different than what is traditional. It is centered around the individual, small groups, and staging, which very much complements how they are taught basics. They're not as focused on big drill moments with velocity, but the shows may display that skill for a small period of time and then they go back to showing off the impeccable individual technique and have lots of different things going on at one time.

I feel it's easier to judge and find mistakes from member to member with the big drill moments than it is to judge a bunch of people during so many different things at once. All you can really judge is technique. With big drill moments, you can judge the technique, the uniformity from member to member, and the form.

The guard being really REALLY good helps too.

Also, the drums being really good puts the nail in the coffin.

Anyway, that's just a few ideas I have. I'm sure someone will disagree and explain better, and anyone else has any specific input it would be interesting to hear.

Edited August 1, 2014 by jjeffeory

[skevinp]

Of course it could not be that BD (who has only been down to Crown in brass a few tenths all season) just has a better horn line at this point in the season. I realize the next time the two corps are in competition BD may be down a few tenths to Crown in brass again, but I hate it when people say we had a bad night and don't give credit to the corps that beat them.

Oh for god's sake.

[DCImonkey]

Of course it could not be that BD (who has only been down to Crown in brass a few tenths all season) just has a better horn line at this point in the season. I realize the next time the two corps are in competition BD may be down a few tenths to Crown in brass again, but I hate it when people say we had a bad night and don't give credit to the corps that beat them.

Of course it could not be that BD (who has only been down to Crown in brass a few tenths all season) just has a better horn line at this point in the season. I realize the next time the two corps are in competition BD may be down a few tenths to Crown in brass again, but I hate it when people say we had a bad night and don't give credit to the corps that beat them.

CORRECTION CORRECTION!!!! lol .....ahh well I'm sure Crown won't mind if the brass caption goes somewhere else for a night. That Ott is coming back to Ft. Mill next week though.

[George Dixon]

I knew going in looking at the panel of judges the way the night was probably going to go, but dear god did the bluecoats get screwed. And I'm no bluecoats homer. I will just leave it at that.

[brichtimp]

I knew going in looking at the panel of judges the way the night was probably going to go, but dear god did the bluecoats get screwed. And I'm no bluecoats homer. I will just leave it at that.

Interesting, and I also found it eye opening that the Cadets percussion went down .7 from Thursday to Friday..19.3 to 18.6.....different caption judge each night, and BD is still on another planet, but really??

[chris ncsu]

I haven't done this for the other top corps, but IF the judging panel tonight had all given Bluecoats their high score in each caption that they've received in shows the last 3 days (including tonight) they would have a score of 95.5 Tonight they DID have their highest score in 4 captions. Two captions were considerably lower than earlier in the week.

I make this point just to say it will still all come down to who is on the judging panel finals night.....except, most likely, for BD.

Would like to see how this would work out for the other corps, but I'm not doing all the math...feel free if you want :-)

By that same logic, I think The Cadets would score 95.65, still 2nd Your math includes the WV show where Coats had no competition.

In any case, this is clearly BD's year, undefeated and could win all captions if the performance and judges are just right. Everyone else is just looking on.