2000Cadet Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Exactly, TimK. It's way too early in the season to be worried about who leapfrogs who on what night and how close the scores are. It's much more interesting watching the performers progress while the designers add all the bells and whistles. (Just an opinion, obvs.) To you maybe. I like worrying about who leapfrogs. That's part of the thrill of the competition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStainGlass Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Just got home. Hope people enjoyed the snippets on scope. Great night overall especially seeing my home team kill it live. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nero14 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I was there - just finished review - posting .... Now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStainGlass Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 my review All drum corps is great stop worrying about stuff and enjoy the ride for 1 and a half more months. This is going to be one hell of a season so buckle up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anstig Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Nice cavaliers tie cadets in brass acheivement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 It's June 20th. If people don't "get" a corps' concept it's probably because the production isn't complete! . . . Give them some time. Unfortunately, most of the audience sees a show just once and therefore can't comply with your directive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Why does a person have to "get" a show? Can't we just enjoy (or not) the music and visual that goes with it? It depends on the show. I brought four young colleagues from the theatre where I work. One of them asked as Blue Stars were setting up: what was the carpet for? I said I couldn't remember from the cinema showing. (It turned out to be for the contortionist.) Another said she hoped it would be used in some way, and she cited Chekov's famous theatre maxim: if a revolver appears in a play's first act, it has to be used by the play's third act. So in the case of Boston tonight, besides simply having a rough performance, there were all these poles on wheeled stands that kept getting moved around. Presumably they're supposed to feature the emblems of different warring camps, but tonight they all looked identical. The audience was being presented with a mystery that was never resolved. I understand that BAC wanted the experience of performing the prop movements that they'll have to make all season, but from the audience's perspective, it would have been better not to have the stands there at all. In fact, after BAC performed, one of my coworkers, after asking what the wheeled poles were all about and hearing my best guess, said, "Will the judges score them lower for that not being clear?" She'd never been to a drum corps show before tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) A few quick notes before I have to log out for about three weeks (leaving for a backpacking trip Wednesday and have to get a lot done before that). I brought four "apprentices", each just a year or two out of college, who've been working and learning at our theatre for the past ten months. Two had never seen a drum corps before, one had some WGI experience (mallet percussion) in Colorado, and one marched Jersey Surf in 2010. I asked them before the scores were announced whose show they enjoyed the most. Two said Crown, one said Blue Stars, and one couldn't decide between those two corps. (Crown was also my favorite tonight, but I withheld giving my answer until they spoke so as not to risk swaying theirs.) They respected the proficiency of Cadets and Bluecoats, but felt that the Cadets' theme wasn't very interesting and questioned whether Bluecoats' use of electronics was entirely fair or comparable. The placements and scores seem entirely reasonable to me (although it's a bit frustrating that these seven corps therefore are in the same order they were at the end of last season). Any of the top three could eventually win it all (as apparently could two California corps). Every corps has a lot to clean, even Crown. I believe Crown only had four bass drums on Wednesday--is that right? Tonight they had five for the opener, and then one of them (the second largest--is that "bass 4"?) moved to the back sideline. The "Abandon All Hope" banner had a small problem: one of the poles that lifts it overhead came loose, so that guard member had to pull it by hand, which made it droop at that point. Most of the audience didn't notice. One of my guests posted a picture of that banner to her Facebook page, and one of her college English professors in response wrote, "That is a very literary marching band." Another of my guests tweeted and then said, "Wow. Carolina Crown just liked my post." Bluecoats seemed less revolutionary live than they had in the cinema showing. Of course, it was my second viewing. My second favorite performance of the evening. Cadets' bass synthesizer was not overwhelming at all. I don't like this show as much now as I did when I saw their 2013 show in Akron. Right now it seems frantic and somewhat disjointed; I expect as they grow into it, they can bring it alive. This live viewing confirmed one thing I felt in the theater: the green 0/1 boxes need a better look. The wrinkles in the wrap appear messy even from 35 rows back. And their surface is also too shiny, reflecting the lights so that depending on placement, the top surface just washes out from a viewer's perspective. They probably should just paint the boxes (and with flat paints). Cavaliers were much more enjoyable here than onscreen. Edited to add: They had mic trouble for the trombone feature, which I could barely hear. Blue Stars will be solidly in Finals. As with Cavaliers, it felt like the camera work on Wednesday did them a disservice by focusing too much on the wrong details. Boston had a rough start, I think. "Animal Farm" last year was more interesting to me at this point. This one will probably clean better, though. After they played, my guests asked me if all corps feature female vocalists. Troopers give an awful long time over to that singer. She gets more featured time than most brass soloists ever do. Still, a more than pleasant way to start the evening. Edited June 21, 2015 by N.E. Brigand 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Local radar shows the rain retreating to the east, setting up a nice 70+ degree night for drum corps. I'll be there in my turquoise SCV horn line shirt. Not sure where I'll be sitting yet since I still need to buy my ticket, so if anyone has one to save me the wait in the line, drop me a note. It's drum corps night in Ohio! Thanks for saying hello! It was really nice meeting you. (Although I was mistaken when I said I'd met just one other DCP member before you. Besides meeting Michael Boo when a band he's in played at a Tolkien conference, I've also met Fran Haring at DCA Finals.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStainGlass Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 A few quick notes before I have to log out for about three weeks (leaving for a backpacking trip Wednesday and have to get a lot done before that). I brought four "apprentices", each just a year or two out of college, who've been working and learning at our theatre for the past ten months. Two had never seen a drum corps before, one had some WGI experience (mallet percussion) in Colorado, and one marched Jersey Surf in 2010. I asked them before the scores were announced whose show they enjoyed the most. Two said Crown, one said Blue Stars, and one couldn't decide between those two corps. (Crown was also my favorite tonight, but I withheld giving my answer until they spoke so as not to risk swaying theirs.) They respected the proficiency of Cadets and Bluecoats, but felt that the Cadets' theme wasn't very interesting and questioned whether Bluecoats' use of electronics was entirely fair or comparable. The placements and scores seem entirely reasonable to me (although it's a bit frustrating that these seven corps therefore are in the same order they were at the end of last season). Any of the top three could eventually win it all (as apparently could two California corps). Every corps has a lot to clean, even Crown. I believe Crown only had four bass drums on Wednesday--is that right? Tonight they had five for the opener, and then one of them (the second largest--is that "bass 4"?) moved to the back sideline. The "Abandon All Hope" banner had a small problem: one of the poles that lifts it overhead came loose, so that guard member had to pull it by hand, which made it droop at that point. Most of the audience didn't notice. One of my guests posted a picture of that banner to her Facebook page, and one of her college English professors in response wrote, "That is a very literary marching band." Another of my guests tweeted and then said, "Wow. Carolina Crown just liked my post." Bluecoats seemed less revolutionary live than they had in the cinema showing. Of course, it was my second viewing. My second favorite performance of the evening. Cadets' bass synthesizer was not overwhelming at all. I don't like this show as much now as I did when I saw their 2013 show in Akron. Right now it seems frantic and somewhat disjointed; I expect as they grow into it, they can bring it alive. This live viewing confirmed one thing I felt in the theater: the green 0/1 boxes need a better look. The wrinkles in the wrap appear messy even from 35 rows back. And their surface is also too shiny, reflecting the lights so that depending on placement, the top surface just washes out from a viewer's perspective. They probably should just paint the boxes (and with flat paints). Cavaliers were much more enjoyable here than onscreen. Blue Stars will be solidly in Finals. As with Cavaliers, it felt like the camera work on Wednesday did them a disservice by focusing too much on the wrong details. Boston had a rough start, I think. "Animal Farm" last year was more interesting to me at this point. This one will probably clean better, though. After they played, my guests asked me if all corps feature female vocalists. Troopers give an awful long time over to that singer. She gets more featured time than most brass soloists ever do. Still, a more than pleasant way to start the evening. My brother knows the bass tech and talked to him today. He just got there Monday and only knows about a minute of the show and a couple warmups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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