Too Many Tosses!

[Precious Roy]

Personally, I feel bad taste is achieved when the viewer has succumbed to sensory overload from so much stuff in the air that they can't remember any other specific moment from the show.

My wife (a DCI fan by marriage), who has adult ADD, has a much lower threshold to sensory overload than I do. She can't stand the windmills in BAC's show, especially when they are positioned near the front and start moving. They just take her attention, and she can't get away from them.

She can handle rifle tosses much more easily (especially unison or sequential).

[DCI-86]

It was me that posted the original comment that started this thread. Whether you like it or not, BD had the best variety and range in their movement and equipment book in guard. They are also staged amazingly well and they show a skill once and move on to the next. Other teams, whilst amazingly clean and well trained, just don't have the same range and variety. Until they do, BD will keep winning guard. Watch a show and just watch the movement (A significant part of the caption) and see how much range BD has. That's why the keep winning.

[va9590jm]

My wife (a DCI fan by marriage), who has adult ADD, has a much lower threshold to sensory overload than I do. She can't stand the windmills in BAC's show, especially when they are positioned near the front and start moving. They just take her attention, and she can't get away from them.

She can handle rifle tosses much more easily (especially unison or sequential).

Even a number of us who have been around the activity a long time can't get past BAC's windmills. Those things have gotta change if they want to not be on the threshold of not making finals!

[corpsband]

It was me that posted the original comment that started this thread. Whether you like it or not, BD had the best variety and range in their movement and equipment book in guard. They are also staged amazingly well and they show a skill once and move on to the next. Other teams, whilst amazingly clean and well trained, just don't have the same range and variety. Until they do, BD will keep winning guard. Watch a show and just watch the movement (A significant part of the caption) and see how much range BD has. That's why the keep winning.

if range is defined as bad rhythmic gymnastics skills i agree with you.

otherwise any objective observer can see that the range of movement training in Crown's guard is equal to BD. additionally those skills are often observed when they're manipulating equipment. you know -- you can move while there's equipment in your hands.

this theory that "i only need to show a skill once" is this biggest load of hogwash ever foisted in the marching arts. and everyone quietly goes along with it. it's like telling the brass -- ok you played a Bb. you don't need anymore of that note. it's the combination and variations of skills that prove mastery -- not a single instance. broken clocks, etc...

BD used to exceed Crown in performer presence and projection. But that difference no longer applies and hasn't for quite some time.

I agree they "play the game" exceedingly well but the game is not being played on the field or by the performers.

</soapbox>

sorry for the rant. i feel better now.

Edited July 5, 2016 by corpsband

[N.E. Brigand]

It was me that posted the original comment that started this thread. Whether you like it or not, BD had the best variety and range in their movement and equipment book in guard. They are also staged amazingly well and they show a skill once and move on to the next. Other teams, whilst amazingly clean and well trained, just don't have the same range and variety. Until they do, BD will keep winning guard. Watch a show and just watch the movement (a significant part of the caption) and see how much range BD has. That's why they keep winning.

If this is about last year, then while it's true that the judges thought BD's guard was the best, they certainly weren't seen as being in a class by themselves. Crown's guard beat BD's guard at the San Antonio, Atlanta, and Allentown regionals (the last admittedly on different nights, but with the same judge), and in the championships, BD edged out Crown for the Zingali by a difference of just one-tenth of a point over three days:

Prelims

19.2 Carolina Crown

19.0 Blue Devils

18.8 Bluecoats

Semis

19.4 Blue Devils

19.3 Carolina Crown

19.0 Bluecoats

Finals

19.7 Blue Devils

19.5 Carolina Crown

19.3 Bluecoats

BD won when it counts, but obviously the two guards were very, very close in quality.

Edited July 5, 2016 by N.E. Brigand

[Cappybara]

if range is defined as bad rhythmic gymnastics skills i agree with you.

otherwise any objective observer can see that the range of movement training in Crown's guard is equal to BD. additionally those skills are often observed when they're manipulating equipment. you know -- you can move while there's equipment in your hands.

this theory that "i only need to show a skill once" is this biggest load of hogwash ever foisted in the marching arts. and everyone quietly goes along with it. it's like telling the brass -- ok you played a Bb. you don't need anymore of that note. it's the combination and variations of skills that prove mastery -- not a single instance. broken clocks, etc...

BD used to exceed Crown in performer presence and projection. But that difference no longer applies and hasn't for quite some time.

I agree they "play the game" exceedingly well but the game is not being played on the field or by the performers.

Asking for objectivity in an inherently subjective activity.. especially in guard where the only thing that can even be "measured" is dropped tosses

[chaddyt]

if range is defined as bad rhythmic gymnastics skills i agree with you.

otherwise any objective observer can see that the range of movement training in Crown's guard is equal to BD. additionally those skills are often observed when they're manipulating equipment. you know -- you can move while there's equipment in your hands.

this theory that "i only need to show a skill once" is this biggest load of hogwash ever foisted in the marching arts. and everyone quietly goes along with it. it's like telling the brass -- ok you played a Bb. you don't need anymore of that note. it's the combination and variations of skills that prove mastery -- not a single instance. broken clocks, etc...

BD used to exceed Crown in performer presence and projection. But that difference no longer applies and hasn't for quite some time.

I agree they "play the game" exceedingly well but the game is not being played on the field or by the performers.

</soapbox>

sorry for the rant. i feel better now.

Another insinuation that something untoward is happening behind the scenes.

[corpsband]

Asking for objectivity in an inherently subjective activity.. especially in guard where the only thing that can even be "measured" is dropped tosses

not so at all. find and listen to a quality judge give an equipment or movement tape in WGI.

you will be shocked at the level detail they're able to discern.

pm if you cant find -- check soundcloud.

Edited July 5, 2016 by corpsband

[Cappybara]

not so at all. find and listen to a quality judge give an equipment or movement tape in WGI.

you will be shocked at the level detail they're able to discern.

pm if you cant find -- check soundcloud.

And how much of this is actually objective. Please keep in mind I use this word with a very scientific definition behind it. If there is no empirical way to judge what constitutes a score of 8 vs a score of 9, it is not objective.

[corpsband]

And how much of this is actually objective. Please keep in mind I use this word with a very scientific definition behind it. If there is no empirical way to judge what constitutes a score of 8 vs a score of 9, it is not objective.

again -- you'll be amazed.