Minneapolis Musings

[ajlemm]

Or tie, and we'll have 13 corps at Finals!

[Northern Thunder]

Have to give a shoutout to Pioneer. They were awesome today.

They had a nice live presence in the stadium yesterday!

[jwillis35]

Academy is soooooo lit this year. But let's be honest they're gonna have to take out BAC

I think Academy beats Boston, and before finals week. Much better design and I believe Academy can compete in performance captions as well.

[jwillis35]

My favorites from last night:

1. Santa Clara Vanguard - Could be top 4
2. Phantom Regiment - Sitting in 7th (theoretically) and potentially, with the right modifications, could jump into the 6th spot. They have the talent. Guard and Brass are WOW!
3. Blue Stars - Best show yet from Blue Stars if you ask me (or right there with some of their best). Loved it all, especially the drill. Music is fab as well. Bravo!!
4. Academy - These guys are built for a top 12 run. It will be tough but I like their chances. Such a great show.
5. Colts - One of the best Colts shows yet. I have long loved many of their shows. This show is killer good, exciting, and they expose all their talents. Would love to see this contend for top 12 as well.

Also liked Pacific Crest, Mandarins.

Least Favorites:

1. Blue Knights - It's a subtle show with lots of nuance, but it doesn't appeal to me and I feel the show lacks an emotional connection and also GE. Great performers.
2. The Cavaliers - Well thought out show and they are performing it well, but I am not into the Propoganda theme and feel their GE can only go so far.
3. Troopers - Always love the Troopers, and this show has it's moments. It simply lacks the high moments you come to expect from Troop. They have a lot to clean. Thought they looked very sloppy for mid July.
4. Madison Scouts - Always love the Scouts, too, but this show is missing the sweet spot. Some of the musical arrangements are just choppy and don't hold your attention, other sections are fine. The guard work is strange and I'm not sold on their use of props. I feel they do nothing for GE or audience excitement.
5. Oregon Crusaders - Love the opening of this show. Fabulous vocals. But ultimately the show loses my right after that. They are a talented corps with an average show and below average GE.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

Exactly. If there's one word to describe my gripes with modern show design as compared to that of 15-25 years ago, it's that. It's always a treat to see designs that avoid that trap.

It's like the compulsories in ice skating, where everybody has to do the same list of tricks. DCI has gotten to the point where they might as well all do the same show and just see who does it best.

[kdaddy]

Then DCI went hi-tech with 1(900)CAN-DRUM, or I could call the Phantom Regiment Scoreline (aka some volunteer's home answering machine. They would get a call by payphone from someone on staff after the show, and they would record a message on their outgoing tape with that night's scores.) I remember calling over and over until I no longer got a busy signal, and writing the scores down on un-punched IBM punchcards (my dad worked for IBM, so we used punchcards the way people use post-it notes now) so my parents could see the scores when they got up in the morning. Now we frequently get the scores before they are announced in the stadium! Now that's progress!

I love this

[PricklyPear]

I know this post is going to get me in to trouble, but... all this talk about the Troopers high demand? I just don't see it.

To me, it looked like a band show. Slow. Standing around. Easy block drills. Definitely a big step backwards from last year. I was very disappointed.

I would not be surprised to see them fall behind Colts by Allentown. Sorry. That's just the way I see it.

[2muchcoffeeman]

The way you see it is the way you see it. You won't get in trouble for that. But here is a fact:

The team that designed the visual program for 2016 also designed the visual program for 2015. And 2014. And 2013.

That team is on record as saying the 2016 visual program is the most demanding of the four years, and that the year-to-year increase in demand and sophistication is intentionally planned. If that is true, then 2016 very likely is the most demanding start-to-finish visual program the Troopers have ever attempted.

Now, I may be a homer, I may be naiive, I may be a rube, I may not know my left foot from my right, but when an experienced professional design staff that includes a member of the DCI Hall of Fame says they have given their students the most challenging visual program since they were hired, I tend to give their statements some credence.

And that's what got me mystified about the stagnation of scoring, especially in visual and GE. Unless you're going to argue that the students have become younger (they haven't; the opposite is true) or less capable visual performers from year to year, you're left with only a few options when trying to explain the scores:

1. It's just plain poor show design -- lots of difficulty put toward ineffective purpose

2. it's too difficult -- the designers have raised the bar too quickly on the students

3. it takes longer to clean and perform at the highest levels, and the reward will come when the students are able to clear the bar

Edited July 17, 2016 by 2muchcoffeeman

[BRASSO]

My favorites from last night:

1. Santa Clara Vanguard - Could be top 4
2. Phantom Regiment - Sitting in 7th (theoretically) and potentially, with the right modifications, could jump into the 6th spot. They have the talent. Guard and Brass are WOW!

Wow.. these were my 2 favorites ( in the same order too ), in this Minneapolis show last nite.

[RedJazz1900]

The way you see it is the way you see it. You won't get in trouble for that. But here is a fact:

The team that designed the visual program for 2016 also designed the visual program for 2015. And 2014. And 2013.

That team is on record as saying the 2016 visual program is the most demanding of the four years, and that the year-to-year increase in demand and sophistication is intentionally planned. If that is true, then 2016 very likely is the most demanding start-to-finish visual program the Troopers have ever attempted.

Now, I may be a homer, I may be naiive, I may be a rube, I may not know my left foot from my right, but when an experienced professional design staff that includes a member of the DCI Hall of Fame says they have given their students the most challenging visual program since they were hired, I tend to give their statements some credence.

And that's what got me mystified about the stagnation of scoring, especially in visual and GE. Unless you're going to argue that the students have become younger (they haven't; the opposite is true) or less capable visual performers from year to year, you're left with only a few options when trying to explain the scores:

1. It's just plain poor show design -- lots of difficulty put toward ineffective purpose

2. it's too difficult -- the designers have raised the bar too quickly on the students

3. it takes longer to clean and perform at the highest levels, and the reward will come when the students are able to clear the bar

After the webcast last night, I think it has everything to do with inconsistencies in performance and execution. I saw a lot of little issues that, when added up, make it hard to give a higher number, even when a lot of other things are really good.

I also want to warn you: higher demand does not automatically equal higher score.