Denton TX Duelings

[Musicman1084]

Wannabee???? Or Hasbeen????

Obviously not the one busting your hump in the heat day after day

Person A: Makes a very valid point.

Person B: How dare you bring up a valid point that happens to be critical of something I show bias towards.

DCP at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Musicman1084

[Liahona]

there are rules in place to prevent ties

I thought those rules have since been rescinded...

[skevinp]

I thought those rules have since been rescinded...

I thought so too. And hope so. It was a horrible idea.

[mboogey73]

I could not agree more.

I think BD and Crown will battle for the top brass trophy come finals.

I think BD and Bloo will battle for the top percussion trophy come finals.

I think BD and Crown will battle for the top color guard trophy come finals.

I think BD and Bloo will battle for the top GE in music trophy come finals.

I think BD and Crown will battle for the top GE visual trophy come finals.

All in all, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd placements will be determine by the margins on each caption, but I do think the top 3 will be within .6 of each other.

What I think will happen on finals night: BD/Crown tie.

What I want to happen on finals night: Crown wins by .6

Wouldn't argue with any of those points, although clearly I would prefer the last one not come to fruition. Lol.

The music caption is fascinating this year. Crowns percussion and Coats brass are performing at a highler level this season and it's making the three way race very tight. Prior to this season, both those sections would typically place 4th or 5th if all the top corps were in attendance.

Edited July 22, 2016 by mboogey73

[jwillis35]

Thanks. Regarding Bluecoats use of space: I hadn't seen the shows from high camera before last night, and it was eye opening. Bluecoats are doing things from a compositional standpoint that beautifully reflect the music, and the approach more resembles a stage show than a marching band production. It's not theatrical, like Blue Devils, but it has a lot of the feel of a Blast or similar. Not surprising, as key individuals on their staff were also part of Blast.

I specifically noticed their emphasis on entrances and exits. When the horns, more than once, do the double-file follow-the-leaders around the perimeter, it reminds me of going off into the stage wings to prepare to enter for the next scene. As soon as they start to visually diminish, there is a different focal point which becomes very clear, such as the guard on the slides, etc. They also create entrances and exits over the tops of the slides numerous times and in a variety of ways. Sometimes straight ahead, other times from the sides.

The result of all this is fantastic clarity of focus. I rarely felt there were any parts competing for attention. If you were looking at one area, whatever else was also happening on the field at the same time was designed to be filler. What first grabbed your attention was where you were supposed to look. Specifically the section where they have the slides like a "half pipe", with numerous members kind of trickling from back to front, up and down the slides. That is so well constructed and sort of reminds me of a pachinko machine. Just as the bulk of the people moving forward approaches the front, they are joined by more members that sort of bleed in too increase the mass.

Another great entrance is the guards introduction of silks into the ballad. They essentially "diffuse" from the front sideline back. It's like dropping food color into clear water in the way it moves back into the white.

The whole composition is so well balanced, but also really interesting and unusual when compared to their direct competition. It's all punctuated by the magenta slides, and when they move them, their motion always works with the overal picture. Also the guard is practically never in the usual toolbox of forms that have become standard: arcs, spread blocks overlaying something else, etc, etc. Instead they are in mass forms a lot, but very compact mass forms, so they are part of the overall picture, but never act as a frame or filler for it. It may be because the slides are so visually dominant, that the guard needed to be smaller chunks of color to work with them, rather than compete, which would become cluttered.

Just great stuff.

THIS.

A great post about the Bluecoats visual construction.

[N.E. Brigand]

There are rules in place to prevent ties.

We discovered in 2012, I believe, that DCI had voted a few years earlier that ties once again were permitted--but had never told anyone, or at least had buried that news.

[N.E. Brigand]

The result of all this is fantastic clarity of focus. I rarely felt there were any parts competing for attention. If you were looking at one area, whatever else was also happening on the field at the same time was designed to be filler. What first grabbed your attention was where you were supposed to look. Specifically the section where they have the slides like a "half pipe", with numerous members kind of trickling from back to front, up and down the slides. That is so well constructed and sort of reminds me of a pachinko machine. Just as the bulk of the people moving forward approaches the front, they are joined by more members that sort of bleed in too increase the mass.

Great post!

About this point in particular, I'm surprised no one yet seems to have observed how this section in Bluecoats show echoes the section in Cadets show last year when the "Ten" platforms were aligned from the front to the back of the field to form an aisle, and each of them was lifted so as to tilt like a ramp with the bottom in that aisle, and a musician slalomed back and forth down the aisle just like Bloo is doing this year.

[Eleran]

I'm surprised no one yet seems to have observed how this section in Bluecoats show echoes the section in Cadets show last year when the "Ten" platforms were aligned from the front to the back of the field to form an aisle, and each of them was lifted so as to tilt like a ramp with the bottom in that aisle, and a musician slalomed back and forth down the aisle just like Bloo is doing this year.

It's also similar to the opening obstacle on American Ninja Warrior:

Just as the ending is similar to the end of the course:

[brassboy]

The very first time I saw Bluecoats' 2016 show (it was a rehearsal run-through posted on YouTube), my immediate thought was, "Someone on that design staff has been indulging in a lot of Ninja Warrior."

It's also similar to the opening obstacle on American Ninja Warrior:

Just as the ending is similar to the end of the course:

[NakedEye]

Great post!

About this point in particular, I'm surprised no one yet seems to have observed how this section in Bluecoats show echoes the section in Cadets show last year when the "Ten" platforms were aligned from the front to the back of the field to form an aisle, and each of them was lifted so as to tilt like a ramp with the bottom in that aisle, and a musician slalomed back and forth down the aisle just like Bloo is doing this year.

Thanks! I almost made that association on my Lakeland review, but it was already so long that I left it out. Notice how much more effective that similar idea is with Bluecoats presentation. When Cadets did it, I desperately wanted the two guys who were weaving their ways through to carry a flag or something to make them more visible. They were in black and the horns where all in the same compressed space in black, so you had to fight to see them and it minimized a lot of the impact. Also I think they originally had one, but eventually had two, going in opposite directions, so you had to pick which one to focus on.

I find it interesting to watch the shows where you can see they paid great attention to clarity, becuase it makes such a huge difference in how well the program works.