xandandl Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Totally agreed. Band aids on top of band aids, when heart surgery is required. Well with these staff announcements it sounds like a transplant is in the works. Have an open mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Well with these staff announcements it sounds like a transplant is in the works. Have an open mind. Good point. If we could predict the future, we'd all be picking the winning lottery numbers. LOL. We will all find out in due time if the staff changes... for Cadets, or any corps... will work out as planned/hoped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Well with these staff announcements it sounds like a transplant is in the works. Have an open mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tobias Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Sal is program coordinator, not the drill writer. Just adding his experience in color guard (he's a respected national judge for WGI including their weeks in Dayton) in addition to the color he has brought to Madison, Glassmen, and SCV programs will be a big boost to Cadets over the past two seasons. Us oldtimers still remember Stan Earnhart's development of h.s. bands on L.I. in Mineola, Floral Park, and Sewanaka among others. The younger Jeremy Earnhart brought some interesting takes to Phantom including again energy and color. And of course, NASCAR fans know that Earnhart is a name that knows a bit about velocity, and success, ha, ha. I for one have a better hope for 2017 than I had previously. What the corps' personality will be is yet to be seen. But 2 things should be noted: With Tom Aungst, Drew Shanefield, Michael Terry, and Nate Holland on staff, there is an attempt to reach deep into Cadets' roots and its legacy of excellence. With Sal Salas and Dr. Earnhart, there is the admission of GH that the design activity has moved beyond him and that new perspectives and eyes will best aid the Cadets. I will be offering my prayers, best wishes, and hopes as the design team meets this weekend to scope out 2017. Please join me in those intentions. I think you summed it up best. There's a good mixture of strong ties to the rich Cadet history with Tom, young energy with alumni Like Mike Terry and someone with strong understanding of WGI, guard and very experienced with Sal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tobias Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Considering how the guard fared for the past few years, I consider 2016 an improvement despite the poor show design. I'm optimistic we will see more gains. I agree we need to go back to the corps' colors though I am unsure we should go back to a strictly West Point look if there is going to be an emphasis on body movement. Regrettably, the traditional uni just does not look good in that respect. I want to see the marching style to revert back as well. It just looks too good to abandon it. The drill in 2016 was muddled at best. Actually, it was worse than that. Except for a few fleeting moments, it was, in the words of Charles barkley, turribul. With all the changes, there was no way the MMs were going to be able to perfect it. By the end of the season, I just think they were sick of it. I am stoked for the drumming. Colin's writing is fantastic, but Tom knows how to make a battery FUN to watch. Trust me; they'll be clean and very competitive! I am not as worried about brass as others. I realize we may have some rebuilding to do, but Hop is right. 1995 was a BLAST! If I remember correctly, we received a silver medal, right? What I'm feeling is this group of people wants to make a statement right out of the gate. We'll have to see the state of member retention, but Cadets do get a pretty good number of auditionees every year. There's only so many potential members Boston can "take," so I'm betting the quality of brass players will be just fine. My biggest concern is GE. It's a big "if." After my post, I read the additional FB staff releases and am more comfortable with the additions. Still think one big brass "Consultant" would put me a bit more at ease with brass but overall I'm VERY happy that their are designated program coordinators and not GH dictating to staff. It's a good admittance by GH that it's time to kind of step away from designing the show. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tobias Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 I'm not a Cadets or even a DCI alum, but all of the above boils down to three things: 1. You cannot overcome an uninspiring and/or confusing show concept by marching faster and playing louder. Times have changed in this activity, and they have changed quickly. I don't believe they are going back to the good old days. 2. If you start with ####, you will eventually get a #### sandwich. You have to have things locked down early, or at least absolutely know the parameters of your show concept. I tend to believe, now, that dramatic in-season changes will become a thing of the past. Because scoring is so relative (as opposed to objective based on a scoring ledger), if you start from behind, you are not going to be able to make up the ground. 3. In a field as uniquely creatively driven as drum corps, with this many moving parts, you better have the right type of leader involved in the day to day. Any by right type, I don't necessarily mean a type of personality, but an inspiring, team driven leader who can not only bring out the absolute best in his team, but keep them around for years. I can't think of any other type of organization or activity that has the dramatic type of demand (creative, timeline/deadline, youth/inexperience, financial) that drum corps has. Except maybe the advertising business, which I know well, and the agencies that have consistently thrived all had that unique sort of leader that people wanted to follow and please, someone they trust and are inspired by, where everyone is valued creatively. The only thing I will add is, it really angers me when someone infers that this seasons' Cadets issues were because of crappy drill instructors who were fired mid season. First, who hired these people? And second, I'd like a show of hands of people who would have signed up for the disaster of show redesigns these guys had to put up with. Agreed the viz tech team may have been sacrificed mid season and the reality was the design was sub par leading to multiple big drill rewrites when everyone else was cleaning BUT coming out of ST the corps lacked basic Cadets technique and that's the fault of the marching guys not having a thoughtful winter program. As far as leadership, the fact that 2 program coordinators have been hired is reassuring and an admittance by GH that it's time for him to move out of that role. Also Sal Salas (WGI guard judge) not to mention working with SCV the past few seasons is a very nice addition to design team. I'm much more comfortable with the direction Cadets are moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlejaw Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 The younger Jeremy Earnhart brought some interesting takes to Phantom including again energy and color. ... With Sal Salas and Dr. Earnhart, there is the admission of GH that the design activity has moved beyond him and that new perspectives and eyes will best aid the Cadets. Letting other people take over the design process? Fantastic, the much needed move. But the edition of Jeremy Earnhart is uninspiring to me. He's done some great stuff for L.D. Bell (of old) and Broken Arrow, but not on the DCI level. He gave us a Phantom show that didn't fit into modern drum corps. He also worked as a consultant in a year I marched and definitely wasn't brought on the following season. Hopefully he pans out, but IMO his track record is subpar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Agreed the viz tech team may have been sacrificed mid season and the reality was the design was sub par leading to multiple big drill rewrites when everyone else was cleaning BUT coming out of ST the corps lacked basic Cadets technique and that's the fault of the marching guys not having a thoughtful winter program. As far as leadership, the fact that 2 program coordinators have been hired is reassuring and an admittance by GH that it's time for him to move out of that role. Also Sal Salas (WGI guard judge) not to mention working with SCV the past few seasons is a very nice addition to design team. I'm much more comfortable with the direction Cadets are moving. It should also be noted that Sal's DCI career has involved 2 previous corps where alumni were concerned, vocal, and sometimes needed to be persuaded, Madison and SCV. Sounds like he will be at home at the Cadets. Don't forget Sal was the major factor behind the WGI perennial innovative and successful State Street Review color guard. The man has been around the track. So Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) Congrats to Michael Terry. Amazing to me that he was a 14-year-old rookie when we marched together and now look at where he is. Nothing short of impressive in my opinion and no matter what type of show Cadets have next year, I'll be wishing them the best of luck and cheering them on. Hard to believe, Tekk, but Michael was great even before he met you*. You just made it better! [i believe the photo credit is 1993, a full 6 or 7 years before Tekk transformed Cadets.] Edited August 27, 2016 by xandandl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) Letting other people take over the design process? Fantastic, the much needed move. But the edition of Jeremy Earnhart is uninspiring to me. He's done some great stuff for L.D. Bell (of old) and Broken Arrow, but not on the DCI level. He gave us a Phantom show that didn't fit into modern drum corps. He also worked as a consultant in a year I marched and definitely wasn't brought on the following season. Hopefully he pans out, but IMO his track record is subpar. The one aspect you fail to elaborate further here is how much latitude was given Dr. Earnhart at Phantom Regiment; from what other posters have said to great length on PR's thead, that freedom is not always forthcoming as they judge it. And of course, your previous experience with him was when both of you were much younger. Have you not grown since then? Perhaps he has too. Don't let limited personal experience trap a person in a box. Vision might not always be 360 or 4D. Edited August 27, 2016 by xandandl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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