Bluecoats 2017 thread - Go Blooooooo!

[pudding]

25 minutes ago, BoaDci said:

BD, SCV and Crown all have far more demanding books.  Ive seen transcriptions of all (except SCV).  Bloo's is by far the easiest of them all.  Trust me, I understand brass playing.  That being said, last year, it wouldnt have been a fourth place book.

BD, SCV, and Crown have superior books in terms of chord tuning and in some cases fingering demands (e.g. Flight of the Bumblebee), but Bluecoats have more demand in terms of ensemble timing and environmental demand, two things that never seem to get the credit they deserve.

[pudding]

Also, as far as I can tell neither BD, SCV, nor Crown are asking their entire trumpet section to play hyperexposed, pseudo-randomly composed fivelet rhythms.

Edited July 25, 2017 by pudding

[cfirwin3]

Ahhh... Finding great chasms of difference in less than a half point caption spread.

It's a ritual... if not a sacrament of drumcorps fandom.

All of these shows are at a difficulty that makes them a worthy champion... but the secret is that none of these shows are nearly as difficult as they seem.  That's a bedrock truth in drumcorps writing and orchestration... that you write and divide parts for the greatest ACHIEVABLE effect/impact possible.  Moderate conservatory etudes played in a standing position are generally more robust than any one ensemble part in a championship show... There is so much to worry about that covering a wide variety of distant key signatures through frequent and diverse modulations is not remotely a goal.  Neither is continuity of line... parts get passed along and runs are often short licks in accessible keys, etc.

Now certainly some of those soloists are real monsters.  But again... that's the genius in writing for maximum impact with minimal expenditure of energy for the group at large.

But in general, the idea that corps X is playing music that is 'much more difficult' than corps Y (with a .2 -or even less- spread in a moderately relevant caption)... is missing the forest from the trees.

[ThePlanets]

8 hours ago, pudding said:

BD, SCV, and Crown have superior books in terms of chord tuning and in some cases fingering demands (e.g. Flight of the Bumblebee), but Bluecoats have more demand in terms of ensemble timing and environmental demand, two things that never seem to get the credit they deserve.

Yes. Bluecoats book is a completely different style.  I have the utmost respect for Crown brass but typically while the fingering demands and cleanliness are out of this world (whoops wrong year) the lines are more rhythmically simple. This is definitely the case with downside up vs other books too.  Some of the best players on a technical level would have a lot of trouble with the Bluecoats book.  That being said I am sure that there are a lot of players that get the feel of the Bluecoats book that wouldn't do as well with more technically demanding pieces. Not going saying which is more difficult...its just comparing apples and oranges.

Either way the hornline is going to have to be spot on to give them a chance this year.  A 97.65 isn't a gold medal this season.

Edited July 25, 2017 by ThePlanets

[cowtown]

11 hours ago, cfirwin3 said:

Yeah...

Now comes the wave of critique that we are to believe was buried deep in the broom closet...

Voices giving proverbial "I told you so's"... Even though they failed to tell anyone anything up to this point to begin with.

There ain't a thing "wrong" with this show.  It's a killer that probably hovers hundreds of feet over previous programs that have placed higher.

It just isn't a one horse race... Plain and simple.

Somewhere on here you’ll find me saying that I thought BD would top Bloo because BD moves better and they do. But its more than that, Bloo has a more exposed visual with longer stretches of attempting real dance, the sort of dance people train years to pull off. BD write better visual for their horn line by writing dance like visuals such as skipping, head bobs and much shorter phrases. When BD does a longer dance, they bunch them together in a block, put the strongest dancers in the front and hiding the dirt.

I like Bloo’s show better but they took a huge risk with extend, exposed dance in the hornlie

[Tony Flores]

my only beef with the '17 edition of Bluecoats is that Ballad...just cant get into it as i did in 14, 15, 16...its the weaklink in the chain IMHO...on the flip side...i think that is BD's strength is the ballad. that doesnt take away how much fun it is to watch the 2017 bluecoats. They are doing a fantastic job in trying to defend. 

[defeldus2]

12 hours ago, pudding said:

BD, SCV, and Crown have superior books in terms of chord tuning and in some cases fingering demands (e.g. Flight of the Bumblebee), but Bluecoats have more demand in terms of ensemble timing and environmental demand, two things that never seem to get the credit they deserve.

They're not getting credit because they're not clean. Their intro to the opener is seriously sloppy almost every night. 

[cfirwin3]

2 hours ago, cowtown said:

Somewhere on here you’ll find me saying that I thought BD would top Bloo because BD moves better and they do. But its more than that, Bloo has a more exposed visual with longer stretches of attempting real dance, the sort of dance people train years to pull off. BD write better visual for their horn line by writing dance like visuals such as skipping, head bobs and much shorter phrases. When BD does a longer dance, they bunch them together in a block, put the strongest dancers in the front and hiding the dirt.

I like Bloo’s show better but they took a huge risk with extend, exposed dance in the hornlie

Well that might make you the one and only oracle... Accept to say that I don't think there were ever any 'certainties' about how Bloo would stack up with the Devils.

The phenomenon that will occur now (although not nearly as bad as happens on the Cadets thread... on occasion) is that criticism will tend to needlessly bubble up concerning elements that were previously considered assets to the design.  It's just a coping mechanism, I suppose.

[THeShadeOfNight]

13 hours ago, pudding said:

BD, SCV, and Crown have superior books in terms of chord tuning and in some cases fingering demands (e.g. Flight of the Bumblebee), but Bluecoats have more demand in terms of ensemble timing and environmental demand, two things that never seem to get the credit they deserve.

Bluecoats end on a d major chord. I'm glad, since they is naturally very easy to tune on Bb horns. Fingering demands? You guys must have your minds absolutely blown when people play arbans for you....

[drumcorpsfever]

2 hours ago, defeldus2 said:

They're not getting credit because they're not clean. Their intro to the opener is seriously sloppy almost every night. 

Clean feet = clean brass = clean visually.   Musical content is there.  

It will happen.  It ain't Indy yet.