Blue Devils 2017 60th Anniversary!

[saxfreq1128]

Can I just point out that during Flight of the Bumblebee, BD is essentially doing interval training? They play, then sprint, then play, then sprint, and eventually, they're playing while sprinting. If you just have your eyes peeled for park and bark I can see why that'd look easy, but thinking as a performer and as an athlete, it's an absolutely insane thing to do.

Add to that that it's flight of the %*#£ing Bumblebee and, come on, on what planet is that merely "parking and barking"?

This is the hidden demand BD fans go wild for, IMO. 

Edited July 14, 2017 by saxfreq1128

[Cappybara]

2 minutes ago, saxfreq1128 said:

Can I just point out that during Flight of the Bumblebee, BD is essentially doing interval training? They play, then sprint, then play, then sprint, and eventually, they're playing while sprinting. If you just have your eyes peeled for park and bark I can see why that'd look easy, but thinking as a performer and as an athlete, it's an absolutely insane thing to do.

Add to that that it's flight of the %*#£ing Bumblebee and, come on, on what planet is that merely "parking and barking"?

This is the hidden demand BD fans go wild for, IMO. 

BD makes a living off of hidden demand. 

They make the hard stuff look easy and fans mistake that for them doing something easy

[NakedEye]

I think this show is like a Magic Eye drawing. Some stuff is easy to pick out and meanwhile 15 other things are going on in other areas of the field. Each time I watch it, I find other hard stuff I didn't notice before.

[theonlyfizzle]

35 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

Well, most of us can't just hop in their car and drive to a show Willy nilly. I definitely don't think you can judge a show's music via YouTube, but you can certainly judge the drill and especially the design and execution of the drill. 

Certainly the BD staff knows more than I do and they see what I see...and a lot more. Regardless, there are some really sloppy transitions right now, and seemingly endless gyrations, pointing to nowhere, jazz walking, and scatter drill (whatever that is) that I just do not like. 

The BD honks are going to jump me and say they have won titles doing that stuff, and that's fine. But I don't have to like it. I see a lot more complexity and risk being taken by many other corps as far as drill. BD gets the benefit of every doubt, and it is deserved. But this show has a long way to go to be considered a great BD show. 

JMHO,

Obviously what your seeing and what were seeing is totally different and I respect that. Fyi this show is more complex than most shows out there. Not because they make it look so easy. And "sloppy transitions" you talking about is waaaaay over kill on that critiques. If you dont get it fine but many of us do get it and thats why we can enjoy it more. I really trying to understand your point but it keep throwing me around like a endless trip to no where. And so I am going to say with all due respect.. rather ranting on about things that you really dont get, or just isn't so, or kinda ok I see what you mean, or what the hell is he talking about ? , or for elements of things that countless other corps do but dont criticized as much as BD, I would rather you just say, YOU DONT LIKE THIS SHOW. That my friend I would more get. Do You Understand that ???????? 

Ps. And no we not gonna jump on you. Thats not what this is lol.

[BDCorno]

43 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

Blue Devils will always be impressive playing. They will part your hair when standing still. That's not arguable. But man, is it too much to ask for them to do *something* when playing other than one step forward, one step back? I mean this is drum corps, and this is Blue Devils.

I realize the idea of this show is to demonstrate the evolution of drum corps, and notably BD. Still, the constant bug squishing, jazz walking, pointing to the sky, head bops, scatter drill and other stuff just irritates me to no end. I can accept it to some degree from a lower tier corps with younger kids, but I expect more from BD.

You realize that Crown and Bluecoats wrote the book on most of these irritants that you list? It's intellectually lazy to call anything that is not pedestrian/classic "marching" to a spot "scatter drill". There is a method to that madness. It's programmed, designed and detailed as much, if not more than a typical block drill that you see about 75% of the time from all corps now. Not sure what you mean "jazz walking". What is that? As for the rest, I'm 100% sure you're irritated to no end by Bluecoats, Crown, Cavies, Madison, SCV (to a lesser extent) and about 90% of all corps that do this kind of stuff. Crown has been squishing bugs for almost a decade now, and Bluecoats point, gesture, emote, wink and get standing ovations for it. That's modern drum corps, Mike. If you're irritated and don't enjoy BD because they're held by you to a higher standard, that's fine...you're entitled to view and enjoy any group using whatever prisms and qualifiers that you wish. However, it's a competitive activity, and that requires that ALL groups are evaluated on a level playing field. Even though this is theoretically the case, the judging community holds BD to a higher standard as well. I know conventional DCP/hater wisdom says that BD gets all kinds of slack, free passes and extra points just because of who they are. Untrue. If anything, they're probably scored a bit low at times, but the fact that DCI effectively uses only 30% of the system (and less than 10% late season) makes scoring closer than it should be, absent any other factors.

It's unfortunate that you and your friends Willy and Nilly can't make it out to a show easily. I hope you will, and I encourage you to find time to attend a rehearsal with run throughs and sit down low or stand on the track. Believe me...you CAN'T evaluate from a video. There is simply too much going on visually, much of it imperceptible via high cam, and 99% of YouTubes get about 50-60% of the field at any given time. The sheer amount of visual output can't be appreciated or captured via video. The most important aspect is QUALITY. Many great groups this year, but what always separates the men from the boys with DCI is quality. Quality isn't measured by a video on a laptop or even a big screen. Hey, I'm with you on some of this stuff. It's not drum corps like when I marched (late 70's). Drill, as we knew it, has evolved and it's only one component of visual design/demand/repertoire. Doing a really, really hard "drill" with a lot of movement isn't going to win you DCI (if so, SCV might be on a long winning streak right now). It's an integrated drill/movement/dance/postural combination visually, and now that Bluecoats have "kicked the record player" into more of a stage show approach, you're probably going to see more of it. I really hope you can at least see BD live at a rehearsal. It's amazeballs up close...and that's the only way you'll see what I'm talking about. I'll call Jay Murphy and tell him you want more drill. ;) 

[cowtown]

Hidden demand 

 

Oh my

 

“Who you gonna believe, #####? Me? or your lying eyes?”

― Richard Pryor

Edited July 14, 2017 by cowtown

[BDCorno]

1 hour ago, cowtown said:

Hidden demand 

 

Oh my

 

“Who you gonna believe, #####? Me? or your lying eyes?”

― Richard Pryor

LOL. Not quite the same thing, but lol!

[mboogey73]

3 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

Blue Devils will always be impressive playing. They will part your hair when standing still. That's not arguable. But man, is it too much to ask for them to do *something* when playing other than one step forward, one step back? I mean this is drum corps, and this is Blue Devils.

I realize the idea of this show is to demonstrate the evolution of drum corps, and notably BD. Still, the constant bug squishing, jazz walking, pointing to the sky, head bops, scatter drill and other stuff just irritates me to no end. I can accept it to some degree from a lower tier corps with younger kids, but I expect more from BD.

BD admittedly doesn't do as much traditional drill as most other corps, but they other things you list are just what DCI is these days. The body movements and dancing is done as much by the other top corps as by BD. 

[BDCorno]

5 minutes ago, mboogey73 said:

BD admittedly doesn't do as much traditional drill as most other corps, but they other things you list are just what DCI is these days. The body movements and dancing is done as much by the other top corps as by BD. 

I don't agree that they do less traditional drill, it's just worked in pretty seamlessly. It's interesting though, every year the skeptics come out and watch the video of Stanford, where BD is putting out 50% of the content and development of the program, make a ton of judgments as to what the program is, and stubbornly hold those beliefs as gospel for the entire season. They look for things like standing and playing to hang their hats on in diminishing their opinion of the program. I can tell them with 100% confidence that BD will be marching as much drill as anyone, and probably doing far more difficult moves, and better (look at the moves, some are crazy hard) than anyone out there. I encourage the skeptics to go back and look at some high cam videos from the past 5-6 years. There is some hella tough drill being flawlessly performed in those shows (check out the drill after Clara comes out in 2015 for starters)...THAT is why they get the credit. There's a judge on the field looking at this stuff, and they (almost) get the numbers they deserve.

[BoaDci]