Indy seasonal opener

[onceuponatime]

I had and still have, no intention to write a review on the corps in the DCI Season Opener.

Severable reasons; first, there are so many different viewpoints being expressed here on DCP. most of them bundled with assumedly shared viewpoints, that I feel that everyone is partly right and everyone is partly wrong. That's not a criticism, just an observation on what I've read to date. Sometimes it seems as though respondents feel the need to throw in a suggestion of two or three, or a criticism of two or three, or a plaudit of two or three, simply to show they are fair-minded. To be honest, I believe that every review I've read seems reasonably fair-minded (at least in the minds of the people making the comments.) There are some things you like about a corps' program or performance, and other things you don't like. There are certain components that you feel seem stronger or weaker than prior years , or that their current year' program is lacking. That seens pretty fair to me, and I think that most are worth reading if for no other reason than to alert me to something I might have missed in one of more of the six corps' performances. Sometimes it matters...most of the time it doesn't. My assumption is that all the many instructors of these corps know far more about what is destined to work, and what isn't;  and unless they are deaf, dumb, blind, or irreversibly close-minded, they are already at work fixing whatever it is that needs to be fixed. Of course, there is the other side of the coin where the judges tell you to fix XYorZ that it's costing you points, so you go ahead and fix it, and the next time you meet that judge he gives you an even lower score, then feigns innocence when you call the contradiction to his attention. Do I believe that most judges are trying to do the best they can in an ever-changing drum corps world? Do most of them succeed? I don't have the right to even touch that one, but I'm increasingly ill-a-ease about how many there might be who don't have a clear enough idea of their mandated judging focus while corps are on the field performing. Does personal artistic taste play a role? Who knows? Who can get inside the mind of a judge when he is reacting to what he is watching or listening to.

This, as we all know is a chat room. People come here to chat and exchange thoughts and opinions, and sometimes just to be belligerent. I think the posters who annoy me the most are the ones who say, with absolute conviction, that "such and such a corps had the loudest applause of the evening." Or that "everyone sitting around me" seemed to be of this mind or that. That's just plain rubbish, and I'm not a big fan of rubbish. It's particularly irritating when someone shares that judgement even though he wasn't at-site of the contest.

I am a Cadet traditionalist, which means I am a pretty hard sell on "new era" drum corps. I attended tonight's show pretty much expecting a major disappointment from every corps whom I knew was scheduled to be present. I had also prepped myself, honestly, to be disappointed, if not outright hostile, based on prior experiences with this first-of-the-season show. As mentioned earlier, I am not going to offer a review of each individual corps based on my own criteria. It would be no more nor no less than tossing another pebble into a stream already loaded with far too many pebbles. for me to even try.

I just watched the best season-opening show I have ever viewed, with six of the most memorable (corps) for varying reasons) than I have ever seen in my long lifetime. I thought I had seen it all. As it turns out I haven't even scratched the surface. Tonight I saw more amazing talent, creativity, and performance level than I have ever previously been privileged to enjoy (at this point in the season). I thought every single corps reached well-beyond their efforts of other past years to present something new and different and entertaining than previous years. One after another they blew my mind, Scores don't matter a great deal to me anymore. Frankly I think that the judging criteria needs a total overhaul, but that's just one man's opinion. I honestly think that scores don't matter much except to those who have turned them into an off-season hobby here on Drum Corps Planet, and the young members of each corps who desperately want to see their efforts rewarded in the scoring columns, and the instructors who have to face them with an explanation in their huddle after each underscored performance. How do you explain to a group of hard-working, dedicated, talented young people who think that you can walk on water that you feel they are not receiving the recognition from the judges they feel they deserve. I sure don't have the answer to that one, no matter how many times I've endured it both as a member and as an adult leader.

 

Thank you for your patience in reading through this. At this time of the night my fingers and my brain don't appear to work very well together.