Are judges now trying to lessen the impact of General Effect?

[jwillis35]

Some great points being made. The judges comments of Cadets 2013 (that Cappy posted) is a good reference to get an idea of what judges think and react to. We must remember that the term "effect" does not mean emotion. It does not mean clapping or screaming, nor does it determine how an audience should feel vs what they actually feel. An effect can be anything. It can be a body move, a dance, horn pop, a park and bark, a solo, a high note that is part of a solo, a climax to a phrase, a crab step, singing, narration, a prop, etc.  An effect can be an incredibly clean show performed at a high level in which there is a WOW factor. It can be a brass line that consistently produces exquisite sound and tone within musical phrases that line-up perfectly with the drill. 

DCI's GE caption looks at all those thing and tries to determine the flow of these effects, cleanliness of effects, coordination of elements (music and visual), show pacing, etc.  

No doubt GE is the most daunting of tasks for judges. 

As I stated earlier, I do not think judges or DCI are trying to minimize the impact of GE. That would be dangerous. I think judges keep an open mind on what each corps is trying to say, to interpret, to showcase.  Each year is different.

Edited July 23, 2017 by jwillis35

[Vdad76]

20 hours ago, BRASSO said:

 2 of these 4 shows did NOT have " massive crowd appeal" with live audiences during the seasons they were performed however. I don't see much value in revisionist DCI history. The largest, most " massive crowd appeal " for a DCI Champion of recent years was Phantom Regiment in 2008, Carolina Crown in 2013, Bluecoats in 2016 ( recent years ), and SCV in '89,  Garfield Cadets ( '84),  Cavaliers 2006 ( " The Machine " ) are some others that immediately come to mind.

Massive crowd appeal would go back to Muchachos in 74, Scouts in 75, Cadets in 83 (and 84), Scouts in 88.