DCI World Champs Prelims - Aug 9, 2018

[N.E. Brigand]

5 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

2.  Corps have so many field mics, and crank them so strong in the mix, that at times they pick up other nearby sounds (for instance, judges talking into their own recorders).

That reminds me of something else from last night's cinema broadcast: I thought I heard guard counts during Bluecoats show, which I hadn't heard in any Flo stream or the two times I saw them live.

[KVG_DC]

I noticed tons of percussion dutting/counting. Not audio but you could see one member moving their mouth on closeups

[brassboy]

3 hours ago, C.Holland said:

unless they've isolated the sound to be supported from the area its coming from.  more sound from the speaker closest to the soloist.  

They DO isolate the sound. Each baritone in that duet comes from the speaker corresponding to the side of the field they're on. If someone was in Row 8 directly in front of the left speaker, they wouldn't have heard the right speaker very much (if at all).

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, KVG_DC said:

I noticed tons of percussion dutting/counting. Not audio but you could see one member moving their mouth on closeups

Those of us from the RAMD era may recall a thread entitles 'Dhut...Duh'

[MikeRapp]

5 hours ago, Cappybara said:

Look, I don't disagree with you at all. All corps have a design language and certain things that they tend to do to distinguish themselves. Or atleast the corps who do a good job of staying true to their identities do.

However, there is a way to express that opinion like you did, versus putting an exaggerated and inaccurate statement just to be an a-hole. 

No, you cannot basically look at the past decade of BD shows and say they are all the same or similar. Phantom Regiment puts out shows with similar concepts. Carolina Crown puts out shows with similar concepts (before someone butts in, I'm referring to how they tend to do shows that has some adversity in the middle until the end when every becomes happy-go-lucky all of a sudden). BD does not do that. 

Criticizing them for scatter drill or repeat body movement is like criticizing a corps for deciding to incorporate a mellophone rip or a drum break. 

BD has used white poles about 3 times in the past 10 years. 

Repeating music I'll give you, they do quote themselves, but this is the first year they've actually repeated a whole piece, in the past it's usually just a short quote in the percussion or brass. 

Repeat staging, not sure what that even means every corps uses staging nowadays lol.

Long hair has been a characteristic of BD's guard only relatively recently (I think since Felliniesque)

Blue Devils have a way of designing, staging, and performing shows that is quite predictable. That is also true of other corps, but other organizations don’t have the clout that blue Devils does. Blue Devils can influence the entire direction of the activity, and they can influence it in ways that benefit them more than any other group. That’s just obvious and a fact of life.

Whether you like or don’t like the design patterns of blue Devils, it is unhealthy for the Activity called DCI to have one group essentially determining  or dominating the styles and design decisions that are required to win a medal.

If bluecoats are in fact being punished for not having at least one obvious “March your percussion group front and center and ram a bunch of notes into 30 seconds moment,” I think that sucks for the entire activity. We should be applauding and rewarding the entire design concept over what I would call the skill demonstration aspects of the activity.

I would hate to see other groups start to design shows that included waving your hair around in the air simply because they know they will garner more points.

 

Edited August 10, 2018 by MikeRapp

[Cappybara]

Just now, MikeRapp said:

Blue Devils have a way of designing, staging, and performing shows that is quite predictable. That is also true of other corps, but other organizations don’t have the clout that blue Devils does. Blue Devils can influence the entire direction of the activity, and they can influence it in ways that benefit them more than any other group. That’s just obvious and a fact of life.

Whether you like or don’t like the design patterns of blue Devils, it is unhealthy for the Activity called DCI to have one group essentially determining  or dominating the styles and design decisions that are required to win a medal.

If bluecoats are in fact being punished for not having at least one obvious March your percussion group front and center and ram a bunch of notes into 30 seconds moment, that I think that sucks for the entire activity. We should be applauding and rewarding the entire design concept over what I would call the scale demonstration aspects of the activity.

I would hate to see other groups start to design shows that included waving your hair around in the air simply because they know they will garner more points.

 

Do you really think BD invented and pushed for those percussion breaks? Long percussion features have been a thing for decades

I understand what you're arguing here, but you have to realize that every single corps agrees to the judging criteria. 

Furthermore, corps have trailblazed their own path. Cadets 2011, Crown 13, Bluecoats 16, and now possibly SCV 2018 are not doing anything that the Blue Devils specifically are doing. 

Let me remind you that the Cavies dominated the 2000's. Design philosophies come and go, the judges didn't decide in 2008 that all of a sudden everything that the Blue Devils do is what's going to be rewarded in DCI. 

You seem to be looking for a scapegoat for the axe you're grinding, and I think you're looking at the wrong place. 

[1956OPR]

4 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

But we have had that for the past 88 years.  Worse yet, it seems that the styles are being determined in advance now, as if someone in a smoke-filled room told everyone back in January to remove headgear, replace uniforms with show-specific costumes for the musicians, roll props around, climb on props, add reverb to every brass solo, and even do the same dance moves.  (Is that what the DCI Artistic Director does?)

I like your question re DCI's Artistic Director. DCI now has a new AD, Lee Carlson. who has replaced Michael Cesario. My understanding is that Mr. Carlson is a long-time DCI judge who specialized in judging Visual-related captions.

Anyone have a clue about what a DCI Artistic Director's responsibilities are, what the parameters of their decision-making are and what differences might result for DCI with a new sheriff in town?

[MikeRapp]

1 hour ago, Cappybara said:

Do you really think BD invented and pushed for those percussion breaks? Long percussion features have been a thing for decades

I understand what you're arguing here, but you have to realize that every single corps agrees to the judging criteria. 

Furthermore, corps have trailblazed their own path. Cadets 2011, Crown 13, Bluecoats 16, and now possibly SCV 2018 are not doing anything that the Blue Devils specifically are doing. 

Let me remind you that the Cavies dominated the 2000's. Design philosophies come and go, the judges didn't decide in 2008 that all of a sudden everything that the Blue Devils do is what's going to be rewarded in DCI. 

You seem to be looking for a scapegoat for the axe you're grinding, and I think you're looking at the wrong place. 

Not saying that everything that is popular now is a product of BD. 

What I am saying is, BD has design patterns that are pretty obvious. That isn’t a criticism unless you choose to take it that way.

[Cappybara]

1 minute ago, MikeRapp said:

Not saying that everything that is popular now is a product of BD. 

What I am saying is, BD has design patterns that are pretty obvious. That isn’t a criticism unless you choose to take it that way.

I feel like you're completely ignoring what I'm writing. 

[MikeRapp]

1 minute ago, Cappybara said:

I feel like you're completely ignoring what I'm writing. 

Im not disagreeing with what you are writing.