2019 Madison Scouts!

[Gantang]

38 minutes ago, ndkbass said:

I never went to Madison to win.  I went to Madison to march Madison, and I hope that everyone who does so in the coming years does so for similar reasons and enjoys their time there regardless of administrative disfunction or placement or show design.

Why did you go to BD? 

[geluf]

It isn't as though Madison can't turn around it's competitive fortunes in relatively short order with some savvy moves behind the scenes. We have perfect examples of corps generally relegated to the 18-22 range that in 2-3 season have become Top 12 mainstays of late: Blue Stars and now, Mandarins.

From there, you can easily find yourself in the medal hunt given some further refinement, see: Boston.

Fortunes can turn much faster in this activity than most people think, you just need a staff willing to commit to playing the game.

[tesmusic]

4 hours ago, geluf said:

It isn't as though Madison can't turn around it's competitive fortunes in relatively short order with some savvy moves behind the scenes. We have perfect examples of corps generally relegated to the 18-22 range that in 2-3 season have become Top 12 mainstays of late: Blue Stars and now, Mandarins.

From there, you can easily find yourself in the medal hunt given some further refinement, see: Boston.

Fortunes can turn much faster in this activity than most people think, you just need a staff willing to commit to playing the game.

You also need leadership that can put the right staff in place, the Scouts do NOT have that. Anyone who believes in this board and staff is delusional.

[FlamMan]

13 minutes ago, tesmusic said:

You also need leadership that can put the right staff in place, the Scouts do NOT have that. Anyone who believes in this board and staff is delusional.

Yup. Its simple... the results speak for themselves. Nothing else matters.

[ndkbass]

6 hours ago, Gantang said:

Why did you go to BD? 

As I have said in other threads, it was primarily because of the administrative disfunction.

I came in with Roger Carter (percussion caption head 2007-2009), and when he and the rest of the drum staff were going to be fired (quite obviously before the end of the summer in 2009), I did not know if I would want to return to march my age out under a new drum staff alongside all of the other administrative issues.

Additionally, I really just wanted to enjoy my age out and not have to worry about things like whether or not the food truck was going to run out of food at every meal, or if we were going to be forced by the admin staff to have to contract people who were not talented early in the winter simply due to need for monies instead of waiting to recruit folks who were cut from top six corps in spring, among other things.

I also knew a bunch of people who had marched other corps, and I lived with someone who had done Cadets and Devs, and they recommended the experience at Devs, and were encouraging me to audition there starting in the 2009 season (the social capital of knowing them and being able to learn the beats first hand was super crucial, I argue, to my making it).

Also, marching with Rhythm X in the 2009 WGI season changed my experience of the activity as a whole quite a bit.  Having met a whole bunch of other staff and members from various corps who were now all together in one ensemble, and who were asking me to audition with or for them at places like Bluecoats, Cadets, Crown, and even Devs, made me realize that I had the opportunity (talent wise) to march at places I had once considered out of my league such as Rhythm X (making X and what happened that season was mind blowing to me; I had to up my game so much).

Basically, I realized that the education I got during my time in Madison, and before, had prepared me well, and that I could use that to go elsewhere if I chose to do so, so I did.

The biggest driving factor in that regard was that the majority of instructors I thought were the best or helped me the most were from Devs (like Roger Carter, among others) and had nothing but good things to say about that organization.

Edited July 29, 2019 by ndkbass
Corrected spelling of "there"

[ndkbass]

6 hours ago, Gantang said:

Why did you go to BD? 

I guess I could have said: Because I wanted to march BD.  But my other, longer post, still stands.  Thanks for asking.

[Gantang]

1 hour ago, ndkbass said:

As I have said in other threads, it was primarily because of the administrative disfunction.

I came in with Roger Carter (percussion caption head 2007-2009), and when he and the rest of the drum staff were going to be fired (quite obviously before the end of the summer in 2009), I did not know if I would want to return to march my age out under a new drum staff alongside all of the other administrative issues.

Additionally, I really just wanted to enjoy my age out and not have to worry about things like whether or not the food truck was going to run out of food at every meal, or if we were going to be forced by the admin staff to have to contract people who were not talented early in the winter simply due to need for monies instead of waiting to recruit folks who were cut from top six corps in spring, among other things.

I also knew a bunch of people who had marched other corps, and I lived with someone who had done Cadets and Devs, and they recommended the experience at Devs, and were encouraging me to audition there starting in the 2009 season (the social capital of knowing them and being able to learn the beats first hand was super crucial, I argue, to my making it).

Also, marching with Rhythm X in the 2009 WGI season changed my experience of the activity as a whole quite a bit.  Having met a whole bunch of other staff and members from various corps who were now all together in one ensemble, and who were asking me to audition with or for them at places like Bluecoats, Cadets, Crown, and even Devs, made me realize that I had the opportunity (talent wise) to march at places I had once considered out of my league such as Rhythm X (making X and what happened that season was mind blowing to me; I had to up my game so much).

Basically, I realized that the education I got during my time in Madison, and before, had prepared me well, and that I could use that to go elsewhere if I chose to do so, so I did.

The biggest driving factor in that regard was that the majority of instructors I thought were the best or helped me the most were from Devs (like Roger Carter, among others) and had nothing but good things to say about that organization.

A ring never crossed your mind?

[Sasha1]

Can I just say, I freaking LOVE the 2019 show..LOVE it!!!

 

[ndkbass]

13 hours ago, Gantang said:

A ring never crossed your mind?

I already had one, albeit from Division III (as Lee Beddis once told me: "Congrats, you're best of the shitters!"), and I had just won WGI with X (and we set the record score at the time) so no, not really.  Winning was not my top priority.  The possibility of winning was simply an added bonus.  I primarily wanted a fun and relaxing age out season without the ######## I had dealt with in 2009 (and kinda 2008).  Also, we won I&E in 2009, so I had already experienced all the winning possible in the activity to some degree.

Moreover, I had been around the corps since 2003 when I volunteered on the cook crew alongside my mom for basically the whole summer.  She later served as the head cook from 2004-2008 (she was asked to step aside in winter of 2009 and replaced with one of Dann's friends "Chef Dave" who had no idea what he was doing, and that resulted in one of the worst food programs I have ever witnessed; she later worked as the head cook for SCV for a few years), and I would hang out to help out when I was not actively marching in other corps, primarily ToC 2004 and finals week 2005.

I loved Colin McNutt and his staff and started auditioning for Madison in 2005 but did not have the necessary skill set until 2007, although I had been primarily auditioning on tenors at the time and did not switch to bass until after I marched bass at Impulse! in 2006.

Having been around the corps through two major changes and having experienced the third, I felt like it was time for me to experience something different.

Edited July 29, 2019 by ndkbass
corrected syntax and grammar

[MikeN]

57 minutes ago, ndkbass said:

She later served as the head cook from 2004-2008 (she was asked to step aside in winter of 2009 and replaced with one of Dann's friends "Chef Dave" who had no idea what he was doing, and that resulted in one of the worst food programs I have ever witnessed; she later worked as the head cook for SCV for a few years), and I would hang out to help out when I was not actively marching in other corps, primarily ToC 2004 and finals week 2005.

Having intimate experience with two different corps food programs, I can't imagine having the guts (or even a *reason*) to fire the long-time food person.  They are about the most indispensable person in the entire corps.

Mike