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What makes The Blue Devils "great," rather than just "good"?


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14 hours ago, 84BDsop said:

Even back when I marched it was "You act like a professional, you get treated like one."

That can have just as large a positive effect on the members as being continually beaten down can be negative.

Yep. And everyone from BD was / is always super laid back and nice. And it's quite frankly easier to maximize rehearsal time when you take the mentality of chasing a title instead of an another corps. It's kind of like playing pool at a pro level. You can't control the greatness of the other guy. You can only control what you are doing and play the table. You practice to make those moments mechanical and as close to perfect as you can. 

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2 hours ago, mfrontz said:

Not sure anyone could classify a show like 2014 as 'low risk.'

Nor the series of rifle tosses at the beginning of this year's show.

Perhaps what looks like 'low risk' is instead knowing what your corps can clean before finals, or, alternatively, doing everything so well, including tough stuff, that it 'looks easy.'

Another possibility: the BD image is always in control. This can lead to a sense that they are never taking a risk, 'on the edge,' even though a design might be very difficult to achieve. 

I agree. It is disingenuous to say that this year’s show, or most of their shows, are low risk or low demand. That’s the problem with doing something so well that you make it look easy. 

Old guys like me keep harping on how we miss drill. Well, two of my favorite drill moves this year belong to the BD. And many of my favorite show moments in general (guard, music, etc) came from the BD. My HS age son said I laughed through the whole show, and it was because the show was creative enough to surprise this old guy all the way through. All of that is a testament to a well constructed program that the mm performed the heck out of. 

Edited by Dr.Mickey
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On 8/16/2019 at 9:00 AM, MusicManNJ said:

This... in almost any endeavor having a core group of talented people together for an extended period of time will lead to a prolonged period of success. Cadets had this with Aungst, Sacktig, Bocook. The run BD has been on since SCOJO joined the team (94?) has been dynastic. 

Remember the opposite is true too. People together too long can become stagnant. I think the key is working together while also staying current which allows for a history but prevents the “we’ve always done it this way” from creeping up.

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12 hours ago, LoveKathyG said:

The judges

Money

California

Stability in staffing

Unflinching, unapologetic commitment to winning.  They write shows with more focused priority on winning than most other top placing corps.  Just enough innovation to win.  Just enough art to win.  Just enough demand to win.  Just enough playing to win.  Just enough marching to win.  They rarely dabble in anything that's too risky.  I don't remember them ever being the most innovative corps any one season.  And the few times they have pushed it a bit (e.g. Tommy), they recoil from the placement results and soon veer back to the tried-and-true BD approach.  Some will counter to say that other top corps want to win, too.  I wholeheartedly agree...and in truth other corps don't win as much because they fail to place as much laser focus on prioritizing wins.  If I sound critical of BD, I am.  I find this approach rather soulless, but I will never deny their success.  

:laughing:

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2 hours ago, Dr.Mickey said:

I agree. It is disingenuous to say that this year’s show, or most of their shows, are low risk or low demand. That’s the problem with doing something so well that you make it look easy. 

Old guys like me keep harping on how we miss drill. Well, two of my favorite drill moves this year belong to the BD. And many of my favorite show moments in general (guard, music, etc) came from the BD. My HS age son said I laughed through the whole show, and it was because the show was creative enough to surprise this old guy all the way through. All of that is a testament to a well constructed program that the mm performed the heck out of. 

BD pretty regularly attempts rotating boxes that expand and compress as they move across the field.  Easily the most difficult drill move done in DCI yet BD's done it quite a bit in the past few years. They had it in their original closer this year but ended up axing it

I mean... Low risk?? Really?

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1 hour ago, Tim K said:

Remember the opposite is true too. People together too long can become stagnant. I think the key is working together while also staying current which allows for a history but prevents the “we’ve always done it this way” from creeping up.

Yep. The key is having an open feedback loop where ideas are actually discussed and considered instead of being dismissed out of hand. 

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28 minutes ago, Dr.Mickey said:

I agree. It is disingenuous to say that this year’s show, or most of their shows, are low risk or low demand. That’s the problem with doing something so well that you make it look easy.  Old guys like me keep harping on how we miss drill. Well, two of my favorite drill moves this year belong to the BD.  

 Semi finals was the last show I watched on Flo.  What  I noticed at the beginning was the opening drill of walking in a clean formation towards the sidelines.  They did a similar set later.  Not difficult.  Walking between tables a few years back was clean, but not difficult.  During semis, to me, their rotating box was not clean at the end of the move. 

As it has so rightfully been mentioned, they are masters of moving from moment to moment and checking off the the boxes on the sheets.  

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Something that I haven't seen anyone mention yet that I have noticed about BD is unrelenting performer confidence.

The kind of confidence that makes fans/followers of other corps say "oh ###$ here we go again"

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2 hours ago, ThePlanets said:

Something that I haven't seen anyone mention yet that I have noticed about BD is unrelenting performer confidence.

The kind of confidence that makes fans/followers of other corps say "oh ###$ here we go again"

Well when you are marching the most experienced and oldest marching membership you are going to have confidence. Just saying.

One of the main reasons Bluecoats have been able to sustain success over the last five years is their ability to retain their most accomplished membership and recruit others away from corps they are competing against.

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2 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

Well when you are marching the most experienced and oldest marching membership you are going to have confidence. Just saying.

One of the main reasons Bluecoats have been able to sustain success over the last five years is their ability to retain their most accomplished membership and recruit others away from corps they are competing against.

Not always....Malik -- a trumpet soloist from "Jagged Line" (opening solo, I think) moved to BD in 2018...was a soloist there as well.  Aged out with a ring this year, in fact!
 

 

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