Tuesday, July 19th “DCI Broken Arrow” …. Tiger Stadium Broken Arrow High School … Broken Arrow, OKLAHOMA

[jjeffeory]

28 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

I think overdesigned is the wrong word. It just doesn’t have any cohesiveness 

It feels like a stoned teenager came up with the concept.
 

“Let’s do a show about living in the moment. We’ll call it Right Here, Right Now. We’ll use disjointed music with no relation to each other that represent living in the moment, somehow. And throw in some colorful ribbons, because why not? Just in case people are confused what it’s about, we can have someone screaming the show name so they know what’s going on. You know what would be really funny, let’s have the audience be distracted with an app during a show about living in the moment. Everyone loves some irony” 

Maybe Bloo slipped in a little something something into Crown’s staff’s drinks so they could experience an acid trip too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

It’s such a shame, the corps is so so talented. Design staff let them down, they could easily be the front runners with a more cohesive design

Honestly, I can see how they may have developed the show around 'Toccata Andromeda' and the concept of right here, right now.  Toccata is a throw back to the previous year, so it's impressively technical and something that much of the hornline has already played, so maybe it's easier to replay?

They're trying to be smart in their programming. It's reasonably entertaining, but not especially coherent, imho.

Edited July 20, 2022 by jjeffeory
grammar

[Cappybara]

46 minutes ago, DrummerParent said:

I can see where a “right here, right now” chant or two could be removed but that ending is balls to the wall.  It’s my favorite but I’m also a little biased to Crown.

It IS a very fun ending. The entire music book is excellent. It reminds me of all those talented Cadets corps with fantastic music books and visual books with very questionable concepts. The pieces just don’t fit together when looking at it through the lens of a conceptualized show 

[Den8uml]

57 minutes ago, Photographer Jim said:

i totally agree.

Let me preface this with the disclaimer that I am a visual artist, and in no way a musician or vocalist, but i do have experiences which are relevant.  My wife is a singer, and part of a chorus that is the defending Midsize Chorus International Champions, and who are seeded 6th for the up-coming 2023 International open competition.  Choruses who have qualified (36 in all) will first compete in semi-finals, with the top ten moving on to Finals. Performance order for both is by random draw.  Judging is according to established rubrics which (as a musical art) have significant overlap to the rubrics used in DCI.  I have had discussions with her about the potential effects of performance order.  Her reply is that it doesn't matter; the judges are highly trained and totally qualified to adjudicate the competition, and are skilled at being able to accurately place a chorus's performance on the scoring rubric, regardless of when the chorus's performance takes place during the competition. There is complete faith in the judges commitment to judge fairly, accurately, and without bias.  To believe otherwise is to imply that judging results are largely meaningless.

I believe this carries over to DCI competitions as well.  I firmly trust that DCI judges are able to focus in the here and now, and evaluate a corps performance accurately for what it is, regardless of performance order, the makeup of the competition field, or personal preferences.  Anyone who believes otherwise should probably not be following the activity.

I appreciate that perspective a lot. What stays in the back of my head is in some other subjectively judged sports like ice skating in particular, everyone (skaters and judges) freely admits that performance order matters because they inherently save room for the last group or last person to go on. If the 3rd to last was near perfect, they might shave a little off  in case the last two to go were perfect or at least a tiny better better. “saving room” is normal. Not saying it’s applicable to DCI BUT that’s what’s in the back of my mind since it is a subjective activity as well. (Before anyone jumps on me Im not talking specifically to last night in Broken Arrow, I just mean hypothetically. )

Edited July 20, 2022 by Den8uml

[jwillis35]

3 hours ago, CAtenhut said:

After watching the show again, I'm realizing that I really don't love too many of the endings this year. BD's is just eh, Crown screaming "right here, right now", BC's and SCV's seem long and dragged out, Boston's is quiet. 

So who has your favorite endings this year... endings that get people to jump out of their seats while the final note is still playing - Cadets, Phantom and Mandarins maybe?

EDIT: I know these endings will change and evolve over the final weeks. 

Well, in a more traditional sense of a classic DCI ending I think it's hands down Phantom Regiment. Just my opinion though. There are a lot of very entertaining shows this summer, but I think many corps will be working on their endings soon. The only potential baby-throwing show this summer is likely Phantom. I think Bluecoats could get there with the right tweaks to their ending, and their 3rd chart with the Roland synth keytar solo is fantastic fun. They need to work that so they can bring the crowd to a fever pitch. It's almost there. 

I do love the Mandarins ending, and the Cadets are strong too. 

[OldSnareDrummer]

Agreed, it's Phantom's ending. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water after Harmonic Journey's ending (and so many prior), they hit you with this. 

[dcsnare93]

5 hours ago, jjeffeory said:

That Broken Arrow crowd is full of band geeks. They're going to eat up everything that EVERY corps does, just like the Muncie, IN show.  There are too many marching band folks too close for them NOT to be enthusiastic about some marching band.

This just comes off as dismissive. A person's background doesn't make them any less of a fan. The fact they're band geeks doesn't diminish their response to any of the shows they saw last night.

[DrummerParent]

38 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

It IS a very fun ending. The entire music book is excellent. It reminds me of all those talented Cadets corps with fantastic music books and visual books with very questionable concepts. The pieces just don’t fit together when looking at it through the lens of a conceptualized show 

Yea, if you’re looking at it from a traditional point of view it is more like five distinct parts rather than a smooth flow.  But, it’s supposed to somewhat feel like a rock concert which most often don’t flow either. I’m glad they are taking out some of the narration at the beginning.

Boston’s show, for example is very much the opposite and is performed also at a very excellent level.  I love them both for what they are.  

 

[saxfreq1128]

Yeah look the fact is that by making so much of this about BD, people are missing out on a chance to ask the far more relevant question here which is why Crown took such a beating in the GE category… If it’s really true that the problem isn’t BD winning so much as the margin of their win, we should be looking harder at this spot on the sheets where it’s clear something serious is going on for Crown’s score. One GE judge had Crown 5th. How did this become a conversation about BD? I get that BD winning with a gap after an off performance feels really incongruous and gets our attention, but I would think we’re smarter than that. Crown’s final placement was higher than they were ranked by either GE judge. That means their performance was strong enough to overcome that GE deficit in a serious way. That, to me, is the much more informative story here. 

Also, everyone, we gotta get away from counting drops as a test of whether judges are “right” about guard scores … I get that they’re the loudest errors, but in the scheme of things, they’re skindeep.  

 

 

[TexasPRfan]

3 hours ago, CAtenhut said:

After watching the show again, I'm realizing that I really don't love too many of the endings this year. BD's is just eh, Crown screaming "right here, right now", BC's and SCV's seem long and dragged out, Boston's is quiet. 

So who has your favorite endings this year... endings that get people to jump out of their seats while the final note is still playing - Cadets, Phantom and Mandarins maybe?

EDIT: I know these endings will change and evolve over the final weeks. 

 

2 hours ago, Tony L. said:

Just my general thoughts after watching last night.  General disclaimers - not live, first reads for most, etc.

Generally I feel like each of the Top shows has flaws and generally speaking I did not love any of them.  And what that usually means in a DCI season is that BD will in Indy.  And based on last night, I would not argue against that.

Crown's show was just too much.  It had Phantom 1991 and 1992 levels of fabric. It had an attempt at times to be Bluecoats from something like kinetic noise.  It had the Cadets drill from Power of X and the Christmas show.  Then it had the classic 1980s drum feature move where the hornline uses a cape or maybe a flag to add visual stuff. They chose Garfield's 1988 ribbons.  And finally I think this is the heir apparent to New Era and Do Better.  Too much.  And the cheese at the beginning is just annoying.  It is such a shame because all of the parts are there.  That hornline! A much improved guard who earned that 1 in performance. And a salvageable drumline.  Just a shame they are hamstrung by this mess of a show.

BD had me from Moonriver on.  The beginning just felt like it was going in fits and starts.  They will figure it out I am sure.

Boston this year is so much more enjoyable to me than years past.  I love the clarity on the field and their effective use of the props.  I that they have room to grow.

SCV had moments.  And the drumline is what it always is.  And I did enjoy all of the flag work by the guard.  I also liked their uniforms way more that 2019.  But the show just seems flat.  And I fear that maxing out performance levels can't make up for it.  

Finally, I did not think Bluecoats had a solid run yesterday.  Once again a supremely talented corps from top to bottom, but the vehicle they have been given this year just won't get it done.  And the actual words being spoken in their narration (not the fact that it is narration) is possibly the most insipid I have seen in DCI.  And yes it may be from the source material, but insipid is insipid.  

I reserve my right to completely change my mind when seeing them live at the end of the year.  It is not uncommon for me to underwhelmed at first, but totally changed at Indy.  So please don't come for me!

 

I agree with both of these posts.  I do get left wanting by all of the current top 6's shows so far this year - knowing there is a lot of polish and edits that will still happen.  They all have flaws.  It's almost like the design teams -many of whom started working on these shows 2+ years ago thanks to the COVID pause - had too much time to iterate and over think these shows.  Great parts (in many cases, but not yet a cohesive whole that connects and entertains to the level of the talent they have.  

And I agree, there ARE few great endings (so far, though I'm sure we haven't not seen ANYONE's real, complete ending yet.  Phantom Regiment may indeed have the only baby throwing show this summer (my personal bias aside), and there - so far - are only a handful of shows that I feel like have a great end-to-end design and high entertainment value, and none are in the top 6.  

That does NOT mean that I'm not loving the the season and enjoying every show.  I absolutely am.  I just thought we'd be more wow'd with all the prep time.  Perhaps it was TOO much time to think and overthink shows?

I'll have a far better feel after the Denton & San Antonio shows, and having seen everyone live. I can't wait!

Most importantly, huge kudos to the performers, fighting through a challenging summer in several regards and delivering top notch performances, passion & enthusiasm.  We are blessed that so many great kids & young adults are giving their all for us this summer!

[dcsnare93]

4 hours ago, Cappybara said:

YUP! The crowds have been eating their show up. It may not be well received on DCP, but the average fan is enjoying it. Based off some comments on Reddit from people who attended the broken arrow show, the show is way better in person than on Flo. I personally cannot wait to experience it in person 10 days from now

Anecdotal, but just from talking to people at shows I've attended over the past few seasons here in California, Atlanta and Indy, I'd say BD in general and their shows the last few years are a lot more liked than some here on DCP want to admit. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by dcsnare93