Carolina Crown 2023

[ZTWright]

47 minutes ago, skevinp said:

They haven’t medaled in 5 years and the talent keeps coming so maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t matter to them as much as it does to you.  

Thanks for the snarky comment! Maybe you're right, but the talent will eventually start to go elsewhere if results don't start rolling in. 

[nsxanax]

14 hours ago, karuna said:

No one likes things when they're actually brand new.  Instead they complain that they're not getting what they expect.

Crown's show was a completely fresh take on the activity.  

I enjoyed it. 

I said from day one it's more like a Vegas or Theme Park show than a faux intellectual "look how deep and sophisticated we are" approach.  It completely captured the attention of the audience as designed;  that's the textbook definition of GE.  If the judging community can't see that then shame on them.

Yes they struggled with getting clean.  I chalk that up to a new-to-Crown visual staff.  

I haven't loved Rick's past designs for outdoor regardless of his success indoor. 

But this show "worked".  It did not need narration.  It did not need useless and expensive props created by someone other than the performers.  Instead the fabric actually required the performers to create effect themselves.  IMHO this is a far better formula than "who can build the highest monkeybars and ramps and then stand on them while playing".  

Keep entertaining the audience, Crown.  That's a GOOD thing.  It's something I wish other DCI design teams cared a little more about.  

Dang K, where da h@ll ya been, pal??!!

It ain’t a legit CrownTHREAD until the Oracle of [wish it were Omaha: neighbors with Warren and dig the alliteration], but of course I digress.

Regardless, always good to read your posts. While your ‘22 mantra didn’t bring us a medal or Ott, it still contributed to an epic program.

Folks, CrownTHREAD 2023 is now officially open for business.

Now where the hellz NewsEd bro….
 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by nsxanax

[skevinp]

43 minutes ago, ZTWright said:

Thanks for the snarky comment! Maybe you're right, but the talent will eventually start to go elsewhere if results don't start rolling in. 

No snark intended.  If there was an exasperation that bled through, it is more due to the number of similar posts and not a judgment of any individual.  

Part of my point was to anticipate the “eventually” aspect.  Five years is a long time, especially for kids so young.  The last time Crown medaled may seem like a lifetime ago to them, and possibly predate their all their significant awareness of or experience with drum corps.  

And in any case, I think they are smart enough to know not to expect Crown to suddenly finish higher than they have for a number of years now.  Hope and shoot for it sure, but consider it a failure if it doesn’t happen?  I doubt it.  

If someone really does place that much emphasis on medaling, they probably already would not have chosen Crown.  Yet the sheer number of talented members that keep coming back suggest that uber-competitiveness isn’t necessary to field a fantastic corps.  

I respect your opinion and you may turn out to be right.  Forgive me though if I hope you don’t.  🙂

[DrummerParent]

8 hours ago, ZTWright said:

Crown also needs to have a sit down and focus on percussion.

I think they need to beef up on the book and lighten up on the drill for the percussion.  Crown battery had the most difficult drill of all corps but the book was good but not quite on the same level as those above them.  Unfortunately, the drill shows up in VA which has plenty of other content that the battery drill would have minimal impact on VA.  Instead, the difficult drill made it hard to clean a book that wasn’t quite as difficult (at least not in the traditional sense).   They didn’t need the battery drill to drive VA but they could’ve used a harder book with simpler drill to drive the percussion score.

[ZTWright]

18 minutes ago, skevinp said:

No snark intended.  If there was an exasperation that bled through, it is more due to the number of similar posts and not a judgment of any individual.  

Part of my point was to anticipate the “eventually” aspect.  Five years is a long time, especially for kids so young.  The last time Crown medaled may seem like a lifetime ago to them, and possibly predate their all their significant awareness of or experience with drum corps.  

And in any case, I think they are smart enough to know not to expect Crown to suddenly finish higher than they have for a number of years now.  Hope and shoot for it sure, but consider it a failure if it doesn’t happen?  I doubt it.  

If someone really does place that much emphasis on medaling, they probably already would not have chosen Crown.  Yet the sheer number of talented members that keep coming back suggest that uber-competitiveness isn’t necessary to field a fantastic corps.  

I respect your opinion and you may turn out to be right.  Forgive me though if I hope you don’t.  🙂

I hope I'm wrong too, but the performers can only do so much with what they are given. Once these corps who are behind them, i.e. The Cavaliers, Cadets, and possibly Blue Stars, start to sort their "issues" I foresee trouble for Crown. The Cavaliers could have possibly kept up if Covid hadn't hit them hard. Just trying to be realistic here because Cadets made some great strides this year, as did Blue Stars. We shall see what next year holds.

15 minutes ago, DrummerParent said:

I think they need to beef up on the book and lighten up on the drill for the percussion.  Crown battery had the most difficult drill of all corps but the book was good but not quite on the same level as those above them.  Unfortunately, the drill shows up in VA which has plenty of other content that the battery drill would have minimal impact on VA.  Instead, the difficult drill made it hard to clean a book that wasn’t quite as difficult (at least not in the traditional sense).   They didn’t need the battery drill to drive VA but they could’ve used a harder book with simpler drill to drive the percussion score.

I'm honestly not sure what is wrong with the percussion, as I'm nowhere near a percussion, but a focus on that section needs to take place. A top 3 brass and guard can't make up for the lack in the percussion section forever. I don't however believe the drill was the problem. 

[wigwam]

I enjoyed the show this year, the members seemed to enjoy performing it, and the spectators seemed to enjoy watching it.

Being “stagnant” in 3rd or 4th pace the last 5 seasons is not a bad result.  I’d call it being consistent, not stagnant.  

I see no reason to hit the panic button and fire anyone.     

 

[ZTWright]

10 minutes ago, wigwam said:

I enjoyed the show this year, the members seemed to enjoy performing it, and the spectators seemed to enjoy watching it.

Being “stagnant” in 3rd or 4th pace the last 5 seasons is not a bad result.  I’d call it being consistent, not stagnant.  

I see no reason to hit the panic button and fire anyone.     

 

No one is saying it wasn't enjoyable, but there were glaring design issues that we ALL saw and everyone commented on before I joined. Sorry that my comments seem to be triggering everyone.

[DrummerParent]

15 minutes ago, ZTWright said:

I hope I'm wrong too, but the performers can only do so much with what they are given. Once these corps who are behind them, i.e. The Cavaliers, Cadets, and possibly Blue Stars, start to sort their "issues" I foresee trouble for Crown. The Cavaliers could have possibly kept up if Covid hadn't hit them hard. Just trying to be realistic here because Cadets made some great strides this year, as did Blue Stars. We shall see what next year holds.

I'm honestly not sure what is wrong with the percussion, as I'm nowhere near a percussion, but a focus on that section needs to take place. A top 3 brass and guard can't make up for the lack in the percussion section forever. I don't however believe the drill was the problem. 

The drill was absolutely the most difficult in DCI.  But, they don’t get credit for the tough drill in the percussion score.  It goes in VA but they didn’t need the help in the VA score.  They need to simplify the battery drill and beef up the book.  Then they could play stuff that gets a higher content score and be cleaner with it.

[skevinp]

As long as they continue to emphasize entertainment, I would have no problem with their bringing in expertise that would help ensure their design choices don’t lead to practical problems that impact scoring and placement.  

[ZTWright]

28 minutes ago, DrummerParent said:

The drill was absolutely the most difficult in DCI.  But, they don’t get credit for the tough drill in the percussion score.  It goes in VA but they didn’t need the help in the VA score.  They need to simplify the battery drill and beef up the book.  Then they could play stuff that gets a higher content score and be cleaner with it.

VA was one of the suffering captions. They were 4th. 

22 minutes ago, skevinp said:

As long as they continue to emphasize entertainment, I would have no problem with their bringing in expertise that would help ensure their design choices don’t lead to practical problems that impact scoring and placement.  

I'm completely on board with emphasizing entertainment. I just think one cohesive idea could be more entertaining and more engaging.