Let's Talk About the Blue Devils...

[keystone3ply]

👀 well, at the least, @ContraFart did a great job explaining the green nectar that the Blue Stars are serving this season. Y’all should join him with this cocktail & break some bread together. Y’all stressing me 😂
(looking for my gummies) 

Edited July 27, 2023 by keystone3ply
Cx

[Cappybara]

3 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:

Of course it's subjective, most things are in this activity. Everything I've stated is my opinion (as has everyone else), one I've honed over 30 years as a performer, designer, composer, and highly trained musician. You're free to disagree obviously. 

 

1 hour ago, MarimbaManiac said:

False. This is flat out false. The BD front ensemble is a lot of flash with very little substance, they haven't had the best pit book in decades, and usually they aren't even in the top two.

 

19 hours ago, ContraFart said:

Well I have an issue with rank then rate, but that is a whole other ball of wax. However you don't go from not beating SCV all season to all of a sudden having a perfect night with no change in content score. Jeff Prosperie is not a bad judge, but he was wrong that night and his score (along with the predictable 20 from Chumlee) caused the wrong corps to win that year.

But you are fixating on this when you haven't read the rest of the post. 

 

8 hours ago, ContraFart said:

You have every right to believe I am wrong as well. I have never once said that BD should not have won any of their titles, I am pointing to 2 specific years with very unorthodox judging results. 

My main point is and has always been that the top 4 or 5 corps are relatively equal in talent, execution and staff. The fact that a single corps wins 60% of the time is a problem, and I will present that issue as a fact. 

 

12 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

I love the cognitive dissonance in this thread from them. It's kind of delicious. 

 

 

Cognitive dissonance indeed! 

[GraysonHarris]

12 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

 

The Blue Devils are a marvel of consistent excellence much like the Patriots were, like UCLA basketball was, like the Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, and Golden State Warriors were, like the Yankees were, like UConn women's basketball were, like Alabama foot is, like Michael Phelps was, like Novak Djokovic was, etc etc. All of these organizations and people other than BD I am not a fan of, but I respect the hell out of their excellence and am in awe of them whenever I have been able to watch them. 

Here is another sports analogy that I think applies to drum corps, Blue Devils continued success and winning championships, and what could possibly happen if another corps takes over Blue Devils and becomes the dominant force for X amount of years: 

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes Petronas in Formula One. From 2014 - 2021, Mercedes won the Constructors (Team) Championship a whopping 8 times in a row. Lewis Hamilton the Drivers' Championship 6 of those 8 years. The other two years he came in 2nd place overall. The amount of hate and spew that came from people towards Lewis and Mercedes was absolutely wild. Mercedes DOMINATED Formula One for that entire 8 year span. 

Then Max Verstappen came along with Red Bull and ended Lewis Hamilton's reign as World Driver's Champion in 2021. In 2022, Red Bull and Max Verstappen won both Drivers' and Constructors (Team) titles. Of the 22 races in 2022, Red Bull won 17 of those races. Max won 15 of the 22 races. 

That is more than 60% of the races last year. 60%!

Fast forward to this current 2023 season. Of the 11 races ran thus far, Red Bull have won ALL OF THEM. Max Verstappen has won 9 of those races, including the past 6 races. People on F1 boards, Reddit, etc are moaning and groaning about Max/Red Bull continuing to win. They want someone else to win. They rant and moan about F1 being boring right now. They want Lewis Hamilton to win again. When Lewis got pole position in the last race, social media went nuts for him taking pole position. In a good way!

So what is the TDLR here? People are tired of Blue Devils winning. Just like people were tired of Mercedes winning. What happens if Crown, Bluecoats or BC become dominant and start winning continuously like BD? Will people scream from the rafters like they do with Red Bull continuing to dominate the past two years? Human nature says yes. Absolutely. 

Thats all 🙂 

[mboogey73]

1 hour ago, MarimbaManiac said:

False. This is flat out false. The BD front ensemble is a lot of flash with very little substance, they haven't had the best pit book in decades, and usually they aren't even in the top two.

Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.  

 

 

[GraysonHarris]

Just now, mboogey73 said:

Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.  

 

 

That front ensemble in 1994 led by Ed Cloyd was WICKED 🙂 

[Jurassic Lancer]

20 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

Like black flies in your chardonay?

 

Please … black flies in my Pino Gris … Chardonnay is a bit heavy for the heat of summer 

[mboogey73]

1 minute ago, GraysonHarris said:

That front ensemble in 1994 led by Ed Cloyd was WICKED 🙂 

Cloyd was the man.  I enjoyed every minute I spent with that group.  I was a late addition. Boy, was I lucky. 

[resipsaloquitur]

8 hours ago, ContraFart said:

Bluecoats have had the same core staff for 20+ years. Colin and Geno have been working together that long as well. Matt Harloff is at about 20 years with Crown. Dean Westman and Doug Thrower are at Bluecoats over 20 years as well. I understand 30+ years is more than 20+ years, but I do not put BDs instructional staff on another level like BD apologists tend to do. Again I will repeat, The talent, execution and staffs of the top 4 or 5 corps are relatively equal. 

What do you call a generalization made by a farmer?

An overall statement. [rim shot]

Again, only sithes deal in extremes. Staff are not equal. George Hopkins is not equal to Colin. Gino, who happens to be a BD alumnus, received the best possible instruction hence he could pay it forward as he is doing now. Now, I would love to think that every one of my former managers is on the same level as far as teaching and mentorship abilities. Afterall they share the same title (e.g. EVP), but every single person in my department knows very well that some managers are better than others. And the best ones are very, very rare. Top 1%. Can say the same thing about DCI instructors and staff no matter how long they've been with an organization.

[MarimbaManiac]

16 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Cognitive dissonance indeed! 

Like irony, I don't think you're using that correctly. 

Yes, most things are subjective, but saying their front ensemble book is "the hardest on the field" as the other poster stated is plainly wrong. It stems from the compositional choices of their arrangers, which is incredibly consistent. BD focuses on unison work, combined with flourishing technique to convey performance effect. I've worked with both Dave and Brian and that's just their style, and it trickles down to the other groups they teach. Fast runs, sure. 4 mallet independent permutations, sure...but there are usually only 2 or 3 voices happening, it's concentrated into a lot of unison work so they can all move together which is a priority for them (they even pulse their cymbal rolls together, which from a sound quality perspective is.....gross. SCV on the other hand focuses on a depth of orchestration, which means more people are doing their own thing, and is more difficult to align as well as sound quality.

It's two completely different approaches, one that prioritizes ease of cleanliness and synchronous movement, and one that prioritizes orchestration and complexity. For what it's worth, even though I dislike the Rennicks business ethics, SCV has had the best pit in the activity for a WHILE. Bloo also has a great front ensemble.

Edited July 27, 2023 by MarimbaManiac

[ContraFart]

2 minutes ago, resipsaloquitur said:

What do you call a generalization made by a farmer?

An overall statement. [rim shot]

Again, only sithes deal in extremes. Staff are not equal. George Hopkins is not equal to Colin. Gino, who happens to be a BD alumnus, received the best possible instruction hence he could pay it forward as he is doing now. Now, I would love to think that every one of my former managers is on the same level as far as teaching and mentorship abilities. Afterall they share the same title (e.g. EVP), but every single person in my department knows very well that some managers are better than others. And the best ones are very, very rare. Top 1%. Can say the same thing about DCI instructors and staff no matter how long they've been with an organization.

I am not comparing the level of BDs staff to a corps like SOA. Again the level of instruction, talent and execution of the top 4 are relatively equal.