A Dinosaur's Lament

[valjean]

21 hours ago, dcsnare93 said:

Yeah, I remember similar commentary about the state of drum corps when I marched in '93.

There's always been one generation trashing the next as the activity continues to evolve.

Are there any criticisms you would consider fair and not the product of generational salt? 

[MikeD]

On 8/19/2023 at 10:06 AM, Mello Dude said:

Sorry, have to disagree.  YES the tic system was subjective but nearly as so now.  EVERYTHING is based on what is going through their little heads now.  At least on the tape you could HEAR the tic. 

Tics were totally subjective. Was event X a tic or not? If so, did it warrant a group tic? How many tenths in that situation? Judges were taught to only mark tics for the section they were standing in front of. I was a percussion judge starting in the mid/late 70's. If I was in front of the snares, and I thought I heard a tenor tic, I could not mark it, since I was focused on the snares at that point. The judge field placement only worked when drills were not as complex as they became. Adding in the pit, tics were just no longer a valid way to judge the totality of the percussion performance. 

[Galen]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:11 PM, Mello Dude said:

At this point I think having AI judge wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

No, it would absolutely be a bad thing. Just look at how poorly AI tends to perform in other areas. Now apply that to DCI and tell me you honestly think it'll be better.

[Mello Dude]

17 minutes ago, Galen said:

No, it would absolutely be a bad thing. Just look at how poorly AI tends to perform in other areas. Now apply that to DCI and tell me you honestly think it'll be better.

AI would (ideally) be impartial.  It would only perceive what it sees and experiences.  I think just having AI as an experiment would be interesting.  Also justifying why it scored what it did.

[skevinp]

41 minutes ago, Mello Dude said:

AI would (ideally) be impartial.  It would only perceive what it sees and experiences.  I think just having AI as an experiment would be interesting.  Also justifying why it scored what it did.

That’s not how it works.  

That’s not how any of it works.  

[bluesman]

I'm not a Blue Devils hater, but I can't remember the last time I re-watched one of their shows during the off season.  I know how good they are, but there just aren't that memorable moments in their programs.  I've come to accept that are 3 givens for every season.  

1. Blue Devils will probably win

2. They will receive multiple perfect 10s in GE and Visual

3. The shows that I will watch over and over again throughout the year will come from the 2nd or 3rd place corps. 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by bluesman
spelling

[ironlips]

Evolve or die. (Don't forget, some dinosaurs learned to fly.)

https://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/2012/06/inside-the-arc-its-just-not-drum-corps-anymore/

[JimF-LowBari]

On 8/20/2023 at 11:33 PM, MikeD said:

Tics were totally subjective. Was event X a tic or not? If so, did it warrant a group tic? How many tenths in that situation? Judges were taught to only mark tics for the section they were standing in front of. I was a percussion judge starting in the mid/late 70's. If I was in front of the snares, and I thought I heard a tenor tic, I could not mark it, since I was focused on the snares at that point. The judge field placement only worked when drills were not as complex as they became. Adding in the pit, tics were just no longer a valid way to judge the totality of the percussion performance. 

Marched 3 different Senior circuits and yep all 3 had different criteria for what was “ticable”. DCA had highest standards, ICA was more GE oriented and RCA was more forgiving on “less than perfect” execution.

Did both DCA and RCA a few years in 1970s. Still remember Larry Hershman yelling at practice “it’s DCA this weekend, execute #### it, execute “.

Edited August 22, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[Triple Forte]

8 hours ago, ironlips said:

Evolve or die. (Don't forget, some dinosaurs learned to fly.)

https://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/2012/06/inside-the-arc-its-just-not-drum-corps-anymore/

I don’t think anyone would say the activity should not evolve. Obviously the rub happens when we discuss to what degree should things evolve? At what pace? Fans (including myself) don’t want to see the activity evolve to the point the activity is no longer recognizable.
 Seeing speaker arrays , miles of cable , non-members (as many as 5 people sometimes) manning soundboards, wireless mics for one horn player for each horn section (trumpet , baritone..etc.) to augment the overall brass sound and condenser mics covering the entire field is expensive completely detracts from what makes a drum corps sound unique compared to other musical groups/activities .   There is always a breaking point to evolution and change and hopefully the powers at be will pull back a bit .  

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Triple Forte

[LabMaster]

Not lamenting evolution.  It is necessary, but some amount of control is needed.  I heard a rumor that the mic’g would change for next year based on the BOA approach.  Soloists can be mic’d, but no mass mic’g of voices throughout the ensemble. I hope that front sideline mic’g is still good.  IMO, no other mic’s should be allowed on the field.  Also, Max the amount of speakers a corps can bring out.  These minor changes may help corps that don’t have a few hundred k to put into amplification and electronics to produce a milli vanilli production.  Rein in amps and electronics to level the field for all corps.  World or Open class. I would love to hear more of the natural sound of brass and percussion performed with less augmentation electronically or with sampling.  If there are folks smart enough to create it, there should be folks smart enough to appropriately reduce it.  Just my $.02.

Edited August 22, 2023 by LabMaster