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Clifton Partial Review


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Wow, I didn't realize how far it is from Balitmore to Clifton. With the schlep plus traffic, it took me almost 4 hours!!!!! Oh well...got to the show late and missed Hurcs and part of Sky... here are my observations....

Sky... 63.1 (2nd viewing) From what I saw at field level and heard, they have come a long way. Looked like they plugged in a few more people and are defeinitly sounding much stronger since Reading's show. Was trying to scope out a good seat from the ground so I had my back to them, didn't see much visually. Personally I thought your sound alone warranted a larger jump but again I saw next to nothing, only heard.

Bush... 75.95 (2nd viewing) Brass line is sounding even more balanced than at Reading. Almost no inidividuals sticking out of this horn line EVER which was something I noticed with nearly everyone else. Again, I thought the scores at this entire show were low (except Brigs)

Percussion has come a LONG LONG way since Reading, ten thousand times cleaner. I'm pretty certain this show will be top 5.

Visual is coming along, much better than at Reading by far. Seemed like some changes were made to the book, maybe I was loading my camera while you guys were performing at Reading or something but I thought I saw some drill rewrites in there. If that was the case, I liked what I saw.

This show is slowly growing on me, did you guys cut out part of Firebird? It seemed a little less repetitive than at Bucs's home show.

Brigs... 85.05 (1st viewing) Ok, this is not the corps fault, but I think this number is ridiculously high. This was the first time I actually sat down and took a good look at what the Brigs do on the field, and I must say this... BRILLIANT design. I've never seen a corps get so much GE out of so little movement and I don't mean that as an insult. I hardly saw anyone take larger than an 7 to 5 yet it was still entertaining to watch (and for me, that's rare)

Guard was very clean but again, they aren't moving a terrible lot.

I can see why Brigs took drums tonight, but with Bucs in the running (and from what I hear about Empire) they may have some serious competition this year. The pit and battery have some licks but neither ensemble is where it should be to warrant this scoring.

Drill execution isn't quite deserving of this score yet either, still have some major feet/spacing issues. But then again, when you clump 100+ musicians in front of the back hash that's what you get. Which brings me to only major complaint I have with the show... You have a whole 100-yard field, you have 130+ members... USE THE FIELD. I didn't see anyone venture past the 30s and it would add some variety and interest to your visual program if you moved around the field more.

What can I say, the cleanest corps wins.

Bucs... 79.50 (2nd viewing) Sorry to do this to my own corps but... I had them third behind Cabs again, barely. The show was most certainly cleaner visually and musically BUT... the energy they had at their home show was extremely diminished.

Still some tempo issues from the musical ensemble but it was greatly improved over last week. Only one major place the whole corps seemed to fall apart was towards the end of the fast section in App. Spring for about 15 seconds. Also, there were a few feet I heard in the horns tonight.

Ensemble Visual was much better than at Reading... everything looked more uniform especially horn moves and feet but there are still some people "peddling the bike" on their back up step. I hope Bucs took marching execution because there are some stumblers in Brigs and Cabs as of yet.

Color guard has a tough book... a book that might need some watering, especially weapons. I noted LOTS of individual mistakes and inconsistancies tonight from the guard tonight, also, when are you guys getting new unis? Aren't those the ones from last year?? I didn't like them then and I don't now. I am kinda bored by their choice of flags. I mean, we see two sets of american flags and everything is red white or blue. It's a patriotic show yes, but maybe something different for App Spring?

Percussion, I think has the most musical book in DCA. I really thought the seciont stepped up tonight. Lots of the ensemble tears between pit and battery previously heard at Reading are being alleviated. I hope the scores were close!!!!!!

Big leap forward this week in cleanliness now get that energy back up!!!!

Cabs... 78.45 (2nd viewing) I think I'm going to like this show a lot come Scranton, but it doesn't do a terrible lot for me yet. Good ideas, great design, they just need to clean up some more.

Percussion was certainly improved over Reading. Like the drum solo work a lot.

Music ensemble had a few ackward moments, like in Pines, the brass and percussion were about a 1/4 beat apart from each other for awhile. Love the flags in pines. This show makes me really want to go look for some Muchachos shows on MP3, very very nicely written horn book with some sophisticated and creative chord changes. Definitly a breath of fresh air for the Cabs.

Didn't notice much visually beacuse I moved down to the side lines to get my face peeled off by their horn line. It's fun if I only do it once a season. :-)

Again, I thought this score was a tad low in comparison to Brigs considering the strides that were made this week, but that's just me.

Well, I'm pretty sure Brigs will take yet another title, but as for the rest of the placements this year... your guess is as good as mine, can't wait for Scranton now!!! :-)

Ed

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Dude - awesome review but anytime you would like me to Xerox pages from my dot book for ya, I will be more than happy!

Look for me next time you see us - I'm the guard person that ends the show on 30 11 BEHIND the back hash!

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Dude - awesome review but anytime you would like me to Xerox pages from my dot book for ya, I will be more than happy!

Look for me next time you see us - I'm the guard person that ends the show on 30 11 BEHIND the back hash!

Ok ok ok, I was talking mainly about the horn/drum line because that's what I pay attention to the most, but you guys still don't venture out of the 30s much and I would be WAY more impressed with the corps if they spread out a little bit and gave the show some ensemble difficulty, ya know, put a little danger of phasing in there.

I just fundamentally have a problem with groups who box themselves in with props, I see a lot of marching bands do this and I want to choke the designers because, in my opinion it isn't a smart design choice. Just me though.

Also, I think it would be way smarter to have those props either be more prominently displayed or have them move beacuse after the first two I never noticed anything happen with the other two, I totally lost interest in the concept. Maybe it was where I was sitting.

Ed

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Not wanting to start crap here, only to set the record straight.

I am glad you liked the show and the design. We really enjoyed performing last night. Please cut us some slack as we are actually marching this year, and trying some very difficult things. I really wish that the Brigadier name didn't come with such a stereotype. Again thanks for all the positive comments, and please try and keep the negativity things to a modest whisper. Here are some stats for ya straight from the drill book.

Total sets I am behind back hash.....4

Total sets I am outside 30.....16

Total Sets horn player or drummer outside behind back hash....16

Total sets horn player or drummer outside of 30....61

Total moves I move 6 to 5 or larger....20 (not sure about rest of corps)

Shawn

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Not wanting to start crap here, only to set the record straight.

I am glad you liked the show and the design. We really enjoyed performing last night. Please cut us some slack as we are actually marching this year, and trying some very difficult things. I really wish that the Brigadier name didn't come with such a stereotype. Again thanks for all the positive comments, and please try and keep the negativity things to a modest whisper. Here are some stats for ya straight from the drill book.

With success comes criticism and stereotypes. The crowd enjoys watching your shows, you enjoy playing them (at least I hope). IMHO, there is no need to pull out the dot book and start quoting. Your chance to prove that your corps doesn't just park and bark is on the field, and you've been doing that for the past month already. I really hope the Brigs bashing doesn't spread from R##D to here. Let's all just have some fun at Scranton.

--Miker

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Something I forgot to add...  What the HECK did Bucs get penalized for ????  Were they over time or what??

Ed

yes, they were over time, but they said that it won't happen again...

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I think the Brigs show is very difficult both musicaly and visualy...

they are executing it very well so some peoples think that it is too easy!

they are suffering from what I would call the Mark Mcgire or Barry Bond sindrome,

when you watch those two guy hit the baseball it look so easy...

and did you see there Drumline, did you realy watch them????

I can't see anybody touching them this year

but with DCA you never know, it should be a matter of a full point but it's probabely going to be tenths...

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