Philly Thoughts!

[d_c_i]

OK, I know some of you read my 15-part review that was posted on RAMD as the show was taking place (with the help of NanciD). However, many of my comments were choppy because I was typing with my thumbs (on my Blackberry) as fast as I could, while simultaneously trying to watch the corps perform!!! My review was good for initial thoughts and first impressions, but now I'd like to comment on some things after having a day to digest what I saw.

Blue Devils:

I really liked them. Going into the show, I had heard many people say they were boring. However, being a former sop player, and a huge guard fan, I couldn't disagree more! I just loved their show. I think they have come a long way since the beginning of the season. I'm not a big fan of the DCI scoring system, but it looks as if they are going to pass Cadets the week of finals. It's funny to think how close Crossmen were to them at the beginning of the year!

BAC/Cadets:

I didn't mind the American theme that these two corps had. However, I did not appreciate the use of props. The pictures and the written signs were so over-the-top! It really jaded my entire opinion of their field shows. I just couldn't enjoy them after seeing those things. It was especially hard to stomach seeing that they performed back-to-back last night. I really hope the Cadets don't do anything additional with the WTC/Firemen theme at Finals.

That being said, the Cadets enore was pheomenal!!! Originally when they announced that BD had lost by .05, I was so disappointed. After seeing the encore, I didn't mind that the Cadets won whatsoever!!!! They were totally jammin'. Their trumpets were on fire. And, I LOVED the guard in the encore. I have never seen that before, but it was really a sight to see. At the end of the encore, the Cadets did a second encore. I was so excited, but I did not appreciate some of the hand gestures the members were doing. They were acting like college football players after scoring a touchdown. I thought they could have used better judgement, and acted more professionally. Don't get me wrong, though, the Cadets victory concert was my favorite part of the night. I liked it more than all of the field shows combined!

Color Guard/Visual:

One thing that I noticed that really separates the top tier corps from the bottom tier corps is the visual program. The corps with more challenging visual and color guard programs tended to score much higher. I LOVE the color guard aspect of drum corps. However, I am sad that it, along with the visual program, has become the main driver of scores. I think that music should be the main driver. I have yet to see the Cavies this year, but I cannot WAIT to. In the past, though, I have always enjoyed the visual portion of their programs MUCH more than their musical portion, and the judges never seem to fault them for lacking musical exectution or, more accurately, musical entertainment.

Madison Scouts:

Many things about this corps, and the way the activity treats this corps, make me sad. I'm sad that their color guard program has deteriorated so much since 1999. They had some killer guards in the late 90's. I thought their '97 guard rivaled any in DCI. I'm not sure why exactly it has deteriorated, but I know there are many factors. Part of it may be the lack of talented guys willing to march drum corps. Much of it may be the difficulty they've had retaining strong staff members. Some of those factors include low pay, importance placed upon hiring staff from alumni, and the lack of emphasis the guard typically has in Madison's shows. One noteable exception was '97, which the guard was featured in a lot, and was a phenomenal year for them. Regardless, the CG members have worked their ##### off this summer, and it shows. Their work is not overly difficult, but it is fairly clean. It just took them until August to make it so.

Starting in '00 the top 3 or 4 corps in DCI really took their drill to another level. Unfortunately, Madison did not do so. If you watch the Cavies the last 2 or 3 years, and then you watch the Scouts, you can see a marked difference in the degree of difficulty and execution. That being said, I think Madison's visual progam is still in the top 6 or 7 in DCI. As you can see, the judges and I clearly disagree.

I have no comments on percussion because I'm not qualified to make them. I thought their drum-line was phenomenal, but I have no basis for arguing that they should score higher.

What makes me most sad about Madison is that the brass line continues to be strong (IMO top 3 in DCI year-in and year-out) and the judging community does not give them credit for that. I can tell you that last night they rivaled BD's brass. Their were loud, powerful, precise, and exciting. Their brass alone should be placing them in the top 10, making finals with ease.

I agree that Madison's shows in '00, '01 and '02 have been sub-par for Madison. I vehemently disagree that their placings have been fair and accurate in those years, however.

Bluecoats:

Loved the show, and loved the entire CG on rifles!

Kiwanis:

I thought their show was very entertaining! I liked it much better than some of the shows that went on significantly later in the evening . . .

Seattle and Spirit:

Congrats to both of them for their Cinderella stories. It would be huge, for obvious reasons, for either/both corps to make finals.

For those of you that missed my top 5's from last night, here they are!

Most entertaining (and most important IMO):

1) blue devils

2) madison (they may have been #1 if they would have performed later in the program. it's so disappointing to see them when it's partially light out and when people are still finding their seats)

3) bluecoats

4) cadets

5) glassmen (this really pleasantly surprised me)

Best color guard:

1) blue devils

2) cadets

3) glassmen

4) bluecoats

5) crossmen (be nice, staff!)

Best brass:

1) blue devils

2) madison

3) bluecoats

4) glassmen

5) cadets

Best percussion:

i'm not really qualified to say, but I really liked BD and Glassmen!

thx

[Guest GeorgeD]

Thanks very much for the review... Nice job. I really enjoyed the Devils last night, and agree the victory concert was great!

GD

[I-just-know-what-I-like.]

Madison Scouts:

Many things about this corps, and the way the activity treats this corps, make me sad. I'm sad that their color guard program has deteriorated so much since 1999. They had some killer guards in the late 90's. I thought their '97 guard rivaled any in DCI. I'm not sure why exactly it has deteriorated, but I know there are many factors. Part of it may be the lack of talented guys willing to march drum corps. Much of it may be the difficulty they've had retaining strong staff members. Some of those factors include low pay, importance placed upon hiring staff from alumni, and the lack of emphasis the guard typically has in Madison's shows. One noteable exception was '97, which the guard was featured in a lot, and was a phenomenal year for them. Regardless, the CG members have worked their ##### off this summer, and it shows. Their work is not overly difficult, but it is fairly clean. It just took them until August to make it so.

Starting in '00 the top 3 or 4 corps in DCI really took their drill to another level. Unfortunately, Madison did not do so. If you watch the Cavies the last 2 or 3 years, and then you watch the Scouts, you can see a marked difference in the degree of difficulty and execution. That being said, I think Madison's visual progam is still in the top 6 or 7 in DCI. As you can see, the judges and I clearly disagree.

I have no comments on percussion because I'm not qualified to make them. I thought their drum-line was phenomenal, but I have no basis for arguing that they should score higher.

What makes me most sad about Madison is that the brass line continues to be strong (IMO top 3 in DCI year-in and year-out) and the judging community does not give them credit for that. I can tell you that last night they rivaled BD's brass. Their were loud, powerful, precise, and exciting. Their brass alone should be placing them in the top 10, making finals with ease.

I agree that Madison's shows in '00, '01 and '02 have been sub-par for Madison. I vehemently disagree that their placings have been fair and accurate in those years, however.

Your comments are right on regarding Madison. The judging community has really killed MS. Yes the guard is down. And the drill is not as good at the top 3/4.... Never the less, the Brass and Percussion is clearly near the top, yet not credit its given. Ridiculous. Should be a 8/11 ranking.

Look at the rate of improvement on scoring across all Div. I corps. You can not tell me MS have not improved, yet the rate of change (score wise) is well under the rate of change of other corps. IMO.... clearly an intention to keep MS down and out. A statistical analysis will cleary show that the MS scoring has been suppressed, while other Div I corps have steadily risen. There is no way you can suggest that the hours of practice should yield a FLAT rate of improvement. Same score 80 - 82 over last 5 weeks... No way. The data says it all.

[ssorrell]

Look at the rate of improvement on scoring across all Div. I corps. You can not tell me MS have not improved, yet the rate of change (score wise) is well under the rate of change of other corps. IMO.... clearly an intention to keep MS down and out. A statistical analysis will cleary show that the MS scoring has been suppressed, while other Div I corps have steadily risen. There is no way you can suggest that the hours of practice should yield a FLAT rate of improvement. Same score 80 - 82 over last 5 weeks... No way. The data says it all.

Just because a corps practices a lot doesn't mean that they are improving a great deal. Maybe the other corps have made necessary changes to their programs that have garnered them some higher scores...I know that Spirit made changes and they were well received.

The rate of score improvement is determined by the rate of performance improvement of the corps. Unless you have been to each show and followed all of the corps in question, then please, stop it with these conspiracy theories.

[d_c_i]

They have improved a ton. Their scores do not reflect that, and they should. They have come further in the last 10 days than they have all season. It is silly that they are being left out of finals. It really is.

[CSGreen]

They have improved a ton. Their scores do not reflect that, and they should. They have come further in the last 10 days than they have all season. It is silly that they are being left out of finals. It really is.

They've improved a ton? Really?

Because when I saw them in Philly saw the SAME problems I saw in June. There are still guard members that have blackouts and look like they learned the show yesterday, I still see forms developing 4 counts before they are supposed to, transitions are still sloppy, Brass are still dropping the end of phrases EVERYwhere.

Yes Madison is exciting, but they aren't cleaning at the rate others are. At Philly, Neither Madison nor Crown had the aggressive emotion that Spirit and Seattle had. Spirit and Seattle came like they belonged in the top 12.

[OldTimer]

I am sorry but I have been watching drum corps for 20 plus years and this Madison corps has been given a show and book that is not at previous levels, add in that they don't pull it off at all and it is very dissapointing.

They deserve the scores they are getting.

They do not have a top 12 show this year. Facts are facts.

and as a former Scout booster I feel comfortable in saying that.

I was amazed at the lack of musicality, energy and degree of difficulty.

They should add "The Way We Were" at semis to make the best of the season and look to next year.

[flammaster]

well i have been watching corps for 31 years. I have to say that music wize they should get better scores. visually yea they really stink it's true. I am not qualified to judge the hornline but the drumline is quite good and the pit is IMO at least in the top 3 or 4.

conspiracy? No man it's just I think there is just WAY too much emphisis on visual period!

i come to hear. i think that a corps should get just as high a score if they can smoke all the others in music and have a lousy visual show. or is it that what they want is to have all this visual mumbo jumbo and have the drumline playing buzz rolls and diddles (just to be safe) and have the horns do the same. Oh wait they already do that.

sorry my mistake. lets all go see stomp!

[ssorrell]

I can't speak about percussion, but you've got that one covered, but the horn book is not in the top 12. Yes, their members perform it well, but the book doesn't compare to the corps around them. It lack difficulty and contrast. The corps plays loud with the best of them, but that's about all.

Do their brass perform well? Sure! It is their content that keeps them down in that caption. It just doesn't compare.

[I-just-know-what-I-like.]

The rate of score improvement is determined by the rate of performance improvement of the corps. Unless you have been to each show and followed all of the corps in question, then please, stop it with these conspiracy theories.

Whether the judging community is consciously or unconsciously doing it... the MS scores are getting suppressed unfairly. Anyone who has been watching (and I have been) can attest to the fact that their show has been improving leaps and bounds... including the guard... but the rate of improvement on scores has been less than 0.4 points per show for MS and more than 0.8 for Cavies. If you look at the rate of improvement, the MS scores stand out as unusually flat, not just against Cavies, but against all Div. 1 corps. I'm not saying the Cavies should not have a higher score than MS.. but the rate of improvement does not make mathematic sense...

How can it be justified that a corps (supposedly approaching perfection - 100) is improving faster than one that is so "imperfect" like MS? It is only logical that the closer to "perfection" the lower the rate of improvement is possible... and the farther away from perfection, the easier it is to improve scores. Yet MS's scores have been essentially flat for 2 - 3 weeks, I don't buy it.

I've seen several shows with Cascades... and I saw a lot of problems with spacing, not hitting the form on time, etc. and the score in relation to MS just did not make sense. It could not be more obvious, there is a lot of emotional momentum to get Cascades and Spirit into the 12. That's my opinion... like it or not.