Biggest messups in DCI history?

[jayboe172]

ok, this wasn't a big one, but did anyone notice the Blue Devils tenors player bust his *** as he was marching into the tunnel in 04', keep in mind, this was still part of the show, i know it wasn't a big mess up, i was just wondering if anyone noticed it

Edited August 11, 2005 by jayboe172

[Goldsmith1210]

82 Sky Ryders - The craziest rifle drop i've ever seen, it looks like the rifle just decided it wanted to fly away. :angel:

[SiFrySopUK]

VK 91

(the year they didn't make finals)... Drumming really out of time on the last few bars of the show.

Spirit 88

Whoever moaned about Spirit 88... that was a great show (as were all their shows)!

BD 89

To be fair on the guy, I have heard allot worse from a BD soloists or other DC soloists. The fact that he was so musically exposed on his own is the reason why everyone remembers it as the worst. The rest of the solo was very well played (who can argue that). We are talking one note here. Have you ever heard Maynard Ferguson play before? He's always missing stuff.

Try listening to some other DC sop solos in the past where they are trying to play high and it just don't work. Its much worse that BD 89.

Edited August 11, 2005 by SiFrySopUK

[Sideways]

Glassmen '01 a contra player comes in a full beat before the rest of the hornline right after a percussion break. Good, confident, sound though.

Phantom '98 the block of contras coming in from back left corner of the field (Pines of Appian Way, I think) marching halftime. One contra stumbles and almost falls. Looks really odd considering how controlled the rest of the move was.

Someone else mentioned it just above. The Bari/Euph right at the end of a Phantom '94. Got a little excited and pulled out the chainsaw for that phrase.

[fourouttheforty]

Our drum tech in high school likes to say that in Cavies '02 at the end of the Fight Club scene the guard guy in the center goes ".... oh ####" :P

[cajal]

The Garfield soloist in '86 (beginning of the show, on the waterfront) was seriously gacked... another recording that was fixed by DCI along with the '89 devils

[byline]

BD 89

To be fair on the guy, I have heard allot worse from a BD soloists or other DC soloists. The fact that he was so musically exposed on his own is the reason why everyone remembers it as the worst. The rest of the solo was very well played (who can argue that). We are talking one note here. Have you ever heard Maynard Ferguson play before? He's always missing stuff.

This is so true. I've always felt it's unfair that he's singled out in this way, because as you pointed out, everything he played, with the exception of that one note, was great. I think you're right; it's the fact that this fellow was so exposed that we remember it, but he was hardly the first soloist to miss a note, and he certainly wasn't the last. In fact, given the intense pressure and adverse conditions under which these musicians are performing, I'm actually surprised we don't hear more of these "misses" than we do.

Edited August 11, 2005 by byline

[byline]

this was many moons ago, during the time of the "TIC" but Phantom had a big rifle drop and the poor thing was blamed for the loss to SCV.

Not that other people weren't ticing out their also, hers was just most visible.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wondered when this was going to come up. Like the BD soloist in '89, Phantom's dropped-equipment penalty from '78 strikes me as another unfair singling-out of an individual (not by you; I understand that all you're doing is bringing up what others have said). This wasn't Phantom's "rifle drop" loss to Santa Clara, and certainly no one in Phantom blamed her for that. The only people "blaming" the loss on a rifle drop were people in the audience, so I don't think that's a very realistic assessment of why one corps won over another.

I can remember people saying, "If she hadn't dropped, they would've tied!" Well, good grief, one less tick by anyone else in the corps would have tied them, too. Two fewer ticks, and they would've won. Why single out the rifle drop? (Can you tell this still raises my blood pressure?)

Edited August 11, 2005 by byline

[ContraRich77]

BD 89

To be fair on the guy, I have heard allot worse from a BD soloists or other DC soloists. The fact that he was so musically exposed on his own is the reason why everyone remembers it as the worst. The rest of the solo was very well played (who can argue that). We are talking one note here. Have you ever heard Maynard Ferguson play before? He's always missing stuff.

Try listening to some other DC sop solos in the past where they are trying to play high and it just don't work. Its much worse that BD 89.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can agree with some of your points.

HOWEVER, usually when a soloist cracks a note they leave it be and move on. This guy (won't name him of course) instead of letting the crack slide, RE-ATTEMPTED THE NOTE UNSUCCESSFULLY THREE TIMES IN A ROW BEFORE CONTINUING!!

"doo da whEET(crk)...whEET(crk)...wheEETwhEET(crk)........."

That's what makes it stand out in my mind. I've never really heard a soloist try to "rewind" one of their mistakes before. Maybe I'm just scarred by it since I was on the field when it happened.

(BD 89 solo rant: off)

[byline]

That's what makes it stand out in my mind.  I've never really heard a soloist try to "rewind" one of their mistakes before.

Maybe the very reason he tried to "rewind" it was because he was so exposed. As I recall, he was the only one playing, right? So he may have felt he had no choice but to keep trying. I've always felt bad for the guy because honestly, I have no idea what I would do in that situation. Does anybody ever train soloists for that?