San Antonio aftermath...

[lowbrassdad]

Simple show dynamics methinks. First on in finals being judged as opposed to being on near last in the prelims. This happens frequently on a two-show day, or even from one night to another.

My 2 cents is that Spirit was MUCH better in the evening than they were in the afternoon but they are being handcuffed by a show that is basically just there and a color guard that doesn't do much to make you remember them. To me, spirit is about the music and selling that southern jazz style they are starting to get a handle on.

Unfortunately this is the show M. Gaines gave them......the music is fun, the drill is safe! The kids can only do what they can do......I'm sure they are probably starting to wish he had included a Bubble machine, or water spout, or some sort of pyrotechnic volcano.......because at this point it is apparently not JUST about memorable music, the corps having fun, and the audience getting into it.....

BUT they sure liked getting to play Georgia for a warm up!

[decompressed]

Unfortunately this is the show M. Gaines gave them......the music is fun, the drill is safe! The kids can only do what they can do......I'm sure they are probably starting to wish he had included a Bubble machine, or water spout, or some sort of pyrotechnic volcano.......because at this point it is apparently not JUST about memorable music, the corps having fun, and the audience getting into it.....

BUT they sure liked getting to play Georgia for a warm up!

Oh I know..when I taught there, it was always a special moment when we arced the horns up for Georgia! Best of luck to the corps in baby blue!!!!

[blue9195]

b**bs

I'm ecstatic!

I love the direction the corps is going in... in all facets. They are constantly looking forward and have exciting design, technical and management staffs.

And... if the Bluecoats have ever beaten the Cadets anywhere, it would've been in the late '80s or 1990... but I doubt that it has ever happened before.

This is the first time that 'Coats have beaten The Cadets. Ever.

Last year they came within a few tenths in the middle of the summer.

Now there is only one active corps that we have never beaten. Blue Devils.

-Travis

Edited July 23, 2006 by blue9195

[blueorginal]

Recaps tell the story:

Dallas for Phantom Regiment GE Scores

8.80 8.60 17.40 8.90 8.80 17.70 35.10

SA Phantom Regiment GE Scores

9.40 9.30 18.70 9.30 9.00 18.30 37.00

West Monroe Bluecoats GE Scores

8.80 8.40 17.20 8.80 8.50 17.30 34.50

SA Bluecoats GE Scores

9.00 8.90 17.90 9.00 8.90 17.90 35.80

Blue has a way to go to clean and add to the GE....that cost them 3rd...

Great year for blue....now we'll see if they can take it farther.....:)

[Ageout90]

Earlier someone asked why the scores dropped for the 9-12th place corps in the evening.....

The scores historically drop from the afternoon show to the night show at these mid-season regionals.

Several reasons:

1) Basic numbers management at the night show.... they are keeping room for the rest of the top 12 during the remainder of the evening.

*There is always a pile up of corps right near the top of box 4 trying to get into the criteria for box 5 this time of the season.

IF the judges go too high too early, it can create havoc when you get towards the last 4-5 corps of the evening, especially if it is one of those nights where only 1 corps or possibly nobody is indeed stellar. (You never know?)

2) As for the afternoon show....in many ways it is more about getting the ranking correct. (Just as it is for the evening show.) BUT the afternoon show has a bit more of an open ended boundary in regards to numbers. As long as the judging panel does not move corps in and out of box 4 to 5 and vice-versa between afternoon and evening all is cool.

3) There can certainly be a fluxuation by a few tenths of a point on each sheet for the same drum corps (ie: Spirit) as long as the criteria reference (the rubric on the back of the sheet) is intact with the verbage on the tapes no harm-no foul.

Hence the slight drop in scores from afternoon to evening.

Remember if each judge between afternoon and evening has only a 0.2 difference on every sheet, the total score can drop over a point.

Larry

Past corps member, instructor, capation head, programmer, consultant, assistant director and corps director:

Presently retired, and now enjoys the baseball box scores & DCI/DCA recaps with my coffee & bagel every Sunday morning.

[trwiggin]

Before we go all X-files conspiracy theory on Prosperie judging PR higher in drums didn't both judges have them up on BC?

[charlesdrum]

Having been at both shows last night I have a few comments to add.

I thought Spirit had a much better show than Glassmen. Especially in the afternoon, when Glassmen had some intonation issues. Most of the people around me were kind of surprised that Spirit and Colts didn't beat Glassmen. All good shows I might add.

Blue Knights and Scouts match up was very interesting. Blue Knights had just a little more spark to their show. If Scouts clean a little more visually, and do something with the ending(something lacking there, can't put my finger on it), it should be a close race end season.

Crown had the first show of theirs I absolutely love, musically and visually. I think end of season with some cleaning, they could be fighting SCV and Phantom for that 5th place spot. Boston had a nice show, some rough spots here and there, but overall nice. I think they will be fighting BK for 8th at the end of season.

Phantom, I don't see how they beat Cadets or Bluecoats. Major problems in the pit last night. Sometimes half a count off the rest of the corps, and they weren't even together among themselves several times during the show. In pit percussion, I would have had them in 10th place, so when they won drums, I was kind of surprised. Blue Devils and Cadets were more impressive. Overall though, one of my favorite Phantom shows musically, visual very dirty last night. Lines were not straight, and the guard was off in many places.

Cadets had some issues during the night, but overall a very nicely performed program. Can't wait to see the progression between now and finals. Probalby looking at 3rd place, fighting with Bluecoats. Bluecoats had an amazing performance. One of the cleanest guards of the night. Very nice visual package, definitely a step up from last year. Look for 3rd or 4th place finish at finals, depending on Cadets.

Cavies and Blue Devils---WOW I hadn't seen Cavies in a couple of weeks, and that show is absolutely AWESOME. Possibly their best drill ever. I was predicting they would win SA and then fall back down to BD during finals week earlier in the season, but after last night, I think it may be difficult for BD to catch them. It will be a contest of Visual versus Musical performance come finals week. Absolutely love the BD show, but it seems they have more standing than I recall a few weeks ago in Dubuque. Maybe some changes are being worked out that haven't been performed for an audience yet? That was the only negative to their show, it just didn't feel finished in parts(I know, there are 3 weeks still to go in the season)

Daytime scores, the only thing I didn't agree with the judges on were I thought Colts should have been closer to Spirit and Glassmen, and Spirit should have beat Glassmen by about 1 point. Just my opinion.

[Bluefan]

Before we go all X-files conspiracy theory on Prosperie judging PR higher in drums didn't both judges have them up on BC?

Yes, and actually, if the other perc judge had scored the corps in the same order, Bluecoats would've been 2nd in drums. Jeff Prosperie has historically (in the past couple of years at least) always seemed to appreciate the coats drumline and score them high. Conspiracy theorists need not look into this caption, Phantom's drumline is incredible and deserving of their placement last night.

Edited July 23, 2006 by Bluefan

[Nice Guy]

Triple Trey Quote: ####, at this rate the Cavaliers will have a perfect GE score by finals. In fact, we might need to expand the GE score beyond 40 to compensate for how amazing the Cavaliers are at GE. ####, let's just make GE scores equal to 100 and forget the other captions (who need brass, percussion, and colorguard?). That way when Jeff Fiedler wants to have 8 monkeys masturbate onto coconuts on the 50 yard line, every dumb#### from here to Madison, WI can comment on how "amazing" and "innovative" it is, and they can win DCI by 189 points.

I mean, ##########ER, the "robot" went out of style 10 years ago. No wonder we're all known as band nerds (and consequently none of you get laid).

I wanted to reply to the original message, but it looks as though it has been removed. Man, Triple Trey, you have got to be kidding. First of all, your implying of bad language when referring to the Cavliers deserves a :ramd: So what if the Cavaliers are doing well with GE. So are the Blue Devils and Phantom. Both scored 37.0

last night in San Antonio. How dare you come down on a corps and its director like this. The Cavaliers are innovative and their hard work is ridiculed by someone like you who has nothing better to do with his time then whine about GE. Do you understand want General Effect means? The very caption includes Visual and Music. In other words...How well do the musical elements and visuals bring across the concept. In the case of the Cavaliers...how well does the visual scheme and music bring across the concept of a machine? Have you even seen the show?

Why do you need to come down on Jeff Fiedler? <**> Is it because that is the only name you know? If you ever spent 10 minutes with this guy, you would understand that he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Do you know anyone on the design staff for the Cavaliers? Can you mention one name or tell me their position with the design team? Why have you not said anything negative about them? Because you can't. They, like Jeff, are all professionals at this. Some of them have probably been doing this longer than you have been alive. This is why you sit at home whining about GE and they are winning the San Antonio show after being down by almost two points from the Blue Devils, who also have an excellent show.

Last, don't talk about the peeps who wait all year to go see a competition the way you referred to them in your post <**> Don't insult their intelligence. For without them, there would not be future generations of kids or fans involved in drum corps. Basically, you are the ^0^ and I hope that you get banned from ever posting again. They are not mindless idiots. But I do get the impression that you are. In fact a lot of fans are former members, band directors, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas and those who we, drum corps fans, have told that they need to see what it is all about. Also, I am not a band nerd. I am a Musician. I have a Masters Degree in Wind Conducting and I teach. I also marched with the Phantom Regiment 1980-1981. Who did you march with?

Anyone who reads this does not have to agree. This is just my opinion.

Edited July 23, 2006 by Nice Guy

[melloflava]

I prefer Spirit's show over many others because of its charm and simple design. It’s an "Old School" approach and is a break from all the "innovative", "esoteric", "suspenseful", "new", "enhanced" and "dark" shows that every corps claims to have every year. Now, I understand the competitive nature of the drum corps activity and it seems that some fans prefer to be dazed and confused until a big brass chord is held longer than 8cts, followed by 2cts of silence which includes auxiliary tosses etc..., followed by more intriguing confusion and a drum break with drill that appears to moving at 100mph and ends up in a rotating box, circle, rectangle, etc.. and back to the confusion that supposedly tells a story, right? So, if Spirit wanted to improve their show to be more competitive what would be our suggestions for them? Do they need to add all the elements that I have mentioned above? Should they play more 32notes, add more guard dance to the hornline and drumline, march double-time through the whole ballad to create the illusion that they have more drill at a faster pace, or put in visuals that really don't relate to their theme at all but add more simultaneous responsibility? On the other hand, lots of corps have built their shows around the elements of "cutting edge" sameness with LOTS of extra bells and whistles to make up for what they can't achieve in execution and performance. Spirit’s show design is “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue”, it’s easy to understand and is very entertaining!!! Don’t waste your time wanting complexity and confusion from Spirit this season—just try and enjoy their offering.

What was my purpose for this post? Hm……just something that was on mind!!!!!!!