A few interesting facts.

[clbbr8]

Warning: A tad long.

After witnessing all the complaining and arguing in the “The 2006 Cavaliers….are you KIDDING me….” topic, I decided to do some research into not only the Cavaliers, but Phantom Regiment and Blue Devils and their shows.

My main curiosity came when people started to say that Cavaliers don’t play as much as BD and, more specifically, PR and that when the Cavies move they don’t play, whereas PR and BD do. So, after illegally downloading all three semi-final videos B) , I set my awesome life aside, and did some research. I decided I would try to determine how much each corps played during their show, how much of it was moving, how much of it was standing still, and see what kind of results I would end up with. Here are the guidelines/rules/what I looked for:

1. When entire hornline is NOT playing, stop timing. (Even 1 sec = stop)

2. Soloist time does NOT count unless entire hornline is accompanying (i.e. PR ’89)

3. Time stoppage includes time between movements. This is due to recuperation time and endurance issues.

4. Go back and notice notable section playing time. (i.e. if trumpets have a soli, are they moving? If not, record it.) This was a touchy area. The basic rule was:

- if whole corps is still, record as not moving.

- If a soli is going on, and they are still, record as not moving.

- If a group is not moving while playing, and no one else is playing, record as not moving.

- If a group is not moving while playing, but the rest of hornline is moving and playing, it counts as entire corps playing and moving.

I tried to be as objective as possible and use the same conditions for each corps. I also tried to be as punctual with time as I could. I also wanted to do this with Cadets and Bluecoats, but after doing three I decided that was a little too much….maybe later. Here is what I found:

Blue Devils:

Show time: 671 sec or 11 min 11 sec

Total playing time: 423 sec or 7 min 3 sec

Percentage of playing time: 63%

Of the 423 seconds playing, 119 sec are standing still. That means that 5 min and 4 sec of the show was both moving and playing. Along with this, approximately 25% of the playing they did was standing still.

Cavaliers:

Show time: 695 sec or 11 min 35 sec

Total playing time: 409 sec or 6 min 49 sec

Percentage of playing time: 59%

Of the 409 seconds playing, 100 sec are standing still. That means that 5 min and 9 sec of the show was both moving and playing. Along with this, approximately 25% of the playing they did was standing still.

Phantom Regiment:

Show time: 665 sec or 11 min 5 sec

Total playing time: 509 sec or 8 min 29 sec

Percentage of playing time: 77%

Of the 509 seconds playing, 53 sec are standing still. That means that 7 min and 36 sec of the show was both moving and playing. Along with this, approximately 10% of the playing they did was standing still.

Personal rant: (this is from semi-finals recordings) During the Cavaliers show, I found two instances where people’s feet were out of time. It is my personal belief that if a corps can’t march in time for the entire show, they should not receive middle or high box 5 scores, whoever the corps may be. That being said, I understand that a judge may not have seen what I saw or what the camera recorded. I am simply stating that according to what box 5 means (everyone knows what they are doing at all times and everyone is uniform…in very simplified terms), any corps who has feet out of time at any point should not be considered for a mid- to high- box 5. (Rant off).

Observations:

I think the most surprising thing of this research that I did was the amount of time BD stood still while playing in their show.

I also found it quite interesting at how little Phantom Regiment was standing still when they played. Half the time of the competition and not even 1 minute total. I honestly thought that Ave Maria would have doubled that figure.

So there you have the details. I have no life. And I hope we get some fun discussion out of this. And let’s try to keep this civilized :P

[megan_marie15]

Wow, really interesting and informative. Thanks for taking the time to do this :) It helps add to the knowledge of what each corps is doing when we compare brass scores.

[triplefunk]

Nicely done! great information!

[drumcat]

Try it on Boston 2000. ;)

[clbbr8]

haha...ill put that on my "to do" list

[justanopinion]

Great research! I was wondering if anyone was going to do that!

Personal rant: (this is from semi-finals recordings) That being said, I understand that a judge may not have seen what I saw or what the camera recorded. (Rant off).

One point: While a judge may not have seen what you saw, you must also realize that the opposite applies. You probably did not see 95% of what the judge on the field saw while walking around.

I'm glad you have no life! Keep bringing that kind of information to us!

[GGarrett]

I would like to hire you to do some research at my office... :P

WAIT... that means I can never sign on to DCP again at work.

Never mind...

BTW... nice work clbbr8 !

Edited September 8, 2006 by GGarrett

[Tom Brace]

Does this mean the Regiment wins the moving around alot award? Isn't that given out right after the Spirit of Disney?

Just a thought...the DCI Roadrunner Award

[madscout96]

Thank you for doing this research! Most hard-core drum corps fans don't have to time find out all that info, or crunch recap numbers, or read the Hopblog on a daily basis. But we're thankful for those who do!

[madscout96]

Does this mean the Regiment wins the moving around alot award? Isn't that given out right after the Spirit of Disney?

Just a thought...the DCI Roadrunner Award

Sponsored by Comcast?? Of course, the Roadrunner is a Warner Brothers character, not Disney, so that might be a conflict.