Toldeo, OH Scores

[nero14]

GE:

Bluecoats 31.30

Cavies 30.90

Music:

Bluecoats 23.55

Cavies 23.50

Visual:

Cavies 24.15

Bluecoats 23.50

[Fincis]

I had a real nice phone chat with a friend of mine on Crossmen's staff tonight and he basically confirmed what I thought. They just finished learning their show a few days ago and they are still getting their legs (and chops) underneath them in terms of stamina. That probably explains the "world of hurt" you mentioned. This is, after all, their first show of the year.

What the scores tell me is that despite the surface issues you noticed, their SHOW is good enough to be right there with Glassmen right now, whose first show was back on the 16th. This portends (possibly) very good things for the Crossmen when they can clean up their act and get more confident with performing what seems to be a monster of a show for them. I have a good feeling about them this year. Having Sully involved helps. Having a cohesive musical/visual program is a plus too. They haven't had one of those in a while. Looking forward to seeing them next week.

Yeah. At least when you look at the recap the Glassmen and Crossmen are pretty much neck and neck except for that brass score.

[KaviesContra]

To bad DCI dropped the ball and posted the wrong score for crossmen. But its still a great score for the crossmen out the gate good job guys.

[crossmen82]

To bad DCI dropped the ball and posted the wrong score for crossmen. But its still a great score for the crossmen out the gate good job guys.

So what was Crossmen's real Score???? Was is really 69.00 or 68.00??? DCI also listed that the Crossmen where from San Antonio, Pa. I noticed this the other day on one of their calendars. I thought that was rather funny!!!

[RLamb]

A very nice show at Toledo tonight. Good crowd on hand, but it appeared to be a little

smaller than last couple of years. Glass Bowl is a great place for a show.

Legend - At some shows the exhibition group is often "to be tolerated", to put it

mildly. Not so with this group from Michigan. I don't think I had seen them before, but

they got the evening off to a good start. Some excellent playing in both the brass and

percussion.

Troopers - Great to see them back. I like the new uniforms. It was exciting to see this

group return with so many members. Looked to be about 110 on the field including 12 tubas.

The crowd enjoyed seeing the traditional "sunburst" near the end of the show.

Crossmen - I enjoyed their visual package much more than their playing, which is

usually the opposite for me with this corps. The music book, to me anyway, is much to segmented. Just way too many short "snippets" for my taste. I personally would have

loved for them to have done more of First Circle. Their '98 version may be my all-time

favorite drum corps selection. Still a very strong first performance.

Southwind - I was impressed with this show. The corps plays well and the music book

is very well arranged. Many visual problems to fix and marching technique to develop, but

I think this could be one of SW's best productions yet. Very strong brass sound and an

excellent drumline. I also liked their new uniforms. Nice to see the yellow again.

Cavaliers - Another great show! The trumpet soloist at the beginning of their show, played

backfield, is outstanding. As usual, some great visual impacts, but maybe not as many as in

last year's show. Of course there is probably more to come. Very clean brass section for this

early in the season. Easily the best guard of the night.

Bluecoats - WOW. I got to see this group a few times during their Spring Training at Denison.

I thought the music book was one the best they've ever had and that if the visual program was

as good, the Bluecoats could easily make a run for the top spot. The improvement in the

visual package in the past 2 weeks was incredible, especially within the color guard. I left

the stadium thinking they Bluecoats would take high brass, high drums, and GE. I had seen the new uniforms during the day and liked them, but they are so much better under the lights!

Special mention to the tuba section. They have one of the most demanding books I've ever

heard a tuba line take on. Usually the upper brass get double or triple the number of notes in

a show...not the case here. If this section keeps improving and cleaning they will be a force

come August. Ohio may just have a medalist corps at championships this year.

Glassmen - Obviously well received by the hometown crowd. Unfortunately I was sitting near

one of their alumni who was "feeling no pain", if you know what I mean, and pretty much

screamed and yelled through their entire show. I'm all for supporting your corps, but not to

the point of distraction as this guy did. What I could hear of the brass book sounded very good,

but the pit amplification was WAY TOO LOUD throughout most of the show. Maybe it was where

I was sitting, about 15 rows up on the 50, but if the music judges were getting the same

pit vs everyone balance, I'm sure that impacted their music score...and easy fix though.

Glassmen's guard looked great.

Thanks to all of the corps for a most enjoyable evening. Made the 6 hours of driving worth it.

[flamparadiddlediddle]

Cavaliers had their best percussion performance of the year thus far. Particularly the battery. In my opinion.

Lot's of energy in the performance tonight. Well done.

[fifer]

I think that Cavies losing both GE cations last night is not a good sign for them this season (IMHO). Not predicting a big fall, but it just doesn't feel like they have a show that can take them to the top. While they have also been great at execution, they have not been able to win on execution alone (which a corps like the Blue Devils is expert at).

I know the Cavies can add more to the visual and can get more out of the music, but their early season GE scores this decade (even without final endings in place and with other visual tricks yet up their sleeves) have consistently and, often, significantly had them as the corps to catch.

[penny96]

Ok here's my take on the show- keep in mind that I'm a brass guy!

Legends- not too bad for a little corps. The hornline really put out some nice sounds for being unbalanced as far as actual instrumentation goes. The staff seems to have a pretty firm grasp on solid educational principals with these kids, and I'd expect to see them do well in the D III ranks over the coming years, if that's the route they choose to go.

Troopers- a pleasant surprise. First of all, coming back from a year of inactivity, and to field essentially a full size D 1 corps is impressive feat by the staff. I enjoyed the choices of music. Doug Thrower's arrangements for the brass were great, and leave a lot of potential for some nice musical moments. I would have liked to hear a little more "punch" from the brass, but obviously that will come with added endurance, and overall comfort level with the product.

Southwind- ok. The brassline packed some real power with their sound at times. Personally, I was not a big fan of the original music, but that's just me. I think that original selections on the field can be a real crap-shoot. That being said, they performed very well with what the staff gave them.

Crossmen- nice debut. This show has the potential to be solidly in the mix come finals night. Lots of little "snippets" of good tunes and good use of the entire field. With some minor tweaking of impact points to add a little punch, things should come together very nicely for 'bones as the summer progresses.

Cavaliers- Fun! As always, the cavies visual package is very exciting, with some very innovative body movement from the corps. The show is very entertaining in all aspects. The first big hit of the show really knocked my socks off. The manner in which the arrangers intertwined songs like And So It Goes with Joel's Invention #1 was quite effective, and ingenius. If you haven't heard Billy Joel's classical piano album, check it out! Some serious stuff. Billy Joel is one of my favorite all-time artists, second to Britney Spears (JUST KIDDING) I tip my hat to the staff for putting together a very nice program.

Bluecoats- Let me preface this with saying that yes....I'm a complete 'Coats homer. :) That being said....WOW! This show is darker, angrier, and just bad-###! There is a ton of potential for this show to do very well and place VERY high. I can't wait to see the finished product. I was skeptical, as were others I'm sure, of the new uniforms. However, seeing them under the lights, I thought that they really enhanced the visual portion of the show. They look like "big boys" now. The prison jump-suits with the guard were a very nice added effect as well. Very sexy, when they stripped out of the jumpers. I couldn't help but say ####! That horn book is unreal, and yes.....this may be one the best contra..er...tubalines in DCI..period.

Glassmen- good show. Those of you that have played/taught Robert W. Smith's concert works have come to expect somevery challenging, yet very LISTENABLE and Theoretically sound music. This show was a great example. Some execution problems as far as drill sets at impact points, but those problems will correct themselves as the summer progresses. All in all, a very nice product.

To sum it up, great show, fun night! best of luck to all the corps!!!

[Pinwiz]

Meanwhile, Troop's Brass beat Xmen and almost took down Glassmen... things could be very interesting if they can get the entire corps on the same level...

[justafan]

Is it just me or does it seem people are in a bit of shock that the Bluecoats were within 0.2 of the Cavaliers last night.