This was my favorite DCI Finals ever. Why? I was hired to shoot video for Innovative, Pro-Mark, and Evans Drumheads. Which means I was PAID to be in the lot. Best. Finals. Week. Ever. (And it was nice to finally meet you face-to-face, Mike)
I’m just a lowly clarinet player who has never marched, but I’m a long time fan of DCI and I’ve been enjoying listening to you guys over the last year. I’m trying to train my ears to intelligently listen to DCI drum lines and pick out rudiments. Thanks for the knowledge boys
Yea, I could use a breakdown of the GE sheets, those still puzzle me at times. But have at least talked with enough percussion judges now, to have a grasp on the perc sheets.
Man, guys...I feel for Mike Jackson and Kevin Shah. It sadly reminds me of what happened with Ian Grom and John Mapes at Blue Stars a few years back. All great guys on and off the field, yet not getting the credit for the creativity and innovation they have brought to DCI AND WGI!
Ehhh, they were cool, but not really innovative like Mike. Mike brings a new powerful approach with insanely creative writing. Mapes just seemed to bring box six writing
Excellent analysis, Mike & Evan! Yeah, so we watched SCV's lot on Friday. We were shocked by how good it was in person (plus the cleanest snare shots we have EVER heard). We saw everyone on Thursday and Saturday from Row 15 on the 50 (lucky to get great Super3 tix). Your analysis was spot on -- so many good lines this year -- banner year for drumlines (and pits : ) A few thoughts...We were pleasantly surprised by Crown -- they were much better than what we saw on Flo. Blue Devils were great, but we couldn't read a few moments (including the snare splits) -- the quad solo was insane, though. We liked Boston, but they seemed "smudgy" to us (some moments were crystalline, but others were just a little fuzzy). Bluecoats were super strong on Saturday night and I agree with your assessment of the Bloo Q. However, SCV just brought it -- they were aggressive AND expressive while still being pristine-level clean (on Thursday AND Saturday). Also, shout-out to Mike Leitzke. I've heard several of his tapes for Spartans (my kids march there) last year and this year, and his commentary is excellent: insightful with valuable coaching for battery AND pit. He definitely put himself where he needed to be for every group on Saturday night to give them the best read -- hardest working man in show-biz. Again, great analysis, guys. And, yes, please bring back P2 so we can get a field and track read on these amazing lines!
As an SCV drumline alum (76-82) I'm biased. However I think this year is Paul & Sandi's greatest achievement. Only because of this: when has a corps 'folded' (at least functionally), come back the next year and won a caption? I can't imagine that's ever happened before in DCI. Certainly that's due to the UNT connection. But hey, if that were easy to do everyone would be doing it, right?
I’m really glad SCV won drums this year I thought that they were flying under the radar all year but they peaked at the right time. Easily my favorite year of DCI in a while.
They also changed parts of their overall perc book quite a bit this time around. Not that they were necessarily playing it dirty, but some parts didn’t specifically fit well with the show, which kept them behind BD in scores for a while
@@ConnerBrown-tq8vx the biggest one was in the front ensemble where there were two people playing rope drums along with specific battery breaks. In the opening, the rope drums played along with the snare/quad trios at the beginning of the show, but the differences in tuning made everything sound super muddy. It was kept in for more than half the season and score improvements started to happen once the rope drum was cut from those sections entirely.
There was a moment in Boston’s drum break last year where there was 2 measures of very low triplet roll at like 196, and I remember Colin said on the podcast “this moment was really all about the basses, and the snares and quads just layered in a nice low roll” this is a perfect example of when Boston can showcase how low they can play, in the feature. So I agree with yall, they really don’t need to showcase their 1 inch rolls behind their hornline, but instead do it during their feature
I agree with the comment about choreography, but I also think it applies to the horn lines as well. There are a lot of corps who will do anything visually, except march and play. I think marching well written drill while playing is way more impressive than doing a dance while staying still. It also is so much more fun to watch. That was a big reason Phantom’s show, especially the closer, was so memorable for me.
@@carterschwalbe2262 Looking back, you're right, I hope they lean more into it next season. It is very effective when they do it, which is why it was so memorable for me this year.
@@agedoutpodcast their finals lot was some of the cleanest playing I’ve ever heard. Their dynamic contrast is amazing when your there in person. Also those dynasty’s are the best sound in DCI 💯
Here's the thing that puzzles me. SCV was the cleanest all season, right? Why were the judges suddenly willing to put them ahead now if they weren't willing to do so earlier???
@@NeilVanLeeuwen They didn't win outright. They put together 2 great nights and 1 good night. Boston had 1 bad night and BC had 3 good nights. If everyone played their best all 3 nights the order would have been different.
Thanks for the season! I’m always curious about how big of a gap between corps scores and (let’s say lower) perc scores needs to be over a couple of years before they switch staff. Or it is just contract length and whether the corps renews etc….
I think each corps can renew or non renew the contracts as they see fit. Never dug too much into designers contracts. I think some are year to year and others may have multiple years written down.
Good analysis guys. I think what makes it hard for you to predict is the fact that the percussion judge evaluates both the battery and front ensemble, whereas you guys mostly focus on just the battery. So from a battery only standpoint a corps might seem obvious in the ranking, but when mixed with the front it’s an another story. I’m not an expert on dci judging, so correct me if I’m wrong. Regardless, I love your show and thanks for another great season. Note: I was hoping to see you guys and say hi at finals in Indianapolis; maybe next year.
so glad I went this year, my first DCI show of any kind since Finals when I marched (cough20yearsago), Aged Out definitely helped rekindle interest for me so thx I remember you mentioning BAC's tuning, I was amazed at the clarity even during dense passages, in the dome. Killer, killer shit. Only caught the very beginning of their lot unfortunately. I did see SCV though and they were for sure laying it down. Plan on going back next year plus maybe Canton/Huntington
I saw Boston in Atlanta, the one Boston end snare 1 off from the left side of the line plays rolls real low. Like the stick is almost buzzing in place playing diddles.
Some of what you are hearing is when Boston plays four on a hand in the middle of a roll , it changes the sound of the roll . Go to Vic firth and check out the sticking changes .
Yea the 4’s definitely contribute but I still think they would add more consistency if they had the kids play a little beefier of a low end. But I’m not in the thick of it on their team (who know what they’re doing). Was ultimately just an observation that I hadn’t considered before.
Hey fellas! GREAT show, once again! for me, I wish that the shows didn't HAVE to be designed to be performed indoors. It's SOOOOO hard to read the entire show in a Dome rather than Outdoors.
Great year for Drumlines for sure! question though... IF dci finals was outside and judges WERE on the field would any percussion placings have changed? Would love to hear the talent of these kids march finals outdoors at Madison again someday!
I could maybe see one or two placements flipping. Probably not anything major though. I do love the audio clarity of outdoor shows. But I think overall the risk of weather in DCIs mind is outweighed by ability to control the schedule with an indoor space.
To me Mike Jackson's books were not a good fit at Crown. His sometimes sparse writing worked well with the less note-dense brass books at BK. Crown's hornline plays a lot, and the battery book should match that intensity. As for BD at 23:52, I think that they are too enamored of the fact they are playing the craziest shit. Same with Boston. It's like they are writing for the lot, and not the field.
I think the problem for Boston the last 3 years is that they can’t find that final gear that usually a few top lines do in the last two weeks. They continue with the big bag of notes at fast tempos and oddly low heights that just isn’t going to get to the top of mountain. Demand is inherent on the sheets but never mentioned anywhere. If they continue down this road, someone is always going to pass them in the home stretch. I do think they’re amazing but there are just too many little things that come across for them to end on top.
Difficulty does play a factor as quantity is a quality all on its own. However, ramming notes with no musical engagement is detrimental and could sour the compositional clarity-reducing the program and scores.
Is there any specific reason DCI doesn’t publish their Judges tapes and sheets? That would potentially clear up a lot of transparency questions for us arm chair quarterbacks.
Get yourself a good store pick of that 1792 full proof and you'll be set :) also, Calumet 16, it's still barton, so same distillery, but aged 16 years, it's pretty special
@@SomthingWonderful I mostly drink scotch or american single malt honestly(ledaig 18!!) but some of my go-to bourbons are Jack Daniels single barrel barrel proof, can't go wrong, still austin cask strength, knob creek 12, bombergers, what do you usually go for?
If Troopers want to move up, they definitely should explore not being the feeder group for SCV percussion any longer. It seems they've historically had several members move over to SCV after a year at Troopers. SCV and Madison seemed to both benefit from establishing themselves in and after San Antonio. SCV had to go on early until SA and Madison clearly established themselves as a strong 12th place competitor there. Getting better show draws certainly helps. Once Madison separated themselves from the middle of the pack it became easier to place them similarly in percussion and not burying them in the middle of the semifinals pack in 18th like San Antonio.
Corps Placements filtered out how I expected. I was hoping PR's GE would put them above BD. What Paul Rennick did with SCV is exactly why he got pissed at PR when he left. I talked to him in 2007 or something. Placing 6th with a Sanford? How hard does he have to work? The rest of the corps aren't pulling their weight. Yea, it was a recovery year for SCV, but there you go. Number 2 - Way to much synth.... tell the contras to put their horns down and dance - the synth will fill it in... C'MON!
As far as difficulty , it would be cool for you guys to play two phrases for each of the top lines. Some licks are harder to play than others. When the rhythmic grouping changes and you change roll speed in the middle of a roll .
I spoke with a judge recently about being on the field. Don’t forget that not every judge can run with a drumline that is marching the demanding drill happening these days.
It wasn't hard for me to predict Vanguard's percussion win from the beginning. Their playing stood apart as making you "feel it". They played with emotion and conviction.
I very much appreciate and enjoy your assessments and feedback, especially the review placements, relative to spreads between judges, and of the sheets related to content. The context of content on the sheet is far too subjective. Well done gentlemen! I'm a Vanguard lover, (likely biased) but... they were blazing finals week and were the most musical, front to back, of all the ensembles. Only Bluecoats were as musical as SCV. Come finals week, only Bluecoats were fighting with SCV for top percussion and SCV peaked finals week and won buy a very thin margin. Take nothing away from Boston they were excellent. For me, their battery only played a little over 5 minutes of their show. I was not enamored with the pit book and it didn't translate well for me. Sadly, I didn't enjoy Boston as much as others and felt they were scored too high throughout the season. Lastly, I felt they peaked 2 weeks prior to finals. Bluecoats had a wonderfully written book and they maxed it out from day one to finals. Among friends, I called Bloo beating Boston in finals. I enjoyed parts of BDs show but they were not that clean. Their Pit was amazing.
Don’t forgot there are two MA judges all three nights for finals week. This year all three nights there was a percussion guy judging MA. So of course they were judging the show from a percussionists point of view.
Correct but that score doesn’t count toward the percussion caption award. So basically they just need to slide the judge over to a different label and use the P1 and P2 average. Still matter the to overall show just the same. But benefits the percussion ensembles.
Cool dumb stat. Did a rank/shift chart thing for various sub-captions. (Last scores from 23 compared to 24) For percussion: Spirit of Atlanta, River City Rhythm and Blue Devils B all improved 6 rankings over the season, the most by all 36 groups. Guardians had a shortened season but their ranking fell 11 spots to 33, most of any group. The Cavaliers, Crossmen and Jersey Surf fell 6 ranks. Blue Devils C were last in everything in 23 and last again in 24. Zero change. Troopers, Colts, Cascades and Columbians saw no change in their rank. Great segment on looking at the sheet. Was that from the 2012 version or a later revision? I have no idea if there was any revision past 2012. That's another great compromise is maybe judges have a certain area they can be in, front of the front hash only. I feel part of why this ended up happening was designers complaining about their "visions" being ruined. Yet much like you pointed out - now there's clutter in the front with the guard and pit and a judge trying to find a clean space to occupy so the design bug still exists just in a different location.
Crown goes through a lot of percussion different percussion staffs over the years.....turn around with perc staffs is very common. Gonna be honest, even though the brass is good, it's possible that maybe they are the difficult ones....they are the common denominator.
If Boston is still committed to the hyper-aggressive battery style of their current era, they should talk to Lee Beddis about joining. Beddis’ books have the same energy (probably even more), but sound, flow, and cut through the brass music much better. McNutt should seriously consider retiring from the arranging side of things.
McNutt and Beddis worked together at Glassmen back in the early 00s. I’m sure they would be able to work together just fine, if they mutually agreed to arrange together.
@@DrumlineArchives Yeah, I think they go back farther than that, to teching at Star of Indiana I think? I think McNutt also invited Beddis to teach with him at Madison for a couple of years in the mid-2000s. The product has been EXCELLENT every time they’ve collabed, so I’d bet that it could finally put Boston over the top.
Boston is still the battery of the year imo. I'll take a difficult book pushing the envelope 99 percent clean over a line playing a more straight forward book 100 percent clean. It's more impressive to me. Just my opinion.
Scv still has a beefy book I still don't know where people are getting that they are just playing like high school beats or something all or the high placing groups are playing some serious notes
Here’s an idea for DCI to make sure there’s no judge scoring influence- don’t post the subcaption scores on prelims and semis before finals- that way judges don’t do the math to see who needs what score/number to edge out the caption award avg.
And don’t say the judges always judge with no subconscious bias… nobody truly believes that!😉 #bringbackticksheets #makecritiquelivestreamed #someonedescribecontscoretome
I respectfully disagree that we can't quantify what is more difficult when comparing different phrases. I've heard you do it many times. Hand pressure changes, rudiment variety, meter changes, cold attacks etc. And another line plays a triplet roll tap 5 phrase finished with a single 9 it's not hard to point out the latter was more difficult.
True, we can notice what things are challenging or what is difficult. But it’s hard to quantify them in an order. This is more difficult than that, Tap 5s and easier than flam drags, etc. because there are other variables to that. How fast are the tap 5s? What rhythm is it in? And so on. So it’s just not as black and white as a single back flip is easier than a double black flip, when everyone is doing it the same way.
Everytime I hear the name: Blue Stars ⭐️ I hear Lucky 🍀 from Lucky Charms: Blue Stars Green Clovers and Blue Diamonds! Frosted Lucky Charms…their magically delicious!
Scores in DCI is pointless anyways it’s all bullshit and politics no matter if you placed first or last everyone should be proud of the progress they made the entire year and the memories that’s all that matters. Drumline “cleanliness” is so bleh
This was my favorite DCI Finals ever. Why? I was hired to shoot video for Innovative, Pro-Mark, and Evans Drumheads.
Which means I was PAID to be in the lot.
Best. Finals. Week. Ever.
(And it was nice to finally meet you face-to-face, Mike)
Was great meeting you too! Definitely an awesome finals weekend all around.
you kill it. I'm old as hell and coming across your vids brought me back :)
Y'all should add spreadsheet tutorials to Aged Out fundamentals. Fantini's shit is tight
Despite me being a data scientist I think Evan enjoys swimming through spreadsheets more than me 😂
I’m just a lowly clarinet player who has never marched, but I’m a long time fan of DCI and I’ve been enjoying listening to you guys over the last year. I’m trying to train my ears to intelligently listen to DCI drum lines and pick out rudiments. Thanks for the knowledge boys
What a come back season for SCV. A top 6 finish and the Fred Sanford award winner. Also, their drum design with the red look was super good
Thank you so much for presenting the adjudication sheet and providing an interpretation/explanation of it.
Yea, I could use a breakdown of the GE sheets, those still puzzle me at times. But have at least talked with enough percussion judges now, to have a grasp on the perc sheets.
Honestly just a great season of drum corps and for percussion well
Yup! Strong teams.
Man, guys...I feel for Mike Jackson and Kevin Shah. It sadly reminds me of what happened with Ian Grom and John Mapes at Blue Stars a few years back. All great guys on and off the field, yet not getting the credit for the creativity and innovation they have brought to DCI AND WGI!
Ehhh, they were cool, but not really innovative like Mike. Mike brings a new powerful approach with insanely creative writing. Mapes just seemed to bring box six writing
Excellent analysis, Mike & Evan! Yeah, so we watched SCV's lot on Friday. We were shocked by how good it was in person (plus the cleanest snare shots we have EVER heard). We saw everyone on Thursday and Saturday from Row 15 on the 50 (lucky to get great Super3 tix). Your analysis was spot on -- so many good lines this year -- banner year for drumlines (and pits : ) A few thoughts...We were pleasantly surprised by Crown -- they were much better than what we saw on Flo. Blue Devils were great, but we couldn't read a few moments (including the snare splits) -- the quad solo was insane, though. We liked Boston, but they seemed "smudgy" to us (some moments were crystalline, but others were just a little fuzzy). Bluecoats were super strong on Saturday night and I agree with your assessment of the Bloo Q. However, SCV just brought it -- they were aggressive AND expressive while still being pristine-level clean (on Thursday AND Saturday). Also, shout-out to Mike Leitzke. I've heard several of his tapes for Spartans (my kids march there) last year and this year, and his commentary is excellent: insightful with valuable coaching for battery AND pit. He definitely put himself where he needed to be for every group on Saturday night to give them the best read -- hardest working man in show-biz. Again, great analysis, guys. And, yes, please bring back P2 so we can get a field and track read on these amazing lines!
🙌 sounds like you had an awesome vantage point. Thanks for the input!
As an SCV drumline alum (76-82) I'm biased. However I think this year is Paul & Sandi's greatest achievement. Only because of this: when has a corps 'folded' (at least functionally), come back the next year and won a caption? I can't imagine that's ever happened before in DCI. Certainly that's due to the UNT connection. But hey, if that were easy to do everyone would be doing it, right?
Definitely a huge hurdle they ultimately surpassed.
called it at dci west, SCV for drums. best Rennick book yet
Uhhhh…. Phantom 2010 for me. 😉
@@henne2k fair. great book as well
Phantom Regiment had 4 age-outs this year in battery, and
Been waiting for this one 🗣️
I’m really glad SCV won drums this year I thought that they were flying under the radar all year but they peaked at the right time. Easily my favorite year of DCI in a while.
SCV doesn’t peak early.
They also changed parts of their overall perc book quite a bit this time around. Not that they were necessarily playing it dirty, but some parts didn’t specifically fit well with the show, which kept them behind BD in scores for a while
@@yungtwiz Yeah I’m sure all the other groups kept the exact same music they had in spring training… 😐
@@ConnerBrown-tq8vx I’m talking about SCV changing their book more than they do in previous years, not compared to other groups competing lol.
@@yungtwiz What drastic things did they change?
@@ConnerBrown-tq8vx the biggest one was in the front ensemble where there were two people playing rope drums along with specific battery breaks. In the opening, the rope drums played along with the snare/quad trios at the beginning of the show, but the differences in tuning made everything sound super muddy. It was kept in for more than half the season and score improvements started to happen once the rope drum was cut from those sections entirely.
woo hoo! Thank you!
There was a moment in Boston’s drum break last year where there was 2 measures of very low triplet roll at like 196, and I remember Colin said on the podcast “this moment was really all about the basses, and the snares and quads just layered in a nice low roll” this is a perfect example of when Boston can showcase how low they can play, in the feature. So I agree with yall, they really don’t need to showcase their 1 inch rolls behind their hornline, but instead do it during their feature
Yes cheers 🥂🍻🥃 to THE CADETS! Sorely Missed!
“Clean is forever”
I agree with the comment about choreography, but I also think it applies to the horn lines as well. There are a lot of corps who will do anything visually, except march and play. I think marching well written drill while playing is way more impressive than doing a dance while staying still. It also is so much more fun to watch. That was a big reason Phantom’s show, especially the closer, was so memorable for me.
Phantom regiment marched and played for 90 seconds. When they do it it’s fantastic, but still much less than other groups
@@carterschwalbe2262 Looking back, you're right, I hope they lean more into it next season. It is very effective when they do it, which is why it was so memorable for me this year.
Been saying it all season 🤷♂️ don’t ever sleep on a rennick line and don’t act suprised now
True. I don’t think the majority of people are shocked about it. Maybe not what we expected, but definitely not in disbelief. lol
@@agedoutpodcast their finals lot was some of the cleanest playing I’ve ever heard. Their dynamic contrast is amazing when your there in person. Also those dynasty’s are the best sound in DCI 💯
Here's the thing that puzzles me. SCV was the cleanest all season, right? Why were the judges suddenly willing to put them ahead now if they weren't willing to do so earlier???
@@NeilVanLeeuwen They didn't win outright. They put together 2 great nights and 1 good night. Boston had 1 bad night and BC had 3 good nights. If everyone played their best all 3 nights the order would have been different.
All Red Dynasty’s > Natural Finish Yamahas
Thanks for the season! I’m always curious about how big of a gap between corps scores and (let’s say lower) perc scores needs to be over a couple of years before they switch staff. Or it is just contract length and whether the corps renews etc….
I think each corps can renew or non renew the contracts as they see fit. Never dug too much into designers contracts. I think some are year to year and others may have multiple years written down.
I kinda want Beddis back at Crossmen. His book in 2022 was tasty
Good analysis guys.
I think what makes it hard for you to predict is the fact that the percussion judge evaluates both the battery and front ensemble, whereas you guys mostly focus on just the battery. So from a battery only standpoint a corps might seem obvious in the ranking, but when mixed with the front it’s an another story. I’m not an expert on dci judging, so correct me if I’m wrong.
Regardless, I love your show and thanks for another great season.
Note: I was hoping to see you guys and say hi at finals in Indianapolis; maybe next year.
Along those lines… it would be cool to get a front ensemble expert on the show, even if it’s just as a guest appearance.
Best idea ever! Do it guys!!!
so glad I went this year, my first DCI show of any kind since Finals when I marched (cough20yearsago), Aged Out definitely helped rekindle interest for me so thx
I remember you mentioning BAC's tuning, I was amazed at the clarity even during dense passages, in the dome. Killer, killer shit. Only caught the very beginning of their lot unfortunately. I did see SCV though and they were for sure laying it down. Plan on going back next year plus maybe Canton/Huntington
Welcome back!
I saw Boston in Atlanta, the one Boston end snare 1 off from the left side of the line plays rolls real low. Like the stick is almost buzzing in place playing diddles.
bluecoats was the best flowing show ive seen in YEARS
Some of what you are hearing is when Boston plays four on a hand in the middle of a roll , it changes the sound of the roll . Go to Vic firth and check out the sticking changes .
Yea the 4’s definitely contribute but I still think they would add more consistency if they had the kids play a little beefier of a low end. But I’m not in the thick of it on their team (who know what they’re doing). Was ultimately just an observation that I hadn’t considered before.
Hey fellas! GREAT show, once again!
for me, I wish that the shows didn't HAVE to be designed to be performed indoors. It's SOOOOO hard to read the entire show in a Dome rather than Outdoors.
Let SCV2 cook. Lol Troopers are cooking with the style and writing.
Great year for Drumlines for sure! question though... IF dci finals was outside and judges WERE on the field would any percussion placings have changed? Would love to hear the talent of these kids march finals outdoors at Madison again someday!
I could maybe see one or two placements flipping. Probably not anything major though. I do love the audio clarity of outdoor shows. But I think overall the risk of weather in DCIs mind is outweighed by ability to control the schedule with an indoor space.
boston was my fav quadline of the summer
To me Mike Jackson's books were not a good fit at Crown. His sometimes sparse writing worked well with the less note-dense brass books at BK. Crown's hornline plays a lot, and the battery book should match that intensity.
As for BD at 23:52, I think that they are too enamored of the fact they are playing the craziest shit. Same with Boston. It's like they are writing for the lot, and not the field.
Mike Jackson at crown was a collosal failure
I think the problem for Boston the last 3 years is that they can’t find that final gear that usually a few top lines do in the last two weeks. They continue with the big bag of notes at fast tempos and oddly low heights that just isn’t going to get to the top of mountain. Demand is inherent on the sheets but never mentioned anywhere. If they continue down this road, someone is always going to pass them in the home stretch. I do think they’re amazing but there are just too many little things that come across for them to end on top.
Difficulty does play a factor as quantity is a quality all on its own. However, ramming notes with no musical engagement is detrimental and could sour the compositional clarity-reducing the program and scores.
Is there any specific reason DCI doesn’t publish their Judges tapes and sheets? That would potentially clear up a lot of transparency questions for us arm chair quarterbacks.
I wish the tapes were public. They used to be on the finals DVDs
Get yourself a good store pick of that 1792 full proof and you'll be set :) also, Calumet 16, it's still barton, so same distillery, but aged 16 years, it's pretty special
1792 is good. What else you recommend?
@@SomthingWonderful I mostly drink scotch or american single malt honestly(ledaig 18!!) but some of my go-to bourbons are Jack Daniels single barrel barrel proof, can't go wrong, still austin cask strength, knob creek 12, bombergers, what do you usually go for?
Even though the DCI season is somehow over, For The Algorithm!
As a Boston fan, losing best percussion stings, but SCV really showed their power. Well deserved.
Agreed
aungst at cavies is my actual prediction.
Troopers for sure winning the notes per dollar ratio 😂
If Troopers want to move up, they definitely should explore not being the feeder group for SCV percussion any longer. It seems they've historically had several members move over to SCV after a year at Troopers.
SCV and Madison seemed to both benefit from establishing themselves in and after San Antonio. SCV had to go on early until SA and Madison clearly established themselves as a strong 12th place competitor there. Getting better show draws certainly helps. Once Madison separated themselves from the middle of the pack it became easier to place them similarly in percussion and not burying them in the middle of the semifinals pack in 18th like San Antonio.
Bostons left hand fours won drums in my opinion 💪🏻
Corps Placements filtered out how I expected. I was hoping PR's GE would put them above BD.
What Paul Rennick did with SCV is exactly why he got pissed at PR when he left. I talked to him in 2007 or something. Placing 6th with a Sanford? How hard does he have to work? The rest of the corps aren't pulling their weight. Yea, it was a recovery year for SCV, but there you go.
Number 2 - Way to much synth.... tell the contras to put their horns down and dance - the synth will fill it in... C'MON!
As far as difficulty , it would be cool for you guys to play two phrases for each of the top lines. Some licks are harder to play than others. When the rhythmic grouping changes and you change roll speed in the middle of a roll .
Phantom's snareline is aging out 1 person.
1 snare, 2 quads, 1 bass, 2 front
@@joshspankoholy shit
1792 Full Proof is FANTASTIC! 😁
Indeed!
I spoke with a judge recently about being on the field. Don’t forget that not every judge can run with a drumline that is marching the demanding drill happening these days.
Why do dci drumlines play hard books, when there is NO execution judge following them around?
Talking of 3 way ties look at 1991! And guess who took the trophy
It wasn't hard for me to predict Vanguard's percussion win from the beginning. Their playing stood apart as making you "feel it". They played with emotion and conviction.
Right, I been saying the Troopers need to find there own identity by finding someone else write the drum book.
I very much appreciate and enjoy your assessments and feedback, especially the review placements, relative to spreads between judges, and of the sheets related to content. The context of content on the sheet is far too subjective. Well done gentlemen!
I'm a Vanguard lover, (likely biased) but... they were blazing finals week and were the most musical, front to back, of all the ensembles. Only Bluecoats were as musical as SCV. Come finals week, only Bluecoats were fighting with SCV for top percussion and SCV peaked finals week and won buy a very thin margin. Take nothing away from Boston they were excellent. For me, their battery only played a little over 5 minutes of their show. I was not enamored with the pit book and it didn't translate well for me. Sadly, I didn't enjoy Boston as much as others and felt they were scored too high throughout the season. Lastly, I felt they peaked 2 weeks prior to finals. Bluecoats had a wonderfully written book and they maxed it out from day one to finals. Among friends, I called Bloo beating Boston in finals. I enjoyed parts of BDs show but they were not that clean. Their Pit was amazing.
Don’t forgot there are two MA judges all three nights for finals week. This year all three nights there was a percussion guy judging MA. So of course they were judging the show from a percussionists point of view.
Correct but that score doesn’t count toward the percussion caption award. So basically they just need to slide the judge over to a different label and use the P1 and P2 average. Still matter the to overall show just the same. But benefits the percussion ensembles.
Cool dumb stat. Did a rank/shift chart thing for various sub-captions. (Last scores from 23 compared to 24)
For percussion:
Spirit of Atlanta, River City Rhythm and Blue Devils B all improved 6 rankings over the season, the most by all 36 groups.
Guardians had a shortened season but their ranking fell 11 spots to 33, most of any group. The Cavaliers, Crossmen and Jersey Surf fell 6 ranks.
Blue Devils C were last in everything in 23 and last again in 24. Zero change.
Troopers, Colts, Cascades and Columbians saw no change in their rank.
Great segment on looking at the sheet. Was that from the 2012 version or a later revision? I have no idea if there was any revision past 2012. That's another great compromise is maybe judges have a certain area they can be in, front of the front hash only. I feel part of why this ended up happening was designers complaining about their "visions" being ruined. Yet much like you pointed out - now there's clutter in the front with the guard and pit and a judge trying to find a clean space to occupy so the design bug still exists just in a different location.
Nice stats! The judge sheet I had was from 2022, and to my knowledge hasn’t been altered since then.
56:19 huh?
Not the clearest enunciation of horn line, lol.
A comment for the code!
Still drinking The Macallan 🥃
In response to the opening of this vid, SCV absolutely deserved it, but I am shocked that the blue coats weren’t RIGHT behind them in the race
The tuning is also a big issue
Phantom had 1 snare ageout. 7-8 are returning.
😮
Thats exciting!!!
If they don't jump to SCV
And then the Troopers go and fire a bunch of their staff……
Mike and Kevin are out at Crown 😢😭
Wow, very short tenure. That’s too bad - I was really coming around to their style. The 2023 show in particular was excellent.
Source?
Crown goes through a lot of percussion different percussion staffs over the years.....turn around with perc staffs is very common. Gonna be honest, even though the brass is good, it's possible that maybe they are the difficult ones....they are the common denominator.
I agree with the choreo comment....Boston and SCV arguably have less body movement than others and they were the top two
Please stop with the "Colin got robbed" narrative.
Thank you!
1792 full proof bourbon great bourbon
FTA
Hot take: Paul and Sandy retire after their 10th Sanford
If Boston is still committed to the hyper-aggressive battery style of their current era, they should talk to Lee Beddis about joining. Beddis’ books have the same energy (probably even more), but sound, flow, and cut through the brass music much better. McNutt should seriously consider retiring from the arranging side of things.
McNutt and Beddis worked together at Glassmen back in the early 00s. I’m sure they would be able to work together just fine, if they mutually agreed to arrange together.
@@DrumlineArchives Yeah, I think they go back farther than that, to teching at Star of Indiana I think? I think McNutt also invited Beddis to teach with him at Madison for a couple of years in the mid-2000s. The product has been EXCELLENT every time they’ve collabed, so I’d bet that it could finally put Boston over the top.
Boston is still the battery of the year imo. I'll take a difficult book pushing the envelope 99 percent clean over a line playing a more straight forward book 100 percent clean. It's more impressive to me. Just my opinion.
Hard to argue with that. I will say though, no one was 99% clean. Maybe not even 95, at least not in warm ups.
Scv still has a beefy book I still don't know where people are getting that they are just playing like high school beats or something all or the high placing groups are playing some serious notes
@@Salamitommy-d5m What 3 things were in Bostons book that weren’t in Vanguards book, since it was so difficult and pushed the envelope?
You should really leave this stuff on the private Geoffery...
Here’s an idea for DCI to make sure there’s no judge scoring influence- don’t post the subcaption scores on prelims and semis before finals- that way judges don’t do the math to see who needs what score/number to edge out the caption award avg.
And don’t say the judges always judge with no subconscious bias… nobody truly believes that!😉 #bringbackticksheets #makecritiquelivestreamed #someonedescribecontscoretome
The actually used to do that. Not post the recaps till it was over.
Mike Jackson is no longer with crown
Beefy Jelly Rolls!
I respectfully disagree that we can't quantify what is more difficult when comparing different phrases. I've heard you do it many times. Hand pressure changes, rudiment variety, meter changes, cold attacks etc. And another line plays a triplet roll tap 5 phrase finished with a single 9 it's not hard to point out the latter was more difficult.
True, we can notice what things are challenging or what is difficult. But it’s hard to quantify them in an order. This is more difficult than that, Tap 5s and easier than flam drags, etc. because there are other variables to that. How fast are the tap 5s? What rhythm is it in? And so on. So it’s just not as black and white as a single back flip is easier than a double black flip, when everyone is doing it the same way.
Womp womp
I see you meat riding BAC in virtually every UA-cam comment section, dude. It’s okay, it’s just band; you’ll live, friend!
Everytime I hear the name: Blue Stars ⭐️ I hear Lucky 🍀 from Lucky Charms: Blue Stars Green Clovers and Blue Diamonds! Frosted Lucky Charms…their magically delicious!
Scores in DCI is pointless anyways it’s all bullshit and politics no matter if you placed first or last everyone should be proud of the progress they made the entire year and the memories that’s all that matters. Drumline “cleanliness” is so bleh