[an error occurred while processing this directive]
June 21 Bloomington/Normal, IL
 
DCM
  Score Placement Captions
Div I
  The Cadets 74.45 1st  
  The Cavaliers 73.7 2nd  
  Phantom Regiment 68.9 3rd  
  Madison Scouts 67.55 4th  
Colts 63.3 5th
Southwind 59.45 6th
  Pioneer 55.35 7th



June 21 Bloomington, IL
       
DCM
Corps
General Effect
Visual
Music
Totals
Vis
(20)
Mus
(20)
Total
(40)
Perf
(20)
Ens
(20)
CG
(20)
Total
(Subs/2
max 30)
Brass
(20)
Ens
(20)
Perc
(20)
Total
(Subs/2
max 30)
Sub
Pen
Final
(100)
The Cadets
15.1
15.3
30.40
15.7
15.1
15.8
23.30
15.0
14.4
14.9
22.15
75.85
1.4 0
74.45
The Cavaliers
14.8
14.9
29.7
15.4
14.8
15.3
22.75
14.7
13.2
14.8
21.35
73.80
0.1
73.70
Phantom Regiment
13.3
13.8
27.10
14.5
13.5
14.8
21.40
14.2
12.6
14.0
20.40
68.90
0
68.90
Madison Scouts
12.4
14.6
27.00
15.1
13.2
14.4
21.35
14.4
12.9
13.7
20.50
68.85
1.3
67.55
Colts
12.6
11.9
24.50
14.3
12.7
12.7
19.85
13.1
12.1
12.7
18.95
63.30
0
63.30
Southwind
11.3
11.8
23.10
13.5
11.3
12.4
18.60
12.8
11.0
11.7
17.75
59.45
0
59.45
Pioneer
9.9
11.1
21.00
13.1
10.5
11.5
17.55
12.0
10.1
11.5
16.80
55.35
0
55.35

Chief Judge
GE Vis
GE Mus
Vis Field
Vis Ens
Vis CG
Brass
Ens
Perc
Jay Webb
Marie Czapinski
Dallas Niermeyer
Kevin McNulty
Michael Ajango
Greg Marquis
Andrew Poor
David Collier
Jay Webb



June 21 Review: Bloomington, IL
DCM
Thanks to Bud Phelps on rec.arts.marching.drumcorps for this review! E-mail your review directly to reviews@scorpsboard.com!

Well, hit Drum Corps show # 3 tonight. Pretty tired after driving back to Chicago, so please excuse the grammar, but here goes...

Beautiful night for Drum Corps. Light breeze, perfect temps and packed and extremely enthusiastic crowd. (It's amazing what a bunch of young band kids can bring to the show. Maybe part of that is because they haven't become cynical like so many long time drum corps fans???)

OK, once again, the order of performance was absolutely stupid tonight. Arriving 5 minutes late due to construction traffic near Chicago on the interstate, I was stunned to discover Cavaliers finishing their show as I entered the stadium. Why in the heck were they on first?

Since I can't review Cavaliers tonight, here's the rest...

Pioneer -- Ya know what? They have a heck of a show this year. Ya know what else? These guys are performing. By far the best showmanship of any corps tonight. The brass & drum lines in particular are pouring every ounce of energy they have into the show. Their hype is fantastic & the crowd ate it up. One of the most enthusiastic standing O's of the night (they actually got 2). While the enthusiasm has them a little out of control at times, that is a problem that can easily be fixed. If they are putting all that energy into rehearsal as well as their shows, they can be a real force this year in Semis instead of just the last corps in.

Southwind -- A little less impressed with them tonight than I was in Toledo. A very nice show, however. I wish the brass line would open their throats a little more and produce a deeper sound. Very thin sound at times, kind of like their "big brother" corps can have on a bad day or year. I thought they marched better in Toledo as well. Still, lots of potential in this show & it is fantastic to see an up and coming corps that is full sized out there.

Phantom Regiment -- Boy have they cleaned over the past 5 days! The show is leaps and bounds ahead of Oswego or Toledo. Score was a little low tonight, in my opinion, for both Phantom Regiment & Scouts. I would have had both about a point to a point and a half higher (putting Phantom Regiment around a 70 or so). One strange revelation upon 3rd viewing -- Regiment's weakest brass section is their Baritone section! They need about 4 more horns to balance out the rest of the corps, as they are almost a little top heavy. Now who in the world would ever have thought Baris would be Phantom Regiment's weakness? Overall, the brass line has potential to be outstanding, and I agree with the Lima, OH reviewer that indicated that Phantom Regiment's brass book is the fullest & most difficult of the season, so far (not having heard the West Coast corps). Not even the Cadets have as tough of brass book. The Schoenberg piece is beautiful, and both Stravinsky pieces work wonderfully. The Jeux opener is too short (maybe 30 seconds) to make any sense in the show. Percussion is stronger for Phantom Regiment this year than the past couple of years, and seem to be enjoying Stravinsky's more percussive music immensely. Guard is really turning it on & had some nice rifle tosses tonight. Visually, the corps members individual technique is improving rapidly -- they almost carried themselves on the field like Phantom Regiment members at times. However, there is a long, long ways to go to clean this show. Very filthy visually, and particularly in the closer.

Colts -- Now that the closer is in there, this show seems soooo loonggg. (Not a good sign). The music is just not very inspiring. The new uniforms do look better under the lights in complete darkness than they do when they march earlier in the evening. Marching later makes the off white seem less "off." Horns have really cranked up the volume since the first show in Oswego -- nice job. You can tell they just put in the closer, as they almost completely broke down musically. Perhaps it was the lack of performance, but the musical choice for the closer seems to be the worst of the whole show. On the plus side, apart from the closer, this corps marches very well & does some nice things. I just wish this show was a little less cookie-cutter played to the judges sheets& more appealing like past Colts shows.

The Cadets -- This show is fun!!! Especially the 2nd half of the show. The latter half is very enjoyable musically, as well. Much more lyrical than the last few Cadets shows. The first half was more typical of the last few years (dryer &more athletic than musical). The "show your stuff" sections at the end are a riot. There needs to be a break between the drum line's strut & the brassline's turn, though, as the crowd goes so wild over the drum line that the first half of the brass line's turn is covered up. The crowd goes hysterical when the trumpets finger each others' valves while playing. A true highlight. Great box into box merge/unmerge/merge at the end, too. Cadets provoked the most crowd response and excitement of any corps tonight. Nice package.

That being said, here's my 2 cents on the Bb change for Cadets... you can tell the difference. At least, I sure could. Now, I did start college as a music major (brass specialty), so I'm probably not your average fan from that perspective, but the sound is different. Volume wise, at least in a small stadium, they were right up there with the other corps. I don't think they will project as well to the top of a high stadium, however. Intonation is better on the Bb horns. The high voices (God, do we have to call them trumpet snow?), simply do not project well. The voices all blend together very nicely-- too nicely in my opinion. The traditional Mellophone-flavor of the corps also is dissipated. But not having high sopranos as part of the ensemble sound is a huge loss in my opinion. How much of this problem is just the way the book is arranged for Cadets? Won't be able to tell that until July 21st when BD hits Chicago. I will say this, hearing Madison's sopranos -- as thin and unsupported as Madison's sopranos can be at times -- was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard after listening to Cadets.

Madison Scouts -- As usual, the crowd didn't understand the placement, and as usual, the placement was deserved. Madison has one hell of a horn line. That's about it. Oh yeah, and a decent horn line drill for a change too. The brass line truly has the potential to be one of DCI's best this year. They got tired &very thin towards the end of the show tonight, however. The guard is truly struggling at this point. Seems that on every rifle toss, there was at least a full beat gap between all the different catches going on (and yes, they should have been simultaneous). Flags were no more together. And -- they still aren't finished with putting in the guard show.

Well, there's my 2 cents. Next stop for me -- DCM in DeKalb. Can't wait to see everyone's improvement by then.


[an error occurred while processing this directive][an error occurred while processing this directive]