NCBA Street Percussion Review (from TOC)

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Who had the stronger street percussion show this year?

Fairfield
1
100%
Vallejo
0
No votes
Bethel
0
No votes
Hogan
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

TREBLE

NCBA Street Percussion Review (from TOC)

Post by TREBLE » Wed Nov 24, 2004 1:43 pm

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the following statements are my opinions. You choose whether you take them seriously! I am not creating this post to start an all out war on this forum so please act maturely and consider the perspective of a viewer on the street.

The following review is for percussions seen at Fairfield's Tournament of Champions. These percussions were the top four of that day.

FAIRFIELD
Although this show could use a little more "umph" and when I mean "umph" I mean "attitude" because several members in the pit were not into the music at all, this show was finely executed. This "latin" themed show seemed to be very catchy, although it was somewhat repetitive at times, as well as having a high degree of difficulty. The battery displayed a strong confidence as well as the attitude needed to drive the show through the street, which is why they deserved to win all the first places they've achieved throughout the season.

VALLEJO
It's apparent that Vallejo is still going through reconstruction after the loss of John Zarco. Although their street piece "Boogie Wonderland", another Earth Wind and Fire selection, was a great concept for a show, I was disappointed by the musical difficulty in the pit's parts. As usual, the battery still has a quite difficult and nicely executed show, but although strongly executed as well, I'm used to seeing a stronger degree of difficulty from the pit... more well-built than the battery's at times. It's evident that the pit, at least the members I've seen on the street, still have the strong skill they've always had, but it seems that the instructors have been focusing more on the battery, leaving the pit in the dust. The drill is very creative and the execution is always there, especially during the section with the triangle, very nice indeed. I enjoyed seeing the battery "jam" to the music, but I believe more "attitude" like this could have been shown throughout the show. The attitude displayed was too serious, it felt like no one was really into the music. Still, Vallejo is a forced to be reckoned with, as there are still few groups that can rival its skills.

BETHEL
This show seemed to be a little safe. No drill was really presented on the street except for the opening move when the pit slowly collects in the center. Bethel's show as extremely clean this year as well as still being quite difficult. However, I'm still somewhat boggled by how they are beating some percussions with literally no general effect whatsoever. I have to give props to the center pit member in the front rank, those arpeggio-type runs were finely executed, which is hard to do while marching forward. The pit displayed dynamic changes, but they weren't as strong as they needed to be, the volume of the pit throughout the show stayed consistant. The battery's performance is still pretty good in terms of skill. Overall, A pretty strong impression.

HOGAN
This show displayed a lot of the "attitude" needed in several shows throughout the season. The battery skill level is very apparent in the confidence displayed last saturday, which does include the pit. I was very pleased with the pit's run as we don't see much of that on the street. The pit's music difficulty was also much appreciated because it complimented the battery's musical uniqueness and vice versa. The drill could have been focused on a little more as it was a little weaker than what the other percussion's presented. Can someone clarify something for me? What is the ruling on the whole unit stopping in the zone? I know they stopped at the end of their show, but isn't that still disqualification because they're still in the zone? Even with a little set-back like that, the show was very well made.

If you tend to get very short tempered and cannot take criticism, then do not read the following statements as they are only opinions.

1.) Bethel was pretty good and I will not deny them their difficulty and execution, but they shouldn't have beaten Vallejo or Hogan due to the fact that they had little general effect. Hogan and Vallejo had the same difficulty, if not higher, as Bethel with the addition of interesting drill and visuals. Don't get me wrong, Bethel would have still played in the top three, but not first.

2.) The scoring is getting way too high!!! NCBA must be going crazy with these over-inflated scores. It's true that all the shows displayed that day were really creative and finely executed, but scores of 95.1, 95.5 or 96 are way too high! I could see 93's or 94's but not scores that high because it leaves no room to improve whatsoever.

3.) Street percussion is now turning into winter percussion. I have to say that this is probably the most competitive street percussion season seen so far, and pretty much every group is going at each other's throats. It seems that we are all losing focus of showmanship as people are trying to win for all the wrong reasons. You don't win because you are better than Fairfield... because you're better than Vallejo... you win because you are better than yourselves! You don't compete because you want to show how much better you are than Group A or Group B, but you compete because you want to improve yourself and represent your school maturely and proudly. So those groups out there who are getting cocky, I suggest you drop it soon because there will always be someone better. A lot of groups started this season thinking that they would win on reputation alone, and ended it knowing they could have been doing more than thinking they were the best.

All right... I'm done with that... please no wars...

8-ball
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Post by 8-ball » Thu Nov 25, 2004 4:01 am

JB winning with alomost no General Effect is just not true. They can play their show the way they did with no drill because of the way the judging sheets have been created. Drill is not necessary.

Although I don't agree with such high scores, it was the last show of the Fall...so there was no need to leave "room for improvement" in the scores.

This season really left a lot to be desired from the judging aspect. I saw groups on the street that had full ensemble mark-times, full ensemble halts, & 2 different groups ended the show with a halt...The rules plainy state that no unit shall stop forward motion while in the competition zone and that was blatently ignored this season.

jbdrummerdude
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Post by jbdrummerdude » Thu Nov 25, 2004 11:53 pm

I agree totally with 8-ball on GE. Drill is usually the last that lines should be doing. I also hear with one judge youd rather march through the zone with no drill cuz he doesnt like when lines do drill. I cant do the pole for i was at Lincolns review, but from what i heard they had somemore competitive lines at Fairfield rather then Foothill.

So n/e one see Benicia Middles show......I didnt get the pleasure of seeing my kids perform this season :cry: which is sad but they made me proud with a score of an 89.8. I love my kids!!! :D

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