From: rwberry@hubcap.clemson.edu (Robert W Berry)
Subject: Re: Judging, Critique
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 03:33:54 GMT

dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn) writes:

>Actually, the Rules Congress takes place every other year.
>The Congress met last December, so there will not be one
>this year.  Next December, however, I bet a new judging system
>will go into place (which would replace Ensemble Brass with
>Ensemble Music with emphasis on Brass, Ensemble Percussion
>with Ensemble Music with emphasis on Percussion, and similarly
>for the GE captions for brass and percussion) 

I've thought this was coming for years.  There's always been a need to
reward the interaction between the brass and percussion.  Nowhere in the
execution categories does a sub-caption for such an interaction exist.

>and the electronics
>issue will no doubt come up.  According to Gail Royer in an
>interview in Drum Corps World, he thinks electronics are just
>around the corner.  How soon, I suppose, is a matter of debate.

I *really* hope they don't allow electronics.  I realize they would
provide a vast array of new sounds and would most probably save the
corps a lot of money by replacing several instruments with one synth.
Still, I think this is really getting too far from our heritage.  I
realize that some people apply the same argument to the 3-valve bugle,
but I feel that was a natural evolution.

>Concerning the critique ...

>In an interview with Jay Kennedy (Chief Administrator of Judges)
>in Today's Music Educator, he said that the critique has more or
>less turned into a place where the instructional staff tries to
>find out what it takes to get that extra 0.1 point.  The intent
>of the critique has been perverted to the point of absurdity (in
>my opinion).  [For those of you who know my views on these matters,
>insert the standard anti-competition statement here :-) ]

The critique has turned into somewhat of a bitch session.  A lot of
bigger corps use this time to try to explain to the judge what
statements they are trying to make and the reasons behind the
development of their programs.  Regardless of what DCI says, the vast
majority of top-6 staff knows more about the activity than the vast
majority of DCI-caliber judges, IMHO.  Of course there are exceptions,
but this is a lot of the reason the above type behaviour exists.  The
staff often feels that they can "teach the judges a thing or two."

A couple of years ago, this was most probably true, now the judges
aren't so easy to push around.  IMHO.

>I wonder for what percentage of corps (large or small), the critique
>turns out to be what it was intended to be (i.e. a place where judges
>and corps staff can discuss ideas on how to improve and educate the
>corps' performance), rather than a shouting match.  Hopefully, it is
>bigger than Kennedy implies, but who knows what "really" goes on.

I can speak for the little corps.  We use critique to argue for points
like the big boys, but we also use it extensively to discuss techniques,
and remedies for various problems we were having as well as getting a
better feel for why the judges scored us the way the did. 

IMHO, the divsion II and III corps are a lot of the reason the critique
still exists.

Later,
Bob

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