TechGuy

I fear it continues to marginalize the small school bands with lower budgets, and raises the price barrier into the activity even further.

Holy crap Danville is lowest score for the day. I guess someone has to be.

I got to see all of the bands in 2a / 3a. I took no notes, but was pretty impressed with the top 3 in 2a. Watseka was particularly fine, I was not expecting the show they put on the field AT ALL and was impressed. IMHO the spread between the top of 2a and the bottom of 3a is too wide. (Ok, I'd put Watseka over Urbana). Danville's show was very good as well. If they could scratch up another 50 kids to throw on the field they could be a force in their class again. The Danville color guard is tearing up the field, until they pick up rifles. Clearly they need more time / training on the weapon, but when on flag they are taking very difficult work and pulling it off well. I am looking forward to seeing that show complete, and from a high angle.

Paxton? St. Jo-Ogden? Are they not marching this year?

Somewhat interesting that the domain name was only renewed for one year last year. Domain Name: ILMARCHING.COM Registry Domain ID: 137808793_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com Updated Date: 2018-12-21T17:35:36Z Creation Date: 2004-12-20T16:25:14Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-12-20T16:25:14Z

This is beyond unfortunate. Unless the teacher's union can step in and moderate the situation, I fear you are correct.

Holy crap Morton takes Music AND Visual over Marian? Well done!

Numbers management across so many bands, so many classes, over such a long day, is somewhere between really really hard and impossible. Infuriating to the fan, perhaps, but I wouldn't want to try it.

I was at U of I briefly (between the raindrops) long enough to see bands from Carl Sandburg - Danville. I was really, really impressed with Waubaunsie's show. Guard was nearly immaculate and well written, this show had it going on. Band sounded great, had excellent movement and visuals, drumline was tight.It was the only show that really "got to me". I'm officially not a fan of voice-overs. One group's was skipping or cutting out, the other inaudible half the time (and I was down low). The "Phobia" show was interesting, but I think didn't deliver.How do you announce "fear of love" and then go on for a 60 second dance between guard and band? Aren't they afraid? Took me 'out of the moment' and I don't think I made it back in. And I'm generally a fan of props on the field, but unfortunately when things go wrong all you end up remembering about a group is their failure to get the giant pyramid set up correctly. And lastly, in a strictly "homer" opinion, it's nice to see Danville finally getting whipped back into shape. Still small for their class, but they generate what I think is a really good sound, the drumline is solidifying, and the guard is finally getting a book with some teeth to it. Let's keep it going.

Well, being 'of the era' myself, I would tend to agree with her, but don't have the empirical evidence to back that up.

Hmmm. Does someone sense an impending retirement somewhere?

And congrats to the four people in the poll that picked IVC.

Absolutely.

No matter how you slice it, the maximum final score is still 100. According to the spreadsheet those scores are added, then divided by 10 to get the "Final Score", which is not averaging them.

Interesting point. I've been at 'local' shows where there has been an 'agreed on' floor of 50 for scoring, but I'd be surprised if something like that went on here. The spread looks about right, but I think you're right in that the bottom is too high.