So who do you think will take the coveted High Percussion award in the season of 2008? I'm not sure who will take it. The Bluecoats are clean, and their drum feature is sick. But the Cavaliers are coming out on top. Or will Phantom Regiment come away with it this year like in 2006? Could the return of Murray Gusseck bring about another title for the Vanguard? Will risking absurdity bring it home for the Blue Devils? Discuss here!

Well, my opinion, (which doesn't exactly value to much, since I've only seen the Bluecoats live) is Boston. :p Yeah, that would be a longshot. My real hypothesis? Coats'. Again, they're the only corp I have seen so far, and even judging by vids I've seen, I still say it's toss-up between Cavies and Coats'. But Bloo takes it this year.

I would have to say Phantom, but that is based off of just seeing scoring trends, and my hopes more than an actual fact based guess. I'll finally see some corps in K-zoo this weekend though!!

If you can, tell me how the Glassmen drumline is!

I think it will either be the coats (but its a long shot) or bd. I'm going to the southeastern championship in atlanta on the 26, so i'll be able to see who i like best then.

It would be awsome if bluecoats won high percussion.It would be like Tampa bay winning the world series.

is their a ranking thread for drums this year? If not shouldn't we start one? i would but i don't know how it was done in the past

This can be a rankings thread, that's fine.

Phantom takes it this year

Suggestion to the masses - Please stop saying "I like so and so, but it's a long shot." If that's who you think is going to win, own your opinion and back it up. That's the whole point of a discussion forum. Making predictions with nothing but "they're good!" leaves the rest of us with little to discuss.

That said, I haven't seen anyone live yet. I've just seen some DCI webcasts, but it's almost impossible to get a good read as to who has the best product out there, or at least the potential for it.

If you check out the recaps, the Bluecoats aren't all that far away from the top 3 in perc. The only thing I worry about is people peaking early. If they're amazingly clean in early July, then how far can the book go in August?

My vote is for the coats, my backing reasons are:

1) They got second last year, why not get higher this year?

2) They aren't fully clean yet, and like diva said, a lot of corps are peaking now, and i don't think blue has gotten there yet and they still get great percussion scores.

Ive seen a lot of people, And holy crap, every body is so good. I cant fathom where these corps/ and lines are going to be at by finals. Spirit, boston have impressed me in the "not going to win drums" area. Scouts have come light years from last year and thier tenor line is great. The cadets bass line is the best in DCI. They play with such authority, and attitude with a very difficult book. Id be surpirsed if there was a gbass tick at finals.

But whos reall impressed me are the cavaliers, andI think they are the ones who will win drums. Thier bass line is significantly better this year, thier snare line is, and thier pit is, well, incredible. It reminds me [b]snugglebunny[/b] of 2004 where they really show thier versitility through ethinic percussion.
I think the snare break is the best of the year as far as difficulty is concerned. the tenor break is equally as difficult and the basses have several very good moments.
At the Kzoo show last night I heards ticks and tears, but the design is better from a percussion stand point that the other top corps Ive seen.
I still need to see crown, devs and SCV (and phantom recently) to really make a call, but so far cavs are tops.

I can give a reason why not coats thoug:
Thier pit. it was a huge reason for the second place last year, is average at best right now. thier battery is smokin but the distraction of a realtivly weak pit is going to be tough to overcome. And thats all on the staff's shoulders to convince the judges that its not that big of a deal. But thats a change from last year when thier argument was our battery is just as good, but out pit is way better

BD's line is dirty so far, but their pit is unrivaled....i think the pit is what won them drums last year and will continue to have them do well in the percussion area.

I want phantom to win drums. close second cavies. I just don't want BD's pit to save them again. I want them to be authentically clean.....

I could of sworn that the blue coats won percussion last year?They got like, a 19.7 or something, followed by BD with 19.6 or some numbers?

But on that note, I'm really rooting for the blue coats line, they are on fire this year, And if they can't take number 1 overall, I want them to take #1 in percussion =)

BD won drums last year. The winner is the highest average for the week of finals.

I'm still shocked and amazed by the amount of people that think Coats can win drums this year. Their battery is on fire, but their pit is...eh. They've been getting beat all season in drums. Looking at the most recent scores, Coats are in 5th or 6th in drums.

What I based my decision on was the show I went to. The coats line rocked the show that night. The pit had a lot of shining points, Like the member who controlled the groove of the show on the drumset the entire show.

The battery was on fire though, In that show they took percussion, over the cadets, that was suprising to me. I guess I'll have to start looking at the scores more often. As for the pit being the problem, I imagine if the pit costs the coats this year, they are going to get all the work.

I'm hoping for a complete re-working on the pit by hopefully the end of the year. Break everything down and work on it, That would reallly suck if the pit costs the coats the percussion title.

1. Blue Devils
2. Phantom Regiment
3. Santa Clara Vanguard
4. Cavaliers
5. The Cadets
6. Carolina Crown
7. Bluecoats
8. Boston Crusaders

OK, so there is the Top 8 as of 7/11. Now, based on those scores, and those scores purely, those standings will change magically at my demand. (Without scores and stuff, that takes to long.

1. PR
2. Cavies
3. BD
4. Crown
5. SCV
6. Bluecoats
7. Cadets
8. BAC

Wow. Now those are some messed up and drastically changed standings. By the way, that's my prediction for the change over the next 2 weeks or so.

Also, those original scores are courtesy of DCP.

1. PR
2. Cavies
3. BD
4. Crown
5. SCV
6. Bluecoats
7. Cadets
8. BAC

=0

holy star of indiana!
I don't think those are messed up, though. It's a good thing that drum corps is being fluid, competitive, and actually interesting in its scoring. Oh and Crown ahead of SCV and Cadets? <33333

Yeah, maybe I'm a little harsh on Cadets...I guess I could switch that around a little.

SCV-4th
Cadets-5th
Crown- 6th
Coats'-7th

i agree i think Phantom will pass BD.

Of the recaps that Ive seen the scores that were on DCP were wrong.... this is the corrept order from 7/12. if the have the same score, perc1 judge is used as a tie breaker. corps perc1/perc2=avg red was denver, green orlando

PR 16.90/17.30= 17.10
BD 17.20/17.00= 17.10
Cav 17.50/16.60= 17.05
BC 16.40/16.80= 16.60
SCV 16.80/16.40= 16.60
CBC 16.90/16.20= 16.55
Crown 16.60/16.50= 16.55
BK 16.40/15.2= 15.80
BOS 15.80/15.50=15.65
BS 15.20/15.00=15.10
Sprit 15.90/14.20= 15.05
MS 15.70/14.40= 15.05

There's your top 12

If the percussion 1 judge score is the tie breaker, then how is PR ahead of BD? PR got a 16.9 from judge 1 and BD got a 17.2.

I dont know how I missed that, but that how it is supposed to be, DCI messed it up on thier recap pages too, note they gave PR1st, and BD 2nd. Inconsistent on thier part... In any case Cavs still had the best onfield number,well ahaead of anyone else.

BD 17.20/17.00= 17.10
PR 16.90/17.30= 17.10
Cav 17.50/16.60= 17.05
BC 16.40/16.80= 16.60
SCV 16.80/16.40= 16.60
CBC 16.90/16.20= 16.55
Crown 16.60/16.50= 16.55
BK 16.40/15.2= 15.80
BOS 15.80/15.50=15.65
BS 15.20/15.00=15.10
Sprit 15.90/14.20= 15.05
MS 15.70/14.40= 15.05

Are you sure Perc1 is the tie breaker and they don't just use the highest individual score as the tie breaker? that would explain PR being on top.

Anyway I think DCP uses weighted scoring so that could be why they don't have "correct" scores

Also why does percussion have two judges at some shows?

one up top, one on the field. its only done at regionals and finals.
Ive seen the judging sheets and rule book plenty of times. the onfield judge is the breaker.
they wanted to give a more rounded view to judinging as a lot of people thought the front ensemble was being neglected during 90% of the show

Ok I wasn't trying to insinuate that you were wrong, I jsut didn't know how it worked.

i havnt seen much lines this year, but just because i like them either scv or bd

After San Antonio here are the scores. those who had two show I took the higher, but it did not effect placement. In order top to bottom The parenthesis is the corps overall placement.

PR------18.70/18.80=18.75 (4th)
Cavs----18.30/18.60=18.45 (2nd)
BD------18.40/18.30=18.35 (1st)
Coats---18.20/18.00=18.10 (6th)
Cadets--17.70/17.40=17.55 (5th)
Crown---17.30/17.80=17.55 (3rd)
SCV-----17.20/17.70=17.45 (7th)
BK------16.40/17.00=16.70 (8th)
Spirit--16.40/16.80=16.60 (15th)
Stars---16.20/16.30=16.25 (10th)
BOS-----16.10/16.30=16.20 (9th)
GMen----15.20/16.50=15.85 (11th)
AA------15.30/15.60=15.45 (18th)
PC------14.50/16.10=15.30 (17th)
MS------15.80/14.70=15.25 (13th)
Colts---15.10/15.10=15.10 (14th)
Xmen----15.00/15.20=15.10 (12th)
Troop---14.80/14.90=14.85 (16th)
Mands---14.20/15.00=14.60 (19th)
Pio-----13.60/13.70=13.65 (20th)

Go Spirit!!! Freakin' 9th in drums is awesome.

agreed go Spirit!! ill be on their line one of these days

And I maintain that spirit is better than thier numbers and placement give them. Having seen the top drumlines (save BD)
They should be placeing in the 5-6-7 range. I belive the judges are having a hard time giving them that mid high 17, when theyre the fifth corps (with 14 to go after) on during the day show.