Just some thoughts from my ultra-limited Winter Guard mind:
Scholastic Open
Rancho Bernardo - Personal favorite performance. The Piano was gracefully and pleasantly done. Excellent job "keeping it simple" and straight to the point!
El Dorado - I loved how musical they were in how they moved.
Eastlake - What music did they use? I must know!
Chino Hills - Sharp costumes.
Ayala - EPIC!!! (Well-deserved standing O.)
Ramona - Very diverse dance moves. Well done!
Valencia - They looked like college kids from where I was sitting.
Upland - Most mesmerizing show.
Independent Open
Prado and Nexus, I believe? They were OK. I still don't understand Winter Guard after high school.
Scholastic World
There were some Scholastic Open groups that probably could have fit in well with this division. I really liked Arcadia's show and Chino's show. Mission Viejo did OKAY.
Other Thoughts:
-Glad to hear Philip Glass's Uakti Aguas da Amazonia used a few times. Makes me want to dig into my dusty old CD collection and play it again.
-CSC Event Staff: job well done...except...you know it's Winter Guard, right? No one is going to pull a knife on you or run onto the court like a raving lunatic. (At least not in my experiences.)
-Ryan H. Turner is the man with the golden voice, period. There was a brief moment when he stepped away and someone else had to announce for him and you KNEW the quality was just not the same. Well done, Mr. Turner.
-Gone are the days where you can have a great band of wind players or a great drum corps of brass and percussion and "slide by" with a mediocre guard (or drill team). Truly, you want to do well on the field this year? Invest in a color guard coach that knows what he/she is doing, and invest in your color guard PERIOD. There is a reason Mission Viejo does so well. There is a reason Upland does so well. There is a reason Ayala does so well. They all fire on all cylinders--Guard, Percussion, and Winds.
-Things I like in a winter guard show: good equipment angles, seamless transitions, discipline, attention to detail (I noticed one girl practice, practice, practice a few simple rifle flips and then moved it to an angle or something very, VERY well, and then kissed her weapon as if for good luck. Yeah, that's GOOD), the sound of rifles being caught at the exact same time, music that engages, stories than tell themselves through the movement more than narration, and props that do not clutter the dance floor (I'd rather see bodies that do work than things that hide them, if that...makes sense?).
-Things I dislike in a winter guard show: counting out loud during the difficult parts of the production (crutch), string music that is just beautiful but...induces drowsiness, winter guards in a division that should be competing in the division down, winter guards in a division that should be competing in the division up, people clapping after every...single...rifle catch, saber catch, etc. (I wish it were more like a symphony, where you only get to clap when the show is over...but I realize it is tradition, and it's done during marching band, etc.)
Alan
WGASC Championships Finals at CSULB
Moderators: laurab, Gallagher, guardthepiccolo
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Re: WGASC Championships Finals at CSULB
Eastlakes music is State of Independence by jon Anderson
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Re: WGASC Championships Finals at CSULB
Thanks, Laura!
-Alan
-Alan