Hey, all, let's play a game. When I was growing up, my bedroom and backyard were places I could journey into the fantasy world of the marching arts. I've been judging drum corps and bands since childhood by randomly selecting groups' performances from various years and making them compete.

Here's how it works. Every week, I'll randomly match up two bands which have performed at Grand Nationals. You decide which caption you want to judge, watch the shows, and privately send me your scores for that caption. I'll take the average of everyone's scores to determine the week's winner. All weekly winners will compete at finals.

The scoring is like FMA scoring. Winds, percussion, color guard, visual performance, music ensemble, and visual ensemble receive a max of 10 points each. GE music and visuals are 20 each.

You may ONLY choose ONE category to judge per week, but you may choose to judge any caption you wish. For instance, if you judge percussion in week 1, you may choose to judge winds in week 2, but you'll only be judging one caption a week.

What I need from you is to privately send:

Band: "So&SO High School"
Caption: Music Ensemble
Score: 9.5

From me you'll receive, the match up and the results. Because Week 1 has passed, there will be 4 bands competing in week 2. The top 2 will advance to finals.

Week 1 and 2's match up is:

Kennesaw Mountain HS Marching Band 2003 - "Four" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwTdEFCN-g

Castle Marching Knights 2009 "Twisted" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDEqNdevuMM

Ronald Reagan High School Band "Beyond Perimeters" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUn8XEhjz94

Center Grove HS Marching Band 2003 - "A Futuristic Game of Capture the Flag" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wUt0cqErg0

You have one week to watch all 4 shows and send me your scores. I'll announce the winner(s) and the Week 3 match up next Saturday, May 16th.

Have fun!

scores sent . . I judged winds

Count me in. To be different i'll judge GE music

So far here is the number of judges we have.

Winds: 2 judges
Percu: 1 judge
Color: 2 judges
MEns: 1 judge
VEns: 1 judge
Vper: 1 judge
GEM: 2 judges
GEV: 1 judge

I'd like to do either guard, VEns, or GEV. (I'll do whichever one you need me to do.)

You may judge whichever one you want. Judge the one that you like best or that you're most comfortable doing.

i judged colorguard

I'll be a second GEV judge

Okay, for whatever you decide to judge, send me the scores privately. I expect to have 2 plus judges per caption. Just be reminded that the average score is what counts. If there is only one judge per caption, you're leaving it up to one judge to decide it.

i would like to judge the judges

so in other words---be your average fan LOL

(lol) so true :)

I've inputted your scores. If you want to be a judge, you have until 11:59 PM Saturday, May 16 to watch the shows and send your scores.

Currently we have....

Winds: 2 judges
Percu: 2 judges
Color: 3 judges
M.Ens: 3 judges
V.Ens: 2 judges
V.Per: 2 judges
GEM: 2 judges
GEV: 2 judges

The results are in! If you weren't able to submit your scores before the deadline, you still have a chance to judge the remainder of the weekly match ups.

Ronald Reagan and Kennesaw Mountain advance to the final round. Ronald Reagan beat Kennesaw by 0.35 with a total of 92.45. However, it was close between the two bands.

Kennesaw won best music by hundredths of a point and best visual by 0.14. Kennesaw's percusssion and guard are what put their scores slightly ahead of Ronald Reagan. Even though the two bands miraculously tied in GE Music, Ronald Reagan jumped ahead of Kennesaw by winning GE Visual.

For a full recap, please follow the link at the bottom of this post.

Thank you to all judges for participating. Stay tuned for week 3's match up!


1st - Ronald Reagan - 92.45
2nd - Kennesaw Mountain - 92.10
3rd - Center Grove - 85.47
4th - Castle Marching Knights - 83.40

Best Winds - Ronald Reagan
Best Percussion - Kennesaw Mountain
Best Music - Kennesaw Mountain

Best Guard - Kennesaw Mountain
Best Visual - Kennesaw Mountain

Best Overall GE - Ronald Reagan

http://1drv.ms/1ES4YAJ <------ the link to the spreadsheet I created for full recap

Don't forget to view last week's results above this post ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For week 3, I decided to throw in a twist and also have 4 bands in the match up. This week judging will not be easy :) All of these bands are final-round material. Watch and listen closely judges.

The Woodlands HS Marching Band 2004 - "Numbers" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEDSGihvB4M

Bassett High School Marching Band 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QYjoa1CzX8

James Bowie High School 2012 - "Stellae Errantes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPGGyudDup4

Carmel HS from 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4fMm4Axw4

and...... let the judging begin!

Before i Judge this week, i want to comment on last week.

a) i totally agree that Ronald Reagan beat Kennesaw and that they were the best choices to move on to the final round.

b) I don't agree that Ronald and Kennesaw tied in GEM. I love Ronald Reagan's show Beyond Perimeters. It's a musical and visual masterpiece (sorry in advance, but GE Music judge 1 must have been smoking crack when he or she gave Kennesaw a higher score.)

c) Most of the scoring seemed right on, but really?? Castle beat Center Grove in Music? I judged Music Ensemble and had Center Grove slightly ahead. Yes, Castle's musical program was very difficult, but it was a mess.

I'll judge V. Ensemble this week to switch it up and keep it interesting

i do agree--I was a little surprised Ronald Reagan and Kennesaw were so close! I had a bigger spread then that in just GEV! LOL

(lol) Ronald clearly killed in the visual captions. Their music program was awesome, too. The entire show was difficult, interesting, and executed quite well. On the other hand, I can see Kennesaw as a close second. Maybe, not that close (lol). I can't wait to see how these two stack up against the other finalists.

...Let's get an idea of whom will be judging what categories for this week. You may judge the same caption as last week or choose another. So far, we have,

GEMus - 2 judges

GEVis - 2 judges

I'll do guard this week.

Cool - I look forward to it.