Understanding of General Effect
After GPMB 2009 a discussion has been held between instructors of some corps and judges
about the scores for General Effect.
Without mentioning the names of the units and/or the judges I have the feeling that many people in Indonesia do not really understand the common rules for the judging system.
During the discussion a statement has been made that some corps have high scores for technical captions and hence they should have received high scores for General Effect also, this is proof of a wrong conception.
The technical captions Music Analyses Hornline and Percussion, Display and Showmanship and Colour Guard do not have any relationship with General Effect. It is quite possible that a corps scores high in the technical captions but low in General Effect because the technical captions do not relate to the performance as a whole.
General Effect is about the complete concept of the show, have everything related!
As an example: in Indonesia many corps have problems to do “transitions”.
A transition is a moment between two songs, or a moment to chance equipment for the colour guard.
It is many times seen that a song stops with a climax, everything stops and everyone is asking themselves: “What happens?”
When you visit a good musical and there was a nice climax the show goes on with something that attracts the attention of the audience. In corps this can be done by a single colour guard dancing or a special intro from the pit or something else but DON’T STOP after a climax! You will loose the attention of the audience and judges and it will take quite some while to attract this attention again!
Same goes for equipment changes for the guard, many times this happens when the corps does not move, The guard is running to the side to pick up new equipment so everybody is looking to that running guard, does not make any sense because the guard is only running! You should have another focus point in the show so people don’t see that the guard is picking up new flags because they’re looking to something else! Imagine the surprise when the all of a sudden the guard has other equipment without anybody noticing!
What to think about all those drills where the corps moves all the time as three different units? In Indonesia the drumline is often not an integrated part of the display! They are hanging in the back or on the side, during a percussion
feature in front but seldom they are an integrated part of the display!
For the integration of the guard things became better over the last years but many corps still have a problem with integrating the guard in the complete show design!
Some corps play sweet songs and their display consists of blocks or triangles, does not fit! Sweet songs come with arcs and smooth lines, blocks and triangles go together with aggressive music!
Flag colours and shapes are also part of GE, using triangle formed flags with hard colours does not fit sweet songs!
Please evaluate your shows and see if these comments fit your scores on GE, I will be back on more special issues about judging on www.trendmarching.or.id
These comments are meant to be neutral and of use for all instructors of corps and marching bands in Indonesia. It does not make sense to criticise judges or systems, it only makes sense to build a better show concept!
Wil Bijl
Certified judge for DCE (Drum Corps Europe)
Writer for Drum Corps World
Baca juga :
Short URL: https://trendmarching.or.id/read/?p=1302
Posted by 
