DCIJun 19, 2017 by Andy Schamma
Clean Feet, On The Beat
Clean Feet, On The Beat
An analysis of the last 10 John Brazale Best Visual Award winners in DCI World Championships week. Getting into the numbers of the Blue Devils, Carolina Crown and the Cadets.
Despite the plethora of visual techniques that span from West Coast to East Coast, every corps must strive to achieve uniform perfection from its trumpet players to snare drum players. As difficult as it may be to perfect your individual visual technique, it is just as difficult for the judges to analyze and score each drum corps and its members in the visual proficiency caption.
Each corps' visual score can be split into three subcaptions: color guard, visual proficiency, and visual analysis. In layman's terms, visual proficiency includes the score for the uniformity of technique from person-to-person. This score must also account for the "visual vocabulary" performed by the members and how well it is executed. The vocabulary often consists of varied movement techniques that are executed by the corps' members. Again, visual proficiency is the only sub-score considered when awarding the John Brazale High Visual Award.
The overall average of all winners of the John Brazale Best Visual Award from the last 10 years is 19.663.
Only in two cases has a corps been given a perfect 20.00 in visual proficiency since 2007: the 2014 Blue Devils on finals night and the 2008 Blue Devils on semifinals night.
Seven times in the last 10 years, the DCI World champion has also won the John Brazale Best Visual Award. Needless to say, having the "cleanest feet" will have a direct positive effect on the outcome on Saturday night.
The lowest-scoring Best Visual Award winner of the last 10 years was the Blue Devils in 2007, with their show "Winged Victory." The highest-scoring Best Visual Award winner, since 2007, was the 2014 Blue Devils, with an average score of 19.90!
Carolina Crown averaged 19.667 over the three nights (DCI World Championship prelims, semis, and finals) in the year of their first-ever World Class DCI World Championship win. They improved upon their previous year's average score by 0.2, which can be a huge difference when it comes down to deciding a winner. Not to mention, showing improvement year by year is extremely rewarding for a drum corps that is new to the "World Champions" docket.
The 2012 Carolina Crown and the 2014 Blue Devils were the only two corps to win the Best Visual Award of the last 10 years that showed an improvement in their scores from Thursday night to Saturday night, with Carolina Crown making a massive 0.5-point jump from prelims to semifinals.
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Each corps' visual score can be split into three subcaptions: color guard, visual proficiency, and visual analysis. In layman's terms, visual proficiency includes the score for the uniformity of technique from person-to-person. This score must also account for the "visual vocabulary" performed by the members and how well it is executed. The vocabulary often consists of varied movement techniques that are executed by the corps' members. Again, visual proficiency is the only sub-score considered when awarding the John Brazale High Visual Award.
| Year | Corps | Prelims | Semis | Finals | Average |
| 2007 | Blue Devils | 19.300 | 19.800 | 19.200 | 19.433 |
| 2008 | Blue Devils | 19.900 | 20.000 | 19.700 | 19.867 |
| 2009 | Blue Devils | 19.500 | 19.900 | 19.900 | 19.767 |
| 2010 | Blue Devils | 19.600 | 19.600 | 19.900 | 19.700 |
| 2011 | The Cadets | 19.800 | 19.700 | 19.800 | 19.767 |
| 2012 | Carolina Crown | 19.100 | 19.600 | 19.700 | 19.467 |
| 2013 | Carolina Crown | 19.700 | 19.700 | 19.600 | 19.667 |
| 2014 | Blue Devils | 19.800 | 19.900 | 20.000 | 19.900 |
| 2015 | Blue Devils | 19.500 | 19.500 | 19.700 | 19.567 |
| 2016 | Carolina Crown | 19.500 | 19.600 | 19.400 | 19.500 |
Getting Into The Numbers
In the last 10 years, the Blue Devils have averaged a visual proficiency score of 19.706 in the years that they have won the Best Visual award. Considering those same parameters, Carolina Crown have averaged a visual proficiency score of 19.545.The overall average of all winners of the John Brazale Best Visual Award from the last 10 years is 19.663.
Only in two cases has a corps been given a perfect 20.00 in visual proficiency since 2007: the 2014 Blue Devils on finals night and the 2008 Blue Devils on semifinals night.
Seven times in the last 10 years, the DCI World champion has also won the John Brazale Best Visual Award. Needless to say, having the "cleanest feet" will have a direct positive effect on the outcome on Saturday night.
The lowest-scoring Best Visual Award winner of the last 10 years was the Blue Devils in 2007, with their show "Winged Victory." The highest-scoring Best Visual Award winner, since 2007, was the 2014 Blue Devils, with an average score of 19.90!
Carolina Crown averaged 19.667 over the three nights (DCI World Championship prelims, semis, and finals) in the year of their first-ever World Class DCI World Championship win. They improved upon their previous year's average score by 0.2, which can be a huge difference when it comes down to deciding a winner. Not to mention, showing improvement year by year is extremely rewarding for a drum corps that is new to the "World Champions" docket.
The 2012 Carolina Crown and the 2014 Blue Devils were the only two corps to win the Best Visual Award of the last 10 years that showed an improvement in their scores from Thursday night to Saturday night, with Carolina Crown making a massive 0.5-point jump from prelims to semifinals.
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