Andy Snow

FFCC Championships Judging Panels Released

In two short weeks, nearly 200 color guard, percussion, and winds ensembles will descend on beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida for three days of championships performances in the Ocean Center. The performances will be exciting and the challenge of judging these highly skilled young people falls on our esteemed 2017 FFCC Championships judging panel we are excited to announce today. Here are the assigned panels for the 2017 FFCC Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida:

Friday, March 31, 2017 (Color Guards):

Cadet Novice, Cadet, Class B (Illusion), Class B (Northeast Independent), and AAA (Coast One)

IAE – Tim Landess

IAM – Jackie Campbell

DA – Dan Campbell

GE1 – Warren Rickart

GE2 – Mike Stone

Class B (Imagination), AAA (Beyond), and AAA (Anastasia)

IAE – Robert Solomon

IAM – Becca Sullens

DA – Jim Sturgeon

GE1 – Mike Anderson

GE2 – Dale White

Saturday, April 1, 2017 (Color Guards):

AA (Kersten) and AA (Combs):

IAE – Robert Solomon

IAM – Becca Sullens

DA – Ken Giese

GE1 – Mike Anderson

GE2 – Dale White

AA (Harlow):

IAE – Tim Landess

IAM – Jackie Campbell

DA – Dan Campbell

GE1 – Warren Rickart

GE2 – Mike Stone

Saturday, April 1, 2017 (Winds and Percussion)

All Winds Divisions:

Music Analysis – John Phillips

Visual Analysis – Bruce Jones

Overall Effect – Jeff Mitchell

Concert Percussion:

Music – John Phillips

Artistry – Jeff Mitchell

Scholastic Marching AA and Independent Marching A Percussion:

Music – Scott Johnson

Visual – Dave McCarthy

Effect – Music – Ed Argenziano

Effect – Visual – Jim Dwyer

Scholastic Marching A Percussion:

Music – Julie Davila

Visual – Ken Giese

Effect – Music – Steve Calhoun

Effect – Visual – Jeff Gentry

All Open and World Classes (Double Panel):

Music – Julie Davila and Scott Johnson

Visual – Ken Giese and Dave McCarthy

Effect – Music – Ed Argenziano and Steve Calhoun

Effect – Visual – Jim Dwyer and Jeff Gentry

Sunday, April 2, 2017 – Color Guards

All A, Open, and World Color Guards (Double Panel):

Equipment – Tim Landess and Robert Solomon

Movement – Jackie Campbell and Becca Sullens

DA – Dan Campbell and Jim Sturgeon

GE – Mike Anderson, Warren Rickart, Mike Stone, and Dale White

All of us in the FFCC are excited to welcome these accomplished individuals to adjudicate our ensembles during FFCC Championships. It is going to be an amazing weekend of performances!

Posted by Andy Snow

Championships Seeding for Scholastic Marching AA and Scholastic Marching A Released

With the completion of the FFCC Focus show on February 25, the FFCC Percussion and Winds ensembles are now seeded and heading towards a showdown in Daytona Beach. Over 50 Percussion and Winds Ensembles will battle it out for an FFCC Championship, and in the process, will put on an entertaining show you do not want to miss.

Scholastic Marching AA and Scholastic Marching A classes will be seeded into performance blocks for Championships due to their higher enrollment. The calculation of seeding numbers for all ensembles in these divisions can be viewed below. Factors have been added in to the seeding process to account for earlier performance dates that occurred for some of our Premiere and Focus events. The classes will be divided into three performance blocks, with the performance order scrambled within the block itself. This, along with the performance order for all other Percussion and Winds divisions will be released on Tuesday, March 21st.

All other divisions of Percussion and Winds ensembles will employ a random performance order throughout their division.

Make plans now to attend FFCC Championships in Daytona Beach from March 31-April 2nd at the Ocean Center!

Posted by Andy Snow

Tech Tips – Listening to your Judge Commentary

By Tom Slaughter, FFCC Chief Judge

All of us on the FFCC Board are excited at how the delivering of judge commentary to directors and staff members has been made even more efficient as we move into the 2017 season. Here are some things to do and a few things to not do as you are looking to access commentary after your performances this season.

*Before you go to a show, make sure your member profile is up to date with correct email addresses for both individuals who have director access to the ensemble, as well as the staff page. These are the email addresses that commentary links will be sent to once your files are uploaded. Directors can log in and update your contact information and your staff contact information in your member profile at any time.

*Make sure all individuals who want to listen to commentary on their cell phones have downloaded the Dropbox App onto their device. You do not have to set up a Dropbox account, but you must have the app on your device.

*When commentary on your team has been uploaded, all of the addresses in the profile will be emailed a link that allows you to access this commentary. When you receive the email, simply click the link contained within it.

*Clicking the link in the email will automatically open the Dropbox app and your commentary will be available to you. Listen to the commentary within the Dropbox app (using the Dropbox player).

*DO NOT TRY TO LISTEN TO THE COMMENTARY ON A CELL PHONE THROUGH YOUR MEMBER PROFILE ON THE FFCC WEBSITE. Clicking the emailed link, and then allowing your device to open the Dropbox app to play the files is the most successful way to listen to your commentary.

*Did someone on your staff not get an email link because they weren’t set up in the profile? Then whoever did receive the link can simply forward it from their email to the staff member’s email.

*All ensembles should make every attempt to listen to their judge commentary before critique. Critique dialogue is much more useful and productive if the judge feedback on the performance is already known.

IN SUMMARY:

Use links you receive in email to listen to commentary
Make sure the Dropbox App is on your device

Tom Slaughter

FFCC Vice President/Chief Judge

Posted by Andy Snow

The FFCC Remembers Shirlee Whitcomb

The FFCC is saddened to hear of the loss of one of the founders of WGI, Shirlee Whitcomb. Shirlee passed away on January 4, 2017, at the age of 83.

Shirlee was critical in the early years of WGI helping to shape our philosophies, scoring system, and even the adjudication manual we use today. She was a dedicated mentor to judges and instructors alike and used her enthusiasm to inspire all those around her. Most recently, Shirlee served as Director of Color Guard Development. In this position, she was able to share her gusto and passion for this activity with “A” and “Open” class instructors helping them to grow and foster their own programs.
Shirlee was also critical in breaking gender barriers in our activity, being one of the first female DCI judges. Shirlee also held many honors including being an inaugural WGI Hall of Fame Member in 1992.

WGI will celebrate and remember her contributions at the WGI World Championships to be held in Dayton, Ohio on April 6-8 and April 20-23, 2017 in Dayton, Ohio.

A commemorative video has been placed on youtube to honor her memory.

Posted by Andy Snow

Premiere Preparations. . .Off the floor

by Tom Slaughter, FFCC Vice President and Chief Judge

As the days tick by and the Premiere shows get closer to occurring, it is easy for directors to completely focus on getting their “on the floor” presentation ready for its debut. Within this article, let’s remind ourselves about some of the “off the floor” preparations that directors should also dedicate a little bit of time to in advance of their Premiere Show.

#1 – Read the rulebook. Especially the pages that include discussions of what each caption looks for. All FFCC directors can view the entire WGI rulebook (along with FFCC Policy Manuals) by logging into www.ffcc.org , clicking “resources” across the top toolbar and then choosing “member documents”. Refreshing your mind on the specifics of each caption will make the commentary the judges provide at your first show more meaningful and useful to you as your season begins.

#2 – Remind yourself of the timing rules for your class. Specifically, Color Guard Teams in Scholastic AAA, remember you are required to write your show to conform to A class timings, even though the caption judges will be adjudicating your team using the Regional A judging criteria. Timing rules for all classes can be found in the WGI rulebooks. Contact me at ffjatomslaughter@gmail.com if you have any questions.

#3 – For premiere, don’t force more on to the floor then your students are ready to do. Remember, timing penalties at all Premiere shows will be assessed at a maximum of 1.0 points. This is a rule the FFCC has followed for years to make sure that we are all thinking of our students’ development over the whole season first and foremost.

#4 – Practice coming on and off the floor a few times during rehearsal. This will help your students to relax in the moments before their show and have a positive premiere experience. Percussion ensembles especially, make sure your cords are untangled and your front ensemble performers are comfortable plugging in what needs to be plugged in.

#5 – And last, but definitely not least, make sure your roster is completely up to date 2 weeks before your show date. If students are absent from a show for whatever reason, make sure to declare at check-in the number of students who are performing THAT DAY. Do NOT take a performer wristband from the check-in table for a student who is not at the show. The performer count by our Timing and Penalties judge will show this discrepancy, causing your team to be subject to penalties, or even disqualification. If a student on your roster is injured, or not performing on that day for whatever reason, you can take a performer wrist band for them. The non-performing member should wear something that makes it clear they are a part of the ensemble (show shirt, jacket, uniform) and be pointed out to the Timing and Penalties judge as you enter the performance area. Students who are not listed on your signed roster, and uploaded to the FFCC website two weeks before the performance day will not be able to perform. Please do not try to sneak them through. This will be caught at check-in, also subjecting your ensemble to penalties and possible disqualification.

We all know the frantic feeling that a premiere show usually creates for all of us. Take notice of these things listed above that can help make your Premiere experience what it is supposed to be about…giving your kids an amazing performance experience to kick off their season.

Feel free to contact myself (ffjatomslaughter@gmail.com) with any questions you may have prior to your Premiere Show day. On the show day itself, here are the Contest Directors and Chief Judges you can find to answer any questions you have at the site:

January 21^st, 2017 – Regional A Guard Premiere at Freedom High School (Tampa)

Contest Director – Jim Taylor

Chief Judge – Michael Higbe

January 21^st, 2017 – Southeast Percussion Premiere at John I Leonard High School

Contest Director – Brian Fisher

Chief Judge – Tom Slaughter

January 28^th, 2017 – National Class Guard Premiere at Dr. Phillips High School

Contest Director – Mike Palau

Chief Judges – Tom Slaughter and Jen Karp

February 4^th, 2017 – North Percussion Premiere at Oviedo High School

Contest Director – Jim Taylor

Chief Judge – Ed Argenziano