DCI FORGE

A DCI show is not scored by one judge with one opinion. It is scored by a panel, with each judge responsible for a single caption and nothing else. Understanding that structure is the difference between "the judges liked them" and knowing exactly which chair moved a result.

Panel structure

A full World Class panel seats one judge per caption, typically eight chairs across the three books: two in General Effect, three in Visual, and three in Music. GE judges sit in the press box watching the whole picture. Analysis and proficiency judges often move down onto the field to hear and see execution up close. Because each judge owns one caption, no single person controls a corps's total; the number you see is eight independent reads added together.

Caption responsibilities

Each chair has a narrow job. The Brass judge listens only to the hornline. The Percussion judge follows the battery and pit. Color Guard scores the guard. The Visual Analysis and Music Analysis judges grade how well the book is built and taught, while the Proficiency judge grades how cleanly it is performed. The two GE judges step back and ask the biggest question of all: how much does the whole show move an audience. That is why GE carries the most weight, and why a corps can be clean everywhere and still lose on effect.

Why tendency is not bias

On this site, a judge or panel "tendency" measures how far the marks at a show sat from each corps's own season norm, then averages that across the field. A positive number means the night ran generous, a negative number means it ran strict. This is a description of calibration, not an accusation. Judges are human, panels differ, and one room can simply sit a few tenths higher than another on the same corps. Tendency helps you compare across those rooms; it does not claim anyone is playing favorites.