I usually upgrade my staff right before FMA finals start, on seasons that I do upgrade. I try to only upgrade when I am able to level up and spend my staff points on making staff cheaper (at least until I get those points maxed out).

Welcome to the league, Perfect Beats! :)

Have you guys noticed that we have 6 of the top 12 spots right now in division 3? It's awesome!

That's awesome! I'd love to see idea medal in all divisions! Keep if up y'all!

I'm pushing for a medal right now with my drumline, but I just can't rehearse often enough to move up much more, but hopefully I can still make it to finals.

I have a really bad habit of forgetting about this game, lol. Im lucky if I remember to rehearse once a week. At least I know I'll never make it to division 1.

Someone kill me, the girl next to me in my computers class is looking up pictures of celebritys

Lol why is that bad?

let me rephrase. She googled "selena gomez closeup no makeup" like, seriously, why? It's more of that it's just really annoying

Sorry for the long absence the holidays were a bit hard on me this year, but I should be back and more active now that they are over.

WOOO! Top 5! uber excited for this! I'm also really glad about the fact that we now control 3 of the top 5 spots in D3! great job everybody!

Welcome to IDEA, WaveDRUMS! Best of luck this season; we are excited to have you!

Indeed, we are very glad to welcome new members to our league!!

anyone else noticed that if the current trend continues we will have all three top spots in D3?

That's awesome! We also currently have the top spot in D2. Keep up the great work guys! I'm still trying to crack the top 10 in d1.

How was today's competition for everyone? I scored top 25 in my first season in D2

i'm very close to finishing top 3

I forgot to rehearse today, but managed to grab the 12th spot in D1. This season should be my highest finish so far, in D1.

Results for IDEA Finals - New Haven (January 27, 2015)

IDEA Finals in New Haven took place on January 27, 2015. The finals event was extremely well attended with a total of 34 drum lines showing off their chops. It was an exciting night for drum lines and spectators alike, with two of the three division winners a first time division winner.

In Division 3, a total of 15 lines competed; however only 14 lines were members of IDEA. ECMatrix Percussion was able to compete in IDEA finals, despite leaving the league early in the season.

Flying Cow Drumline placed bronze with a score of 63.53 for their performance of Crimson Death. They had a solid performance but were not quite up to the talent levels of the silver and gold place groups. If FCD keeps up their rehearsal and improves solidly across the board, you will see them with a gold!

A 65.845 was the score of the runner up drumline. Tornado DrumLine and their performance of "crash" treated the judges and audience to a show filled with cymbal crashes. Perhaps this show crashed in the eyes of the judges, because they were unable to top the gold medalist band. The judges are looking forward to their show next season and hopes the ringing in their ears will stop soon.

The gold medalist for IDEA Division 3 is a newcomer to IDEA. Bloo Drumline from Canton, Ohio swept the board in D3 for all categories with their show "Tilt Redefined". Scoring a 68.32, Bloo defined their newbie season with a gold medal and became the IDEA D3 Champion.

Moving along to Division 2, we saw a few new faces along with the familiar. It will be interesting to see who is staying in D2 when D3 groups move up...the scores between both divisions were similar.

In their show "Days Gone By", an original composition by their director, North Farmington Indoor from Farmington, Minnesota, scored a 65.02. This was North Farmington Indoor's first full season competing in IDEA and impressed everyone by managing to secure the bronze medal.

18 Marchers, from Louisville, Kentucky is a drum line who is fairly familiar the silver medal. This drum line placed second in Division 3 last season, and placed second in D2 this season. Their show was entitled "Beyond the Sky" featuring "Above the Clouds" by Joe W. Moore. They scored a 69.89

In first place in division 2, with an incredibly impressive score of 79.05, are the kiwis of Black Beat NZ B. Their execution of "Slow Ride" impressed everyone, including the judges, scoring nearly 10 points more than the second place group. The judges feel that they are not on a 'slow ride' to more championships and division 1.

Division 1 had a total of 10 drum lines in competition. This is double the amount of competition in the past several seasons. The talent in this division is increasing each season. Division 1 was the first time we saw a distinguished performance of the night. (A distinguished mark is a score above 80.0).

Black Beat NZ of Christchurch, New Zealand, make the long flight to New Haven and it paid off. Scoring an 81.425, they were the first distinguished group of the night. Their performance of "Super Size" was impressive, but their marks were not quite high enough to secure the silver.

Hailing from West Texas, WTX Thunder Indoor Percussion performed "Revolutions" featuring music from the Beatles ('Revolution') and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Taking home awards for best music performance and best visual performance, WTX scored a 82.87 for the silver medal. They also received distinguished marks.

Division 1 Gold Medal IDEA Champion was the Death Eaters. Their performance of Unwritten was written well enough to score a distinguished with 84.885. This was the Death Eaters 3 gold medal in Division 1.

For a full recap of scores visit the IDEA Finals - New Haven page: http://www.fantasymarchingarts.com/event/27236

Best of luck to all groups in FMA Championship competition.

Congratulations to the following groups for advancing to Season 40 FMA Semifinals:

Division 3:
Eclipse Percussion (1st in prelims)
Bloo Drumline (2nd in prelims)
Tornado DrumLine (4th in prelims)
Flying Cow Drumline (8th)
Siren Indoor Ensemble (12th)
Sabers (18th)
Samurans (22nd)
Yellow Bananas Drumline (24th)
Elkhart Iron Force (34th)
The Marching Turtles (36th)
Paradiddle (44th)
The Stix (50th)
HeartBeat (52nd)
Infinite Beat (72nd)
Rhythm in Action (78th)
DropT Independent (86th)

Division 2:
Black Beat NZ B (1st in prelims)
18 Marchers (13th)
The Drum Circlers (15th)
North Farmington Indoor (22nd)
PVD (50th)
Rhythm of Champs (52nd)

Division 1:
Death Eaters (12th in prelims)
WTX Thunder Indoor Percussion (14th)
Black Beat NZ (16th)
Extreme Insanity (28th)

Good luck to everyone who is performing in semifinals tomorrow night! Be sure to not miss any rehearsal hours!!