Search found 54 matches

by TSIAJ
Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:37 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Fall 2014 - Music Thunderdome
Replies: 20
Views: 6974

Re: ACF Fall 2014 - Music Thunderdome

I thought this tossup was also pretty hard. The slow movement of Beethoven’s ninth includes a famously difficult solo for this instrument that begins with an ascending C-flat Major scale. Near the beginning of the scherzo of Beethoven’s fifth, this instrument plays a loud theme that has the same “s...
by TSIAJ
Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:51 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: What defines a team captain?
Replies: 23
Views: 21002

Re: What defines a team captain?

It's great that you're so committed to your team and quizbowl, and that you have been taking all these burdens to benefit your team. So, I can see why you would be irritated, especially after the dismal behavior of your teammates. That being said, I would be cautious of bringing this up too much and...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:18 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: General Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 27
Views: 6543

Re: General Discussion

Hey, writing a bonus where the first part is a famous work (painting, composition, book, whatever) and the creator is not given as a medium part, and then asking for that creator in the second part as the easy part is a very common idea and is frequently very effective. If you know lots of things a...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: General Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 27
Views: 6543

Re: General Discussion

Perhaps most teams would 20 those? I'd say this at least for the Four Seasons bonus. Perhaps I'm just out of the loop for high school difficulty, but if someone's looked at any top fifty list for music, The Four Seasons is bound to be up there, along with Flight of the Bumblebee, and they are among...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: General Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 27
Views: 6543

Re: General Discussion

Nigel Kennedy’s 1989 recording of this work is one of the best-selling classical recordings in history. For 10 points each: [10] Name this set of four violin concerti originally included in The Contest Between Harmony and Invention that depicts the different divisions of the year. ANSWER: The Four ...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 4:11 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Question Specific Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 35
Views: 8092

Re: Question Specific Discussion

I think it would be helpful to specify that the flute, violin, and harpsichord comprise the concertino of the fifth Brandenburg Concerto, because the current wording makes it sound like those are the only three instruments in the piece. Yeah, that's absolutely right and it should have been specifie...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 4:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: General Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 27
Views: 6543

Re: General Discussion

First off, I’d like to thank the University of Maryland for the set, and the quality of many of the questions. However, there were some less-than-stellar questions that I remember (specifically music tossups and a few bonuses). The difficulty of the music was much more difficult than I expected from...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 3:32 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Question Specific Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 35
Views: 8092

Re: Question Specific Discussion

May I see the following: Dvorak Symhony No. 9 Cage Schubert Flute United States Britten Swan Lake Four Seasons/Vivaldi/Corelli bonus ?/?/Glazunov bonus Sibelius/Karelia Suite/? bonus Thanks! I can't find the U.S. tossup. Do you remember what round it was in? Was it a music tossup? Many of the theme...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 3:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Question Specific Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 35
Views: 8092

Re: Question Specific Discussion

I noticed a small factual error in the "sixth symphonies" tossup (Round 1, TU 8) in the clue that reads: Though not by Beethoven, another symphony of this number opens with a trumpet call and ends with two or three hammer strikes, which the composer’s wife called the “hammer blows of fate...
by TSIAJ
Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:26 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Question Specific Discussion (Maryland Spring 2014)
Replies: 35
Views: 8092

Re: Question Specific Discussion

May I see the following:

Dvorak Symhony No. 9
Cage
Schubert
Flute
United States
Britten
Swan Lake
Four Seasons/Vivaldi/Corelli bonus
?/?/Glazunov bonus
Sibelius/Karelia Suite/? bonus

Thanks!
by TSIAJ
Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: WKU Hilltopper Invitational (Bowling Green, KY, 10/18/2014)
Replies: 11
Views: 6382

Re: WKU Hilltopper Invitational (Bowling Green, KY, 10/18/20

This was an enjoyable tournament! Despite the initial delays and lunch rush, the tournament was well run, and I look forward to returning for the Fall JV Tournament.

Also congratulations to Ezell-Harding for the well-deserved victory.
by TSIAJ
Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:15 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '14-'15
Replies: 28
Views: 16097

Re: Tennessee '14-'15

njsbling wrote:
Siegfried wrote: (stats excluding player statistics and tossup/bonus specifics can be found at http://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament-te ... nt_id=5728)
Why are player stats and TU/Bonus info not kept?
I do not know; I am a supporter of full statistics, but it is not up to me to decide.
by TSIAJ
Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:55 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '14-'15
Replies: 28
Views: 16097

Re: Tennessee '14-'15

The 2014 Central Magnet Fall Invitational tournament was this past Saturday (9/27). I had the pleasure of reading, and am pleasantly surprised by the performance of many of the teams. Congratulations to Olivia Kiser from Glasgow for winning first place in the HS division playing solo beating out Eze...
by TSIAJ
Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:46 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pre-tournament Playlists
Replies: 49
Views: 4414

Re: Pre-tournament Playlists

No one has said Eminem's "Lose Yourself" yet, and sometimes when you're holding a buzzer all day you can find your palms get sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy... Haven't had any vomit on my sweater while playing quizbowl yet, though, despite my typical bad pre-tournament night habits. Oh...
by TSIAJ
Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:41 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pre-tournament Playlists
Replies: 49
Views: 4414

Re: Pre-tournament Playlists

No one has said Eminem's "Lose Yourself" yet, and sometimes when you're holding a buzzer all day you can find your palms get sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy... Haven't had any vomit on my sweater while playing quizbowl yet, though, despite my typical bad pre-tournament night habits. Oh...
by TSIAJ
Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Deeper or wider?
Replies: 4
Views: 3935

Re: Deeper or wider?

If you can power most Fine Arts stuff at the HS level as a freshmen, you should be in good shape. Specialists in Fine Arts seem to do very well because, at least in my experience, I've seen far less specialists in those categories than say Literature and Science. That isn't to say that teams don't ...
by TSIAJ
Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Children's and YA literature in NAQT packets
Replies: 13
Views: 7027

Re: Children's and YA literature in NAQT packets

Eh, I feel as though it's acceptable to a certain degree at MSNCT (maybe three tossups at most), but is a pretty bad idea on the high school level.
by TSIAJ
Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:18 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198639

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

Not quite as peculiar as previous posts, but I've gotten at least two Nixon tossups and a Kissinger tossup based off my one live-viewing of Nixon in China...
by TSIAJ
Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '14-'15
Replies: 28
Views: 16097

Re: Tennessee '14-'15

CSQuizJags wrote:It is open to anyone (and for HSers, those who didn't play at HSNCT). UTC has done this for many many years and a lot of veteran players come and play the set. There's also talk of a trash event on Sunday.
Great! I'll see if I can salvage some of my teammates to go.
by TSIAJ
Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:25 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '14-'15
Replies: 28
Views: 16097

Re: Tennessee '14-'15

Well... it looks like I was wrong... If I did things right, you just received an e-mail announcement for UTC’s NAQT HS NCT summer mirror on 7/26/14. If you didn’t get it, it’s also posted on the quizbowl forum, or I can forward a copy. At that tournament, I plan to announce my official retirement a...
by TSIAJ
Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:52 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Deeper or wider?
Replies: 4
Views: 3935

Re: Deeper or wider?

I'm going into high school this upcoming school year, and since I'll be playing with new teammates (same school, though), I'm going to be transitioning my playing as well, to accommodate to the team's needs. My strong points are by far fine arts, specifically music and some decent visual arts, and ...
by TSIAJ
Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Deeper or wider?
Replies: 4
Views: 3935

Deeper or wider?

I'm going into high school this upcoming school year, and since I'll be playing with new teammates (same school, though), I'm going to be transitioning my playing as well, to accommodate to the team's needs. My strong points are by far fine arts, specifically music and some decent visual arts, and p...
by TSIAJ
Tue Jun 10, 2014 8:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '14-'15
Replies: 28
Views: 16097

Re: Tennessee '13-'14

Regarding Central's 2014-2015 crew, I'm not entirely sure of our A and B team divisions yet. However, I speculate the A team will be led largely by Kory Cooke, who is a very good literature player, along with Chase Scott, our main history and geography scorer. Brenden Ni, who in my observations duri...
by TSIAJ
Mon May 26, 2014 9:34 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Thinking About New Quizbowl Team?
Replies: 7
Views: 5753

Re: Thinking About New Quizbowl Team?

In addition to the above mentioned areas, you might also ask around your teachers for students they might recommend for various strong-points e.g. literature, music, art, geography, history
by TSIAJ
Mon May 26, 2014 2:47 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Writing MS Sets
Replies: 28
Views: 7380

Re: Writing MS Sets

I'm by no means qualified to give you high-quality advice on question-writing, but one thing to be aware of is the similarity in difficulty of the tossups. e.g. don't have the Foch tossup and then the Jesus or Mitochondrion tossup right after. Based on my personal experience, packets that had large ...
by TSIAJ
Mon May 26, 2014 2:32 am
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 MSNCT discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 10607

Re: 2014 MSNCT discussion

Can I see the Boxer Rebellion tossup? Thanks in advance.
by TSIAJ
Thu May 15, 2014 8:05 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Probably should've gotten more sleep, rather than binge on Red Bull, but no excuses. Middle schoolers binging Red Bull? Why is this a thing now? And moreover, stop doing it. It won't end well. It was my second time drinking it ever, and "binge" was essentially one before lunch, and anothe...
by TSIAJ
Wed May 14, 2014 12:14 am
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

There was indeed a lot of computational math, which isn't good for a national competition. We actually ate chips, watched NBA playoffs and played video games. Stayed up till 11 friday and saturday. I felt that there wasn't enough lit, and a little too much history. Also, we went to the Coke place i...
by TSIAJ
Tue May 13, 2014 10:11 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Darn I did terrible this tournament. I felt the packet difficulty was harder than the MS used this year, and a little easier than SCOP. I remember hearing Pharell Williams and unconsiously buzzing. Luckily I heard Happy and guessed Despicable Me 2. Anyways, did awards go out to top 12 scorers? I re...
by TSIAJ
Tue May 13, 2014 3:59 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

jonah wrote:
Aaron Goldfein wrote:the effort of NAQT writing ~75 computational math tossups every season
For what it's worth, we actually used 276 distinct math tossups in 2013-14.
That's some real computational dedication. I don't think I've encountered too many at tournaments (max 10, maybe 15), which is great.
by TSIAJ
Tue May 13, 2014 12:09 am
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Literally. The only times you ever really have people clapping in high school games is towards the end of the national playoffs, whereas here it was after almost every half. Definitely. It didn't hurt, but it was quite odd to have that much applause for even the first preliminary games that were ho...
by TSIAJ
Mon May 12, 2014 11:43 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) wrote:I forgot my other observation, which is that man, people LOVE clapping for middle school quizbowl.
Literally, or figuratively?...

I can't speak for high school, so I can only assume, but there was quite a bit of applause after every round at MSNCT (even for subpar rounds).
by TSIAJ
Mon May 12, 2014 6:08 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Alexandrescu wrote:
Siegfried wrote:
Ithaca Cricket Ump wrote:Do you know when the questions will be released?
NAQT's questions are normally not released; you most likely should have received a copy of the set at the tournament.
That's right. I'll have to ask my coach about it.
Thanks.
by TSIAJ
Sun May 11, 2014 10:43 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

I was there and saw it happen, and read most of the question sets. I'll go into more detail when I actually get off the plane and home, but if the questions were all over the place in difficulty, I certainly didn't see it. I think that people who say that are overthinking this, and JEff's suppositi...
by TSIAJ
Sun May 11, 2014 10:26 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Friday night was the evening of the Illinois State Scholastic Bowl Championships (like quizbowl, but with 4 part bonuses that rebound, a significant amount of computational math, and toss-ups that may or may not be pyramidal), and teams good enough to possibly play in the state finals couldn't make...
by TSIAJ
Sun May 11, 2014 9:42 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Wait, wait, wait... People seem to think that this set might have been too easy, right? Were people saying the same thing a year ago? I ask because my team powered 153 toss-ups last year in 15 games, and scored 479.2 PP20TH and 24.8 PPB (2nd behind St.John's 25.05). The highest number of powers I s...
by TSIAJ
Sun May 11, 2014 8:53 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!

Wait, wait, wait... People seem to think that this set might have been too easy, right? Were people saying the same thing a year ago? I ask because my team powered 153 toss-ups last year in 15 games, and scored 479.2 PP20TH and 24.8 PPB (2nd behind St.John's 25.05). The highest number of powers I s...
by TSIAJ
Sun May 11, 2014 5:59 pm
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: Congratulations Harmony-Excellence!
Replies: 86
Views: 42822

Re: 2014 NAQT MSNCT: May 10-11, Atlanta

Congrats to Harmony for an excellent performance, and to the tournament organizers for a great tournament. Regarding packet variety, I agree. Some of the rounds were easier than others (with some even coming straight from Protobowl, and some being quite a bit harder (at least for us). Similarity in ...
by TSIAJ
Mon Apr 28, 2014 5:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '13-'14
Replies: 120
Views: 70660

Re: Tennessee '13-'14

What Case said about NHBB Nationals is correct. I would like to add that Jesse managed to advance to semifinals in US History Bee Semifinals. As for our games, we went 5-0 in prelims with over 1600 pts, 5-0 in upper with over 1700 points. I think the main reason why we did better in afternoon stran...
by TSIAJ
Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Study tips for literature
Replies: 13
Views: 6255

Re: Study tips for literature

yay, I'm going to MSNCT too! The best way is to in general, read. What I do is that I write down the sparknotes plot summary. then on quizbowldb.com , I search up the name of that book and write down lots of keywords that tossups ask for. The only bad thing is that you're mostly studying high schoo...
by TSIAJ
Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Study tips for literature
Replies: 13
Views: 6255

Re: Study tips for literature

My suggestion would be to look at NAQT's You Gotta Know list of authors and works and memorize them if you haven't already, as well as learning their major plot points and characters. On top of this use Quinterest to look up the authors on that list at the high school level and write down their oth...
by TSIAJ
Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Study tips for literature
Replies: 13
Views: 6255

Re: Study tips for literature

So although I have never played in MSNCT, I have played on them and invitational middle school questions for practice as a freshman. My suggestion would be to look at NAQT's You Gotta Know list of authors and works and memorize them if you haven't already, as well as learning their major plot point...
by TSIAJ
Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Study tips for literature
Replies: 13
Views: 6255

Re: Study tips for literature

Sparknotes is great, no doubt. I have no problem with the main lit, as I've read a lot of them, so it's mostly more obscure or lesser known works and short stories.

I'll try to see if I can fit some into my week.

Thanks for the tip!
by TSIAJ
Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Study tips for literature
Replies: 13
Views: 6255

Study tips for literature

So MSNCT is coming up, and we just found out we're going... What's a good way to improve literature in a short amount of time? (17 days) My literature knowledge is fairly good at the middle school level, and one of my teammates and I pretty much get half and half on literature tossups. Would it be b...
by TSIAJ
Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:12 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '13-'14
Replies: 120
Views: 70660

Re: Tennessee '13-'14

Chris, sorry for the lack of professionalism on the part of our moderators, myself included. With things being so busy towards the end of the year, we didn't have time to fully prepare our staffers on how to act. I'll pass along your concerns to whoever is TD for our next tournament in the fall, an...
by TSIAJ
Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '13-'14
Replies: 120
Views: 70660

Re: Tennessee '13-'14

The HS part of the WSHS tournament went off fine as well although the field was rather depleted. There's still an unfortunate tendency for teams to "shut down" after they lose on the Knowledge Bowl TV tournament and I wish there were more events that could induce teams to keep playing in ...
by TSIAJ
Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:52 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tennessee '13-'14
Replies: 120
Views: 70660

Re: Tennessee '13-'14

White Station High School's tournament happened today, with only four teams competing in the MS section. A big congratulations on a successful and well-run tournament to Victor Gardner! Central Magnet only took one team, with one B-team player subbing in for a main team player who could not make it....
by TSIAJ
Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:03 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Accidental Buzzes
Replies: 17
Views: 5041

Re: Accidental Buzzes

I didn't feel like making a new thread but an unrelated question about buzzers: Is it legal to hold down the button while the system is locked out to immediately activate the buzzer when it is cleared? I did this at NHBB bee to some avail (obviously I didn't win though). Apparently on some systems ...
by TSIAJ
Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pre-tournament Playlists
Replies: 49
Views: 4414

Re: Pre-tournament Playlists

No-shame all-classical pre-tournament playlist: - Das Rheingold (waking up and breakfast) - Siegfried - Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 - Beethoven Symphony No. 7 - Ein Heldenleben - The Rite of Spring (my god, Stravinsky makes me want to punch someone) - Mahler Symphony No. 5 - Brahms Symphony No. 3 -...
by TSIAJ
Mon Mar 03, 2014 2:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pre-tournament Playlists
Replies: 49
Views: 4414

Re: Pre-tournament Playlists

No-shame all-classical pre-tournament playlist: - Das Rheingold (waking up and breakfast) - Siegfried - Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 - Beethoven Symphony No. 7 - Ein Heldenleben - The Rite of Spring (my god, Stravinsky makes me want to punch someone) - Mahler Symphony No. 5 - Brahms Symphony No. 3 - ...