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Why don't corps compose their own music?


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Over the years, DCI has continued to be a strong part of the performing arts community.  With time though, many organizations face issues that stand in the way of creating, innovating and discovering new ways to improve and forward their activity.  At this point in time, I would argue the biggest problem with DCI is aquiring the rights to arrange.  I am worried DCI and relations with Tresona will only worsen.  So what can happen to combat that from happening?  I'm not sure there is any way to solve the problem completely, because if their was corps would be doing it.  But if corps composed their own music could it be more beneficial than the alternative?

Pros:

-Could potentially be cheaper, depending on who is hired and to what extent.

-Corps could get to work earlier in the season, because composers could do their work year round.

-Prevents corps from redoing the same music.

-Could bring in new composers we havent seen in the activity.

-It seems like Crossmen did well with it, I'm sure other corps have too.

Cons:

-Good music composers could be monopolised.

-Change the faces of who we see in the activity.

-Might be expensive too, composers arent cheap.

 

 

                                                                                                                                  DISCUSS!

Edited by BoaDci
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Corps do compose music for themselves here and there, but it's easier to go with proven works that are known to be effective on the field.

 

A Florida Suite & Related Excerpts - Robert Smith et al. ( Suncoast Sound -'85 - '89, Madison Scouts -2011)

Four Corners, Spin Cycle, Frameworks, Parts of Niagra Falls - Saucedo et al. ( Cavaliers early 2k)

Images Diabolique - Tom Grant ( Cavaliers '89)

The Blue Stars - Saucedo, George Ryan ( 2012, 2014, 2015)

Boston Crusaders - George, Ryan; Hampton Ellis (2015)

Madison Scouts - O2, Hope & Despair ( Boerma, Pourcho, Sparling)

Pouland for SCV C

BD B and Meehan

...there's a ton of original music; too much to list.

 

Edited by jjeffeory
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this is exactly where we're heading. early cavies 00s to the Nth degree. 

saucedo and the like are fine arrangers, but their original stuff is something i have no desire to hear. 

i'm thankful for corps like crown and scv, who i think will resist going in that direction to the bitter end. 

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21 minutes ago, jjeffeory said:

Corps do compose music for themselves here and there, but it's easier to go with proven works that are known to work.

 

A Florida Suite & Related Excerpts - Robert Smith et al. ( Suncoast Sound -'85 - '89, Madison Scouts -2011)

Four Corners, Spin Cycle, Frameworks, Parts of Niagra Falls - Saucedo et al. ( Cavaliers early 2k)

Images Diabolique - Tom Grant ( Cavaliers '89)

The Blue Stars - Saucedo, George Ryan ( 2012, 2014, 2015)

Boston Crusaders - George, Ryan; Hampton Ellis (2015)

Madison Scouts - O2, Hope & Despair ( Boerma, Pourcho, Sparling)

Pouland for SCV C

BD B and Meehan

,,,,there's a ton of original music; too much to list.

 

I'm talking about doing it completely.  Like ditching music arranging.

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Just now, Lance said:

this is exactly where we're heading. early cavies 00s to the Nth degree. 

saucedo and the like are fine arrangers, but their original stuff is something i have no desire to hear. 

i'm thankful for corps like crown and scv, who i think will resist going in that direction to the bitter end. 

Absolutely.

I agree.  Not all music by every composer is a hit.

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3 minutes ago, BoaDci said:

I'm talking about doing it completely.  Like ditching music arranging.

All the works I mentioned above are original music, composed expressly for drumcorps shows.  So it's composed music, not arranged from another composer.  The first two examples are whole shows of original music composed for the field.

 

Edited by jjeffeory
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The problem with music composed for drum corps (with some notable exceptions) is simply that music with only one purpose is not as high quality or as thoughtful as music meant to be heard and performed in multiple contexts. It's usually composed in a much more rushed timeframe, less of it is composed (only enough to fit the show), and is written under severe constraints in order to fit the visual program. In fact, much drum corps original music comes across as "sound effects" that serve as a background to whatever drill move or body movement is being performed. 

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For me personally, I love it whenever a drum corps plays a song I recognize. It makes me feel much more attached to the performance. That's not to say corps that use music I haven't heard don't make me feel connected to the performance, but it's pretty enjoyable for me to hear a song in a drum corps you can hum along to. That's one reason I think audiences will enjoy Southwind's show, because we're using music that is familiar to the audience, like Toxic, Superstition, etc. 

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Add SCV 2003 to the list of original composed music. Key Poulan.

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