Cadets Announce 2018 Program

[Icer]

7 hours ago, BRASSO said:

  Singing in Drum Corps ( both DCA and DCI ) has been incorporated into Corps shows  to some extent or other for decades now. Long before Concert French horns, Trombones and the like have been utilized as a matter of fact.  Since singing in Drum Corps been approved and with us for decades now, I'd imagine the ones that are ok with singing when utilized appropriately, will continue to do so, and the ones that don't like singing in Drum Corps no matter what, won't ever like it. But thats no different than any other changes, ie amplification, narration. spandex uniforms, conventional MB instrument utilizations , big props, and all the rest of the changes. You either like it, or you don't. Same as it ever was. Changes in Drum Corps were rapidly taking place well before George Hopkins even arrived on the scene. Changes will occur long after he's gone too.

I agree with the statement that these changes are happening independent of any one person, although obviously over nearly 40 years GH had more influence than some others who were not around as long.

The use of vocals last year was an interesting contrast.  Crusaders and Crown both made their ballad a vocal solo backed up by the corps.  It was beautiful, but IMO it distracts from the corps for one third of the show, which kind of diminishes the other 149 performers.  By contrast, Drew Shanefield interwove the choir into the piece, and the vocals were never the focus for more than a few seconds at a time.  However, The Cadets used 8 out of their 150 spots.  This year I suspect we will see at least one or two soloists like BC and Crown.  The Cadets are still interweaving the vocals, but with only 4 instead of 8, and the corps size has grown.  If vocals are going to be in the production, I kind of like Drew's approach better because it keeps the focus on the whole corps, but obviously it's completely subjective.

[BRASSO]

 Its true... what we like or don't like done in shows is a matter of personal preferences. What we love, others cringe at, and vice versa. I guess thats why saavy ice cream shoppes offer more than 3-4 flavors of ice cream. They all have the chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, as you can't go wrong with them if prepared right. But most offer some of the more exotic flavors as they know some have a bit more exotic tastes that they prefer in their ice cream choices. Singing, like trombones, concert french horns, spandex uniforms, amplification, etc is not conventional. Its an acquired taste. Some will never like these things, no matter how well presented, or integrated into the show, no matter what. Others like some things I just mentioned here, others like it all. There's no right, nor wrong here. Its ALL in the domain of personal preference really.

Edited May 14, 2018 by BRASSO

[84BDsop]

So at what point did they start with the changes?   Feels like 76 Madison when they dumped the original show...they'll REALLY have to work hard for August quality if they start in May.

[ftwdrummer]

1 hour ago, 84BDsop said:

So at what point did they start with the changes?   Feels like 76 Madison when they dumped the original show...they'll REALLY have to work hard for August quality if they start in May.

Sensemaya was in already. So that's at least one movement that didn't change.

Supposedly the only thing that changed was pulling Sound of Silence (replacing it with "Opening Scene" and the Sigur Ros), but the Psathas listed now wasn't listed previously, and Ballet Sacra wasn't listed at all previously. Not sure if those were changes that had already been made but not announced or not, though.

[Brass Lover]

2 hours ago, 84BDsop said:

So at what point did they start with the changes?   Feels like 76 Madison when they dumped the original show...they'll REALLY have to work hard for August quality if they start in May.

These changes are nothing compared to Hopkins constant rewrites and additions.

[skevinp]

6 hours ago, xandandl said:

GH wasn't the director then. I'll have to check the year, but I don't think he even was the third string percussion tech back then.

 

You can check if you want, but it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the point I was making, which was that the sudden absence of something commonly present, even if controversial, is arguably more noticeable than the continuation of it.  

[cixelsyd]

22 hours ago, dbc03 said:

It is a little known fact that GH was fired because he raped women, not because of vocals in drum corps shows. Vocals in shows actually had nothing to do with it and isn't related in any way.

People just can't help themselves but to try and use this terrible situation to try and advance their opinions of what a drum corps show should be.

But that is exactly what this thread is about - advancing opinions on how the 2018 Cadets show is changing after this leadership transition.

20 hours ago, xandandl said:

GH has had nothing to do with the vocals in Boston's show, Carolina Crown's show for several seasons, Cavaliers attempts, Madison Scouts singing etc., etc. 

Actually, GH did have something to do with all of those, considering that he was instrumental in promoting rule changes for non-instrumental elements to be added to drum corps.

19 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Which is a bit silly considering most of the rules changes passed by unanimous or near-unanimous votes 

Those same rule changes were initially rejected, but proposed repeatedly and promoted largely by GH until opinions were swayed.

[George Dixon]

wow- this thread is jumping all over the place

No - Hopkins was not the only factor in changes - but he was a vocal supporter of the changes - so thereby he became a "target" of folks angry at the changes... This really was illustrated by the crowd in Pasadena in 2007 when the corps standing on the field was repeatedly booed (and many said they weren't "booing the kids"). 

Thankfully he is gone and the Cadets members won't be on the receiving end of misdirected anger 

I'd suggest 2018 Cadets discussions happen in the main Cadets thread... JMO

[Terri Schehr]

5 hours ago, Brass Lover said:

These changes are nothing compared to Hopkins constant rewrites and additions.

They should move up two spots just because of that. 

[dcibrando]

I'm not a fan of it all and while many of us know GH was one of the drivers to enable electronics, singing, etc.... lets not all forget it takes more than 1 to vote it in