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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/29/2014 in Posts

  1. All the criticism aside, I liked it. I liked the screamers. I thought it was fun and what It should have been. Of course it could be "better" presented for TV but I feel that way about just about every band at Macy's. I liked it for what it was, and think it also made a pretty positive statement about the Scouts Alumni that shoots down some of that gets said here on DCP. I believe the whole thing was about -getting together with your corpsmates old and new and enjoying being with the corps again. They did. I watched some of the FB videos. being an alumni corps member myself, I knew what was going through their hearts. It meant a lot to all of them to just be together. -kicking some "tuckus"., serious "tuckus". They did. Perhaps making the perfect presentation for TV wasn't exactly their main goal here. Just my tuppence.
    2 points
  2. Hmm, I wish you were there so all of these "glaring" mistakes would have been corrected. But you weren't and don't really know all of the logistics and amount of rehearsal time that was actually done trying to get 430 members from 6 generations all on the same page with a evening practice and one full day before the parade. I think it was fantastic and great exposure for our activity.
    2 points
  3. 6th rule: SHHHHHH - They did fine.
    2 points
  4. Not a fan of that NBC bunch... they are way too cutesy for my taste. I agree. Speak correctly.
    1 point
  5. I think your focus is impressing us with your awesome insights. It adds nothing.
    1 point
  6. These all sounds like sensible guidelines, but I doubt any of this was practical on this occasion. Some parts were presumably out of the Scouts' control, like knowing the frame size, especially in any time to readjust a marching performance. Others could be "fixed" only by radically changing the plan: if "volume and size don't translate on TV", the solution was presumably to tell half of the 400+ Scouts who wanted to participate not to bother.
    1 point
  7. Overheard while waiting for the TV techs to finesse their trade at the 3 am pre-parade session with Madison in front of Macy's: White uniformed ('14) young Madison Scout asking some green shirted ('75, '88) alums: "Is this what it feels like going on last at DCI Finals???" The answer was: "Yup, but we hope you soon find out for yourself."
    1 point
  8. I'm told at one camp the corps was told "our show this year is called "waiting for licensing rights to come in". LOL
    1 point
  9. I am tired as I write this because I had the honor of joining with Madison at 3 am to do the "blocking and sound tech" session in front of Macy's. It took 4 "takes" for the TV gang to get it right. T.V. commentators had pre-recorded substitute voice-overs, including even comments going in and out of commercial break. The professionalism of Madison's organization under Chris and Scott was absolutely amazing as was the immediate and always spot-on response of the members who marched. The willingness to make the corps, the activity, and their individual personal reputations so stellar was tremendous as witnessed by their quick and absolute response to the horn sergeant's commands whose voiced echoed throughout NYC as if God himself was speaking. For me, it was an honor to witness the camaraderie and unity of the alums and present members as if all of them marched together in fact for many many seasons rather than this one event. From those who knew C.H. Beebe personally to the young un's in their novice whites from the past summer, their common focus was powerful. I particularly enjoyed the warm reception from various friends and admin/instructional staff members I have known over my fifty years in the activity. Being "live" at the blocking and at the parade gave me a great experience of the positive reaction Madison elicited along the line of march. With several of our legacy corps/founders celebrating major anniversaries during the past decade, Madison set a new standard and raised the bar exceedingly. Thank you to the poster who recorded and shared the photo session of the corps singing. There isn't a dry eye left in NYC while they are still replacing the shattered plate windows along 6th Ave and 33rd street. Loud and proud and a big hit with this NYC crowd. Well done, Scouts. Thank you...even if we hadn't had any snow until the Wisconsin corps arrived.
    1 point
  10. In theory it should be possible to judge dance in the same way brass and percussion are judged. Technique and expressiveness, both judged in both difficulty and execution (whatever the terms used). So, an experienced dance teacher-judge should be able to distinguish techniques that are more difficult than less difficult, and techniques that are performed more consistently correctly vs. less consistently. Similarly, a good judge should be able to evaluate the expressiveness of a move in the same way any other GE judge would, how subtle and challenging is the mood, and how well they are pulling it off. When people criticize "WGI style judging" it always smacks to me a bit of "They used to just count the spins, now they have to judge moods. Therefore it's nebulous and arbitrary." I don't think any dance teacher would say that. Or brass or percussion teacher, for that matter. The question is: do you think color guards should be evaluated as complete dancers, or merely as precision equipment spinners and tossers? I use the word merely deliberately. Or is the criticism something completely different?
    1 point
  11. I like drum corps to establish themes that they revisit every few years. Santa Clara with the upscale Broadway stuff, for example, and then the conceptual shows like Eureka! Phantom comes across as having a single distinct style, with variations only as one-offs like Into The Light. And some people get sick of that primary style, so they in effect get sick of Phantom (I'm not one of those people. Phantom is like pizza. Even when it's not good it's still great.). However, basically they either play several composers, or a single composer everyone has heard before, trying to play it in a fairly predictably formal orchestral or operatic way. My meager suggestion would be to establish Into The Light as a type of Phantom show that recurs every three years or so. Focus on a single modern lesser known composer's work, preferably all from a single work, and commit visually and musically to that composer's imagery. No diluting with other composers, no music from the repertoire or that everyone has heard a million times. Show us something we haven't seen, and commit to it for the whole show. But even if this year they do another "Phantom 101" show, that's still fantastic.
    1 point
  12. I heard that (insert corps name here) had record attendance at camp this weekend! So many horn players they didn't know what to do with them all! The staff is so great and they've already played through (insert high number here) of the show music already! They're miles ahead of where they were last year! They're surely going to finish in the top (insert number about four or five placements higher than they placed last year)! Months later, they're advertising on their website that they're looking for tuba players and a lead trumpet in the beginning of June, they begin the season with an incomplete show, they finish two spots lower than they did last year, and the Blue Devils win again. (all in fun, folks....the penchant for exaggeration and wild predictions do tend to become rather humorous this time of year)
    1 point
  13. YAFSA ! (sorry not really but i hadn't typed it in a while!)
    1 point
  14. Maybe because they realized that nobody enjoys watching BD
    1 point
  15. Having never had the wish to see that show again I hadn't noticed.
    1 point
  16. Its so Fellliniesque that its sometimes constantly risking absurdity.
    1 point
  17. Maybe you have to Look Through a Glass Darkly to see them?!?!?!
    1 point
  18. When I first stumbled on this thread I thought it was about something like this: And I fully agree with this post because I see it happening in drum books, too.
    1 point
  19. Of course you are entitled to your opinion and I respect that... ...however, it takes far more ability to musically interprut a melodic phrase spread out on a football field with balance, sensitivity and ensemble clarity than it does to ram a bunch of notes at one dynamic that has absolutly nothing to do with the musical content. I never really understood this until I sat as a member of my college orchestra years ago, in the percussion section and really dug into how my few notes complimented what was going on elsewhere in the ensemble. It creates a whole new appreciation for what the composer intended. Why would people pay $50, $75 or more to hear an orchestra play music that has been heard and played for centuries? Because each performance is unique and the beauty is in the subtleties that each ensemble can bring. That is what amazes me about Phantom and what they have done, they can capture the nuance and sensitivity that nobody else does at this time. This borders on blasphamy coming from a Blue Devil alum but it is really how I see things at this time. I love the activity, I really do, but I feel like, more often than not, I am sitting watching a combination of an aerobics class and a brass methods workshop rather than a musical interprutation that stimulates my artistic sensabilities. (Good lord, I am waxing poetic here and I don't mean to.) Just a different viewpoint... Dan
    1 point
  20. I was standing watching Jason Buckingham lead a Crossmen brass warm up at a show. He was giving the horn line some relax and chill time. He turned his back to the brass and started chatting to the staff, and in ear shot was another corps warming up. They were going through show segments. It was basically just LOUD CHORD then 16th runs up and down the major scale. And each show seg was basically the same thing just in minor instead of major, or only one section did runs this time. Anyway he flipped out a bit and basically said he hates that stuff. And how unmusical it is. I wish I could remember the exact quote. Maybe he'll see this and share his thoughts on the matter. But I liked his thoughts. And i'm glad he is the brass caption head at my corps and that Chuck Naffier is the brass arranger. They both get music. They both get drum corps. They get phrases and how to get the corps to make music.
    1 point
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