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DarrenE

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Posts posted by DarrenE

    Carolina Crown: The future of DCI, or just a bad era like disco?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I have a couple of completely disjointed thoughts on these subjects so I'm going to bullet point them so they don't get muddled together.

    • People now look back at Star of Indiana like they were the peak of the art. A ton of people HATED Star of Indiana when they were winning. "The best corps money can buy" is something I heard all the time. Just look at some of the videos. They would do incredible things and get very little crowd reaction. When they folded the corps the prevailing opinion that I heard was that they had a temper tantrum for not winning so decided to quit. Any other explanation was met with eye rolls.
    • Amplification: It can be well used. The thing Cavaliers are doing with moving their marimba around the field couldn't be done without the amplification and it that is awesome. (It pains me to say that because I've never liked the Cavaliers.) My biggest point is that it should be judged like anything else. If you have technical difficulties and it is distracting and awful because of it the score should reflect that. I saw a show this summer where the narration which was a main feature of the show kept cutting in and out and all sorts of other technical issues. It clearly ruined the show but didn't seem to be reflected in the score.
    • Singing and Narration: My main issue is that we have world class brass, drums, and visual on the field and then very amateurish narration and singing. If a narrator is going to be a focal point of your show you need to audition for a narrator and not just grab whichever baritone player sucks the least at it. The guy from Cadets is very good this year so that should be an example. I don't know if they auditioned for him or just got lucky so somebody else might chime in about that.
    • Trombones: They stopped using bugles and switched to regular band instruments a long time ago so I don't really care too much about that one. The complaint is actually kind of silly. It seems to me that It is only because it looks different that people notice the trombones. People don't seem to care about the Cavaliers Euphonium so evidently as long as there are buttons to push it is OK. After hearing SCV I actually think the trombones at full blast sound more like the bugle low brass sound of old than the current band instruments everyone is using.
    • Body movement: Use it if it adds to the show. Don't just have the brass line stop and point their knees to the left and then to the right and then both at the same time. Sometimes just standing still can have more visual impact than flinging your legs around for a few seconds. I actually chalk this up to the amateurish thing. They feel like they need to throw something in there because everybody else is doing it but don't know how to design for it. It gets thrown in later instead of being part of the overall design.
    • I think I had some more but that's enough typing for me tonight. :)

    Why now is better than before, new better than old

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    My biggest issue with changing to regular band instruments is that the tone is completely different. One of the biggest appeals of the Drum and Bugle corps for me was the different sound from standard marching bands. Many of the comparisons seem to be made from 2000+ to the seventies and talk about how the music quality is so much better and then ignore the late eighties and into the nineties when the music performance level increased dramatically but they still had the bugle sound.

    I think one reason people that are new (meaning in the last 14 years) don't understand the complaint is that they have never actually heard the live sound of a 70 bugle brass line. It is totally different. You can argue whether it is better or not but there is no question in my mind at least that it is tonally a very different different sound.

    My biggest issue with amplification is if it is going to be used it should be judged and if it sucks because of technical difficulties it should be reflected in the score. It doesn't seem to be from what I can see. I was at one show this summer where one of the corps had a major malfunction with the narrator and it basically destroyed the show because it was so distracting as the sound cut in and out throughout the whole show. It didn't seem to matter in the score. I see a lot of talk from DCI about how this is a sport but then they give a pass when something gets flubbed up. I've never seen a football game where the officials gave someone the touchdown because they usually would have have made it to the goal line but through no fault of their own tripped and fell short. Is it an elite competition or isn't it?

    To be fair you couldn't do what the Cavaliers are doing with their marimbas moving around on the field without amplification and that is pretty awesome. This from someone who has never like that particular group. I also think it is funny the people having panic attacks about the trombones but nobody seems to care about the euphonium in the cavaliers show.

    • Like 1

    Achin' for Akron/Cinecast

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I just got back from the theater and would like to take a time out from the commentary and throw a huge shout out to Tom Blair and company. Every year, the production of the theater shows gets better and better. Sound was fantastic! Camera work well done (especially for early in the year, given the lack of familiarity with all of the shows)..............a GREAT evening of Drum Corps! 300+ and the theater shouting and applauding throughout.

    And, the corps??? There are already more shows that I like (and it's only June) then any season I can remember. I think we are in for a fantastic summer!

    I would agree with you if it hadn't skipped Phantom Regiment and Cadets at my location.

    Phantom Regiment 2014

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I just went through this whole thread. The first half is people complaining that they don't like that Phantom is going to be the same as every year and living in the past and the second half is complaining that all these new fangled uniform styles and uniqueness make people feel uncomfortable and can't they just wear what they wore in the (insert poster preference year) show.

    Bipolar thread for sure.

    • Like 6

    Sunday's Crown performance

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Anyone else have a problem with quality of the stream? The video was very jumpy for me. I have very high speed internet, so I don't think it is a problem with my setup. Usually had amazing quality last year. Hope they get it fixed before the next show.

    It was fine for me. I doubt YouTube is having trouble handling this load. This is nothing for them.

    Carolina Crown 2013

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by DarrenE

    I have a question about some of the bass drum moves in the drill. I guess my main question is after the opener and the drum line cutting through the middle of the brass line the first bass drum always cuts to the right of the rolling drum and the ends back up with the rest of going around. I've noticed there's is plenty of room to maneuver to the same spot even if the drummer stayed in the line with the others......is the drill bass doing the maneuver around the drum on purpose? I'm thinking it must be because I've seen him do it in every video from the fan network and live in Warrensburg.If its' on purpose, what is the point of it? To me it always looks off because its only that one bass. It would look much cleaner to stay in the line.....Can someone explain it to me, I'm being serious and trying not to criticize but I want to know if I'm missing something.

    The tiny bass drum is going into orbit around the huge bass drum like an electron around the nucleus of an atom. I actually laughed out loud the first time I saw it . It's a physics joke.

    • Like 4

    Warrensburg, MO TOC Smackdown!

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Putting on the requisite flame-proof suit, but after having seen it a few times now, this is the best BD show in years, and maybe the most interesting top show of the season (no slam against Cadets or Crown - this just begs more interrogation from the viewer, which I appreciate).

    Different strokes I guess. I really don't like this show. I'm definitely not a hater either concerning BD. I find it terribly boring.

    The ISSMA Fan Network

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Yeah. But BOA and WGI are both very similar to DCI in both make-up and scale. ISSMA, not so much. Although DCI and ISSMA both being in Indianapolis doesn't hurt.

    I wouldn't be so willing to believe that unless I saw some numbers. Marching band is a big deal in Indiana. State Finals draws at least as big a crowd as DCI finals and probably a lot bigger once you figure in that there are four classes. The stands are stuffed for dozens of shows per weekend all fall.

    Which do you prefer?

    in DCI World Class Corps Discussions

    Posted

    89 was voted by fans as one of the greatest shows of all time, 88 never made the cut.

    G

    u arent alone

    I'm still convinced that is mostly from people who have never seen both.

    Even if you think the show design was better in 89 they choked the finals performance. Major execution flaws including flubbing a pass-through drill move by nearly five yards from side to side.

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