31rabbit

in the sense of not shoving the horses back in the bottle but kind of corralling them: 1. All Mics must be stationary. Mic your pit, fine. mic your soloists and singer, sure. mic a substantial group, you're going to take a visual hit if you do too much of it. 2. No more than (Number TBD) seconds of pre-recorded audio allowed in a show. that includes music and voice clips. it's a performing art, and frankly I think that there should be NO pre-recored audio but i'll cede to a small window for whatever GE gimmicks. this could be audited easily enough by looking at the sound files on their laptop...so you don't need a guy with a stopwatch, but if judges suspect an overage they could go look. or in advance the corps could be required to submit an account of pre-recorded audio they plan to use. these rules don't get it all the way to where some people want it, and they take away some toys that some people like. but from here i figure it reigns in the most egregious aspects of EA while still allowing creative freedom.

anything interesting in the subcaption scene (not that other people should do my homework, I'm sure i'll get around to investigating). basing this perspective off of the combined Allentown recap, which is both relevant and not: -if BD wins, how many corps have won without taking any music subcaptions? has anybody ever done that besides BD? - If SCV wins without raising its brass score, what's the scope on 'lowest caption placements of winning corps'? SCV could *conceivably* fall to 5th and still win, but that won't rival Crown's 6th place drums in 13. -unlikely but possible, if Coats overtake Crown via GE but Crown still wins music: has a corps ever won the overall Music Caption but not medaled? theory discussion: when putting sports into historical perspective for these types of discussion, Baseball defines itself by equipment changes, basketball uses the shotclock and 3pt shot to define the modern era. I think comparing 70's DCI scores to modern scores is faulty for several reasons. so what is the 'modern' era of drum corps for the sake of contextual historic discussion? My gut instinct is to start it at 2005.

no doubt. unfortunate that all show speculations threads now need to be prefaced with *in a perfect world, with generous rights holders...* gimme the Bluecoats playing "Ask DNA," that's all I want for Christmas.

the thing feel about GoT music, and it applies to the weak half of the Zimmer soundtrack book and say most of Johannsson's stuff, is that it's excellent atmosphere music when it's supporting something dramatic but not Bold enough to be the main course. Take 'Light of the Seven,' which was a pretty popular hit from the GoT track... very effective, ideal soundtrack music...but as the focal point, it's just a lot of build-up and tinkering around with basic music devices. just my thinking on those tracks, not to come on here and trash the idea. If anybody sketches out a 12 minutes GoT show rep, i'd listen and willingly be proven wrong. now if we're talking TV shows that you can build an entire show just from the original score (a single source show. gasp!): Cowboy Bebop is the first to mind. Stars did it when they were still Div III, and pre electronics...that is a full show in spades. the 2009 The Prisoner Reboot (surprises me too, but i'm confident it could be good). plus, think of the huge bubble props and penny-farthing cycles the Leftovers. Richer is, for me, Zimmer with a lot of anger and anxiety and frequently more meat on the track.

'One reason art is labeled pretentious is because it embraces creative risk' ..but then there are all the other reasons why. the label pretentious is directly tied to a failure of communication. It can be an excuse of the audience to not bother listening, but just as much it can correctly identify when the auteur speaks but has nothing to say. there is no risk-taking in demanding that the audience see something that isn't there. well there is a risk, but it's not an artistic risk so much. I don't care about the pretention in the narrative of the conceit. I can think back on 2012 Cadets, a show with an 'idea' that even when I got the 10 minute speech from somebody on the design staff I failed to appreciate more because I knew what it as 'about.' I dug it because it was barber, but if somebody likes the juxtaposition concept, fine. the dangerous pretention of current drum corps is the idea that shows WITHOUT elaborate concepts are somehow lacking. the idea that a show with a libretto of ideology is by default a Higher Class of marching band show than 'The Music of _______' is the greater peril towards creativity because it actually narrows the scope of the creation.

BK's show made perfect sense, if you had the right set of preexisting references.

IF theme is going to be heavily integrated into a show, there has to be a tendency to go dark because it offers greater variety. under the "all happy families are alike..." banner, I don't think I'm being unfair to point out that the Uplifting shows frequently cluster together in flavor, and that has led them to be less effective (see: Cadets 2014, 02, 07, 08), Wheras if you go sinister and cynical, there's range(see: Cavaliers 2016, 14, 10). I certainly noticed an increased eyerolling and lack of verve in the response to Cadets shows as they tread that ground while the Cavaliers have gained traction as they've gone darker. Not that Happy Shows haven't done well. Troopers have made ground with Positive Thematic shows. Blue Stars 2014 presented a heart lifting show in fresh way. Crown had an formula in 14,15,16 of 'heavy show, powerful uplifting ending,' it rocked the house in 15 but last year the it wasn't as effective with the caveat, of course, that show construction and execution will of course alter how a theme is received. so not only do dark shows offer the opportunity for a Huzzah! Fanfare ending (see Crown), but there are also just more flavors to choose from.

I like the rumors too, but I for one would advocate that this thread be discussion-free and only include Official Breaking News. there can be a 2017 Program Discussion Thread in the main body of the forum for discussing the new and rumored reps, while this one is just news. just sayin', it would save on the withered expectations.

here's what finals week needs: Open Mic solo/ensemble competition. think about how much musical talent is walking around, between alumni, fans, current performers who've been eliminated. the venue/timing could be tricky, maybe it's an after show thing maybe it's in the afternoon on Friday/Saturday. there are some detail challenges, sure. but imagine an open mic solo/ensemble competition. $X to participate each day, nothing high maybe $10 or $20 just to keep the riff-raff out. best judged performer by an 'expert' panel wins the pot. supply the basic instruments, see what happens. I've wandered into some impromptu soloists in parking lots that were showing off killer stuff, and you know watching drum corps gets all the alumni itching for the spotlight again. just saying, i'd queue up for this.

In my opinion, this statement about 'hard for hard's sake' is true regarding body movement during drum solos. spare me your 'simultaneous demand,' I get 0 interest out of snares rocking doing squats or that rocking back and forth thing. especially when, in certain corps case, they prioritize their drumline dancing when their solos aren't even clean. fast drill though, is always great. I can't think of an instance where i saw drill performed well and thought 'gee, this drill is too complex/fast, it's making the show less effective.'

body movement to the point of saturation. Just because you're not marching doesn't mean you need to do a squat or leg kick. 'Coats 2011 intro is the prime example. musically, excellent. and half of the movements fit. but they're doing these kicks and twists on every phrase, even though the music is sort of a slow ominous build that doesn't need a kickline. for what should be an excellent opener, I cringe when I watch it.

on the topic of most intense applause, don't forget the end of Madison 97. the crowd went berserk when the DM whipped out that camera.

1990 BD is a solid show, but that music could use a reboot (not to mention the staging and theatrics could be amazing). presumably they still have all those mirrors from a few years still lying around.

nobody wants to redo the overdone, at least I don't, but some great pieces have been Underdone and deserve a mulligan. that was something I was ruminating on: not redo shows I like, but retry concepts or pieces that weren't executed to their potential. example: I didn't want Madison to do 99 again, because they owned that show and it didn't need anything more. but their Carmen show, well that was source material that didn't get performed to its potential and I'd like to see it tried again. or Cavaliers 07, for instance. Pressure and a few other moments were solid, but it's a largely forgettable show. which is a shame since the Billy Joel canon has so many potential-laden pieces. the best moments of that show illustrate what it could have been, so I want somebody to try that again. also while I'm picking on the cavaliers, and this my Bold Statement: I want to see a 'The Planets' reboot. Crossmen 08 was okay, but I wasn't satisfied. Don't get me wrong, Cavies 95 is excellent. for its time. But I think the advances in theatrics and staging, and the spacing effects that can be done with speakers...I think a new The Planets could really put a lot more meat into the production that I think the source content deserves. modern Cadets, if it were one of their Good Decision Making Years, could really take The Planets to a performance ceiling worthy of the original content. Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story, those are Done shows. but maybe Miss Saigon, as much as I like SCV 91, has a ceiling that hasn't been hit yet.

nobody is generally excited about reboots. Other than rare exceptions like 08 PR, they almost never surpass the original. That Said, I can think of a few shows/numbers that deserve a mulligan. In the spirit of 'music corps should do,' I'd like to see Bluecoats take another stab at 'Haitian Fight Song' from their 09 show. It was technically solid in 09, no doubt, but it lacked a certain...lunatic verve. Judging from the attitude and character they stuck onto some of their pieces last year, I think if that Mingus number where to come up again, they could probably give it the weird life that piece deserves this time around.