RADIO3

If you listen to Fraternity there is an ending with the potential emotional clout of Metropolis... have a listen to the last 5 minutes or so.

I wish when people say things like 'not top 12 design' etc they would be a bit more specific. That's just a glib catch-all. In what way does the design not work?

These kind of comments are irritating... you may be right... but you need to say WHY??.

I mentioned this elsewhere... Lady MacBeth as the only woman named in the musical pieces... odd choice in a show seemingly about noble, brave women. She was a monster. We can't judge the pieces until we see how it is put together. Brass band work very good... others not so sure.

On the face if it.... like the brass band piece... less so the others but let's see how it's assembled One oddity... Lady MacBeth... of all the female characters in literature you could choose... an odd choice in a show about strong, noble, role model women. She was a monster... and not in a good way.

I checked... it was a melody!

I'm not going to wave my pitchfork on this or anything I know nothing about. What I will say is I think dc has a ticking time bomb on skin cancer... both medicallt and legally. Corps membership now seems to be partly about getting a tan. Eight hours a day... for weeks and weeks... with members wearing very minimal clothing. I raised this in my corps... they just scoffed and said the kids need to take responsibility... put on sun cream etc. We all know kids won't do that when a tan is at stake... not forgetting studies which show anything less than huge application is safe. And anyway... who would spend 8 hours a day for 2 months getting a tan. Corps could insist on t shirts etc. I think we will start seeing medical cases sadly and... as a secondary issue... lawsuits.

This was quite an odd post for me. Drum corps has certainly suffered from: Lack of melody Flawed visual first thinking (flawed because it's presented as the only way to do things) Faddy, fashionable stuff with no substance Emperor's new clothes ... but... when I was telling people how much I enjoyed SCV what I always signed off with was ".. and it's got melodies!" How on earth can a Juilliard product not hear the M1927 ending as anything but a big, tonal, old fashioned tune???!!! Now you might not like it. But it IS. A melody!!!

My thought is that as long as it is Sophisticated Classical in idiom Innovative EMOTIONAL We should be able to make a music first statement within the parameters of 'playing the game'. The alternative certainly hasn't worked. And if we DO go this route... let's announce it... all this not revealing nonsense until May is ridiculous.

Strong selections...

The current fad of visual/concept first seems to work against a corps like Regiment which based its reputation on great music. I say fad because it has been to some extent a practical response to music licensing issues rather than an artistic choice. Obviously integration is vital but there is more than one way to do this. Ironically a lot of 'Regiment' music is not bound by this limitation anyway. That said... the corps can't live on past glories of 1812 etc. We need to be innovators, leaders... but let's ditch the music no one would listen to out of choice. Let's be frank here.... many shows, even the best, are fairly simplistic, often incoherent emperor's new clothes. And Regiment has fallen for it sadly. There is no reason to me why our programme could not be built on strong music first. As I have said before you see this in ballet. Take a good example... 03... what was it? Harmonic Journey. Great, great show but who recalls why it was Harmonic Journey. Not sure many knew why at the time. It didn't matter. It would be a bold PR statement to produce a highly intelligent, innovatively designed, emotion packed music first show. These things always run in cycles anyway and believe me the sometimes good often laughable concept approach will eventually look tired.

Just that I agree with you and am somewhat incredulous. Our ambition needs to match anyone's. FFS … For F*** Sake (definition, expression of incredulity!!!)

FFS

I think that's quite a narrow way of looking at things … and perhaps why drum corps, while terribly 'clever' in recent years, has had quite a few hugely incoherent shows. Ballet, to take an example, is a world where often you have composers who write first but with dance in mind. I don't think music first is necessarily a bad choice. A lot of shows are effectively film scores which can work but often doesn't. For Regiment, they need to be the corps that, if you are out at the burger van and you hear the name announced you SPRINT to get back into the stadium. In recent years the traffic has been going the other way. And that CAN start with the music choices. Whatever, the corps has lost its identity and we all want it back, whether modern reincarnation or not. I must say … Gestalt sounds like the kind of jibberish show no one would get unless they were wanting to advance their own intellectual credentials.

Here's another... listen from 2.30. And do it before SCV does!

Is that Richard Wagner 1813-1883 and Adolph Hitler 1889-1945????!!! :)

As an alumni I'm not sure anyone is listening... but the programming is creating a generic-corps feel. FWIW this is what I'd do: Maintain classical identity in broadest sense... not 1812 necessarily but classical as a sophisticated choice but with modern delivery and visual artistry. Crown did it quite well in 15!!! To say the least! Learn from European brass band tradition which is the gold standard... bring some of their experts in as consultants rather than high school band people. If nothing else to distinguish sound from everyone else. Maybe even look to mirroring their instrumentation. Think deeply about the PR niche of generation of emotion. I get it others do so too but few like Regiment. Music choices... use them to get crowds on our side. And if a selection like Rach 2 chosen... it's a great piece... don't mess about with it. The danger is we fall into trap of 'interesting piece... who composed it?'!!!!!!! Vaughan Williams... Tallis Fantasy Bartok.... Allegro Barbaro (played allegero) Left field choice... Chopin chromatic etude .... and let's not let a gem like Metropolis 1927 slip through the net again!!!

Around 14 months ago.... as a past member... I posted on the alumni FB page that I had heard a piece I thought would be great for Regiment. Past members were enthusiastic. Other than 1 past staff legend there was no response from movers and shakers. The piece.... Metropolis 1927!!! (I wonder if JD Shaw is still a member of that forum!!!!). So it has been a delight and source of despair in equal measure hearing SCV this year. It may become one of the top 5 DCI pieces ever IMHO. I have been dismayed for several years with the programming. When I heard the title of this year I wasn't expecting a re run of 1989 but it has been disappointing... not by the members I might add. PR has a niche but which has recently been inhabited at times by others and done better... Crown 15??? The corps style gives potentially fewer licensing issues than other group yet in recent years we seem to want to become 'Generic-corps'. This is not an appeal to play 1812 with a big bell. This is an appeal to start thinking about who is making programme choices and as a by product recapture the one thing that PR used to do better than most. Generation of emotion. Yes the corps must not be seen as an anachronism... but equally it is almost criminal to abandon the great programme decisions of the past. I was part of the lowest top 12 finish (86) and I think that unwelcome record might be broken this year. Either way I hope it is a wakeup call. This is not a cynical alumni btw... it is someone who wants PR competitive and thrilling again.