perc2100

Here is "what's happening" with AI in the musical world specifically: https://sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-day-4-it-s-curling-time-in-america There's video in that article linked above, and the way AI ripped off the New Radicals song is stunningly obvious. They changed to a different AI song (IDK if they said "in the style of 1990s that DOES NOT actually rip off a 1990s song blatantly), and ended up placing 2nd to last. They were the only pair to use an AI song, for what it's worth, though there were problems aplenty for various other reasons (mostly due to copyright issues)

I don't see it as "inevitable." Generative AI is absolute garbage: soulless garbage. And it always will be; it may be "slightly better soulless garbage" in the sense that "the lifeless looking pseudo-human depiction has the appropriate amount of fingers and limbs now!" but it will always like soul and feeling. AI is maybe good for logistical type data entry work, but garbage for art and DCI will absolute find its death sooner than later if corps start utilizing Generative AI substantially. Generative AI is used by people who can't produce their own art, or don't want to take the time to get good at producing art. That describe zero DCI designers, even from the lowest-placing Open Class corps: human beings in this activity can produce good art, and don't need soulless nonsense programs to do so.

Kind of comically, every performer that appears on the Super Bowl Half Time performance gets SAG union scale: around $1500 or so. Apple Music pays the production costs (which is in the millions), but the actual performers get next to nothing. So for those keeping track at home, the largest non-profit on earth (NFL) and the most wealthy company on earth (Apple) still work on a "forget the pay: it's good exposure!" when it comes to artists performing at the Super Bowl. Now, of course, Bad Bunny doesn't need any exposure at this point in his career, which is the same for anyone that performs at the Super Bowl (though traditionally there's a substantial spike in streaming and music downloads immediately following a SB performance). But it's amusing and kinda sad that even the mega-billions corporations still work the "do it for exposure!" nonsense that every bar owner and concert promoter pushes onto up-and-coming musicians

I'm not interested in any sort of "culture war" nonsense here. I want to talk about how incredible the staging choreography and flow of Bad Bunny's performance was the closest to our 'marching arts pageantry' I think I've ever seen in a huge mainstream venue. Of course, everything was conveyed perfectly thanks to the broadcast production as well. But how great was this performance. We had the main performer and his back up dancers/singers/posse entering from one side of the field and he had a path of near perpetual motion throughout: stopping only for a dance moment (ala maybe a 'park and bark' or 'body movement' thing), or to showcase a portion of the show (the wedding proposal & wedding; the boy being handed a Grammy while watching Bad Bunny accepting a Grammy on TV, etc.). We had a fabulous use of props, from a housing porch, to a community street of shops (including some poor kid getting a haircut when they almost certainly would've rather have been part of the fun outside 🤪), to sugar canes to people in bush costumes (that kind of looked like Giant Broccoli when the performers were entering/exiting the field), to the 'dancers' on the electric poles. We had full ensemble moments and featured soloist/performer moments (Lady Gaga looking/sounding absolutely sublime, as did Ricky Martin). This was an incredible performance, and for folks who enjoy Latin music some great music throughout (even if I don't speak Spanish, it didn't stop me from wanting to dance w/joy while watching). I still don't think anything on earth will ever top how epic Prince was, playing his great music in a downpour, but this felt like the coolest Super Bowl HT production to me and I couldn't help think of how it feels like it could've been adapted from a WGI World group or DCI group from a staging, logistics, performance level, etc. standpoint. Again, I'm not at all interested for this discussion about words of songs; in fact, I LOVE the fact that the joy and unity (and some other maybe more subtle messaging for those who know history & for those who pay attention) was conveyed to a mainstream audience WITHOUT needing to know vocals being sung. Just like drum corps, we don't need to know context of what a specific jazz chart or orchestral piece was made for, we just need to be able to understand the context it's being used in the performance. And in that regard, Bad Bunny crushed it with a GREAT performance Sunday evening!

Yeah I might've skipped lower-placing corps at early shows to watch top corps in the lot, but any Regional or Championship Week performance I'd never skip anyone: it would feel like I wasn't getting my full money's worth or something. Nowadays I'm more inclined to skip awards since the recaps are posted online sooner than later (or I don't care that much anymore who placed where at any local show I'd be at)

Seriously; anyone trying to argue "creatives should let their work be used for free by the billion dollar multi-media corporation and all other international billion dollar networks" is a fool. Exposure doesn't pay any bills

Ha; I almost _knew_ someone likely used a mic to mic up a snare or something at some point 😄

Definitely; I knew staffers at various Championship corps who weren't fans of DCI I&E because it took away from rehearsal time. When DCI had random draw stuff for shows in 1997, I know for a fact there were plenty of not happy Top 5 corps that had to give up 'hours' of rehearsal time because they got an early draw.

This is true, and there are a myriad of real life cases regarding this in US copyright history: * George Romero's classic film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, essentially established the 'zombie rules' used half a century later in non-related movies and TV. It was a critical hit, and is held as a 'gold standard' as far as do-it-yourself horror films. Unfortunately, he and his partners totally forgot to file the US copyright claim and the film is essentially in the public domain and has been since day 1: there are a TON of different home movie releases of the film where Romero earns $0 from them. * DC Comics established a character named 'Captain Marvel' way BITD. But they stopped using it, so Marvel Comics established their own Captain Marvel (technically several different versions of Captain Marvel, or...er...Captain Mar-vell in some cases). At first DC didn't fight Marvel, and it didn't matter anyway because it was too late: "use it or lose it" so to speak. But DC was able to salvage their character, he just typically goes under the name Shazam nowadays. * Just recently comic book writer/creator Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead; Invincible; among others) had a comic 20+ years ago called 'Capes.' Another comic writer wanted to use that as a title to their own comic story, but Kirkman beat 'em to the punch. Capes was a story about a world where Superheroes were run by a for-profit corporation, Superheroes were paid a salary, etc. It only ran for three issues, and Kirkman kind of folded some of those ideas into his much more successful (and better written) Invincible book. He realized recently that Capes had been out of print for awhile, so he reprinted/potentially rebooted the series: partially because he and a partner have ideas on how to continue the story, but also because with the comic out of print he didn't want to lose the rights to the characters or the title 'Capes.'

Lol; "free advertising and exposure" won't pay the bills for a creator's work. You know, most professional composers pay the bills with their day job of composing music, and anyone wanting to use another's creative art 100% should have to go through all of the necessary legal channels to do so.

Well, we have the 'right to free speech' in context of being able to criticize the US government w/out having to worry about government reprisals. That's all. Anyone can get into trouble for what they say publicly either in the real world (DO NOT yell "FIRE!" in a crowded public place & cause a scene and expect to not get some sort of criminal charges possibly pressed against you) or virtually: I could have a post here deleted, I could get banned by DCP and I could even plausibly get fired if I really went off the rails posting something publicly (though to be honest, I'm in a union, and I'm a union officer really familiar with our contract, and I don't think I'd get fired - more chewed out, which is something I've had happen/can take - but you get my point). We're saying the same thing, I'm only being a bit more nitpicky to underscore that there really isn't free speech in totality where one can say whatever w/out reprisals: quite the opposite, in fact, as we've seen with this particular subject.

Right, and I remember a specific music guy who wanted to argue against that concept (ie against Michael Gaines during the 00-06 era Cavaliers) and it...didn't go great for that music guy. But of course the best DCI shows are also the ones that feel seamless musically & visually, and part of the nature of the activity is some designers excel but many do go to not-so-great/don't quite excel. The fun and bane of DCI is its ever-changing nature & trends, it's experimentation, it's pushing the boundaries of the accepted trends, etc. which means many of the not-consistent top-placing designers miss the mark one way or another.

and I wonder how non-mic'ed brass players feel: like, if someone was say a third year age-out in the mello line but a few of your other colleagues were solo mic'ed up but not them. As a snare drummer I'd never have to worry about that

When you mean "viewed as competition" I presume you mean for the same audience as a DCI competition, vs literal placement/winner & losers competition: like the 'Tour of Champions' as competition vs DCI shows? It would be interesting if some big-money sugar daddy could put on a LIV-esque alternative drum corps tour, where corps get higher pay than DCI shows to 'lure' them away a bit. I know that's goofy and would never happen (again), but as a sometime agent of chaos I find amusement in that type of thinking 🤪 I do think it may be more prudent for corps to try to find alternative entertainment ventures outside of DCI competitions: ala what BD did for a hot minute decades ago. I honestly don't know if those shows made decent money (ie made enough money to justify whatever financial costs + the "cost" of not rehearsing), but they were done around the time BD as at a pique competitively (I saw the stage show in early summer 1999). Perhaps if corps Admin/staff would be willing to sacrifice some rehearsal time here or there they could make some fairly easy money with stage performances at venues where they're already utilizing for housing & rehearsal purposes: could help generate revenue in a way all involved with a drum and bugle corps would easily understand/be capable of doing

Pretty sure it's more of a "put the newbie judges at early relatively insignificant local shows while the big panel judges judge the important shows: in time the newbies become experienced and then the experienced become the big panel judges." Pretty basic philosophy for any circuit, let alone the biggest national circuits, and I personally know judges who have followed this 'pathway.' Sometimes a really respected 'newbie' judge might get sweet regionals or finals week assignments right out of the gate, but often the above pathway is how everyone does it

Yes: every time a corps/show I love gets beat by a corps/show I don't love the judges are CLEARLY wrong 🤣 Just like at Oscar nominations/night, I tell my fellow uber movie nerds "if your favorite movie loses/didn't get nominated it only means you have awful taste in movies" 😄

At first I thought you were going to say "a perfect example of someone who isn't a judge of significance and is wholly unfamiliar how the mechanics of judging work at a high level, let alone lacking experience of judging the best of the best at DCI Finals, no less, has opinions on how to completely blow-up the judging system that has been, and continues to be, tweaked endlessly by the pros who judge at the highest levels consistently."

Adding, _DIFFERENT_ is good: experimentation is good. Not only do designers see what cool new stuff works, but also learn what cool new stuff DOESN'T work. Just think how dopey this activity would be if folks who slagged asymmetrical drill in the early 80's had 'won' and the activity never went that way. Or folks who complained too much about adding a valve or piston to bugles would kill the 'uniqueness' of the activity. At this point in DCI's existence, we are well past the 'OMG non-traditional instrumentation is the devil" stage. Either BK will utilize a flute in a cool interesting way, or they won't and it will have zero bearing on the instrument being used and 100% on _how_ the instrument is implemented in the design. This is an interesting assertion, and I suspect logically you may be correct. I personally think of super old school being 'fife and drum corps' so maybe people unhappy should be unhappy that BK is dragging the activity to the ancient lame times 😄🙃

Yeah one year when I was at WGI Finals with a group, I was chatting with a favorite T&P guy we saw nearly every Regional. He kind of half-joked that percussion groups do things goofy: going just a hair below the max, while the guards go just a hair over the minimum. He was saying we overthink designs and go too long, and I've thought about that now for around 15 years!

Interesting arrangement

Challenging how: just notes on the page, like playing the solo part of Flight of the Bumblebee? Or challenging to play while executing crazy visual designs? Or maybe from an insider's perspective, "challenging book because it was performed by a less-experienced group of members who ended up nailing it by Finals."

Yeah even in the 'as close to perfect weather as it likely gets' land where I teach in Southern CA, we still have plenty of ww students who have 'student model' marching band instruments with better concert/jazz season instruments the rest of the year. It's always fascinating sitting in front of the bands those first couple of concert band classes after marching season: "ah yes: THAT is what wood clarinets, better quality flutes and saxes sound like 😊"

Yeah I 100% agree with this: for quite awhile now it's felt like Bluecoats & SCV were the consistent gold standard. Cavaliers have had some great years, same with BAC recently, but consistently Bluecoats music design has been absolutely outstanding, where they may feature the snare line, or bass line or whatnot and it rarely feels forced, but organic. I discovered drum corps in the early 1990's, and after first seeing a live show (highlighted by SCV '91's brilliant percussion design) I deep-dove into various video tapes and records of the 1980's and 1970's. Through the 1990's it felt like the "percussion feature" seemed to maybe evolve to be more integrated with the brass (think, say, SCV 1998 and 1999 when the battery features were overlayed on top of brass features; or Crossmen 1996 with a similar design ethos). IDK if I'd say that was the norm; you still had great percussion programs doing their own 'isolated' thing (and it's been a long time since I've really jumped in and hard corps analyzed stuff). But yea, Bluecoats & SCV have been the most consistent 'organic' programs featuring percussion.

I think anyone can pick just about any SCV show from any era to see great integration of a percussion feature that doesn't disrupt the flow. I still think their 1991 Miss Saigon production is THE gold standard of how to integrate front ensemble percussion into the marching idiom, and Paul & Sandy Rennick to an outstanding job recently with similar concepts (and before SCV they had outstanding percussion writing that didn't bust the flow of a production w/Phantom Regiment)

This. Any band director has likely WAY too much experience dealing with this stuff on a regular basis during marching band season. I'm lucky I teach in Southern CA where we have about as perfect marching band season weather as it gets, but one rehearsal or performance when it's raining is way bad times (I can't fathom what some of those marching bands paid post-Rose Parade this year when they marched in the rain w/out any protection for their ww's). Obviously corps dealing with weather also have to deal with electronics & mics and whatnot. But if I had to bet I'd bet speakers and mics hold up better in the rain than a flute or oboe. Also, being outdoors for long rehearsal blocks in the sun & heat will likely wreak havoc on a flute or any ww pads.