The "Next Big Thing" Artistically...

[alto92]

Four words, 1 number:

Two corps, 22 minute show.

[dccorpsfan]

Four words, 1 number:

Two corps, 22 minute show.

I think I need to change my pants.

[alto92]

I think I need to change my pants.

This might be a possibility for my band and my alma mater's band in the next year or two. It's convenient that my roommate is now the band director there, and that we're both in the same size classification.

(the collaborative mega-show, not the changing of the pants.)

Edited July 19, 2007 by alto92

[ekrebs102]

I'd love to see lighting used. Turn off the stadium lights, get a huge bank of lights & have lighting board w/operations tech. Think of the dramatics that could be created! :)

Of course, you would have to start all of the shows at 9:30 pm to make this effect work for everyone. Otherwise, this would sort of be like a major lightshow at a daytime, outdoor music festival. I never understtod why they do that.

[ekrebs102]

I think a great way to start would be to perform a show that uses just one piece for eleven minutes. It's kind of been a trend recently to do the opposite, and throw as many numbers as you can into the mix, a la Southwind and Bluecoats this year. Reverse that, and spend an entire show exploring one piece of music. Right off the top of my head, and since we've been discussing it, take The Canyon as an example. It's about twelve minutes long, there's a definite build to it as more musical complexity is added over time, and there's a definite climax as well, followed by a fall. The piece is already shaped for the arranger, just not in the way that a typical drum corps show is. Many openers seem to follow this track: building, climaxing, then falling back to the ballad. It would be like expanding a corps' opener to eleven minutes instead of three. And there are plenty of pieces out there besides The Canyon that could be used, of course. Take the first movement of John Adams' piano concerto Century Rolls. That would be thrilling as a show, even just the first movement itself.

Crossmen did this with School for Scandel. Not to mention Appalachian Spring. I like the idea.

[bawker]

Crossmen did this with School for Scandel.

That show gets overlooked a lot 'cause it wasn't "Crossmen"....but that show was really great. I haven't listened to it in forever...thanks for the reminder. :)

[Liam]

Of course, you would have to start all of the shows at 9:30 pm to make this effect work for everyone. Otherwise, this would sort of be like a major lightshow at a daytime, outdoor music festival. I never understtod why they do that.

Domed stadiums only .....

[cowtown]

Not sure how to take this question as I see a multiple of ideas…

Who is the audience, what is the goal?

What I personally would like to see in drum corps might not be what is best for drum corps – but I’d like to see more of a mixture of the old and new. I’d love to see some classic old school guards moves; something along the lines of the Marine rifle lines, precision tosses – just look at 1980 and see what the guards were doing, now that was exciting.. etc… I’d like more fan friendly music, shows win me over by music as I’m more prone to listen to a show than watch it. Corps needs to explore other aspects within their identities more – when there were more corps, we had more variety but for the most part Blue Devils always look like BD, Cavies always look like Cavies. Blue Coats did a good job of breaking their old mold this year w/out alienating their fans. I think if corps focus more on themselves than keeping up with the Jones, variety is sure to follow. Also the judging need to be more flexible so as not to focus the shows into looking the same. As far as visuals, who doesn’t love a well done company front? Some reshaping of forms would be cool, also slower spots in drill that allow for transition and development of a form and a thought. Visual needs to be much cleaner, back in the day, it was the precision in marching that was impressive and now at finals, and you see too much dirt (with the rare exception). Drills should also focus a bit less on staging (again, pushed by judging trends) to free them up a bit. Also much of the staging is limited in itself; more interesting staging could be achieve with dynamics. Instead of just bringing the trumpets up front for their feature, keep them back field, play with the space a bit more, bounce the sound around the field instead of driving everything either at the press box or back field. You see hints of this already. *side points: often a single corps gets to much credit for inventing something when all they did was expand upon an existing trend – Star did not invent body movement. I have some other specific drill ideas that really are more of a variation of existing ideas, but why have I not seen a marching mobius strip yet? And no one has yet played with line weights in the vertical / horizontal – you want ideas for composition of drills, look at the compositions, style and techniques of periods of paintings. Not all pictures are smears of paint.

So much of this begs the question, is this for the DVD or the now yearly visit to the DCI circus as it stops in town. As a fan, I feel a bit cheated by not only incomplete shows but by the fact that corps are holding stuff back to save for finals – I heard this from SCV field pass. It’s one thing to break out bottle dance or a new trick for finals but another matter altogether to not put in your ‘real’ ending until the last week. I want to see the real ending the first week, I want to see everything you got – then you can edit and add. If you put it all out there, it will force you to come up with new stuff if it needs changing, stuff that will often be better than what was planed. Part of art is the beautiful accident which won’t happen till you put it all out their and then react.

I only see 2 shows this year that I think might be great shows that you go back to years - but neitehr show is there yet because they are not finished. Finish the show and then tweak it -don't wait because if you are wrong, our it turns out differently than you planed, its too late. Last year, what could have been a great show never was because they never got it together in time.

Now if you want the I don’t care about drum corps ideas – think phase tones, drum machines, smoke machines, celebrity gust spots and all that other junk people make fun of each year as they rip on the super bowl half time show

[rosski47]

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As an epilogue, imagine what changes would follow, if corps changed their entire approach to how they affect the audience. I can imagine a smaller horline, a larger pit, maybe a larger guard... or how about this? What if the hornline and the guard were to merge? It would take some talented members capable of both, but I know even in my marching band we had several instrumentalists switch to the guard, and most guards members knew an instrument first. I could see the body that the corps proper performs expanded even more, so that they take on many of the same responsibilities and work. Imagine if the sections were blurred, think of the flexibility you would have in terms of effect and programming. This is a change I think a corps could attempt even without a drastic change in music styles, simply add more body responsibilities to the hornline.

I know it's not quite the same thing, but in the Mandarins show, they have 4 of those giant Asian drums(name?). Throughout the show, they have a pit member, a guard member, and even a drum major playing on them. I thought that was really neat that they pulled out of different sections like that.

Edited July 19, 2007 by rosski47

[Tom Brace]

trampolines. big trampolines. flying guard with flying colors overhead.

someone throws an 11 with a rifle from one trampoline and another guard member snatches it out of midair from a second trampoline.

and those crazy ropes/cloth drapes they use in Cirque. A big pole in the middle of the field with those.