Can we have a civil discussion about Cadets' narration?

[VKMello84]

This is a great analogy. The intent of The Cadets' show this year is perfectly consistent with A Young Person's Guide to Orchestra. Coincidentally, they played that piece in 2001 and it was great. Perhaps a more literal reference to source material such as this might have better connected the narration to the music. Instead, I was left with a feeling that they were performing a random show (and a great one) and simply explaining (in too much detail) the various aspects that go into performing it, which didn't work for me.

Heh, I guess I have never heard any corps shows from 2001. I went to TOC in 2004 and had no idea that Cadets had ever played Moondance on the field until I just looked it up.

[byline]

If you are going to use narration to the extent that it will require a writer and an acting coach... get them! You would never consider not having a caption head, would you?

When using amplification, the audience cannot tell where the disembodied voice is coming from. Along those lines, when you feature a speaker, please do not allow them to wander around the field aimlessly while they are speaking. Giving their movements purpose and direction will not only show the audience where to look but will serve to underscore the meaning of what they are saying.

and

I will start by saying my wife and I both agreed that Cadets had amazing talent on the field, but in the end, we sat on our hands. Why? Because the talent was wasted when we were distracted by bad writing, bad vocal delivery, and a "Drum Corps 101" show presented to knowledgable fans and alumni of drum corps. Had we had a chance to see and hear that drum line, brass line and color guard without all the babbling, we would probably have given them the standing ovation they deserved for the musical and visual program. When the show was weighted 70% talk to 30% music, they lost us.

and

So far, in the last few years I have benefitted as an audience member from only about 2% of the narration I've heard. It's fine if it makes the show more cool or classy or entertaining. But, in my opinion, most of it comes off as a pseudo-intellectual attempt at entertainment. That might play fine in Bumfart, Kentucky, but not in LA.

Or anywhere else, for that matter. Even the folks in Bumfart get the idea without needing to be relentlessly whacked over the head.

These three posts summarize what, for me, are the inherent flaws with narration as it's being used in drum corps. This I believe. :P

Edited August 13, 2007 by byline

[gdisney]

Crown's narration took away a surprise ending that was WAY more enjoyable BEFORE the utterance of "and down the stretch they come. It looks like photo finish." It really SPOILS the moment. It does not make the moment better. It was a BAD use of narration.

Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. I personally think the exact opposite. It was a great, effective use of narration, which, frankly, the audience at finals ate up. Crown got the largest ovations all week long, outside of the 'hometown' favorites of SCV and BD.

I've never been a Crown fan per se, but they had my favorite show this year.

[Tom Brace]

This is a great analogy. The intent of The Cadets' show this year is perfectly consistent with A Young Person's Guide to Orchestra. Coincidentally, they played that piece in 2001 and it was great. Perhaps a more literal reference to source material such as this might have better connected the narration to the music. Instead, I was left with a feeling that they were performing a random show (and a great one) and simply explaining (in too much detail) the various aspects that go into performing it, which didn't work for me.

Except Santa Clara won with this piece WITHOUT NARRATION.

[Tom Brace]

Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. I personally think the exact opposite. It was a great, effective use of narration, which, frankly, the audience at finals ate up. Crown got the largest ovations all week long, outside of the 'hometown' favorites of SCV and BD.

I've never been a Crown fan per se, but they had my favorite show this year.

Mr. Disney...I respectfully disagree. Just because Crown got "the largest ovations" has little to do with the use or non-use of narration. Please allow me to illustrate my point.

The narration wasn't always part of the show. They added it. Early in the year...before the narration was added...they were still getting "the largest ovations" in every show where they competed.

It had NOTHING to do with narration. It had EVERYTHING to do with the accessible show concept that connected with the audience.

The show WAS better BEFORE they added the trackside announcer part.

[VKMello84]

Except Santa Clara won with this piece WITHOUT NARRATION.

They certainly could not have won with it.

[gdisney]

Mr. Disney...I respectfully disagree. Just because Crown got "the largest ovations" has little to do with the use or non-use of narration. Please allow me to illustrate my point.

The narration wasn't always part of the show. They added it. Early in the year...before the narration was added...they were still getting "the largest ovations" in every show where they competed.

It had NOTHING to do with narration. It had EVERYTHING to do with the accessible show concept that connected with the audience.

The show WAS better BEFORE they added the trackside announcer part.

Well, I did not get the chance to see it before that part was added, so I can't say if it's 'better' or 'worse', but I still think it was effective and a good use of narration (though I really am not a fan of narration per se). Everyone I could see and hear absolutely loved the "photo finish" part. But of course, you're welcome to disagree. :)

[gdisney]

Oh - since this thread was really about the Cadets narration - my thoughts are that they just just too much, and as others have pointed out, we got the point early on and didn't need to be beaten over the head with it.

I am glad they changed the "I didn't fit in" part. I felt the parts describing who has melody and harmony, etc. were fairly condescending to the audience's intelligence, though I met one lady who's been around drum corps for years who thought it was great. My parents, who are not big drum corps fans and were only attending finals for their second time ever, thought the Cadet's narration was completely cheesy.

Many have complained that the narration covers up the playing - I actually didn't find this to be the big problem. It was just more of a distraction which seemed to chop the show into smaller segments, for me anyway.

I thought, music and performance wise, Cadets had the best show. BD, by way of contrast, was the most uninteresting music I've ever heard them play (personal opinion, of course). It's just that the Cadet's narration, for me, really took away from the overall affect of the show.

[jmahone]

I have read various narration threads on several different sites over the past several years, and my thoughts are not particularly unique enough to add to the thread except in summary. Narration probably has a place, but you have to ask yourself these two questions:

1) When is it too much? How will you know? Why isn't it reasonable to think that the line may have been crossed by Cadets this year. Disclaimer: I loved their show while there wasn't any speaking, and was hoping that the narration would be missing at finals. On the other hand, I liked the irony of the Bluecoats much-quoted line: "You have the right to remain silent..." I did not prefer BD's narration last year, but it had its place given the show (except for the phrase Yawza, which has been etched into my brain for eternity).

I personally like the idea of open interpretation on these shows. Why can't a show mean different things to different people, much like poetry. Why does there have to be a theme dictated to us, literally?

2) An earlier poster alluded to the idea that a bit more/less narration would have put Cadets over BD. It's not important which direction the poster said, and I forget, but my takeaway from this is: Do you really want the DCI World Championship decided over narration? "Oooh, just a bit more narration would just put them over the others..." "Man, I think if they had just gotten rid of that one line about blah blah blah, it would have made the difference."

Me? I would like to think horn, drum, and guard lines make the difference.

My .02 worth.

Jerry

[scottgordon]

Although I am generally against narration, I was surprised to find myself enjoying Bluecoats narration. For one thing, his voice was superb - really sounded like a policeman. It also was well integrated with the show, and the contrast with his seriousness and how the corps would respond created humor. And it wasn't overdone.

By contrast, I didn't like the Cadets use of narration, and I have several specific reasons why:

- the script sounded like it was written in elementary school. People around me were burying their head in their hands at times.

- the content was at times incongruous... e.g., introducing the melody right before a non-melodic segment,

- the content was often unBELIEVEable... I don't know about others, but as a young musician I never felt that something amazing happened every time I played my instrument.

- there was too much of it... I found myself not listening to the show, in anticipation of the next spoken line.

others...

I think the show was designed in the hopes that by the end of the season, the crowd would yell "this I believe" in unison with the last spoken segment. The fact that it never happened tells me that the narration didn't achieve its GE goals.

The only part of the narration that rung true with me a little bit was the guy at the end saying he didn't fit in. Although it was poorly staged and poorly received, at least I could relate to it. I was hoping that it actually told that member's personal story. When they replaced that with him saying he didn't like math and science... I felt that the whole thing was something he had been told to say, and that it wasn't his story at all. Plus, it was MY experience that a higher proportion of band kids also liked math and science, rather than the reverse. So again, I just didn't believe it.

I brought my fiancee to finals week ... she had only ever seen one small show previously, over a year ago. Her response at the end of the week was that she thought Cadets should have won, despite the fact that she didn't like the narration. (she also wondered why so few of the corps play melodies - but that's for another topic).