The Lost Art of stick work

[DanjrusMcRynky]

Apparently maintaining stick heights is also a lost art.

Many lines still emphasize stick heights, however Casella believes (as do I) that the focus that others put on knowing all their rudiments and having uniform heights AS WELL as making it decently clean could much better be spent on only making it sound good, clean, and musical. Its harder to clean, but once you are at this caliber of performance, taking the easy way out is usually not the best choice. The fruits of all this labor and this theory were demonstrated when SCV performed the **** out of it in 2004 (2003 wasn't bad, either...)

PS: SCV first tilted their snares on modern harnesses in 1998.

[DKracing]

Obviously, however, I think this discussion was regarding "The Tilt" returning to modern-style carriers.

Bah, I spent all kinds of time finding this picture! Oh well, I will post it anyway! :)

[year1buick]

[stifled4mallettechnique]

Now THAT'S good art! And a perfect response. Vague enough to inspire thoughtful interpretation (and several interpretations would do well in the context), well composed and appreciable by even the most unscholarly of art lovers. The juxtaposition of the piece and the poster's avatar add subtext that makes me consider searching for and reading the poster's other posts (forgive my repitition of the pronoun). Well done! (usually, a DCP post of this nature would be interpreted, even by me, as sarcasm. I assure you that my intent is quite the opposite. If I ran a Drum Corps, I would attain the rights to use that piece on the field in my next show.)

On another note, it saddens me that the response to my last post, accurate as it was, confirms my fears for the activity. Apparently, the idea is to minimize anything that could detract from scoring while maximizing anything that has been allowed by new rules but not been (what's the word I want here... dictated? defined? Help me out..) to the judges in the context of how to score it.

[LSU GRAD 82]

The SCV tilt thing I always assumed was brought on by Jim Casella, considering, that happened at SCV when he came in, correct me if I am wrong.

After he left the Cavies started using it....but that's where Casella is.

As far as the "stick work" yeah, I think more groups today are concerned with hitting the drum with both sticks and kicking their feet rather than doing something impressive with their sticks/playing.

I mean, sure, the crowd goes nuts when a line has their feet apart, squit like their dropping a deuce and play some big unison hits, but I guess that's what impresses us these days, the shock and awe of it all.

There's an entire thread dealing with THE TILT over on the Percussion Forum. BTW, The Cavaliers were the ONLY line in the 2007 top 12 that had their snares tilted. NO snare tilt for Spirit, Colts, Glassmen, Boston, Blue K's and C's, Crown, SCV, PR, Cadets or Champion Blue Devils...........

[atlvalet]

There's an entire thread dealing with THE TILT over on the Percussion Forum.

There's a percussion forum? Boy, am I slow or what...

[GuyW]

....All I said was I don't think it should be called an "art."

Well, usually things are divided into science and art (and even the application of basic science is termed an art, ie, the art of engineering).

You got different classifications?

I think it's art...

[atlvalet]

Many lines still emphasize stick heights, however Casella believes (as do I) that the focus that others put on knowing all their rudiments and having uniform heights AS WELL as making it decently clean could much better be spent on only making it sound good, clean, and musical. Its harder to clean, but once you are at this caliber of performance, taking the easy way out is usually not the best choice. The fruits of all this labor and this theory were demonstrated when SCV performed the **** out of it in 2004 (2003 wasn't bad, either...)

PS: SCV first tilted their snares on modern harnesses in 1998.

Don't know if you're saying this, so excuse me if you're not, but I think it looks bad if you have a "top" line and their left hands look different. I think it's about the details, myself, and having different left-hand interpretations within the line looks sloppy at best. Usually a lot of technique is addressed in winter camps (at least it was when I marched)...so I don't think you'd be taking any time away during the summer from addressing quality of sound, cleanliness and musicality.

[Gaddabout]

Don't know if you're saying this, so excuse me if you're not, but I think it looks bad if you have a "top" line and their left hands look different. I think it's about the details, myself, and having different left-hand interpretations within the line looks sloppy at best. Usually a lot of technique is addressed in winter camps (at least it was when I marched)...so I don't think you'd be taking any time away during the summer from addressing quality of sound, cleanliness and musicality.

Agreed. Uniform stick heights usually = clean playing.

[skewerz]

I think this thread has gotten off track from what the OP was pointing out:

You see a lot less stickwork -- i.e. visual, easily seen from the stands stickwork -- than you used to. I'm talking about stickwork added almost solely for visual flair.

True, drumlines are doing more body movement and drill moves, but it's too bad that stickwork has gone by the wayside. When a snare line would come together, lean forward and let fly with the stickwork -- that used to be one of the highlights in a drum corps show.

I'll be brutally honest -- many of the drum solos/features today don't have much impact for me. I'm sure what they're doing is technically difficult, but unless you're a drummer, much of it is lost on the fans in the stands.

What's wrong with doing something because it looks cool? Are we so obsessed with technical execution that we're forgetting that drum corps is supposed to be entertaining?

the parts of the quote that I made bold pretty much describe all of drum corps now, not just stickwork