What Happens if the Cadets win?

[Medeabrass]

Dear Music

I have been a fan as well as at times not so much a fan but you couldn't have said it better. They will as always go down in History as the 1st in many areas and this is no different. Love it or hate it they make people talk and isn't that what true art does

I prefer my art to entertain me rather than make me talk about why it's annoying me.

[KingJoeVII]

I have read many commentaries for the last four years and I find the whole discussion concerning the Cadets rather interesting. I have listened people complain about their production style and how offensive their story-telling is – either through voice over or props. I try to compare this to various art styles and these thoughts come to mind.

Of course Cadets changed drum corp for the better in the early eighties and we have never looked back. Star of Indiana’s wonderful production of Walton’s ‘Belshazar’s Feast’ provided us the nuance and a sublime power of a true art form. Probably their defining moment of neo-contemporary drum corps art was with ‘The Music of Barber and Bartok’ which exposed people to music that they would never had listened to and then they brought it to the Broadway stage for millions more to see. Do we dismiss their efforts because they performed visual music that may have made some people uncomfortable?

Mozart had little acceptance during his life – yet he is considered our most revered composer. Bach was unknown throughout most of Europe, yet he is considered our Baroque giant; Beethoven couldn’t even hear his own music yet he was a master genius; Wagner wrote a 16 hour opera – how’s that for pushing the envelope? Stravinsky’s music started a riot during a performance – how has he changed history? Have you heard Stravinsky’s serialistic music? Is it less valid than Petroushka or Firebird?

Does Piccasso have a place in history? How about Klee, Monet, Chagall, Cezanne, Dali, Warhol, Pollack, Ernst et. al.? Do we dismiss them just because they created art that may have created discomfort? What about our contemporary poets and writers?

Many show themes are created from concepts of chaos, violence, sex and conflict resolution. Where would drum corps be without ‘Spartacus’, ‘West Side Story’ ‘007’ and ‘The Godfather’?

I think that many people dislike the Cadets (especially this year) because their show concepts make them feel uncomfortable – God forbid that may happen at a drum corps show. Don’t want to talk about cancer, death, unhappiness, trying to find yourself – maybe because we all struggle with those same issues and we don’t want to be reminded of our own worries and weaknesses.

All art needs people to push the envelope – for better or for worse. Cadets have been doing that for thirty years.

And what if the Cadets win? Will we have a riot like at the Paris Ballet during the performance of “The Rite of Spring”? It is just my humble opinion that most remarkable and memorable moments in history are not created during moments of mediocrity but rather when people are feeling discomfort. So love them or hate them, the bottom line is that I am proud of those kids – they do not accept mediocrity, they are pushing the envelope and doing it artistically.

most interesting post of the summer...bravo

[ShortAndFast]

Does Piccasso have a place in history? How about Klee, Monet, Chagall, Cezanne, Dali, Warhol, Pollack, Ernst et. al.? Do we dismiss them just because they created art that may have created discomfort? What about our contemporary poets and writers?

...

And what if the Cadets win? Will we have a riot like at the Paris Ballet during the performance of “The Rite of Spring”? It is just my humble opinion that most remarkable and memorable moments in history are not created during moments of mediocrity but rather when people are feeling discomfort.

In the immortal words of Carl Sagan, "They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. "

[MikeD]

I know it's been said MANY times already on these boards, but if someone has to explain your show while it happens, you designed it wrong.

Yes, it's been said...and as always...it's wrong...IMO, of course.

[fifer]

I saw Star several times that year. That was not a championship show until late in the year, when the kids really began to "sell" the show. Before that they were just playing unsure notes. But the last two weeks of the season they got the creme colored uniforms and the corps took on a real purpose to the way they attacked the music. It transformed from fairly boring to really exciting late in the season.

That's when Star went from "good" to "great." Just like Cadets 2005 after mid-season. Just like many other championship shows.

The show you go to see this week won't be good enough to win in August. They will ALL improve.

Good point. Another example: I recall that the 1995 Cavies show was considered not difficult enough and very boring to many early in the season. MANY people were amazed at what that show became by the time it won at finals that year!!!

[Whiskey]

Tomorrow will be another day and more than likely they would have probably deserved and earned that ring.

[mohanico]

If the Cadets win, hell freezes over.

[GGarrett]

And what if the Cadets win?

Then there will be much merriment and rejoicing by the Cadet fans, and much griping and moaning by their not-so-much fans.

[CaviesFan1]

I have read many commentaries for the last four years and I find the whole discussion concerning the Cadets rather interesting. I have listened people complain about their production style and how offensive their story-telling is – either through voice over or props. I try to compare this to various art styles and these thoughts come to mind.

Of course Cadets changed drum corp for the better in the early eighties and we have never looked back. Star of Indiana’s wonderful production of Walton’s ‘Belshazar’s Feast’ provided us the nuance and a sublime power of a true art form. Probably their defining moment of neo-contemporary drum corps art was with ‘The Music of Barber and Bartok’ which exposed people to music that they would never had listened to and then they brought it to the Broadway stage for millions more to see. Do we dismiss their efforts because they performed visual music that may have made some people uncomfortable?

Mozart had little acceptance during his life – yet he is considered our most revered composer. Bach was unknown throughout most of Europe, yet he is considered our Baroque giant; Beethoven couldn’t even hear his own music yet he was a master genius; Wagner wrote a 16 hour opera – how’s that for pushing the envelope? Stravinsky’s music started a riot during a performance – how has he changed history? Have you heard Stravinsky’s serialistic music? Is it less valid than Petroushka or Firebird?

Does Piccasso have a place in history? How about Klee, Monet, Chagall, Cezanne, Dali, Warhol, Pollack, Ernst et. al.? Do we dismiss them just because they created art that may have created discomfort? What about our contemporary poets and writers?

Many show themes are created from concepts of chaos, violence, sex and conflict resolution. Where would drum corps be without ‘Spartacus’, ‘West Side Story’ ‘007’ and ‘The Godfather’?

I think that many people dislike the Cadets (especially this year) because their show concepts make them feel uncomfortable – God forbid that may happen at a drum corps show. Don’t want to talk about cancer, death, unhappiness, trying to find yourself – maybe because we all struggle with those same issues and we don’t want to be reminded of our own worries and weaknesses.

All art needs people to push the envelope – for better or for worse. Cadets have been doing that for thirty years.

And what if the Cadets win? Will we have a riot like at the Paris Ballet during the performance of “The Rite of Spring”? It is just my humble opinion that most remarkable and memorable moments in history are not created during moments of mediocrity but rather when people are feeling discomfort. So love them or hate them, the bottom line is that I am proud of those kids – they do not accept mediocrity, they are pushing the envelope and doing it artistically.

It drives me a little crazy when people always say that Beethoven was totally deaf. Well... he was, but he'd already written just about all of his music by the time he went deaf. And at that point he didn't need to hear it anymore.

But anyway, I think this is a great point to make.

Just as the people who booed "The Rite of Spring" KNEW that it was worthless, as do many people on DCP "know" this show is. Had you told someone who hated "the Rite of Spring" it would grow to become a classic they would probably mock you and laugh at you, as people on here do. But what makes them any more wrong than say any of us might be?

History will tell. That's it. And until then... who knows?

[GGarrett]

If the Cadets win, hell freezes over.

You did mean Hell, Michigan, right? Near Pinckney? Been there.