Show themes

[DrumCorpsFan27]

That sounds like a fine art to me. Sounds like a description of Picasso, Monet, Bach and Beethoven, too.

Here's a question that's always bothered me: Why is it "elitist" to express contempt for people who dislike something like Picasso, but not "elitist" to express contempt for people who like Picasso?

I'll ask you the same question I asked before...do you really think that drum corps is comparable to Picasso, Monet, Bach and Beethoven?

It is not elitist to like Picasso. It is not elitist to not like Picasso. It is elitist for someone to tell someone else that they are dumb or uneducated to not like Picasso.

There's a difference.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

So it's your contention that all the corps prior to Madison, that is:

Phantom Regiment

Santa Clara Vanguard

Bluecoats

Glassmen

Blue Knights

Crossmen

Colts

Carolina Crown

Magic of Orlando

Velvet Knights

Troopers

Boston Crusaders

Southwind

Pioneer

Spirit of Atlanta

Nite Express

that all of them, in 1995 had shows that only appealed to the educated?

No. It is my contention that those shows were designed to appeal to the scoring system developed by the directors and designers. Madison's show was designed to appeal to the audience, including the average Joe Schmo, who pays the bills and makes drum corps possible.

Oh, by the way, not all of them performed at night, when we brough our friends.

Edited July 25, 2008 by DrumCorpsFan27

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Is this some sort of argument for something that's worth doing? Or, just a definition of a very stupid person?

Maybe it's the opinion of someone who simply isn't into the fine art of paintings.

[TealEuph7]

From a thought posted in the jazz thread...

Is the necessity of a theme getting in the way of designing a show that's fun to play, fun to watch, and still competetive? I'm sick to death of themes, myself. I can see something like Spartacus or a Broadway show like "Fiddler on the Roof", but some of the more "esoteric" themes seem to back designers into a self-made corner. Thoughts?

Follow up question: If a corps decided their theme was agoraphobia, would they lose GE points for showing up at the stadium?

True. Variety makes things better. I mean, a theme is okay but not every single part of the music has to make dead sense. Take Bluecoats 06; their show had a theme but the music was more open for interpretation and gave more of a general idea.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

He was talking about Picasso's "Guernica".

It is a large painting (the size of an entire gallery wall), in stark blacks, whites, and greys. As big as it is, the cubist images of war seem to burst out of its sides and into the room. For anyone who has an adult mind and a sense of humanity, it is one of the most terrifyingly vivid expressions of the dark soul of war.

Does your six-year-old have all that inside? I hope not.

If you don't know what "Guernica" and other masterpieces are about, and why they are hailed as great works, you need to drop the stupid, smug, defensive, low-brow arrogance, and learn.

And while you're at it -- enough criticizing people just for being educated. Our country is in deep educational doo-doo right now, and the last thing on Earth it needs is any more anti-intellectual nonsense.

Do you want a better place, or a worse one? A better one? Alright then: act like it.

End of sermon.

I see, in order to have a better place, one must appreciate Picasso. In order to be considered intelligent, one must appreciate Picasso.

Well, I must some dumb ole hick who wants the world to be a horrible place to live in...according to your criteria.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

So what is an "elitist", why is that bad, and what is your ideal human type, by contrast?

Do explain, so that we can avoid the pain of being elite, should it ever rear it's ugly head.

(I certainly wouldn't want to get so uppity as to understand and feel affected by Picasso's "Guernica", or any other such naughty things...)

Go ahead and be affected by Picasso. As I said in another post, that is not elitism. It is elitist to tell others that they are dumb or uneducated if they are not affected by Picasso.

I'm not affected by paintings. I am affected by music. So, am I a dumb, uneducated hick because a symphony affects me much more than a painting?

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Maybe they're not "pretentious boors", but very nice, smarter-than-average people who have good attention spans, a love of really good stuff, and a willingness to defend it.

Maybe raising one's standards about things is one of the great enjoyments of life, and doesn't require anything more than a mind that's awake.

Maybe the whole activity of Drum Corps is more about raising one's standards than lowering them.

And, maybe, you're just trying to make mediocrity sound really cool, so your dumb friends won't beat you up.

And maybe some are pretentious. To look down one's nose and lump others who don't like what you like in a class of uneducated mediocre people who don't like "really good stuff." Show me where someone has criticised another, in this thread, for liking Picasso, Monet, Bach or Beethoven. It hasn't happened. What there has been is critcism for folks telling others they are uneducated or dumbed-down for NOT liking Picasso. Yoiur comments fall into this category when you say that people who like these things has raised standards, better attention spans and are "smarter than average." THAT is the difference between a nice person who appreciate certain arts and an elitist, who insists that nice, smarter than average people with raised standards and better attention spans MUST like those things to prove it.

Perhaps, it is the people who insist that one must do what you say above to prove their intellectualism (the elitists) who are actually the psuedo-intellects, running around, showing off so that others KNOW they are intellectual.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

There has not yet been a drum corps show that requires a dissertation or lecture on how to watch it, so that's a straw man argument to begin with. Even the most complex shows are purely pleasurable just from the sound, color, and energy of it all.

As for Jeff Fiedler and his "how-to" on Spin Cycle -- I think you're completely missing the pleasure boat here. Why doesn't this sound just as cool to you as the "extras" on a DVD, where you get to see the process behind the creation of a great movie?

How could anyone interested in this amazing activity (especially as it is advanced by the Cavaliers) fail to jump at an educational treat like that?

I don't understand your resistance, or what possible purpose it serves you, but I will happily devour that paper by Mr. Fiedler if you don't want it!

And yet, there are corps that feel it necessary to tell us how to watch their shows. This year, we have had a corps to explain the verbal explanation of their show. Again, I must be some kind of uneducated hick, that resists "educational treats." I must not want to expand my mind or raise my standards.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Your reply is deeply prejudiced in an even worse way:

You are defending ignorance as though it were a virtue. For that, you are flat wrong, morally, spiritually, and intellectually.

As for Art, it can't be "overrated", any more than water or oxygen. It's part of being human, and without it, we are something less.

As for "modern art", which has hundreds of forms and styles, you are ranting in the language of the torch-carrying mob -- the kind of rubbish that can only come from having no eyes at all, no humanity, and no love of life.

It's amazing you're even here on this forum. Why are you here? Did you think we were going to be talking about football, or just sitting around with our grey matter dripping out of our ears?

How about you entertain ME with a reason why you want everything dragged down to the lowest common denominator, and how you think you're improving the world by doing so?

Hm? Well?

This post is great. Not only does it show your elitism and arrogance, but it shows your ignorance as well. Let's compare two statements you make back to back...

As for Art, it can't be "overrated", any more than water or oxygen. It's part of being human, and without it, we are something less.

and

As for "modern art", which has hundreds of forms and styles, you are ranting in the language of the torch-carrying mob -- the kind of rubbish that can only come from having no eyes at all, no humanity, and no love of life.

In one statement you say that "art can't be overrated," and in the very next statement you say that modern art is "rubbish." Well, if you can't overrate art, then you can't modern art "rubbish."

Oh wait, so what your saying is art that you appreciate can't be overrated, but art you don't like is rubbish from those with no eyes, heart or humanity. Then you ask what an elitist is? Read your posts and look in the mirror.

[cajal]

If you're looking for deep meaning in a drum corps show, your 'education' has taught you nothing. Smirk and nod to the academics, for we all know that they're right.