Todd Tanji Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 In 33 years of listening to drum corps 2007 BD is by far my favorite. Numero uno on my iPod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAvery Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 I don't think anyone would argue that long, complete phrases have gone by the wayside in drum corps. There does seem to be more of an "effect" approach, using rhythmic patterns, sustained chords and such. I wonder if this might be due to the smaller visual moves. In the past, you might have a 16 count visual phrase. My guess is today you mostly have 4 and 8 count visual phrases. Maybe the musical phrases are following the visual phrases. That would seem to be backward (in my opinion), but it may be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxingfred Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) In 33 years of listening to drum corps 2007 BD is by far my favorite.Numero uno on my iPod. I have it the complete opposite. I love love love 1988 BD - Every song was great! and the reprieve at the end excellent! I think 2007 BD is complete crap! just a bunch of power chords, sound effects, and song fragments Yuck! Edited April 23, 2009 by boxingfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Well, there it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd Tanji Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 I have it the complete opposite. I love love love 1988 BD We're not quite complete opposites as I love '88 BD, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowtown Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 I am not really buying that this systems analysis is all that scientific. Maybe I am the only one though.Other systematic approaches Ditto, just a bunch of spin to try and prove his point Which I disagree with Chop and bop has always been a part of drum corps but it has gotten far worse (speaking in broad general terms as there are always exceptions) I suggest the OP goes and listens to the Blue Devils Channel One from 1976 and then Blue Devils Channel One from 2002. Do your break down, employee your system on just that one song only from both those shows and get back to me Then we can have a good laugh about it and figure out why you spent so much time and effort….spinning and what you goal, real point is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowtown Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Kudos to OP for a nice approach to going beyond a subjective, "It feels choppy" statement. My experience with shows the last few years has been a general disatisfaction with the music-follows-visual design approach. I believe that this results in a general lack of thematic development which many of us define as choppy. Even in segments of shows which are close to the orignal works for periods, there seems to be a dearth of developed (or develop-able?) melodic material. For instance, although I do appreciate some Tichelli works on the field, many do not lend lemselves to capturing the casual (read "non-music major") listeners' attention with clear and memorable melodic statements. To provide a reference point for my opinion, I am a product of early/mid 80's DCI and was lucky enough to experience Jim Prime/Thom Hannum leading musically and George Zingali interpreting visually. Certainly these arrangers chopped up original works but they and Gail Royer and Wayne Downey and others of that period led the listener's emotional involvement with tension and release centered around melody and melodic/harmonic development. It seems that tension and release in many more recent shows are driven by a road map of effect points achieved visually and supported by whatever musical "effects" best help drive that visual road map. Still very exciting but, for those of us who are MUSCIALLY driven. less intimately emotional. Of course that is just my perspective and I recognize that many others love the "chop and bop" shows of the last 6 years. I certainly will not argue that they are better or worse. Just different enough that musically, they leave me wanting. I agree with that...Maybe if the judges were to reward long phrases…and dinged extraneous runs and arrangements that only made sense visual context…it’d turn those GE music, visual and overall scores on their head but soon enough, corps would catch on and.. but on the other hand, the OP has shown us that the Blue Devils have been using the same formula for over 20 year...so how can that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardCorp Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 This thread is right on the money. Quantifiable evidence of the road drum corps programming is going down. While there will be those in favor of /against each method of design, the date is accurate. I agree with that...Maybe if the judges were to reward long phrases…and dinged extraneous runs and arrangements that only made sense visual context…it’d turn those GE music, visual and overall scores on their head but soon enough, corps would catch on and..but on the other hand, the OP has shown us that the Blue Devils have been using the same formula for over 20 year...so how can that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Just so everyone knows... we define melody and theme in my college theory and history classes as something hummable or singable. They have singing in history class now? Wow, times have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornsUp Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 BCad - BHmnc - BMldy - BMood - BOst - BSolo - BRhythm - BTech - FRhythm - FOst - FSolo - FTech - SMldy - SMood - SOst - SRhythm - STech - Break - SDrl - VoxMldy - VoxSpk - In the immortal words of John Sasso: "What is this, a grocery list?" As a writer, I can assure you that no decent arranger ever thinks in these terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts