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Today's Drum Corps Arranging Pet Peeves


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Poorly written solos!

so many times it seems there is just a random 4 bar trumpet solo or whatever other brass instrument you want to look at. Most of them are unnecessary and I always feel like the momentum drops in those sections.

some corps, such as BD and Madison make it work more often than not. Other corps, specifically thinking Cadets on this one although others are guilty.....well, the solos just don't need to happen. It's almost as if it's a "solo for solos sake" type of deal. If it fits the show, go for it....if it doesn't, don't bother.

I'm a trumpet player, and I love solos, but one of the reasons I've loved Crown's shows the past couple years is because there haven't really been any bland solos that I can think of, or solos in general. The focus is on the full hornline, or at least a full section of the hornline.

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Boston Crusaders comes to mind during their latin/spanish shows the past few years. Ending of the 03 show is similar sounding (only without the suspended upper voices). If my crappy theory knowledge is correct, the technical name would be a Neapolitan with the suspended upper voices and then back to the tonic.

Your theory is dead on! That's exactly what the first poster should have put!

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every drum break looking like the build up to an ensemble moment from a wgi show with all kinds of forced body moves underneath for the sake of doing them

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every drum break looking like the build up to an ensemble moment from a wgi show with all kinds of forced body moves underneath for the sake of doing them

Having never been to a colorguard/drumline show of any type (and never really wanting to), I'm actually pretty thankful for the moments you're talking about in DCI. I've liked most of them.

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There are dozens of "generic drum corps" chord progressions that arrangers use to finish phrases. My favorite is the bVI, bVII, I progression that started to show up in the late 80's.

My favorite one is the end of BD's Tommy show. Here is my recreation of it.

Screaming sop solis!!!

DuhhhhDehhhhDuhhhhhDana-Na Na

DuhhhhDehhhhDehhhhh!!!....DAHH...DAHH...DAHH

(bVI)!! MELLOMELLOMELLO !!!

(bVII)!! MELLOMELLOMELLLLLLLOOOO !!!

(I)!!!!! DAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

UNISOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!

DADADA

DADADA

DAH!!!

If you could follow this then you are officially awesome.

...actually now that I think about it, I'm not even sure that was a bVI-bVII-I progression...

whatever, it's still awesome

Edited by NR_Ohiobando
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my peeve is less with the arranging, and more the the 'required material' to be competitive.

it seems like every year there are more things to add to the list of stuff you have to do to have a g.e. effective show.

why not just let corps be themselves and judge them for whats on the field, not what the judges want to be on the field.

i do realize that this is somewhat of a catch 22.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any that you guys are noticing from seeing this year's shows/listening to the APDs? I have to say, I've been listening to SCV, Crown, Boston, and Cadets, and have virtually no complaints musically. :tongue:

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Drum corps arranging is generally pretty bland, arrangers generally aren't trained in composition and don't seem to have a ton of knowledge or creativity (the only drum corps arrangements that have really impressed me and come off as interesting are those of Jay Bocook) so you can't really blame them for generic writing.

I think my biggest pet peeve is probably just the fact that pretty much every arranger only writes in three keys, B-flat major, E-flat major and F major, especially for openers. I understand this is done for acoustic reasons, but honestly, if you have a good corps to work with you should be more worried about being a bit more artistic and not just mulling over whether or not a chord is going to be hard to tune or not.

That leads me to another thing, there's a lack of artistry in drum corps arranging in general (how many times does Appalachian Spring have to be played for people to realize that?) The genre in general is a retrogressive one, and whenever a corps comes along which goes against the aesthetic stream, like a Star or a BK, then there is a SEVERE backlash from many, suffice it to say, uneducated peoples from other corps and in the audience.

In my defense I got an average grade of the B-C range combining my 4 Theory classes. :tongue:

Though, most of that has to do with trying to learn

...ugh...

#### YOU SCHOENBERG

Sigh, it isn't that hard, man up plz

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