Saw Synthesizers for the First Time in DCI Tonight

[KA '76]

It's a step to fully automated drum corps!

I always thought it'd be cool to see a show done with all the marching members on Hoverounds...

[bawker]

Cue outrage.

Nah, more like "cue ham-fisted attempt at GE".

[jbentley0025]

i think anyone whoever carried tympani or keyboards would have cheered!!!

Just like kids who used to load and unload chimes are cheering right now.

[JamMan]

Obviously, I worry about these synths being used to replace tuba lines. I've heard a few already. It's a real concern.

Any examples?

This is a preposterous notion, as the timbre would be too different and the brass judge would have to be all over the corps for that.

Yes, but Pandora's box has been opened. Not this year, but down the road a bit we will stop seeing "brass" on the sheets because they will need to be able to score woodwinds and synths etc. This will further the shift away from the percussion/brass format of the past, and toward the guard/pit format of the future. Can you just imagine the amazing shows that groups like Cavies/Cadets/BD could put on without the constraints of marching brass and percussion instruments? It will wow us all!

Unfortunately it will not resemble drum corps for some of us.

Remove brass? GENIUS! Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before?

but it all depends on what you plan to write for. a synth will not give you a good roll.

True, but it WILL give you one continuous frequency.

Front ensembles IMHO have gotten to where they overpower the hornline at inappropriate times due to miking and amplifying.

Examples? That seems to be obscure opinion. If it has lasted to the end of the season, it's probably SUPPOSED to be that way.

[Bob J]

Remove brass? GENIUS! Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before?

From the sheets. Do band judging sheets have brass and woodwinds judged separately? (asking because I have no idea) If not I think it is reasonable that in the future after woodwinds have been decriminalized from DCI, that the brass category on the sheets would be replaced by something more appropriate to the instrumentation.

[j.morgus]

...If it has lasted to the end of the season, it's probably SUPPOSED to be that way.

If it was, then it should have scored poorly and perhaps the staff should correct it in the interest of musicality.

[JamMan]

From the sheets. Do band judging sheets have brass and woodwinds judged separately? (asking because I have no idea) If not I think it is reasonable that in the future after woodwinds have been decriminalized from DCI, that the brass category on the sheets would be replaced by something more appropriate to the instrumentation.

Then you would just judge the brass/woodwinds. I know some marching bands don't use woodwinds (because in the outdoor purely acoustic sense, they're useless) and they don't get penalized.

But why would you get rid of brass as a whole? It's the staff who writes the shows, and wouldn't they want brass in their arrangements?

If it was, then it should have scored poorly and perhaps the staff should correct it in the interest of musicality.

If ANYTHING is called out on a judge's tape or sheet, YOU BET the staff will thy to change and/or clean it. If not, well, maybe it's just someone's opinion.

[Bruckner8]

Any examples?

This is a preposterous notion [that synth can replace tuba lines], as the timbre would be too different and the brass judge would have to be all over the corps for that.

If the synth is of a certain color, OR of a certain volume, the tuba color won't matter.

Trust me, I've already heard it first hand. I know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not just some old school, anti-synth brass jock. I happen to be pro-synth, and all of the creativity/diversity it can bring. But I fear it being mis-used in such a way to render the effort of the tuba line to be wasted.

I'm telling you, there are drum corps synth artists out there who hear the low end of the "Pipe Organ" solo of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, and think "Wow, I want that in my show." POTO was 100% synth. Hey, if the DC version sounds as good as the POTO electronics, I'm all about it...but you may as well have the tubas rest for those notes...they could use it. This isn't necessarily bad. God knows I love the Sub-Contra Octave more than I love my wife, but I won't tolerate being lied to. I won't tolerate being peed on and told it's raining, ya know? If we're going to use the synth to get a bass sound that can't be produced by contras, then whenever you want that sound, DON'T USE THE CONTRAS. Or turn it down.

I just hope the judges slam those corps when the synthetic-bass dominates then entire ensemble, or worse...sounds like the speakers can't handle it. If the Music Ensemble person sees 16 contras blowing their butts off, but can't hear them, that corps better get a lower score (This was true pre-synth, but my point is, this logic will kick-in a lot more often now.)

[Triple Forte]

Well, I guess thats it then isn't it. One corps had a problem so it must be a disaster.

We will see how minor one isolated incident is if it occurs during a key (Once in a lifetime) moment of the 2009 DCI champions championships performance.

Imagine hearing a MAJOR synth/electronic gaff during a brilliant ballad performance.......good stuff...right ?

[MikeD]

From the sheets. Do band judging sheets have brass and woodwinds judged separately? (asking because I have no idea) If not I think it is reasonable that in the future after woodwinds have been decriminalized from DCI, that the brass category on the sheets would be replaced by something more appropriate to the instrumentation.

No, not separate brass and WW in the circuits I am familiar with. E.G...music performance in USSBA (field and ensemble) encompasses brass/WW/Percussion.