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Some things HAVE changed. On a positive note, for instance, when the Star of Indiana called it quits with DCI, they decided to go in a different direction and took a Drum Corps style show indoors to theatres around the world. It was a " BLAST " and won all kinds of awards, and is still in circulation today. Of particular note is that the Star of Indiana show staff abandoned the DCI "esoteric" shows and went with all the traditional visual and musical genre that were used to great success by the Drum Corps of the 70's and 80's.

They mixed in a few DCI standard tunes, but BLAST's repertoire represented a far cry from "abandonment" of non-standard DCI stuff.

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I didn't read any post after this, so you guys know.

I'm telling you right now, your little 30 man hornlines didn't play louder than the 80 man hornline now. No way.

well.....maybe the Cavies... :worthy:

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They mixed in a few DCI standard tunes, but BLAST's repertoire represented a far cry from "abandonment" of non-standard DCI stuff.

" Blast " was essentially a wonderful recreation by the Star staff of mostly trraditional music and visuals. Not all.... but certainly MOST.

" Blast " had ( and STILL has ) " Melaquena "........ " Simple Gifts " ( which coincidentally has once again catapulted SC Vanguard ahead both in placement and appeal with audiences )...... " Bolero"......." Land of Make Believe "....... and " Medea "..... and other audience accessible pieces. It incorporated the Phantom Regiment 70's cross over leg move...... and the Bridgemen blindfold percussion playing..... and on and on....... it was essentially a theatre brass, guard, and percussion show that was Drum Corps 70's and 80's Drum Corps and a show steeped in that TRADITION.

and it's STILL on tour and wooing audiences .Amazing huh ?

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Since you said the same thing, I guess I will too. They mixed in a few standard DCI tunes, but BLAST's repetertoire represented a far cry from "abandonment" of non-standard DCI stuff.

Thank goodness it included pieces like Medea, which was about as far removed from TRADITION of 70s/80s drum corps as you can get. I was ecstatic that they chose to end the first act with that, and I think they actually impoved on it over the field version...much more out there than the field version, IMO. The way they did "Loss" was like nothing I've seen on a dci field, and that's a good thing. And "Everyone Loves the Blues," which had been done by one DIV I corps ever, was a fantastic departure from what BD did with it in 83.

These things were done on a stage with electronics in almost every single piece, too.

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Since you said the same thing, I guess I will too. They mixed in a few standard DCI tunes, but BLAST's repetertoire represented a far cry from "abandonment" of non-standard DCI stuff.

Thank goodness it included pieces like Medea, which was about as far removed from TRADITION of 70s/80s drum corps as you can get. I was ecstatic that they chose to end the first act with that, and I think they actually impoved on it over the field version...much more out there than the field version, IMO. The way they did "Loss" was like nothing I've seen on a dci field, and that's a good thing. And "Everyone Loves the Blues," which had been done by one DIV I corps ever, was a fantastic departure from what BD did with it in 83.

These things were done on a stage with electronics in almost every single piece, too.

Here's the central point though : Had Star's staff gone with " the electronics ", but did a show that DID NOT incorporate the melodic songs and the accessible music and visual, the show would have bombed. How do we know this ? Because " BLAST " was followed up by Star's staff with an esoteric and " out there " themed show called " Future Shock" ( or some such ) that was creative, innovative, had electronics and stage effects FAR MORE advanced that what they had in " Blast ", and with lots of talented musicians and so forth. How did it do ? It was a collossal bomb. The tour ended abruptly and was scrapped, everybody sent home. Why was it a failure ? Because the staff forgot what it was that made" Blast " such a hit in the first place. ............ and" Blast " is still on tour as we speak...... " electronics " has little to do with the " Blast " success, nor " future shocks " quick failure.

Edited by BRASSO
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" Blast " was essentially a wonderful recreation by the Star staff of mostly trraditional music and visuals. Not all.... but certainly MOST.

" Blast " had ( and STILL has ) " Melaquena "........ " Simple Gifts " ( which coincidentally has once again catapulted SC Vanguard ahead both in placement and appeal with audiences )...... " Bolero"......." Land of Make Believe "....... and " Medea "..... and other audience accessible pieces. It incorporated the Phantom Regiment 70's cross over leg move...... and the Bridgemen blindfold percussion playing..... and on and on....... it was essentially a theatre brass, guard, and percussion show that was Drum Corps 70's and 80's Drum Corps and a show steeped in that TRADITION.

and it's STILL on tour and wooing audiences .Amazing huh ?

So, is your point is that DCI corps should keep pulling these moments out the linen closet year after year?

I think it's great that Blast! found popularity with a mainstream audience with these classic pieces of drum corps repertoire, and I think it's a great formula for building a buzz with first-time viewers and reviewers, but I know that I wouldn't dig seeing these every year as a drum corps fan.

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Somehow I missed that "much higher profile" line....

Used to be almost every local parade in my area had enough corps in it that they had to compete for the prize money. No appearance money like at field shows today, it was "ya want the money, ya gotta work for it". Now in over half of our parades, we're the ONLY corps there. And as Oz could testify Cenral PA had a Senior show about every other weekend. Now we're down to two and one show restarted a few years ago (Lewisburg/Bucknell). Also every year the Harrisburg paper runs a "Welcome to Central PA" section that lets new people know what's availible. At least one year in the "Music/Concerts" area was the line "Drum and Bugle Corps is very popular on our area". Well you can kiss that #### good bye <$1 to my dad>.

Yeah it is nice to say that DC has a higher talent level, etc, etc, etc. For that matter, why don't we get rid of almost all the youth program teams so we can say their talent level is higer too. And T.S. if hardly anyone gets to participate or see it anymore.

And On Topic: Used to be the corps played for the crowd and audience response they would get. In the 80s seemed DCI moved to trying to impress the crowd instead of hitting them with something exciting. And the general public usually wants to be entertained more than be impressed, especially when they are paying for it. Sometime in the 80s I heard the line: DCI is moving to "music majors playing for other music majors". can't really argue after seeing some of the posts on DCP.

:thumbup::sigh: :sigh: :worthy:

The problem is JimF, from what I have read from some of the posts by these so called "music-ed" majors, they should request a refund for the lack of education they received. Somehow, to most of the undereducated and the so-called arm chair intelligencia here, you cannot play loud and in tune. That, a horn ONLY in the key of Bb and F can be in tune. It staggers the sane educated mind.

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[*]“It was considered downright disreputable by most serious musicians” [my emphasis]. Can you give me some statistics? And please define “serious musicians”.

I'm not the poster who pointed this out, but I can tell you that when I was majoring in music in the late '70s to early '80s, many of my university music profs looked down their nose at drum corps music. They didn't consider it "real" music/musicianship and were quite vocal about that, making sure to tell any of us who did march corps their opinions on the matter. No matter how hard I and some of my friends tried to convince them otherwise, they weren't buying it.

Those aren't statistics or proof of any kind, just some anecdotal evidence from my own experience. For what it's worth (which probably isn't much).

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