Show concepts

[Tez]

Seems I'm in the minority here, but I certainly agree with the original post. I left the dome very disapointed from show standpoints and the changes I witnessed in drum corps from my last show attended.

I understand that times are going to change which means drastic changes to drum corps. I hadn't been to a show in some five years and I was stunned at all the changes......piped in sounds???? (just ridiculous). Blue Devils with white stripes from head to toe???? wow. But, I guess those are just the changes over the years I've missed, and while I don't like them, it's just the way it is.

My biggest thing, though, were the shows for two reasons.

First.....pretty much all were just flat boring. I'll admit Crown and Boston were really cool, but even those could have been so much more. Where have the "WOW" moments gone in drum corps? You know what I mean by the "WOW" moment....that big drill move, drum break, horn break, anything that draws an explosive crowd reaction. That was missing. And it obviously wasn't just me. You could tell by the crowd. I literally watched people in the stands dosing off during shows. It's those "WOW" moments that leave the lasting memories...... Cadets and the Z-pull, Phantom's 360 spin in the wedge, Cavies fight club, Blue Devils screaming sops and drums beating the ever leaving sh** out of the heads, Scouts and the rotating company front and charging forward, etc etc etc. There are ZERO memorable moments in the shows I saw this year and it was evident by the lack of standing ovations during the shows and the subdued standing ovations after the shows that seemed more like courtesy standing Os than an excited throwing babies reaction.

I don't care that shows are more sophisticated or whatever the excuse. Hell, you could play the life and death of a butterfly, but by god do something to get the crowd off their butts. That's what has always made drum corps exciting.

Second, it really seems corps have lost some of their identity of sound. In the past, all the way up until I quit going to shows a few years ago, you could close your eyes, put a show on and immediately tell which corps it was by their sound. That doesn't seem to be the case now. Everyone just sounds the same. It's not the change to B-flat horns because like I said, I could tell corps apart a few years ago. Something seems to have happened in the last five years.

OK...I'm off my soapbox. And on a side note, I'm happy to be a part of the DCP now with my first ever post.

Here are some great and memorable "WOW" moments that you somehow missed this year:

Blue Knights:

-opening drill move

-transition into the first snowflake

-corps is blown around the field

Boston Crusaders:

-power chords before the apple bite

-horn toss

-mellos on top of guard members while playing

Bluecoats:

-hornline runs in Haitian Fight Song

-kaleidoscope drill towards the end

Santa Clara Vanguard:

-the company front (and toast)

-the beautiful backfield ending

Holy Name Cadets:

-closing drill of the opener

-big chord at the end of the ballad

-the entire last minute and a half of the show

Carolina Crown:

-the push in "Puck"

-snake form at the end of Sansemaya

-stillness in the middle of Somewhere/Over the Rainbow

Cavaliers:

-music at then end of the ballad

-guard climbing the hornline during the ridiculous runs

Blue Devils:

-opening drill move of folding lines

-drum feature with players standing on chairs

These are just the ones I can think of while just thinking about the shows. For nearly all the "WOW" moments you mentioned enjoying in the past, I think there are similar moments in this years' shows. You like the "Fight club"?, watch Crown's amazing body-movement section.... you like big drill moves..... the Cadets' 2009 show is almost one gigantic big drill move. Maybe it is you that has changed and not actually the corps?

Also, I can still easily tell the sounds of different brasslines apart with my eyes closed.... I think they have just as much identity as they used to. It could have easily been the dome that muddied the sounds and made them indistinguishable.

[Pinwiz]

Where have the "WOW" moments gone in drum corps? You know what I mean by the "WOW" moment....that big drill move, drum break, horn break, anything that draws an explosive crowd reaction. That was missing.

It's still there, it just transitions into another event. I'd rather see an 11-minute wonder than a few of your so-called "WOW" moments.

[Lance]

Much of the music played by Drum Corps in the 70's was a " first listen" by those in the audience. One simple look at the list of music pieces played by the DCI Titleists from it's inception through the 80's one will find that it was indeed a " first listen " for most Drum Corps fans. I do agree with you that it is not appopriate to show contempt to those that study music. That said, many of these recalcitrants who say these things no doubt still attend theatre and musical productions that they enjoy where the show producers and music composers " studied music " and yet these recalcitrants don't have the same antipathy toward these learned musicians and composers. Perhaps it's because these music composers don't show the same degree of contempt or worse.... indifference...... to the audience and as a result their productiions are received with better receptivity and more acceptance...... but who knows.

As for each generation preferring the music of it's own generation, this is not entirely true ( just somewhat true ). The most " popular " radio music stations are the radio stations that play.... no surprise...... the older R & R classics. It doesn't matter what section of the country one goes to either. The music stations that play the music of earlier decades are the rage..... even with the younger demographic age group. Songs that people have heard a hundred times before are still songs many people would like to hear 110 times. Some of us can still appreciate the Alternative Rock Music radio stations despite our advancing years. But this does not mean that this music has more appeal among both young and old alike. It doesn't. Even among the young. The R & R Classics still carry the day with the young and old alike. And the biggest musical acts out there, with the biggest draw of both young and old alike are still the Rock and Roll Bands from the 60's, 70's., 80's playing the same songs over and over again for 35 or more years now.

And how do pieces from some of the most popular shows of the past 10 years fit into this?

Symphony #2 by Barber

The Canyon by Philip Glass

Dance of Ecstasy from Danses Fantastiques by Tjeknavorkian

Soundtrack from Dreamer

Soundings by Cindy McTee

Piano Concerto #1 by Ginastera

Anything by Richard Saucedo

Those wouldn't be on a typical marching music geek's iPod, to say nothing of your average Joe Schmoe, before they were done by corps.

For every piece you've heard 100 times before that's popular on the field, there another that is not recognizable by many people that works just as well.

Simply put, it has nothing to do with whether or not you recognize a piece of music on the field, it has everything to do with if you find it good. Like with any of the music you listed, there was a point where nobody recognized any of them, but they became popular because they were simply good.

[garfield]

...it was great in Bloomington last year, perfect stadium for drum corps.

I've been to every finals since 1983 and Bloomington ranks very high on my list of "Best DC Stadiums".

As to show design and execution: I was watching some old videos of shows and interviews on the not-to-be-named site and saw one interview with a member of SCV in ***1973***. He was lamenting that the fans were constantly complaining that year that DC had changed too much and they missed the "good old days" of the 1960's shows. He said, "The fans just don't seem ready for our new way of designing shows. But we just keep cleaning it - they'll catch on." Hmmm...what goes around comes around.

Back in the early '80s I sold MagnaEars to DC fans after watching so many fans "cupping" their ears to get more volume (and to try to block out the screaming fan next to them!). They were designed by an audiologist engineer to focus the sound directly into your ear canal without distorting or losing any of the sound frequencies. They sold very well and, last year in Bloomington, I saw a fan 10 rows above me still wearing his! Wow!

The point is that the OP's disagreements with current drum corps are not new and, in fact, have been debated for, literally, DECADES! The term most often used is most eloquently applicable to this geeky activity: Creative Destruction.

Edited July 29, 2009 by garfield

[Brutus]

Wow moments are what we call in Hollywood "Set Pieces." These are the knock-down drag out memorable audio/visual moments that are often designed even before the script is finished.

1. Madison Rotating Company Front
   
2. Cadets Z-Pull
   
3. Cavaliers Company Front Stepping over Guard
   
4. PR Rockford File
   
5. SCV Bottle Dance
   
6. Cadets Playing Each Other's Horns (Whatever it's called)
   

These set pieces are few and far between nowadays because they are incredibly difficult to conceptualize and integrate into original symphonic arrangements. Designers are on a constant quest for new set pieces, the old ones get stale.

But to create original, effective set pieces is tough. Although any of the drill features nowadays look easy, they're not, granted. But great set pieces often take more resources and greater planning and require substantially more technical skill, and I think that's probably why they're avoided.

Recently, a set piece the Cavies created was in Samurai, where the horns ran and jumped over each other. Not impossible, and it did require some acrobatic skill, but egh, on the technial cirque du soleil spectrum, it was just okay. We want the IMPOSSIBLE. Outrageously acrobatic feats of wonder, "how did they do that?", and "they must come from a long line of performers who have done that."

I'm afraid that takes more than just a few weeks before finals to whip up and perfect an effective set piece and audiences demand so much more now.

One technique that drill designers can use more effectively is to collect set pieces across multiple performance years, demonstrating new ways to use old set pieces. When a set piece becomes stale, replace it, but at least reuse ones that have worked before. For example, why don't the Cadets reuse that "playing each others' horns" set piece in every show now? It's a trademark, and the audience loves it. It's not exclusive to the design of just that one show. Use it again, along with some others. Build a repertoire. Audiences love repetition, and they love tradition.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Brutus

[Lance]

Back in the early '80s I sold MagnaEars to DC fans after watching so many fans "cupping" their ears to get more volume (and to try to block out the screaming fan next to them!). They were designed by an audiologist engineer to focus the sound directly into your ear canal without distorting or losing any of the sound frequencies. They sold very well and, last year in Bloomington, I saw a fan 10 rows above me still wearing his! Wow!

Very cool!

To let everybody know, DCP actually sells EarAmps that work in much the same way. Great if you want to hear your favorite corps a little better.

https://drumcorpsplanet.com/storev2/product...;products_id=30

[Tez]

Wow moments are what we call in Hollywood "Set Pieces." These are the knock-down drag out memorable audio/visual moments that are often designed even before the script is finished.

1. Madison Rotating Company Front
   
2. Cadets Z-Pull
   
3. Cavaliers Company Front Stepping over Guard
   
4. PR Rockford File
   
5. SCV Bottle Dance
   
6. Cadets Playing Each Other's Horns (Whatever it's called)
   

These set pieces are few and far between nowadays because they are incredibly difficult to conceptualize and integrate into original symphonic arrangements. Designers are on a constant quest for new set pieces, the old ones get stale.

But to create original, effective set pieces is tough. Although any of the drill features nowadays look easy, they're not, granted. But great set pieces often take more resources and greater planning and require substantially more technical skill, and I think that's probably why they're avoided.

Recently, a set piece the Cavies created was in Samurai, where the horns ran and jumped over each other. Not impossible, and it did require some acrobatic skill, but egh, on the technial cirque du soleil spectrum, it was just okay. We want the IMPOSSIBLE. Outrageously acrobatic feats of wonder, "how did they do that?", and "they must come from a long line of performers who have done that."

I'm afraid that takes more than just a few weeks before finals to whip up and perfect an effective set piece and audiences demand so much more now.

One technique that drill designers can use more effectively is to collect set pieces across multiple performance years, demonstrating new ways to use old set pieces. When a set piece becomes stale, replace it, but at least reuse ones that have worked before. For example, why don't the Cadets reuse that "playing each others' horns" set piece in every show now? It's a trademark, and the audience loves it. It's not exclusive to the design of just that one show. Use it again, along with some others. Build a repertoire. Audiences love repetition, and they love tradition.

I still don't understand what the gripe is. Name one other moment in DCI history that was clearly more of an "acrobatic feat of wonder" for the horns than the jumping over members in Samurai? How is that "just okay"?

Have you not seen the point in Boston's show where the guard members jump on the contras and "play" their horns? That's almost more of a "WOW" moment than the original in 2000 Cadets. I mean, they are guard members (not other horn players)... and they're hanging on to the tuba players, not just standing next to them.... and what about the horn throw? Doesn't that seem "dangerous," "risky," and "impossible" to pull off.

I just don't see how there is any lack of these "wow" moments in recent drum corps shows. Last year's top groups were absolutely full of these moments... I truly think there are actually more than there used to be. You know... some people even think there are too many of these lately and refer to them as "gimmicks."

I just don't understand what you all are not seeing.

[Jeff Ream]

lots of visual wow. i think the emphasis on visual has lessened what people think of the shows because the music isnt what they hoped for, and a lot of that lies with how it is arranged

[Tez]

lots of visual wow. i think the emphasis on visual has lessened what people think of the shows because the music isnt what they hoped for, and a lot of that lies with how it is arranged

But this list pointed out above of examples of "WOW" moments that are scarce in this year's shows are all visual things.

1. Madison Rotating Company Front

2. Cadets Z-Pull

3. Cavaliers Company Front Stepping over Guard

4. PR Rockford File

5. SCV Bottle Dance

6. Cadets Playing Each Other's Horns (Whatever it's called)

So even though most people agree that drum corps is becoming more of a visual effect oriented activity... people are still complaining that we don't get enough good visual effects.

[Paralda]

I personally think 08 beat the crap out of 09 in terms of entertainment... but that notwithstanding, I still love the activity and find any show prior to 80 boring as #### (no offense to anyone who marched then, just my opinion).