Phantombari1 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I know this will sound simple but if the judging community and corps put music first, the rest will work itself out. If you put more emphasis on the music from both the judging side and design side the music alone will suck the fans back in to the activity. Inferior Musical productions will eventually disappear design will remain the same. All the corps at one point or another have produced great musical productions, so it shouldn't be that difficult. Maybe it's just me but the problem seems to be more about the judging community dictating what they want and not want the audience demands. From a sales perspective I can see the DVD/CD/Download sales going through the roof with great musical productions. The cookie cutter productions stifle sales. Bottom Line, DCI controls the product specifications...the performances are a product of quality control. Are we producing a High Perfomance custom product or are the shows rolling off the DCI assembly line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersop Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 heh .. forumalic .... I made a new word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tez Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Regardless of whether "Contemporary Wind Band Literature" is a problem, or not, I fail to see how most of the top groups use this as their basis for musical selections. I looked at all of the top 6 shows for the past 10 years, and I could only find 15 or 16 which use Wind Band literature as their primary musical source. That is only about 26%. I think we have a great variety in style of the source material, it is the actual arranging that is the problem. Too many arrangers try to arrange the same way... our ears want to hear something different after awhile. Recent shows which I think have kind of gotten away from the common formula are: Blue Devils 2003 Blue Devils 2004 Cadets 2005 Carolina Crown 2006 Cavaliers 2007 Blue Devils 2007 Phantom Regiment 2008 Blue Knights 2009 SCV 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 agree...wind music has become a scapegoat. it's how stuff is arranged that is more the problem, and yes, the activity has become so visual focused music suffers YES! I agree. Wind music could be VERY effective in drum corps. But wind band music you can't chop up. It's jsut not that type of music. Wind music has to be arranged so it adds a drum corps spin to the music. You have to add to effect of the music. There are so many ways you can do it. And then there is wind music like John Mackey's wind music, where all we need is someone to transcribe for hornline. You can use most of the percussion material. And it would be great on the field. Personally, I like wind music in drum corps... I do think there is too much, and most of the issue is the visual focus in drum corps, and arrangers being handicapped because they have to make the "visual moment" But that is all they are, is visual moments. Where are the musical moments? I feel like a lot of the problem is society's growing need on visual aids to be interested in anything. My sister said it... Cavaliers in 2006 were more interesting to her because of the visual aspect was more effective to the eye than Regiment 06 (although I think the judge decided the opposite). The funny thing, I thought Phantom's visual rep was a lot better, because I got a very equal focus on music/visual, and the two really actually went hand in hand unlike Cavies visual heavy program. However... I think the judges went with phantom in GE vis, and Cavies in GE music... listening to the GE music tape... I'd say his numbers were ########... oh well. I'm kind of going off topic. But especially with the young people today, the need for some visual aspect to go along with audio for them to get any interest is why we have what we have today. It's why instead of park and barks... the are run and blows. Yeah some of it is cool, sometimes. Back to the music. The choice of music has become dull.. as much as wind music does work, it does get old after a while. Especially with jazz almost being completely gones from the activity. There has not been a good jazz show in some years. And jazz is properly the most unique genre out there... and within jazz there are so many options. And doing a park and bark... then the rest of the show being a drum break with horn stabs and out of tune chords is not jazz. I do agree with mostly everything posted on hops blog. I'll have more thoughts later.. maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slow Adam Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I don't care what the genre of music is, as long as the visual designer isn't controlling the music arranger. Cavies showed us some cool tricks this decade, but it's a boring approach, for me atleast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantombari1 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) Without a musical connection all of the shows are boring to me. They are entertaining in the same way a decent movie is, ya it was a decent movie but I wouldn't pay to see it again and I certainly won't by the DVD. Edited January 7, 2010 by Phantombari1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84skyrydr Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 If you want a crowd to applaud, then GIVE THEM TIME. Too many shows seem to fly without a break for any applause to happen. When do you applaud??????? It used to be that every song song had a beginning and an END. Where did the ends go???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperial Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) If you want a crowd to applaud, then GIVE THEM TIME. Too many shows seem to fly without a break for any applause to happen. When do you applaud??????? It used to be that every song song had a beginning and an END. Where did the ends go???? Agreed... My analogy is: You turn on a lawn mower and let it run for 11 minutes. It putters along at a constant din for 11 minutes without any rise or fall. Devoid of contrast or texture. Then you shut it off. That's what we have now. Edited January 7, 2010 by Imperial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Yes, for those of us who have been reading RAMD and DCP for fifteen years, we have seen this argument before. But who among us have not been blind or deaf to something important for our lives, and once we come to the realization, we know there are countless people out there saying to themselves, 'I've been trying to tell him that for years...' Sometimes it's just the right timing, the right person whom we trust, that allows us to hear something important or new. I think that it's nothing but great that George Hopkins posted this on his blog. And I also think that we're at an incredibly positive point for drum corps programming. In 2009, SCV, Crown and (perhaps) Cadets GOT IT. I anticipate more such getting it in the future. Must listen to 2009 SCV now, excuse me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos001 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 i concur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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