BRASSO Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) BRASSO, KStein, and GMichael are all correct. We keep using the term "recognizable" when we probably should be saying "melodic". I joined drum corps in 1979, and was enthralled by BAC's "Conquest", but I had never seen the original movie and therefore it WAS unrecognizable to me...it was just the balls!And yeah, back in that era, I loved it when BD played Channel One Suite, or Spanish Fantasy or Pegasus. As a 19 old, I had no knowledge of Buddy Rich, Chick Corea, or Stan Kenton. This stuff just sounded great to me! One of my favorite all time shows continues to be SCV 87, yet I had never heard Russian Christmas Music until they played it.....AND, it is really a "dreaded" concert band piece, btw. So, it really comes down to the arrangements, NOT the source material. I doubt that many teenagers (or old people like me) really are familiar with Spartacus, but it was the arrangement and performamnce of that which made that a fan favorite. The biggest high point for BAC this past year was the Bacchanale, not something you would hear on the radio. I do think that MOST drum corps in the past two years have figured this out and are adjusting their programming accordingly. Of course, ego will still drive a few people to present "Obscure tone poems in B Flat presented in 18 snippets" kind of shows, but looking at 09 programming, they are becoming the minority. Thankfully. I have nothing against DCI music arrangers from time to time wanting to resurrect some obtuse composition from some obscure composer and bring it to new life via Drum Corps. But they HAVE to realize that most people understand that there is a valid reason why the composer's composition is " obscure " to begin with, and that there are risks inherent in trying to bring unpopular obscurity to life yet AGAIN....via Drum Corps audiences. Edited January 25, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corps-mudgeon Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I have nothing against DCI music arrangers from time to time wanting to resurrect some obtuse composition from some obscure composer and bring it to new life via Drum Corps. But they HAVE to realize that most people understand that there is a valid reason why the composer's composition is " obscure " to begin with, and that there are risks inherent in trying to bring unpopular obscurity to life yet AGAIN....via Drum Corps audiences. I enjoyed and smiled at this exposition of said truism. Amazing how obscure some find this truth to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecoats88 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I guess all I am saying from the two years is that top to bottom I was drawn in from every show from 79, Troopers to Devils- 2007 is a crap shoot. My buddy can hum to Kasmire because its music he hears every year its on the radio all the time, Billy Joel music on the radio all the time-Bird in Bella he never will here it agian, Theme from Dreamer, battle Music, Concerto No 1, Vespertine Formations, he will never here this music agian unless I am listening to it. Now Aquarius Troopers 79, Over the Rainbow Cavies 79, Birdland Blue Stars 79, Beach Boys Medley North Star 79, Bohemian Rhapsody Madison 79, Greensleeves Guardsmen 79 and so on and so on. Thats where I am coming from about people need music they know to get into it, not music we as a actvity personally know but what the Main Stream knows. I think this is what the activity could use is a little mainstream music. Thats all. now you mention a lot of music which you knew from the 79 shows, but during the time it was played there were probably a lot of people who weren't familiar with these tunes either. The one thing I loved about drum corps was all the music it introduced me to that I otherwise may not have discovered. Wait another 30 years and see if the 2007 music is still a complete unknown to you viewing partner, or if it is something he has explored since being introduced to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Regarding the "humming factor," I have always felt that it depends a lot more on the individual piece of music rather than one's familiarity with it beforehand. I don't think newer shows are less hummable. There are shows from all decades that leave me humming, and some that don't. At times, I believe familiarity can actually be a negative. Sometimes I just don't want to hear something I've heard twenty times before. I wholeheartedly agree: memorable shows are memorable, no matter the era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 The humming factor, one thing I liked was that you had alot of different music during a show. I hate..no dislike the current show has to have a theme and they through simarly title music together and 85% of the audience has never heard of it or worse won't remember it 10 minutes after the show is over. I can't remember any of the music from last year, But when I listened to shows from 82 (when I discovered drum corps) to around 90 it made me want to go out and buy the records. I found some ofmy favorite music through drum corps. We don't listen to alot of Aaron Copeland and Dave Brubek in my nieghborhood. That's weird, by my calculations as least 87.5% of the fans in the stands at DCI finals week last season LOVED most of the music they heard at shows (both World and Open classes), are still humming it to this day (because I do keep in contact with all of them) and absolutely love modern drum corps as it is. :smile: I would LOVE to read your obvious study/polling of multiple DCI show attendees that led you to your obvious scientific conclusion. Oh, what's that? You're making up figures to try to drive your point home that you DON'T LIKE DRUM CORPS?!?!?! Imagine that.... Just stick to your opinions, huh? Don't try to add completely imaginary numbers or statistics to quantify you and your friends' opinions of modern drum corps. I coincidentally just watched the 1979 finals (an AMAZING year for drum corps) and loved several corps. I also went and watched some shows from 2007. And 1993. And 1987. LOTS of great shows. Lots of quality every year. Also shows I don't like every year. Some years have more shows I like than other years. But don't go BS'ing numbers to try to paint your opinion as some kind of fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Over the last 2 weekends my boy and I watched the top 12 of these 2 years. Seeing that there has been so much posted here about old school and new school, I thought I would check these out agian and see what feelings we would get by watching these two spectacular years. One thing I noticed and wished would come from the new school Drum Corps is the humming factor. Music that people who have no clue about Drum Corps could pop on tv and know the tunes. I think personally that Drum Corps was great from both years but new school is way out there in the what was that factor. Yea both years gave goose bumps, drill is so much better from 07 but almost every show from 79 had me humming some song or wistiling a solo. New school to me is so far out there in the musical selections that the average Joe just does not have any clue how to get into this activity. Drum Corps needs to, in my humble opionion open up and find a way to include more main stream music that the masses know. It seems we have become elitest, Music Major Drum Corps is what we have become it seems, and where are all the great kick but soloists hiding. One other thing I would like to throw out there that my boy brought up was the colors on the field. Drill and Dance have become so prominent that he noticed that the guards of the old school were so much more. How did he put it, they just are doing so much more with more color that he just noticed that. If I had to pick a year to show someone that has never seen our activity and these were the only two I had I would have to pick ?Lets debate. Interesting story. If I had to pick a year ('79 or '07) to show someone who knows nothing of drum corps I would show them 2007 since it is closest to modern drum corps. Personally, while I marched in the late 90's (and I happen to love drum corps from 80's-mid 90's), my eight year old son LOVES modern drum corps. I tried to show him some of my favorite years of 'classic' drum corps, and while he seemed to have at least some what of appreciate for the past ("SCV won with this show in 1989?! AWESOME!!"), the older stuff didn't hold his attention. He said it was slow and a little bit boring. I guess opinions differ. Either way, yea for both of us exposing our children to both modern and classic drum corps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I have nothing against DCI music arrangers from time to time wanting to resurrect some obtuse composition from some obscure composer and bring it to new life via Drum Corps. But they HAVE to realize that most people understand that there is a valid reason why the composer's composition is " obscure " to begin with, and that there are risks inherent in trying to bring unpopular obscurity to life yet AGAIN....via Drum Corps audiences. 1) Everyone is obscure at some point, especially to the "masses."' 2) Designing for a drum corps is almost a double-edged sword. If you design a show with well known music, you risk judges killing scores because they don't like your arrangement, criticism from fans for doing the same old thing over, and over, and/or the expectation to take the 'popular' music to unique places (though not too unique: see the first problem). If you design a show with 'obscure' music, you risk the show from falling flat since you don't know if the judges or audience will have similar passion/excitement that you have for the music. It's a tough 'game' to design shows, and it's not a shock that the most successful corps are the ones who constantly take risks. I think it's not the rep. that is at fault (popular vs. obscure), it's the arrangements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob J Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 To add another opinion, I dragged my wife and 2 sons (12 and 16 at the time) to quarterfinals in '07 (my nephew was marching), and 2 out of 3 of them were bored out of their skulls, and left after Crown (intermission). These are people who DO have a lot of exposure to lots of different kind of music, so not quite "Joe Public" types. The shows put on by the 15-7 corps just weren't exciting enough to keep their attention, I think because they all sounded the same with snippets of unrecognizable "generic drum corps" bugle playing interspersed within lots of drum breaks. Not a lot of memorable stuff (from their perspective. I don't think it is likely that I could get them to sit through '79 for comparison! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think it's not the rep. that is at fault (popular vs. obscure), it's the arrangements. On this, I totally agree. I can name a million (okay, not literally, but I could name over 100) songs that I learned to like via DCI. But thanks to the nature of arranging for more recent shows, it's slowed down considerably in recent years. Way too many transitions that break up the "flow" of songs, I think, or cuts to different pieces altogether. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimisback Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Marching is more exciting today, no doubt. The music was more exciting in 1979, no doubt. It would be cool to mix them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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