crazymello Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Crown's "where am I," "promise of living," and "somewhere/somewhere" were all great. Also, SCV's show. Blue Stars had an absolutely AMAZING ballad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poprocks Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 For me, Crown, Cadets, and Phantom have done a great job of maintaining a solid ballad portion of their show intact. And I always love how they perform it too. Here's hoping it doesn't disappear forever! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted May 7, 2010 Author Share Posted May 7, 2010 Crown's "where am I," "promise of living," and "somewhere/somewhere" were all great. Also, SCV's show. Blue Stars had an absolutely AMAZING ballad. Crown didn't have a ballad. Blue Stars did, though. It was nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 (edited) They're becoming more and more rare. Makes me sad. I havn't noticed a " death of the ballad " from DCI Corps . Some of the best ballads played in Drum Corps have been performed in the last few years, imo. Blue Stars: 2009 Factory ballad Phantom Regiment... Red Violin brass duet ballad portion 2009, " Ave Maria" in 2006 Carolina Crown..." Claire De Lune " 2008....... " Angel " 2005... ( both Phantom and Crown seem to have good ballads in their show most years of late, for that matter ) Bluecoats had a nice ballad last year ( forget it's name ) SCV in 2009 had a ballad portion in their show " Ballet for Martha ". These few come to mind. There's others too. Personally, I think that the ballads have been a strong suit musically the last decade for DCI Corps. These are the moments that the high velocity drill we have come to know, takes a breather at some small portion of the show and the brass line shines through with nice ballads at moments like ths. It is when the pace quickens, that we seem to lose the melody and harmony in the brass lines and more staccatto choopiness in the music ( to fit the drill ) seems to come to the fore. That would be my take anyway on " death of the ballad"....... As Mark Twain once said to a reporter from a newspaper that had incorrectly confused his passing with another man in their newspaper... ( quote ) : " the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated ". I believe the same thing is true with ballads and DCI Corps. Edited May 7, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 I apologize for the short sample here, but I'm going off of the songs I have on my phone, which don't include many ballads - 1988 - Blue Devils / Since I Fell For You - 3:06 1991 - Blue Devils / Bird and Bela in Bb, Mvt. 2 - 3:15 1992 - The Cadets / To Tame the Perilous Skies - 1:38 1992 - Crossmen / Under the Sun (Ballad / Closer) - 2:07 1992 - Glassmen / Madre de la Tierra - 3:15 1993 - Glassmen / Sailing (Ballad / Closer) - 1:41 1995 - Blue Devils / Coronation of the Dead Queen - 1:54 1996 - Phantom Regiment / 4th Ballet Suite, Mvt. 1 - 3:00 1996 - Madison Scouts / Bolero - 1:59 1997 - Phantom Regiment / Magic Fire Music - 2:53 1998 - Cavaliers / Dance Movements, Mvt. 3 - 2:46 2000 - Boston Crusaders / Time to Say Goodbye - 2:16 2001 - Bluecoats / Red Cape Tango - 2:46 2002 - Glassmen / Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra - 2:50 2003 - Glassmen / The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms - 2:24 2003 - Santa Clara Vanguard / One Man Show - 3:07 2003 - Boston Crusaders / The Prayer - 2:28 2003 - Colts / Harrison's Dream - 2:40 2004 - Seattle Cascades / The Birth - 2:32 2005 - The Cadets / Dancer in the Dark - 2:33 2005 - Bluecoats / Ombra - 2:24 2005 - Mandarins / Adagio - 1:45 2005 - Seattle Cascades / Stairway to Heaven - 2:37 2006 - Carolina Crown / Celestial Night - 1:23 2007 - Spirit / Hide and Seek - 2:55 I don't know what you can extrapolate from that, other than numbers seem to be all over the place. So I suppose that, time-wise, they're more or less where they always have been? Though I don't remember that many sub-2 minute ballads in the past. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 (edited) I apologize for the short sample here, but I'm going off of the songs I have on my phone, which don't include many ballads - 1988 - Blue Devils / Since I Fell For You - 3:06 1991 - Blue Devils / Bird and Bela in Bb, Mvt. 2 - 3:15 1992 - The Cadets / To Tame the Perilous Skies - 1:38 1992 - Crossmen / Under the Sun (Ballad / Closer) - 2:07 1992 - Glassmen / Madre de la Tierra - 3:15 1993 - Glassmen / Sailing (Ballad / Closer) - 1:41 1995 - Blue Devils / Coronation of the Dead Queen - 1:54 1996 - Phantom Regiment / 4th Ballet Suite, Mvt. 1 - 3:00 1996 - Madison Scouts / Bolero - 1:59 1997 - Phantom Regiment / Magic Fire Music - 2:53 1998 - Cavaliers / Dance Movements, Mvt. 3 - 2:46 2000 - Boston Crusaders / Time to Say Goodbye - 2:16 2001 - Bluecoats / Red Cape Tango - 2:46 2002 - Glassmen / Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra - 2:50 2003 - Glassmen / The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms - 2:24 2003 - Santa Clara Vanguard / One Man Show - 3:07 2003 - Boston Crusaders / The Prayer - 2:28 2003 - Colts / Harrison's Dream - 2:40 2004 - Seattle Cascades / The Birth - 2:32 2005 - The Cadets / Dancer in the Dark - 2:33 2005 - Bluecoats / Ombra - 2:24 2005 - Mandarins / Adagio - 1:45 2005 - Seattle Cascades / Stairway to Heaven - 2:37 2006 - Carolina Crown / Celestial Night - 1:23 2007 - Spirit / Hide and Seek - 2:55 I don't know what you can extrapolate from that, other than numbers seem to be all over the place. So I suppose that, time-wise, they're more or less where they always have been? Though I don't remember that many sub-2 minute ballads in the past. Mike Great work, Mike.... some terrific ballads in this list, imo. There are quite a few others too. I havn't noticed a drop off of ballad playing as others apparently have noticed. I'll watch and listen more closely this year to see if it's a trend, or just a cyclical abnormality with the Corps overall. Edited May 7, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted May 7, 2010 Author Share Posted May 7, 2010 It's becoming more common among top corps to have 5 or 6 movements to the show, with a couple of short, ballad-type things dispersed throughout as breathers. Again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, it's just something that I've noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazymello Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 Crown didn't have a ballad. Blue Stars did, though. It was nice. They didn't have a section in the middle that was the designated 'ballad' section, but there was a lot of ballady stuff to listen to, namingly the sections I listed in my previous post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 It's becoming more common among top corps to have 5 or 6 movements to the show, with a couple of short, ballad-type things dispersed throughout as breathers. Again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, it's just something that I've noticed. This first one that jumps to mind when you say this is the Cavaliers' 007 show in 2004 - it had an extended "ballad-ey" part before Welcome to Cuba, then an abbreviated ballad afterward. That one went 7 segments (Goldeneye Intro, Hovercraft Chase, Mini-Ballad, Welcome to Cuba, Ballad, Drum Break, Finale). Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazymello Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 That's what I get for not reading-proving lance's point. But yea, I think if the ballads stay in, and are more dispersed, I won't care at all. One centralized ballad isn't needed, plus dispersed stuff helps my add ridden head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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