Carolina Crown New Ending?

[ohwiseone]

Another Question, When i watched said ending on the site that should not be mentioned, I did not hear any 06 is it in there, Or was the video just super crappy?

Oh and If anyone went to the big events (dallas, Atlanta, Etc) and bought DCI's 10$ yearbook, They have a show descripition that explanes the show pretty well, I dont have it in front of me, But after I read it i understood it

Edited August 6, 2010 by ohwiseone

[saxfreq1128]

Disclaimer: The people who write for and teach Crown are better at their jobs than I will likely ever be. I have tremendous respect for their abilities.

With that being said, the problem is not that the last 90 seconds doesn't have impact. It's that the first ten and a half minutes are completely muddled from a concept/narrative standpoint. I've watched this show probably ten times now, and still don't know what's it's about or what any of the solo/duet work is supposed to mean. And I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable consumer of drum corps.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to have a deep, thoughtful concept/narrative that's going on for every second of the show to win a championship. Many times fairly shallow and superficial "concepts" prevail over well-carried out themes or stories (see 2004, 2007, 2009, etc. etc.). But what you absolutely can NOT do if you want to compete for a title, is make the audience and judges think that there IS a concept/narrative to your show and that you are failing to communicate it. As a very experienced judge and show designer friend of mine is wont to say, "Don't ever give the judges an opportunity to say 'I don't get it!'" I guarantee you that Crown is getting lots of "You guys perform really well, but I don't get it." from the judges.

I also think Crown has yet to master the art of developing the show and timing their changes for maximum impact relative to the competition during the season. This was a huge part of Cavies' run early this decade and now that BD has finally figured it out, they're on a run as well. People are familiar with the idea of "peaking too early" in relation to performance, but the same thing applies to show design. You have to time your changes to catch/stay ahead of the competition in GE. Crown was essentially putting the same show out there night after night while the competition was continually refining and eventually passing them.

Unfortunately, I suspect the new ending will be too little too late. If they had spent the last 4-6 weeks clarifying the rest of the show from a conceptual standpoint and pulled out the Promise of Living reprise on finals night, it might have put them over the top. I suspect they are just too far out of touch to have "a second chance" now.

What you say is definitely true. But is it just me, or is it also clear that the most successful shows with "narratives" tend to be relying on narratives that are already pretty familiar? Spartacus, WSS/R&J, Casablanca, Scheherazade, dance derbies... Even 'The Zone' was reliant enough on AiW that the corps didn't have to do too much hand-holding to make sure the audience 'got' it (to the extent that 'getting it' was important to that show, anyway.)

I think Crown's difficulty, but also what deserves commendation, is that they're trying to move away from that a little bit and offer a narrative that isn't simply the tried-and-true.

[TAFL]

So many people on here have knocked Crown for not having a "good" ending this year. Now they've changed it, partly to make it more exciting and fun to watch and partly to portray the "second chance" better, but oh we still complain.

And had Crown replaced the first ending with a good ending, there would have been much applause. Replacing a mediocre ending with another mediocre ending is not cause for rejoicing. If folks are complaining about a weak ending, replacing it with another weak ending doesn't address the problem, so one should expect the complaints to continue.

The short version: Just because the ending is new doesn't make it any better.

[ohwiseone]

*Raises hand*

I think its better.... anyone else

..Cricket.....Cricket....Cricket......

[ashevillemurphy]

To me, the end of the show seems too slow (marching speed) and "tacking on" last years music and movement slows it down even more.

[DrinkinOuttaCups]

*Raises hand*

I think its better.... anyone else

..Cricket.....Cricket....Cricket......

I do, too!

[cmathis]

To me, the end of the show seems too slow (marching speed) and "tacking on" last years music and movement slows it down even more.

I have to agree with you. I'm not too fond of this new ending. I actually liked the previous one better...

[ohwiseone]

now that I think about it, If Crown's ending was them playing B-flat whole notes, as loud as huminly possible while doing a company front I would be happy..

Does not take much to please me

[Bruckner8]

now that I think about it, If Crown's ending was them playing B-flat whole notes, as loud as huminly possible while doing a company front I would be happy..

Does not take much to please me

That's fine, but why not take the phrasing of the Bb hits, and convert it into a harmonic progression....differernt chord on each hit, leading to the final chord? The problem is: This is isn't the end of a Tchaikovsky piece where hammering home the tonic might make a lot more sense. This is a drum corps show of only 11:30 minutes, being judged based on certain criteria. Change it up a little, and it would benefit Crown greatly.

[ohwiseone]

That wouldn't be a bad idea, I just tend to think simple might be better in some

cases, which is why I like the ending.

Then again one of my favorite symphonies is symphony #4 from tchaikovsky ( I know bad spelling blame my iPhone)