Carolina Crown New Ending?

[Hrothgar15]

The ending works.

Oh, it works, alright. Magical.

[AlexL]

Puck in particular evolved from something that built to very little into just an amazing thrill ride right around Atlanta as well.

Yeah.. that was one of, if not the best, moments in dci last year.

[idontwan2know]

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.

[ohwiseone]

So does that mean that the Triple Crown Show was a fluke (unless that show still had potential that I missed)

[Schickmeister]

Okay....I was at West Chester last night...here's my two cents...and that is that the ending really makes no sense...at least to me.

They reprise the Mahler stuff, some rewind noise plays, and then run back and play it again, and then all of a sudden BOOM is the end of the 2009 show....EXACTLY THE SAME. Same music, same note, same ultra sub bass from the bowels of the earth, same ending vis, same everything.

Was it played well? Yes. Was it marched well? Yes. Was it loud? Yes.

Did it make any sense whatsoever? Not to me (Although I honestly and truly would like to hear the thinking from a design perspective)

Did I witness most people in the audience look at each other and go More than a few.

It just seems so tacked on to the end for no reason. It's a shame because they sound so great, but the audience was sitting on their hands in confusion.

[Hrothgar15]

It just seems so tacked on to the end for no reason. It's a shame because they sound so great, but the audience was sitting on their hands in confusion.

I definitely didn't get that feeling at all. There is actually an interlude after the rewind section with a section of Promise of Living that wasn't in the show last year, played backfield. I think that part actually transitions nicely into the push. If anything, it was surreal to hear part of a show that last year I thought I'd never hear again.

[wvu80]

It's a shame because they sound so great, but the audience was sitting on their hands in confusion.

I always sit on my hands when I'm confused. In fact, I'm sitting on my hands now.

+++

I haven't seen it, but by your description, the new ending makes perfect sense. It's a SECOND CHANCE for people to see the ending from '09, who didn't get to see it last year!

Figuring out drum corps is so easy if you just think about it.

[corps-mudgeon]

Blue Devils....blowing everyone away with their harmonic complexity (some call it noise...I love it)

Then Bloo. Their show ought to be titled "Metropolis in g minor 9" plenty of close harmony, and jazzy extensions (mostly 9, #11 and 13). Asphalt Cocktail is an entirely different harmonic language unto itself, and very fresh. Its not just parallel minor seconds...it's everything going on underneath those "melodies"

Then Cavies.

Hmmm...the order looks familiar. But what do I know? I'm just a fan like the rest of you.

Thank you.

[corps-mudgeon]

The first half of the Khachaturian is in Ami.... a completely unrelated key to Bb.... while Danzon is in Gmi.

As for other shows with unusual keys..... check out Blue Stars' opener... mostly in Abmi...... and Boston's closer... mostly in Db! And of course SCV, which has music mostly based on the octatonic scale.

Thank you.

[WOOHOO]

Blue Devils....blowing everyone away with their harmonic complexity (some call it noise...I love it)

Then Bloo. Their show ought to be titled "Metropolis in g minor 9" plenty of close harmony, and jazzy extensions (mostly 9, #11 and 13). Asphalt Cocktail is an entirely different harmonic language unto itself, and very fresh. Its not just parallel minor seconds...it's everything going on underneath those "melodies"

Then Cavies.

Hmmm...the order looks familiar. But what do I know? I'm just a fan like the rest of you.

Awesome, someone else who appreciates the harmonic complexity of BD