Blue Devils 1989 Ballad Soprano Solo

[BigW]

Did you even read my original post?

There is something new...whether or not the solo was originally written in a more manageable range. It seems once or twice he played it that way, maybe during rehearsal, but it was written up from the beginning. I thought perhaps taking it up an octave was added late in the season, but it turns out this is not the case.

I had a very simple question about the music and not even the player himself.

In general terms, a soloist playing a solo like that usually has some kind of a "bailout" option in hand if they think they're not right in a given situation, sometimes the "bail-out" could be to take things down an octave.

I appreciate the one response as a reaffirmation of some things I had guessed about at BD, where the solists were given a very loose leash and various ways they could pursue the solo, similar to what I experienced forsimilar reasons BITD with my corps.

For instance, I've heard a recording from early in the season with '93 BD's soprano soloist take the one ride in "Chain Reaction" more like the original Ellis piece at one spot, while in the finals recording, it's less ambitious.

And yeah, it's an incredibly sad thing that happened to a good guy with a good heart by all accounts. I think this gets mentioned to deliberately rub salt or trip a raw nerve with the BD people. I've used this as a teachable moment to students- that things can go really wrong, even for the very best people, and that how you deal with that adversity will be your most difficult test as a musician.

Edited August 21, 2010 by BigW

[somerville]

I marched in SCV in 1987 and it took a good 6 months for me to regain my life after finals that year.

I am all better now though.

[84BDsop]

In general terms, a soloist playing a solo like that usually has some kind of a "bailout" option in hand if they think they're not right in a given situation, sometimes the "bail-out" could be to take things down an octave.

And sometimes you just have to do something on the fly. In 06 I had 2 solos with SoCal Dream...the "She's Not There" one where I came out of the line and into the pit, and one in the opener "L'Arena" where I was buried in the block.

The "L'Arena" one was right at the top of my somewhat limited range, and the weather conditions were so awful at prelims (thanks, Hurricane Eduadro), that right in the middle of it I KNEW I would not be able to hit the high D clean...so I made a snap decision to drop it down to a G...did it correctly at finals, tho.

Amazing how fast your mind can work when it needs to...I had about three seconds to decide what to do...while playing the solo at the same time!

[MikeN]

I think this gets mentioned to deliberately rub salt or trip a raw nerve with the BD people.

I think you're 100% incorrect on this - if anything, it's the most "famous" missed solo in DCI history. Certainly the most obvious, which is why it still comes up.

Mike

[closerhyp]

What other DCI moments are there like this? Magic 02 quad player goes down, Crown 07 guard member pops up in front of the camera.... anyone got any other to check out?

[drewbugler]

I wish I had dollar for every note I ever missed. I'd be writing this from my yacht in the Bahamas, sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it, while beauty queens fanned me with palm fronds.

And you, sir, where may we hear recordings of your perfect solos?

my yacht would be even bigger...

[byline]

next someone will ask why/how SCV repeated Phantom in 89 after 88...blah blah blah

And which was the better version.

[84BDsop]

What other DCI moments are there like this?

None....it's not just the sheer awfulness of The Frack -- plenty of people have chowed a solo at finals -- it's more because it happened to BD...normally a corps with consistent performers.

The Frack didn't cost a placement...the score differential was too big on either side of them to have moved them if he;d hit it clean on Finals night.

[byline]

I'm thankful my legacy CD collection that I purchased well over a decade ago had the semi's spliced into the recording. Some great work by the sound engineers to cut in and out ....... yes I could tell where they did it .. but it wasn't glaring. I wish they could have edited the video to do the same. The kid was a stone cold killer ....... he just had a bad night and the rest is history.

(I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way .... the Video of finals should have been edited and had that part cut out. It was a fluke and never should have been released without editing. Maybe you can draw a parallel to the Crown mello situation at finals this year .. and I sincerely hope that there is no camera angle on the DVD that shows him suffering ... I don't care if high cam is on the moon, it shouldn't be on the DVD).

I'm very ambivalent on this. The human being/perfectionist side of me agrees with you (on both instances). The journalist side of me says, "That's what happened at that moment in finals, and making substitutions/creative edits undermines the public record of what happened." If you do that kind of creative editing, then where do you stop? Should every obvious error (guard equipment drops, missed step-offs, gaffed notes, etc.) be edited out?

[Hrothgar15]

Crown 07 guard member pops up in front of the camera