1988 Spirit of Atlanta "Petrouchka"

[bobchilds]

Spirit of Atlanta's "Petrouchka" by Igor Stravinsky show was a radical stylistic departure for the corps. 1989's program, "Interstellar Suite" by Amin Bhatia (which I've never heard), also seems to have been a departure.

Does anybody know the reasons why such a radical change?

[TrumpetJ]

I've always been curious about this as well. I've read on here several times how out there the 1989 program was. Also, does anyone have pictures of thee 1989 uniform? I've heard it was hideous and can't find a picture anywhere.

[84BDsop]

I've always been curious about this as well. I've read on here several times how out there the 1989 program was. Also, does anyone have pictures of thee 1989 uniform? I've heard it was hideous and can't find a picture anywhere.

Weren't they basically the VERY shiny unis from 88 with some additional trim?? Chains across the front? I seem to recall some discussions about how...uh...prominent certain body parts were...

[supersop]

FWIW, I don't think anyone ever truly understood the departure. To a certain extent, I found them very entertaining those years, but the writing was pretty strange in the brass parts. It just felt like a jazz corps trying to play classical music. I'm guessing that was more the comfort zone in approach by the brass staff than anything.

[drumno5]

Spirit of Atlanta's "Petrouchka" by Igor Stravinsky show was a radical stylistic departure for the corps. 1989's program, "Interstellar Suite" by Amin Bhatia (which I've never heard), also seems to have been a departure.

Does anybody know the reasons why such a radical change?

Probably no more complicated than that the staff just decided to take things in another direction, as many corps have done over the years. Among others, I'm thinking of Star setting out to establish a 20th century orchestral identity with Henry V/Roman Festivals in 1991 after having done Disney/ET/Circus/Porgy and Bess in the preceding years (a successful transition, by most accounts - yes?). Porgy, I guess, was already a step in that direction. But the earlier programs were decidedly pop-ish; the '91 program was quite a departure.

Any other transitions in style or approach (for better or worse) that you can think of?

Fred O.

[ashyUechi]

Star 90 was a very similar show to 91 and Star 90 didn't seem too distant from 89. There was a logical transition there.

Ashy

Probably no more complicated than that the staff just decided to take things in another direction, as many corps have done over the years. Among others, I'm thinking of Star setting out to establish a 20th century orchestral identity with Henry V/Roman Festivals in 1991 after having done Disney/ET/Circus/Porgy and Bess in the preceding years (a successful transition, by most accounts - yes?). Porgy, I guess, was already a step in that direction. But the earlier programs were decidedly pop-ish; the '91 program was quite a departure.

Any other transitions in style or approach (for better or worse) that you can think of?

Fred O.

[bluecoats88]

Probably no more complicated than that the staff just decided to take things in another direction, as many corps have done over the years. Among others, I'm thinking of Star setting out to establish a 20th century orchestral identity with Henry V/Roman Festivals in 1991 after having done Disney/ET/Circus/Porgy and Bess in the preceding years (a successful transition, by most accounts - yes?). Porgy, I guess, was already a step in that direction. But the earlier programs were decidedly pop-ish; the '91 program was quite a departure.

Any other transitions in style or approach (for better or worse) that you can think of?

Fred O.

also, Star had what 4 years of history and none of their shows were all that similar in style to the preceding years. spirit on the other hand had been playing Southern Jazz since their inception in the late 70's and then all of a sudden threw in this about face and switched from the classic delta unis at the same time. it was quite a shocker.

[skywhopper]

No information about 88-89 on DrumCorpsWiki. Wikipedia says:

In 1988, after a disappointing competitive end to the 1987 season, a decision was made to turn away from jazz and blues to the classical idiom. Although the corps' competitive placement improved from tenth to ninth place and scored in the 92's just weeks prior to finals, the classical show based on Stravinsky's "Petrushka" was panned by drum corps fans used to the high-powered brass and exciting shows for which Spirit had become known.

But there's no citation.

You can see the 89 uniforms here on the Spirit website. There's no 88 photo on the site.

[Zeke]

I believe Jay Bocook did the Brass Arrangements for the "Petrouchka" (Petrushka) show.

Edited September 14, 2010 by Zeke

[Zeke]

No information about 88-89 on DrumCorpsWiki. Wikipedia says:

But there's no citation.

You can see the 89 uniforms here on the Spirit website. There's no 88 photo on the site.

Holy Smokes Bass Line. 9 Bass Drums? what was the size of the 9th drum? Woah!!!