What shows have not made sense to you in dci history?

[N.E. Brigand]

Boston 2002 -- You Are my Star ... And where did that ballad tune come from? As I recall, there aren't any acknowledgements on Corpsreps for the composer/lyricist.

The DVD credits Robert Seeley as the composer.

[NR_Ohiobando]

I didn't understand Cadets 2006 mostly because they modeled their story after something very specific (which I had no knowledge about) and put it in their show, quotes and all. Had I known the story of Alice in Wonderland like the back of my hand, I probably could've appreciated it more. But something overly specific like: "I just swallowed one of these 2 hours ago" made absolutely no sense to me as an audience member.

Phantom Regiment 2006/2008 on the other hand had characters that were much easier for an audience to create their own ideas about. The "good vs evil" idea is easy for anyone to grasp.

And even more recent shows like Madison Scouts 2010 were able to draw you in without being overly specific. (even though there definitely WAS a theme/story in the show). While people will point to BD 2010 as a confusing show, honestly I think that's just because they aren't used to the types of tonality and structure used in that show. I love BD 2010 for similar reasons I love Madison Scouts 2010. There was a theme/story there, but you didn't have to be aware of it to enjoy the show.

Point is, I tend to enjoy shows when I am not confused by overly specific material. Should designers include less in their shows? Not necessarily. There was an intense story associated with the 2006 Phantom Regiment show. However, the audience was still able to make their own ideas about the show without having a need to understand that story as a whole. It certainly didn't hurt to have great music either.

[N.E. Brigand]

I begin with the assumption that the show's title is going to be meaningless, so I can be pleasantly surprised on those occasions when there actually is a clear connection between the title and the performance. Maybe that's why I was able to enjoy Cadets this year more than most people here who were fixated on L.G., the admittedly unappealing toy "souldier"?

Some comments I just read in an appreciation of the late composer, Henryk Górecki, who died Friday, bear somewhat on this discussion:

What Svejda and other admirers of traditional modernism from, frankly, late Beethoven on, couldn't grasp is that it's not intellectual complexity that makes music great. They've been fooled by the fact that so much great music communicates its quality through the detail of its intellectual processes into believing that that's the only way. But, in fact, what makes music live is emotional intensity. If composers can achieve that through complexity, good for them --though there's far too much utterly arid complex music out there to support a case that this always works-- but there are other roads to the same goal, and if they get there, they're just as valid. Górecki, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, John Tavener, and the infamous American minimalists have taken another, more direct path to emotional communication. Many of them are moved by religious or spiritual feelings and thus connect to earlier composers like Bruckner and Hovhaness who have also been accused of emptiness but inspire passionate devotion in those to whom their music speaks -- among whom I am emphatically one.

If corps' staff need a private theme to help organize their thoughts when they design a show, fine, but often I think they'd be better off not mentioning it to the audience, leaving the shows untitled, and letting the performances, emotionally, and only incidentally intellectually, speak for themselves.

[N.E. Brigand]

I didn't understand Cadets 2006 mostly because they modeled their story after something very specific (which I had no knowledge about) and put it in their show, quotes and all. Had I known the story of Alice in Wonderland like the back of my hand, I probably could've appreciated it more. But something overly specific like: "I just swallowed one of these 2 hours ago" made absolutely no sense to me as an audience member.

Phantom Regiment 2006/2008 on the other hand had characters that were much easier for an audience to create their own ideas about. The "good vs evil" idea is easy for anyone to grasp.

Well, I don't think it's unreasonable for performers to assume some basic level of cultural literacy --a background with which almost everyone can be expected to be familiar-- and I certainly would have agreed with the Cadets that Alice in Wonderland fit into that category. One needn't have read the book; what kid hasn't at least seen the Disney movie? There's always a risk in making such assumptions, though. Doubtless there are other references a corps could make that would be obvious to you but lost on the rest of us.

(I also think everyone ought to know enough Spanish to have recognized the Scouts' much-maligned "Night of the Iguana", and I figured many people immediately recognized it as the title of a Tennessee Williams play; he was, after all, one of the the three or four greatest American playwrights. But relatively few will have ever seen it staged, or even the film version, which did win a couple minor Oscars. I haven't; I have no idea if the Scouts' production even approximates any of the original's plot or themes.)

In some ways it hurts Phantom 2008 if you're familiar with the famous Dalton Trumbo-Stanley Kubrick 1960 movie version, whence comes the line, "I am Spartacus". But I suppose it was considered impractical to crucify the entire audience!

[Jeff Ream]

if it takes 3 minutes ( or in the case of the fan network 11 minutes on the bonus audio) to get the super hidden meanings conveyed that are in your show, you over programmed. and that's IMO one the biggest issues in drum corps right now...people who shouldn't be trying to be super deep designing super deep shows. I see the same thing in indoor too

[Blackstar]

If you can't explain something in one sentence then you don't understand it. At least thats what I was taught. If the show needs an explaination then its not doing its job.

[lindap]

So is 2005. Neither year's opening narrator even began to evoke Rod Serling's style for me, though at least 2006 didn't mumble.

I agree. A short time ago I saw Johnny Depp's version of Alice. I thought it was cool. My friend said 'Oh remember that story from when I was a kid 40 or so years ago, I think?'. Me? I like Johnny Depp and read the book a long time ago, clever movie ;-)

[N.E. Brigand]

A short time ago I saw Johnny Depp's version of Alice. I thought it was cool. My friend said, "Oh, remember that story from when I was a kid 40 or so years ago, I think?". Me? I like Johnny Depp and read the book a long time ago, clever movie.

I didn't see the Burton film. A friend calls it Alice in Narnia and "thoroughly unpleasant" because --to keep this comment from going completely off-topic-- he feels it veers as far from Lewis Carroll's story as Phantom Regiment's use of the words "I am Spartacus" did from their purpose in Howard Fast's book and Dalton Trumbo's script. (Setting aside the historical facts, so far as they are known; I don't believe the phrase is attested.)

[BRASSO]

Equinox was designed for a 2 year old to get it...And some little kids really did get it. I thought that was part of the appeal back then! :P

I did not understand BD2010 honestly. Saw it live and in encore as well. It was SO awesome but I didn't really "get" it.

Somebody said that if you force yourself to stay awake for 72 hours, you'll have an epiphany and the 2010 BD show will all come together and will make sense. Somebody else however told me that the BD show designer was awake for 72 hours straight, had an epiphany, and committed the show theme to paper.... in 72 minutes.... then immediately fell asleep like Rip Van Winkle did.

I on the other hand had a much easier time of it. I first saw the 2010 BD show in July and within 5 minutes fell asleep.

Edited November 15, 2010 by BRASSO

[lindap]

I didn't see the Burton film. A friend calls it Alice in Narnia and "thoroughly unpleasant" because --to keep this comment from going completely off-topic-- he feels it veers as far from Lewis Carroll's story as Phantom Regiment's use of the words "I am Spartacus" did from their purpose in Howard Fast's book and Dalton Trumbo's script. (Setting aside the historical facts, so far as they are known; I don't believe the phrase is attested.)

I've read C. S. Lewis books. Spartacus was a ballet, i think. I'll go to the library and look up Howard Fast's book and Dalton Trumbo's script and get back to you. Until then, you're cool too :-)