blueorginal Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Just was listening to a soundtrack internet station and got to wondering if the activity has gotten "to young" to consider or play selections from the early "blockbuster" movies like The Robe, Cleopatra, Ben Hur, 10 Commandments, South Pacific, Victory at Sea It's a wonderful life etc...with the writers, performers and techs now being so far removed from the time period it seems that only the "classics" survive only because orchestras still play them and they are now in commercials :) Not saying the activity needs to regress its more about has the activity lost a knowledge of music 40-50-60 years old.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Just was listening to a soundtrack internet station and got to wondering if the activity has gotten "to young" to consider or play selections from the early "blockbuster" movies like The Robe, Cleopatra, Ben Hur, 10 Commandments, South Pacific, Victory at Sea It's a wonderful life etc...with the writers, performers and techs now being so far removed from the time period it seems that only the "classics" survive only because orchestras still play them and they are now in commercials :) Not saying the activity needs to regress its more about has the activity lost a knowledge of music 40-50-60 years old.... Its not that we have outgrown that music. Its just that music today sucks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 I firmly believe we have outgrown "classic" arrangements of many tunes simply due to tempo. I think that the incredibly fast tempos that the top corps demonstrate - and I don't complain about it from an athletic perspective - do however remove entire sections of musical literature from the possibility of being added to the repertoire. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Just was listening to a soundtrack internet station and got to wondering if the activity has gotten "too young" to consider or play selections from the early "blockbuster" movies like The Robe, Cleopatra, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, South Pacific, Victory at Sea, It's a Wonderful Life, etc. With the writers, performers and techs now being so far removed from the time period it seems that only the "classics" survive only because orchestras still play them and they are now in commercials. Not saying the activity needs to regress; it's more about: has the activity lost a knowledge of music 40-60 years old? In 2010 the Blue Devils won with the theme from Laura, a 1944 melodrama (in 2009 they won with material from King of Jazz, a creaky 1930 musical); the Cavaliers placed playing "Smile", the theme from Modern Times, a 1936 comedy --and a (mostly) silent film, to boot-- and the Bluecoats showed, styling some of their imagery after Metropolis, a 1927 science fiction epic. Obviously some people in the top corps are paying attention to old movies! Additionally, a minor note on a couple titles you mentioned: neither Victory at Sea nor It's a Wonderful Life was a "blockbuster movie". The former was a television series; the latter ranked outside of the top twenty films in box office earnings that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 have we outgrown it? maybe in terms of what designers think is expected. But I think a nice surprise would be a hit, not only with the fans, but the judges. it's all in how it's presented. if the arrangement is all choppy, then no. my favorite drum corps chart in 2010? Empire Statemen's "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". now how many times has that been played? too many to count. But yet it just worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorNik Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I agree Jeff,, that was a fantastic show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Korps Fan Man Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 In 2010 the Blue Devils won with the theme from Laura, a 1944 melodrama (in 2009 they won with material from King of Jazz, a creaky 1930 musical) Not to start a bash-fest, but in 2010, was it recognizable? How many people listened to the show and said "Ooh, that's Laura!"? Same question for 2009. Having not heard the source music for either show, I am NOT trying to bash anyone, I am honestly wondering. the Cavaliers placed playing "Smile", the theme from Modern Times, a 1936 comedy --and a (mostly) silent film, to boot Yeah they did, and it was fantastic- as much as I wanted to hate that show, it worked spectacularly, and ended up being amazing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Just was listening to a soundtrack internet station and got to wondering if the activity has gotten "to young" to consider or play selections from the early "blockbuster" movies like The Robe, Cleopatra, Ben Hur, 10 Commandments, South Pacific, Victory at Sea It's a wonderful life etc...with the writers, performers and techs now being so far removed from the time period it seems that only the "classics" survive only because orchestras still play them and they are now in commercials :) Not saying the activity needs to regress its more about has the activity lost a knowledge of music 40-50-60 years old.... The style & era of music you speak of is still there. A previous poster pointed out Cavies ”smile” would comfortably slot into the style & era you speak of. Assuming there’s no problem with rights I think today’s arrangers/writers etc. will beg, borrow or steal from any musical style or era if they think a certain piece of music will fit into their corps “concept”. A follow up question may be “Would today’s arrangers base a whole show on the music you speak of”? Personally I have my doubts, I’m not sure it would be “cool” enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Not to start a bash-fest, but in 2010, was it recognizable? Yes, "Laura" in 2010 was quite recognizable, and much of the Devils' rendition of that piece was as straightforward as the Cavaliers' "Smile". As for 2009, I recognized most of the songs, but didn't connect them to King of Jazz and wouldn't have done so had not someone on these boards mentioned that some of Devils' visual ideas came from it. I don't know how many of the songs were used in the film (which I've only seen once) but I don't think any of them were original to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpaul Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Not to start a bash-fest, but in 2010, was it recognizable? How many people listened to the show and said "Ooh, that's Laura!"? Same question for 2009. Having not heard the source music for either show, I am NOT trying to bash anyone, I am honestly wondering. Yeah they did, and it was fantastic- as much as I wanted to hate that show, it worked spectacularly, and ended up being amazing. How many people who listened to that show had never heard the tune before? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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