charlie1223 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Agree. If Drum Corps by and large does not play " popular " music, then it makes it impossible to ever become " popular ". Any musical genre that choses to play rather obscure music ( at least as defined by the general public) has, by choice, decided to remain an obscure niche activity. This is not rocket science here. DCI is an obscure organization comprised of essentially obscure musical bands because it has embraced its " obscureness ",and has eschewed any desire to become " popular ", just as you said here. The trick now for DCI is to see that it's embrace of " obscureness " will not entail full blown obscurity and financial bankruptcy in the future due to it's avoidance of any attempt to become "popular" with the public. was this sarcastic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruckner8 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Agree. If Drum Corps by and large does not play " popular " music, then it makes it impossible to ever become " popular ". Any musical genre that choses to play rather obscure music ( at least as defined by the general public) has, by choice, decided to remain an obscure niche activity. This is not rocket science here. DCI is an obscure organization comprised of essentially obscure musical bands because it has embraced its " obscureness ",and has eschewed any desire to become " popular ", just as you said here. The trick now for DCI is to see that it's embrace of " obscureness " will not entail full blown obscurity and financial bankruptcy in the future due to it's avoidance of any attempt to become "popular" with the public. I never said DCI has eschewed a desire to become popular. I said that people here seem to think it should eschew one popular single idiom (genre) over others, w/o recognizing the fact that the sum total of the drum corps genre can be popular based purely on its excellence. What happens if the TOC shows become wildly popular? What happens if vast majority of fans decides "I'm going to go to 1 or 2 TOC shows and Finals, and nothing else." If that happens, we'll have our answer: Audiences prefer excellence; excellence transcends genre. If a boycott happens (as many wish here), then we'll know everyone prefers the genre, doesn't care about excellence, and resents power grabs from the "most excellent." If nothing changes at all (ie, same people go to TOC and other shows), everyone wins: I can choose to go to excellent shows, and others can choose to go to drum corps shows. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I dont know if this is the answer. But I know this...as the visual becomes more demanding and faster paced, we see more and more injuries. maybe just slowing down and presenting full musical thoughts would work. Nah; I would think that if a show design took 'time out' of visual to do a concert tune, there would be a feeling that they would have to 'make-up' for it by writing more crazy drill in other places. Essentially they'd be doing the same demanding drill, just in a different way. I guess think of it musically: if a corps ends on a quiet note, their last big push has to be HUGE to make up for the fact that they end quiet. They're still giving fans crazy loud volume at the last push, it's just displaced by a phrase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I dont know if this is the answer. But I know this...as the visual becomes more demanding and faster paced, we see more and more injuries. maybe just slowing down and presenting full musical thoughts would work. I feel that those injuries are inherent to the activity now and the kids joining know the risks if they don't follow proper technique and procedure before executing a drill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Actually, corps play from a standstill in modern shows. Not for 3 minutes straight, and there's a lot more body movement....but it still takes place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scout Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I like your thinking. I don't think we need full concert numbers... they just need to slow down a bit. Like I said with my last post in another thread. Stop and jam every so often. You don't even have to jam. There is plenty of time in a show to do crazy drill.. and I love that too! We just need more balance. I agree. I would be nice if the judges rewarded a corps that stopped and played every so often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) What happens if the TOC shows become wildly popular? First of all, I think the terminology is wrong regarding " Tour of Champions ", as some of these Corps in the World Class Division Slotting System that has been concocted have never been crowned " Champions ". The most conventional definition in a competitive sport for " Champion " is one that attained First Place. I understand that " Champion " can be determined by a level of marked superiority as a tertiary, lower level definition, but in it's most common useage a " Champion " is one that has won a " Championship " Title at least once, by defeating all others that year. Otherwise we do a disservice to those in the mix that HAVE been crowned a " Champion " perhaps multiple times, with those that ( despite being good ) have never once attained the mantle of " Champion ". But that's just me, as I tend to be a stickler for detail and being precise and not using terms ( like "Drum and Bugle Corps" ) that are not only imprecise, but are simply inaccurate. As to your question of " what happens if the TOC becomes wildly popular ", I don't know how you define " wildly popular " ? An increase of 500-2,000 at a show ? 50,000 new fans added to Finals ? 5,000 new fans added to finals ? More money to the TOC Corps,( but less to the other World Class Division Corps ) ? What in your view what would constitute " wildly popular " ? Edited February 13, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 As to your question of " what happens if the TOC becomes wildly popular ", I don't know how you define " wildly popular " ? An increase of 500-2,000 at a show ? 50,000 new fans added to Finals ? 5,000 new fans added to finals ? More money to the TOC Corps,( but less to the other World Class Division Corps ) ? What in your view what would constitute " wildly popular " ? Wildly popular means is the show profitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) Wildly popular means is the show profitable. That's sort of a very low threshold for " wildly popular ", no ? I mean... one would certainly hope that at the very least the shows would do a bit better than just break even. Edited February 13, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Nah; I would think that if a show design took 'time out' of visual to do a concert tune, there would be a feeling that they would have to 'make-up' for it by writing more crazy drill in other places. Essentially they'd be doing the same demanding drill, just in a different way. I guess think of it musically: if a corps ends on a quiet note, their last big push has to be HUGE to make up for the fact that they end quiet. They're still giving fans crazy loud volume at the last push, it's just displaced by a phrase. Okay. True, of course. On the other hand, we could view the "concert" regulation as freeing corps from the concern that the ratio of standstill time versus frenetic movement time will be accounted for properly by the judges. If every corps is standing still at some point in the show to emphasize the music over the visual, then everyone can be more comfortable in thinking that they're being evaluated consistently. We address this all the time, don't we? Cavies didn't play enough during major drill moves. Cadets "concert" numbers were a "rest" that wasn't offset by the rest of the drill. Devils sat in chairs while playing. These are common concerns among the fans. Who knows how the judges weigh these moments against the rest of the show as well as the competition. Tell every corps to designate a couple of minutes as "concert" where the visual won't be judged and who knows what treats we'll get. In fact, such a rule wouldn't preclude the corps from moving during those concert minutes. It just wouldn't be judged for visuals. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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