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paradigm shift?


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it's difficult to believe that DC music arrangers of the past decade had the thought ....."Well, here's our musical lineup this year, non-awesome and purposefully difficult to listen to....OK, let's do it!" :lookaround:

"Purposefully difficult to listen to" almost has to have "purposefully difficult to play well" as a corollary, and playing something difficult well, even though you have to be highly musically educated to appreciate it, is certainly a strong point with judges.

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"Purposefully difficult to listen to" almost has to have "purposefully difficult to play well" as a corollary, and playing something difficult well, even though you have to be highly musically educated to appreciate it, is certainly a strong point with judges.

Why? What aspect of "purposefully difficult to listen to" will automatically equate to "purposefully difficult to play well?"

After all, we're not talking about sight reading, which would be more difficult without a clear cut melody, but 15 minutes (or however long shows are these days) worth of music they practiced for 9 months.

To me, that seems to be a huge leap in logic.

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another post begging for stock chart arrangements of Malaguena. lol

God i hope not! I love what most of the corps have been doing.

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It wasn't so much an argument, as a question....do you have an answer?

As a matter of fact, I do.

Enjoy the shows for what they are, and realize that no one has a monopoly on "innovation" or "esoteric" (such as that is) in an activity that cribs from other arts. Take that as your caveat going forward, and see that just as there's little point in trying to recreate 1975, it's just as futile to attempt to paint yourself as ready for 2015.

Ultimately, it's just kids on a football field having fun. Twenty years from now, no one will care who thought Crown played only in Bb, or that some thought the Blue Devils show might have been hard to get into, or that the Cadets changed their uniform for a year. The shows that live on are the ones that entertain, or inspire, or change the paradigm going forward. No one has the magic formula, but there's one part of it I do know:

Looking to the past doesn't preclude you from looking to the future. :wink:

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another post begging for stock chart arrangements of Malaguena. lol

God i hope not! I love what most of the corps have been doing.

. . .somehow, I seriously doubt Lance is looking for stock charts of Malaguena from corps considering his posting history.

Tiger of San Pedro, maybe. :tongue:

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Wait, BD design staff is the equivalent of Charlie Parker! tongue.gif

Uh, no!

They're great people, but this isn't the same sort of thing. Sorry.

:blink:

First off, I wasn't mocking you...really! Diogenes and his lantern just came into mind!

And I am in no way comparing BD arrangers to Charlie Parker. I am simply suggesting that the flavor of the comments by some on DCP this past season concerning BD's music was tantamont to a person who didn't get Jazz wandering into Birdland and instead of saying "that's interesting, maybe I should see where he's going with it"....they become rude and accuse him of ruining music. It's just perspective.

You gotta work with me JJ, on these analogies!! :tongue:

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"Purposefully difficult to listen to" almost has to have "purposefully difficult to play well" as a corollary, and playing something difficult well, even though you have to be highly musically educated to appreciate it, is certainly a strong point with judges.

I agree. But "purposefully difficult to play well" does not need to be inverted scales played at break-neck speeds....like a loop played on the computer. A good example of this is the rif played by BD about midway into their show where the brassline does an amazing unison structure just before their "jazz out" bit. Some viewed it with mouths open, some viewed it growling because it was a stand still or it was just BD...all of the baggage comes along for the ride.

But (you are correct) the judges see it without the baggage, it's about musical design, difficulty and performance...they understand all too well that what's happening in the stands behind them is stimulated by a whole different set of circumstances.

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As a matter of fact, I do.

Enjoy the shows for what they are, and realize that no one has a monopoly on "innovation" or "esoteric" (such as that is) in an activity that cribs from other arts. Take that as your caveat going forward, and see that just as there's little point in trying to recreate 1975, it's just as futile to attempt to paint yourself as ready for 2015.

Ultimately, it's just kids on a football field having fun. Twenty years from now, no one will care who thought Crown played only in Bb, or that some thought the Blue Devils show might have been hard to get into, or that the Cadets changed their uniform for a year. The shows that live on are the ones that entertain, or inspire, or change the paradigm going forward. No one has the magic formula, but there's one part of it I do know:

Looking to the past doesn't preclude you from looking to the future. :wink:

Well that wasn't so difficult. :rolleyes:

I would only suggest that the nature of this thread seems to imply that the paradigm shift is a return to complete music phrases as if to say the field in the last decade was rife with chop shop arrangements. IMO, as the activity became more visually promenant, the more the need for scores that compliment the visual, this is a tricky business and it's taking some for the design teams (music and viz) to feel each other out, and most importantly stay together long enough to allow it.

Edited by Plan9
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Well that wasn't so difficult. :rolleyes:

I would only suggest that the nature of this thread seems to imply that the paradigm

shift is a return to complete music phrases as if to say the field in the last decade was rife with chop shop arrangements. IMO, as the activity became more visually promenant, the more the need for scores that compliment the visual, this is a tricky business and it's taking some for the design teams (music and viz) to feel each other out, and most importantly stay together long enough to allow it.

Plan9, I would like to respond to you in a couple ways. First, speaking for myself only as a 50 year old who discovered drum corps in 1979 and never left it....

I am someone who does NOT neccessarily need "recognizable" source music....but as I am not a music major, melodic arrangements are in fact needed (by me at least) to enjoy the show. When I was 19, I had no clue who Stan Kenton was, but BD's "Pegasus" is something which I find myself humming in the shower to this day. I had never heard of "Dindi" or "New York Fantasy" but BD engrained those tunes into my internal MP3 forever. The same is true of SCV 87...and of course, my all time favorite, Boston Crusaders, whose "Conquest" from a rather obscure movie in 1947....well you get the picture. This is all stuff that was arranged incredibly well, thus has withstood the test of time-for me at least. As incredible as Star was, I cannot humm the Bartok if my life depended on it.

My other observation, is, hopefully, a positive note. While I am not an official spokesperson for BAC----only a volunteer these days---I have overheard ENDLESS conversations by their management/design team centering on programming and arranging that is very much audience-focused. Like them or not, I think most folks would agree that since 2008 at least, Boston has been bending over backwards to program and arrange shows which are audience-friendly. Their show as announced for 2011 is no exception, and I have reason to think that many other corps are trying to do the same. I think this summer will be one of the best in recent memory in that regard....

Edited by craiga
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Plan9, I would like to respond to you in a couple ways. First, speaking for myself only as a 50 year old who discovered drum corps in 1979 and never left it....

I am someone who does NOT neccessarily need "recognizable" source music....but as I am not a music major, melodic arrangements are in fact needed (by me at least) to enjoy the show. When I was 19, I had no clue who Stan Kenton was, but BD's "Pegasus" is something which I find myself humming in the shower to this day. I had never heard of "Dindi" or "New York Fantasy" but BD engrained those tunes into my internal MP3 forever. The same is true of SCV 87...and of course, my all time favorite, Boston Crusaders, whose "Conquest" from a rather obscure movie in 1947....well you get the picture. This is all stuff that was arranged incredibly well, thus has withstood the test of time-for me at least. As incredible as Star was, I cannot humm the Bartok if my life depended on it.

My other observation, is, hopefully, a positive note. While I am not an official spokesperson for BAC----only a volunteer these days---I have overheard ENDLESS conversations by their management/design team centering on programming and arranging that is very much audience-focused. Like them or not, I think most folks would agree that since 2008 at least, Boston has been bending over backwards to program and arrange shows which are audience-friendly. Their show as announced for 2011 is no exception, and I have reason to think that many other corps are trying to do the same. I think this summer will be one of the best in recent memory in that regard....

If this turns out to be the case, then I'll shift a " pair-a dimes " to go watch such a Corps show, craiga. I think others will too.

Edited by BRASSO
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