actucker Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Meh, it's a tool. I'll take Dr Beat on the practice field over the dutting on the show field ANY day. Neither one of them are going anywhere, so everyone might as well just accept that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 well yes...because they tell the kids to listen to the beat 24/7. trust me, i'm not anti-met. i'm anti addicted-to-the-met-so-bad-you-can-get-in-line-for-food-without-it. and there are those ensembles I'm with you on that, and early season it's always obvious to me which groups are that way. It's unfortunate, because often the groups that are the worst offends of this have problems because the staff does not know how to rehearse properly: yet after the show the staff is usually quick to blame the kids for ensemble tears. I didn't mean to imply that I was disagreeing or anything, I just wanted to point out that what we both agree sucks is 100% the fault of the staff. I think in the DCI World, the top groups have staffs that know how to rehearse (using the met to solidify things + knowing when to ween the members off the met/not use the met at times), and thus there isn't really any issue other than potentially some naive people in this thread who may not really know what they are talking about (kind of like Andy Rooney, where often he gives the appearance of the cantankerous old man saying things like, "these kids and their loud rock music bother me: why can't they listen to cowboy songs from the 20's?!"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Adam Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 well, ensemble tears happen in shows can't be faulted on the beat. Too often, especially with younger corps, they get addicted to the beat and don't know how to do a run without it. Ensemble tears during a show with younger groups tend to happen because they are a younger group not so much because of a Dr. Beat. If they are tearing chances are they have much larger problems then just being too relient on the db. I know you know this being a drummer but we as American musicians and educators we don't focus enough on using metronomes and tuners with our students. Close enough to correct is still kind of correct right lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Adam Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I too hate hearing that crappy sharp click all over the campus of wherever there's a rehearsal or competition going on. We barely used one when I was in band, but that was mostly because: 1) I'm a dinosaur (44) and the amplification then sucked and wasn't really portable 2) We were small compared to DCI corps 3) We didn't march so fast our soles smoked after a run-through 4) Differences in scores of 0.05 didn't differentiate 1st and 2nd place I like the shows I'm seeing so I see it as a necessary evil made possible by our ever-increasing ADD. So far this is my favorite post.... you hit every major point of this debate. And you're right when you have tenths seperating a corps then little lapses in tempo do matter. Sometimes corps and bands are so close to each other in terms of performance that it's near impossible to put your finger on a tangible idea that makes one corps better than another. You can almost "feel" that one corps is better than another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Adam Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Btw, anyone who is against the Dr. Beat doesn't have a clue what modern drum corps is like. Killing emotion?? Really?? I love when people think that maintaining good tempo kills emotion and don't consider all the aesthetics that can come from tempi, or that the ability to change tempo is the most important aspect of emotion. Most corps build in moments to let the tempo breath and adjust while you can still consider that unemotional, I think of how many times I work with my own students on rallentandos and stretching measures, so since we "rehearse" it regularly does that make it unemotional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtreme0204 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 So far this is my favorite post.... you hit every major point of this debate. And you're right when you have tenths seperating a corps then little lapses in tempo do matter. Sometimes corps and bands are so close to each other in terms of performance that it's near impossible to put your finger on a tangible idea that makes one corps better than another. You can almost "feel" that one corps is better than another. Ahh.... Feeling. I was waiting for this to come up in the conversation. This activity we are in is all about just that- pure, raw, untamed emotion. Even we, as trained adults who hope to have the most consistent tempo EVER, will still at times rush (or hold back depending on the individual and whether or not they're conscious of what they're doing) when the "heat of the moment" kicks in. This is a natural fight/flight response produced when our only natural baseline tempo (the heart) goes from resting rate to over 150 bpm. The only real way to be sure that this doesn't happen is to consistently practice the show, especially tempos, so that the natural response our body produces is overweighed by the "feeling" our central nervous system has built through consistent practice, AKA Muscle Memory (although it's actually the wrapping of our nerve fiber by Myelin). This is where the Dr. Beat comes into play. That being said, the Dr. Beat is unfortunately killing the use of any rehearsal sites many corps have used for years. I feel we need to focus on how to maintain these standards of practice within the activity without annoying the *** out of non musicians who want to enjoy their weekends, work at night, just thing this stuff is stupid, etc.... so for this topic I will start a new thread. Please look for it if you would like to stop complaining about something which makes us better and want to start solving the real problem (how to maintain it's use without losing use of facilities). Eric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I love when people think that maintaining good tempo kills emotion and don't consider all the aesthetics that can come from tempi, or that the ability to change tempo is the most important aspect of emotion. Most corps build in moments to let the tempo breath and adjust while you can still consider that unemotional, I think of how many times I work with my own students on rallentandos and stretching measures, so since we "rehearse" it regularly does that make it unemotional? This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DcFr3aK Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 (edited) I love when people think that maintaining good tempo kills emotion and don't consider all the aesthetics that can come from tempi, or that the ability to change tempo is the most important aspect of emotion. Most corps build in moments to let the tempo breath and adjust while you can still consider that unemotional, I think of how many times I work with my own students on rallentandos and stretching measures, so since we "rehearse" it regularly does that make it unemotional? What I think you took the wrong message from his post. The idiom that is "drum corps" is a completely different beast than teaching a concert band the importance of "feeling" and "emotion" of the music they're playing. Having 150 marching musicians spread from 20 to 20, it is hard to keep EVERYONE together in a measure that fluctuates tempo just a few clicks. A perfect example that I can pull from my own marching experience is 'Clair de Lune' from my 2008 season with Crown. That was such a wonderful piece to put together, but with all the rallentando and multi-tempo moments, it was always an intense rehearsal. The Dr. Beat is a wonderful tool, and it has it's place in this activity. A corps can be only as good as the staff and members choose to be regarding approach to tempo! Edited May 18, 2011 by DcFr3aK against media policy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 illegal youtube video, yea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DcFr3aK Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 (edited) illegal youtube video, yea! UGH My bad! Edited May 18, 2011 by DcFr3aK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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