pioneer171 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Anybody else annoyed with all this elctronic crap and mics ? All the balance problems they create are not worth the effects they create. Sorry George H..lets let Drum Corps be Drum Corps. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 . . .submit a proposal to do so this off-season. Let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiriusSoprano Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 How about you start an online petition. I'll be the first to sign. That or send the Terminator back in time to "take care of" George Hopkins. I'm fine either way. ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkfdPRphan Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I actually DO like amplified/mic'd pit.....but not the electronic synth, drums, fiddle, base, clarinet.....stuff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cron Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I actually DO like amplified/mic'd pit.....but not the electronic synth, drums, fiddle, base, clarinet.....stuff. I don't know that I've ever heard electronic base before... does it sound like fighter jets and helicopters??? But, seriously, are we really having this conversation again??? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrusch1 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I just posted this in the DCA discussion: I see amplification as a non-issue. It's how corps designers have utilized the decreasing restrictions on what can or cannot produce sound. I don't care if there are singers, rock bands, or amplified MIDI sousaphone patches...all I really care about is if it is logically and tastefully incorporated into the show, and with the "elements" I just mentioned, I wouldn't really bank on meeting that objective. I consider drum corps to be a perfectly valid art form. When drum corps was simpler, designers were true artists with the palette they were given. And just like all mediums in art, people will continue to innovate and stretch the existing boundaries, eventually defining a new standard of the art form itself, and that's a good thing. If this actually was the case with today's drum corps, I would be fine, but sadly it's not. The sheer nature of competition forces designers to raise the bar each year, doing something new and different to get the competitive edge. The unfortunate truth is that the designers raising the bar are not even relatively comparable to the innovators of the past. The shows corps continue to put on the field each year are only becoming increasingly more polished turds (in other words, bad art performed really well). Unfortunately, I dislike more of this year's DCI show designs than I approve because of this fact, and I'm not the typical cranky "purist," I'm only 22. So many of this years' shows reuse the same worn-out GE moments MULTIPLE times. Park-and-Barks are awesome, but not every three sets. Electronics might even have tasteful applications if designers followed this logic. Even shows that are designed to be crowd-pleasing are missing the mark (I think I stomached all the "rach on" signs I could handle from Crown in the first 2 minutes, and thats just one example). It's not just drum corps that are guilty, it's marching bands too. What is unique about both activities, more so than other art forms, is that they are both deeply rooted in tradition. Tradition and individual corps history has basically defined the activity as it is today. We still see it in our uniforms, company fronts, music selection, pageantry, etc. However, in an attempt to seem more "artistic" than the competition, both activities are becoming so self-indulgent and "changing for the sake of change" to the point where I'm almost embarrassed to defend the artistic validity of the activity. It's not a question of the rule changes, it's a question of quality. When I go to a concert at Lincoln Center, I expect to see and hear a spectacular performance of logically-programmed high-quality music. I go for a mixture of aesthetic appreciation and emotional release, but I also go to be entertained. I expect the same in drum corps. Say something worth saying, but rip my face off in the process. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cron Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I just posted this in the DCA discussion: I see amplification as a non-issue. It's how corps designers have utilized the decreasing restrictions on what can or cannot produce sound. I don't care if there are singers, rock bands, or amplified MIDI sousaphone patches...all I really care about is if it is logically and tastefully incorporated into the show, and with the "elements" I just mentioned, I wouldn't really bank on meeting that objective. I consider drum corps to be a perfectly valid art form. When drum corps was simpler, designers were true artists with the palette they were given. And just like all mediums in art, people will continue to innovate and stretch the existing boundaries, eventually defining a new standard of the art form itself, and that's a good thing. If this actually was the case with today's drum corps, I would be fine, but sadly it's not. The sheer nature of competition forces designers to raise the bar each year, doing something new and different to get the competitive edge. The unfortunate truth is that the designers raising the bar are not even relatively comparable to the innovators of the past. The shows corps continue to put on the field each year are only becoming increasingly more polished turds (in other words, bad art performed really well). Unfortunately, I dislike more of this year's DCI show designs than I approve because of this fact, and I'm not the typical cranky "purist," I'm only 22. So many of this years' shows reuse the same worn-out GE moments MULTIPLE times. Park-and-Barks are awesome, but not every three sets. Electronics might even have tasteful applications if designers followed this logic. Even shows that are designed to be crowd-pleasing are missing the mark (I think I stomached all the "rach on" signs I could handle from Crown in the first 2 minutes, and thats just one example). It's not just drum corps that are guilty, it's marching bands too. What is unique about both activities, more so than other art forms, is that they are both deeply rooted in tradition. Tradition and individual corps history has basically defined the activity as it is today. We still see it in our uniforms, company fronts, music selection, pageantry, etc. However, in an attempt to seem more "artistic" than the competition, both activities are becoming so self-indulgent and "changing for the sake of change" to the point where I'm almost embarrassed to defend the artistic validity of the activity. It's not a question of the rule changes, it's a question of quality. When I go to a concert at Lincoln Center, I expect to see and hear a spectacular performance of logically-programmed high-quality music. I go for a mixture of aesthetic appreciation and emotional release, but I also go to be entertained. I expect the same in drum corps. Say something worth saying, but rip my face off in the process. Total respect for your opinion, but what IS a show that hits all of these points for you? Just so we can see where your coming from. What year/corps/show really does it for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Smith Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Anybody else annoyed with all this elctronic crap and mics ? All the balance problems they create are not worth the effects they create. Sorry George H..lets let Drum Corps be Drum Corps. WHAT?! There are electronics being used in drum corps?! I'll tell you what we need. We need some zealous young blood to go slap some people around and get this fixed. I know that I have expended way too many brain cells on trying to effect change. I lost my zeal for it after my solo sit down protest in the parking lot at one of the shows. Just when I thought people were going to join me they would come up and offer to help me up, so I finally staggered to my feet, grabbed my walker and went in to watch the show. The Cavaliers won. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Like them or not, electronics are here to stay. Most of these horns today play like they are in concert bands on the field. They are not the monster - power hornplayers of the past. When you can not play loud enough, mics and power amps become your friends. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinwiz Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 How much is getting rid of Electronics worth to you? Are you willing to add your donation to a fund to be distributed to each corps that decides to go amp-free for the entire season? Will you be able to get enough money pooled together to effect change to a single corps? A few corps? A division? And then can you do it again the following summer? And the summer after that? And the summer after that? I don't want Electronics to go away, but if I wanted it that would be my plan of attack. Of course, if I did that I'd rather spend my energies influencing something that matters. You need to make going amp-free worth it to a corps' bottom line with guaranteed money. Until that point, all the petitions and grousing won't make a single bit of difference. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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