Tito John Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 The end of the Atlanta thread drifted to the subject of mass audience appeal vs. playing to the judges, an old and cherished tradition here. It would be dangerous to name corps, but let's say corps A has the finest feet and most proficient brass, battery, guard and pit in the business. (Or give them two or three of the five to keep it a bit more real.) Let's say corps B has a show that wows the audiences everywhere they go, but they can't seem to rise much in the rankings. Rewind the tape to the beginning of the season. What would happen if corps A adopted corps B's show? I guess this could go off in many different directions -- the importance of show design vs. performance aptitude for one, or whether judges really are impressed more by new musical directions than by stuff from the great American songbook. To put it aggressively, is there something about audience appeal that's antithetical to aesthetics? (My musical knowledge may be zilch, but I can sling the five-syllable words! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarkbugler Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Another idea. None of the top 8 announce their shows before the first show. Then show up at the first show out of uniform with no identifying colors, etc. Let the fans (and judges) decide who's best at that show. Thereafter everything goes back to the norm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Well, I can't answer the hypothetical about corps A adopting corps B's show during the season. That alone presents problems for anyone. Corps A, as you have described them, is in fact the Blue Devils. Now, I am not saying this to put anyone down or to diss any corps. Not the point at all. But I have been around drum corps for many, many years. From the late 70s to the 80s, 90s, and 2000s the Blue Devils have typically been the corps that can reload from year to year and are often the best in brass, drums, marching, and guard. Yes, they have had some down years. Some of that due to design, sometimes due to methodology (needing to bring in Todd Ryan in 94 to enhance the marching style, change-ups in percussion instructors, etc.), and there have been a few years where they had to develop new players. More often than not, they reload on talent. They have two wonderful feeder corps that develop excellent prospects, and they tend to attract outstanding talent nationwide (worldwide even). Most drum corps organizations have up and down years, and not just in terms of placement. Membership fluctuates between experience and newcomers, those who are stronger musicians and those who are not, those with some marching experience and those who are newbies. BD mostly reloads. Now I say this because there have been many times when BD has not won DCI Finals mainly because the show design was not there. They could perform every bit as good as any corps on the field, even better perhaps, but the design was not there. So design does matter in judging. That's why GE is on the sheets. In other words, you can't just be the best marchers, players, and spinners and WIN. If the show was just horrid and poorly constructed then your rank will fall. However, such consistency in the performance captions will garner you many top 4 finishes. Having said that, the Blue Devils usually produce excellent shows. Yes, there are some that are not mainstream or accepted by the average fan, and they have had many years where the musical arranging style became somewhat disjointed and choppy and that likely hurt some of their appeal to the average fan. But many corps adopted this style. It's not BD's cross to bear for the entire activity. Everyone took part. More times than not when BD gets a show right, they win or they are top 3. Clearly the numbers speak for themselves. How often will other corps (even the Cadets and Cavaliers) have the combination of experienced members (being fully reloaded), the show design, and the performance levels? As for scoring: this has often been debated. What gets more credit: show design or performance? Many say they want the performers to settle it on the field. As fine and noble a thought this is, what happens when the performers are spot on but the show is a dud with limited demand? Do we want a corps playing "Marry Had A Little Lamb" and winning? No. So there are various Box levels that your show and your captions can speak to. A show that makes Box 5 is meeting the criteria for demand, excellence, and artistic design at the highest level. So while we want the performers to settle it on the field, we can't allow the performers to get away with performing a show not worthy of top 12, top 6, top 3; so content sub-captions within visual and performance captions, and the overall GE captions tend to figure out whether the show is constructed well, has enough demand, is generating great effect, etc. This in addition to the performance numbers tend to give you a better outlook. The show that does this the best will win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tito John Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Well, that's why I said "rewind to the beginning of the season," not adopt a new show mid-season. You can do that in a thought experiment. I'm not sure what your bottom line is, though. I doubt that you're saying that a fan-favorite show is per se badly designed...or maybe you are? Do things that appeal to Joe Sixpack always (or almost always) not appeal to judges? There's no comment here about BD, pro or con. Too many bits and bytes have already died to feed the frenzy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubiks6Side Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Another idea. None of the top 8 announce their shows before the first show. Then show up at the first show out of uniform with no identifying colors, etc. Let the fans (and judges) decide who's best at that show. Thereafter everything goes back to the norm. I like this idea, but use every corps. completely random order top to bottom. but that's a lot of money/time for just one show with all black uni's. And certain visuals wouldn't be the same (thinking of uni specific visuals, like cadets two different sets of uni's). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I like this idea, but use every corps. completely random order top to bottom. but that's a lot of money/time for just one show with all black uni's. And certain visuals wouldn't be the same (thinking of uni specific visuals, like cadets two different sets of uni's). While it seems interesting in spirit, the "plain brown wrapper" would be ripped off in about ten seconds. Any drum corps fan or judge half worth their salt could recognize any of the top ten (or more) in that period of time. No matter the theme, the brass and percussion sounds/arranging, visual styles and color guard personalities are too unique and familiar for this to reasonably work. Would have been an interesting exercise in a perfect world, but it isn't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographer Jim Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 (My musical knowledge may be zilch, but I can sling the five-syllable words! ) Maestro, can we have pol-y-syl-lab-ic in the key of G please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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