En929 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) I was reading some of the posts regarding the future of music and it was a good thread. I agree with what someone said in the future of music thread. While I think that there is a lot of extreme talent, incredible virtuosity, executions and incredible marching and designs in drum corps today, I do have to admit that some of the music played in many drum corps today has been a bit boring (even to me); and the music CAN BE one of the downfalls of DCI drum corps. I mean it seems like the kind of music they play these days are for some of us who studied music and are/or were music majors, and is not accessible to a general crowd. But even I, a person who studied music and even teach music, would prefer to see drum corps the way they used to be (especially back in the 80s, but I’d like anything from 1995 and below). Even I would prefer to hear grooving music, and not so much emphasize on themes but just jams, and maybe a little bit of the drum corps music that we hear today, but not TOO MUCH of it. Isn’t that what is drawing crowds to our parallel activities like HBCU bands? People go to those shows to hear the music and I think a lot of the things they do comes from drum corps. I’ve even done this experiment at my own school where I started a drum corps that plays popular music and things that are recognizable and has things that people want to hear (and frankly, I and the students wanted to hear) with only one symphonic song (for variety) and the crowd LOVED it and we had kids fighting to get in it. I also agree with what someone said about having more local talent and sometimes I even think there might even need to be a new circuit besides DCI that allows all kinds of corps to play in it and drum corps to not be so elitest. I even question why even worry about a circuit? Why don’t corps just go out and play their drum corps music in the way they see fit and if they want to compete, directors can just get together and schedule their own competition (at their school or somewhere) or do something like this. These are just a few thoughts. Edited January 3, 2012 by En929 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Some sort of circuit that promotes a variety of local corps ranging in size...Great variety of shows...Throwback shows... Seems like there's already something out there... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I was reading some of the posts regarding the future of music and it was a good thread. I agree with what someone said in the future of music thread. While I think that there is a lot of extreme talent, incredible virtuosity, executions and incredible marching and designs in drum corps today, I do have to admit that some of the music played in many drum corps today has been a bit boring (even to me); and the music CAN BE one of the downfalls of DCI drum corps. I mean it seems like the kind of music they play these days are for some of us who studied music and are/or were music majors, and is not accessible to a general crowd. But even I, a person who studied music and even teach music, would prefer to see drum corps the way they used to be (especially back in the 80s, but I’d like anything from 1995 and below). Even I would prefer to hear grooving music, and not so much emphasize on themes but just jams, and maybe a little bit of the drum corps music that we hear today, but not TOO MUCH of it. Isn’t that what is drawing crowds to our parallel activities like HBCU bands? People go to those shows to hear the music and I think a lot of the things they do comes from drum corps. I’ve even done this experiment at my own school where I started a drum corps that plays popular music and things that are recognizable and has things that people want to hear (and frankly, I and the students wanted to hear) with only one symphonic song (for variety) and the crowd LOVED it and we had kids fighting to get in it. I also agree with what someone said about having more local talent and sometimes I even think there might even need to be a new circuit besides DCI that allows all kinds of corps to play in it and drum corps to not be so elitest. I even question why even worry about a circuit? Why don’t corps just go out and play their drum corps music in the way they see fit and if they want to compete, directors can just get together and schedule their own competition (at their school or somewhere) or do something like this. These are just a few thoughts. If this were a decade ago, I think I'd agree with you. But I think the last few years we HAVE seen a design shift back to "pleasing judges by hitting all the points on the sheets AND programming to please audience." I think DCI designers are just now starting to remember that they can fulfill all of the requirements on the sheets while also designing a show that gets the audience excited. Cadets seem to have found that in 2011, and preliminary talk seems to suggest they're staying with that formula. Cavaliers the last couple of seasons have done a great job of taking unusual music (kind of: Nature Boy is somewhat of a jazz standard, as is, arguably, Footprints) and creating a fairly popular show with it. Blue Devils did a program last season that was arguably their most popular music book in years while Crown presented popular rock music mixed with fairly well known classical music. Phantom took well-known music & theme as their program in 2011, and rounding out the rest of the Finalists you can easily say Boston, Blue Knights, Madison, and Spirit all did populist shows: arguably Bluecoats (using the popular Creep) and Blue Stars (doing a Bourne Identity themed show) also had at least some pop-themes in their shows. That really leaves on SCV as doing...well, kind of out-there music, though they had a fairly mainstream (IMO) show concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I want more of 2011. 2011 had tons of entertaining shows, top to bottom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammaster Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I thought 2010 was more interesting to me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lafalot Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I was truly entertained by drum corps in Summer 2011 for the first time in decades. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I thought 2010 was more interesting to me. I can buy that; I really dug 2010 as well. Personally I think 2009 is even better than 2010. Regardless, I think 2009-2011 are three pretty strong years as far as design, performance, and fan friendly (Troopers back in Finals, Scouts with two remarkably fan-friendly shows, and so many great/iconic productions) years. I'm more excited/enthusiastic about the activity now than I've been since the 90's largely thanks to the amount of great shows from 2009-2011. I really believe that trends are cyclical, and while the late 90's - mid/late 00's seemed to skew towards "technical, sheet-pleasing, seemingly for the judges" type of designs, I think we've clearly swung back over to the "achieving balance of both hitting the sheets AND pleasing the fans" type of designs. That's not to say that designers were not thinking of the fans, but I think it seems like currently pleasing fans is taking a higher priority than in year's past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
En929 Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) I wish that I could post (or give the link of) two youtube videos here. I would like to show a possible direction with music that I could see drum corps going into (and these videos are from overseas). In the videos that I'd like to post, they'll show two drum corps that might not be Blue Devils, Cavaliers, or Santa Clara, etc., but they just would show something that I could see as a good spike in drum corp and they're enjoyable to watch. But, I don't know if it's ok to post videos here. Is it? They are some videos on two public drum corps performance from overseas and they demonstrate more of what I'm talking about. Edited January 6, 2012 by En929 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I was reading some of the posts regarding the future of music and it was a good thread. I agree with what someone said in the future of music thread. While I think that there is a lot of extreme talent, incredible virtuosity, executions and incredible marching and designs in drum corps today, I do have to admit that some of the music played in many drum corps today has been a bit boring (even to me); and the music CAN BE one of the downfalls of DCI drum corps. I mean it seems like the kind of music they play these days are for some of us who studied music and are/or were music majors, and is not accessible to a general crowd. But even I, a person who studied music and even teach music, would prefer to see drum corps the way they used to be (especially back in the 80s, but I’d like anything from 1995 and below). Even I would prefer to hear grooving music, and not so much emphasize on themes but just jams, and maybe a little bit of the drum corps music that we hear today, but not TOO MUCH of it. Isn’t that what is drawing crowds to our parallel activities like HBCU bands? People go to those shows to hear the music and I think a lot of the things they do comes from drum corps. I’ve even done this experiment at my own school where I started a drum corps that plays popular music and things that are recognizable and has things that people want to hear (and frankly, I and the students wanted to hear) with only one symphonic song (for variety) and the crowd LOVED it and we had kids fighting to get in it. I also agree with what someone said about having more local talent and sometimes I even think there might even need to be a new circuit besides DCI that allows all kinds of corps to play in it and drum corps to not be so elitest. I even question why even worry about a circuit? Why don’t corps just go out and play their drum corps music in the way they see fit and if they want to compete, directors can just get together and schedule their own competition (at their school or somewhere) or do something like this. These are just a few thoughts. Good post DCI Vet. I have said for years that the 2 biggest problems with Drum Corp today is the ridiculously advanced & inaccessible music that Corps are playing, & the lack of local kids marching in Drum Corps. There needs to be an effort to recruit local kids to join their local Drum Corp rather than college music majors flying cross country marching in a corp 2000 miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) I'd like for someone to tell me what music drum corps has missed over the past couple of decades? What should they have been playing that they didn't? Or are we just lobbying for corps to play the same standards over and over again? I was watching TV the other day with my teenage daughter when some Supremes-like group came on. They performed a couple of 60/70s Motown-type hits. The voices were sublime. The melodies soared. These were the sort of songs that used to touch us automatically. And I asked my daughter if she liked it, if she wished there were more songs and performers like that today? She looked at me like I was a square. It's not just pop music either. The hummability factor is diminished across the music spectrum. In the 80s, new hit Broadway shows generated new repetoires for drum corps ranging from Evita to Phantom and They're Playing Our Song. With the exception of maybe a couple of songs from Wicked, who can hum a new Broadway tune from the past decade? Classical (and its wind ensemble relations) have long left behind the great themes of Beethoven and Shostakovich. And jazz... What is jazz today? We play West Side Story over and again because it is great music. We could play Phantom again too because it too is great. But how many times? We also have to be careful with the rare pop tune that rates our attention because the video can't be synced as easily as it should becuase too many moguls and managers have a say in our business too. It's an admirable goal to have our music be familiar as well as interesting and good. It's not so easy to make it also fresh. Music today moves forward as it ever has. Today's trend isn't very melodic. Drum corps is just a mirror of the larger music culture now as it always is. And yet we've had some amazing shows. We decry larger part of the decade past as a wasteland. Yet it featured such classics as Cadets 2000 and Cavies 2006. Cadets arguably put on the four most fan friendly shows ever performed in succession between 2000 and 2003 only to be derided on this board and its predecessors for pandering. Cavies shows from 2000 to 2004 were beyond memorable, with 007 in 2004 surely meeting the memorable music test. Crown and Bluecoats in 2007 were genius programs. Phantom in 2008 gaves us drama irrespective of the particulars of the score. And there's more. Drum corps did fine in the double-ought decade despite dwindling musical options. HH Edited January 6, 2012 by glory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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