euponitone Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 By now, you should know better . . . . . .the show announcements for most corps are almost always navel-gazing "intellectualism" trying to tie together why someone is playing Samuel Hazo and Lady Gaga in some vague "colors" or "dark versus light" or "Planet Earth PainSongs" dressing. This is no different; the Blue Devils show is, indeed, scatter-shot in its rep and pacing, and this is a fairly easy design "out" for them to use. It works a simple window dressing. Drum corps doesn't stray too far from the usual design check boxes, no matter who it is. Isn't this like the 5th time a corps has done this same show with a different title in the past couple years? The whole "We're so crazy and wacky and we play and do things that dont go together because our theme is that there is no theme" is about as played out as malaguena. Whether its Juxtaposition, walking on a hi-wire, what the hell am i doing here, a mad world, going through a surreal door, etc, etc, etc....yawn.... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Isn't this like the 5th time a corps has done this same show with a different title in the past couple years? The whole "We're so crazy and wacky and we play and do things that dont go together because our theme is that there is no theme" is about as played out as malaguena. Whether its Juxtaposition, walking on a hi-wire, what the hell am i doing here, a mad world, going through a surreal door, etc, etc, etc....yawn.... constantly risking absurdity you are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevillemurphy Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 By now, you should know better . . . . . .the show announcements for most corps are almost always navel-gazing "intellectualism" trying to tie together why someone is playing Samuel Hazo and Lady Gaga in some vague "colors" or "dark versus light" or "Planet Earth PainSongs" dressing. This is no different; the Blue Devils show is, indeed, scatter-shot in its rep and pacing, and this is a fairly easy design "out" for them to use. It works a simple window dressing. Drum corps doesn't stray too far from the usual design check boxes, no matter who it is. what are the "usual design check boxes" ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevillemurphy Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 The dadaist manifesto .... 1916 Dada is a new tendency in art. One can tell this from the fact that until now nobody knew anything about it, and tomorrow everyone in Zurich will be talking about it. Dada comes from the dictionary. It is terribly simple. In French it means "hobby horse". In German it means "good-bye", "Get off my back", "Be seeing you sometime". In Romanian: "Yes, indeed, you are right, that's it. But of course, yes, definitely, right". And so forth. An International word. Just a word, and the word a movement. Very easy to understand. Quite terribly simple. To make of it an artistic tendency must mean that one is anticipating complications. Dada psychology, dada Germany ### indigestion and fog paroxysm, dada literature, dada bourgeoisie, and yourselves, honoured poets, who are always writing with words but never writing the word itself, who are always writing around the actual point. Dada world war without end, dada revolution without beginning, dada, you friends and also-poets, esteemed sirs, manufacturers, and evangelists. Dada Tzara, dada Huelsenbeck, dada m'dada, dada m'dada dada mhm, dada dera dada, dada Hue, dada Tza. How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks of journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada. Dada is the world soul, dada is the pawnshop. Dada is the world's best lily-milk soap. Dada Mr Rubiner, dada Mr Korrodi. Dada Mr Anastasius Lilienstein. In plain language: the hospitality of the Swiss is something to be profoundly appreciated. And in questions of aesthetics the key is quality. I shall be reading poems that are meant to dispense with conventional language, no less, and to have done with it. Dada Johann Fuchsgang Goethe. Dada Stendhal. Dada Dalai Lama, Buddha, Bible, and Nietzsche. Dada m'dada. Dada mhm dada da. It's a question of connections, and of loosening them up a bit to start with. I don't want words that other people have invented. All the words are other people's inventions. I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and consonants too, matching the rhythm and all my own. If this pulsation is seven yards long, I want words for it that are seven yards long. Mr Schulz's words are only two and a half centimetres long. It will serve to show how articulated language comes into being. I let the vowels fool around. I let the vowels quite simply occur, as a cat meows . . . Words emerge, shoulders of words, legs, arms, hands of words. Au, oi, uh. One shouldn't let too many words out. A line of poetry is a chance to get rid of all the filth that clings to this accursed language, as if put there by stockbrokers' hands, hands worn smooth by coins. I want the word where it ends and begins. Dada is the heart of words. Each thing has its word, but the word has become a thing by itself. Why shouldn't I find it? Why can't a tree be called Pluplusch, and Pluplubasch when it has been raining? The word, the word, the word outside your domain, your stuffiness, this laughable impotence, your stupendous smugness, outside all the parrotry of your self-evident limitedness. The word, gentlemen, is a public concern of the first importance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) Isn't this like the 5th time a corps has done this same show with a different title in the past couple years? The whole "We're so crazy and wacky and we play and do things that dont go together because our theme is that there is no theme" is about as played out as malaguena. Whether its Juxtaposition, walking on a hi-wire, what the hell am i doing here, a mad world, going through a surreal door, etc, etc, etc....yawn.... Good point. I'm very curious to see the show. If it's true to dada, the show (as a drum corps show) would by definition always score poorly on the sheets. If it's good drum corps, it's pretty much anti -dada. Funny to hear D. Gibbs pretty much run away from explaining the show on a recent MRT podcast. Edited June 22, 2012 by corpsband 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 what are the "usual design check boxes" ... Classics: -opener-ballad-drums-closer -slow open / pit open to big hit -harder drill during drum feature / stand-still for technical passages -ballad bodyshaping / body movement Newer: -Pre-show electronic "mood" chatter -rock out sections using "walking" contra line . . .and so on. Tons more, of course. Let's be clear . . I didn't say there was anything wrong with show design these days that use the above, just that there are certain "check boxes" you can expect during a drum corps show. Hell, for the most part we look forward to some of them. Contrast that "rigidity" of the buttons you have to push for the numbers (for any corps, not just BD), and the dada stuff can only go so far. They've done well trying to make it as seemingly chaotic as they can with the background noise and the switch from piece to piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NR_Ohiobando Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 The unpredictability is for the audience and judges, not for the performers and staff. Besides, it's not a judge's job to do something that goes along with the theme of the show. They aren't a performer or on staff! Good thoughts though. :) Though I understand your point of view I do disagree with it. Mostly because of the actual theme of the show, and not because of the music. The Blue Devils present a show that the audience knows full well is meant to be unpredictable. And whether you agree or not, the judges are part of the audience. Does that not create expectations in the audience's mind? Therefore, doesn't it then become predictable in the audience's mind? Perhaps most interesting about this point of view is that you can continue expanding it until the opposing perception becomes the correct perception in a never-ending cycle. One could say that the Blue Devils were aware that the predictable mindset for designing the show would to make it entirely random; therefore (in order to be unpredictable) they created a purposefully predictable and incredibly structured show. Audience: "I know the show is going to be unpredictable, so I have perceptions in my mind about what I am going to see. Therefore, the show is actually predictable. This doesn't match with the dada movement and therefore deserves lower scores." BD: "The Blue Devils knew you would feel this way. Turns out we designed the show to be very structured because it goes against the grain of being unpredictable. Therefore, it is actually unpredictable. Since our theme is dada we deserve appropriate scores for maintaining our show theme." Audience: "I had a small thought you would probably design your show in a sarcastic manner in an effort to be unpredictable towards your own show theme, therefore your show is predictable. GE does not make sense, therefore you get lower scores." BD: "We thought ahead as well. We knew you would react that way so..." yada yada yada. And what's the only thing that can essentially stop the cycle? An audience decision. In this case, clapping/cheering or a scoring decision. Since the perception of the artistic product stops at the audience, in my mind the cycle stops when the audience logically concludes that they had expectations before viewing the show. Whether or not the audience feels that the show makes sense or not is also entirely left up to chance. TL;DR In my mind, the show deserves any random scoring you can give it since the perception is trapped within a cycle of whether or not it is unpredictable. Personally I feel it deserves low scoring, and using my interpretation the Blue Devils should find nothing wrong with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostrauser Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Classics: -opener-ballad-drums-closer The most common, and really it's just imitating the standard symphonic structure in classical music (1st mvt = theme and variations, 2nd mvt = slow mvt, 3rd mvt = scherzo, 4th mvt = recapitulation and finale). Many drum corps shows are set up, musically, like mini-symphonies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsnare Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 First off, I do enjoy avante garde and improvisational music built around chance and don't really have a problem with performances of said avante garde music meant to shake up the system. However, I do feel like BD is entirely missing the point of Dada while simultaneously building an entire show themed around it. From BD's website on Cabaret Voltaire: "Instead of a carefully orchestrated structure, evening performances offered improvisation, the deliberate juxtaposition of uncoordinated actions, and a delight in the chaotic." By presenting to us a show that is incredibly coordinated and structured down to every last drill set and foot movement, aren't the Blue Devils entirely missing the point of the Dada movement? And if they are, shouldn't they be penalized for it? (By penalized, I mean lower GE scores in comparison to other shows) Now, if the Blue Devils decide to do something different for every show they perform I would say that they are actually doing a great job of portraying their theme. Since that probably is not going to happen, I assume that their theme and what they present to the audience is not going to match up. "We're doing a dada themed show, here's the same thing over and over again". Honestly if I were a judge I'd simply give them a score of 0 in GE. Why? The show is built around the idea of unpredictability; what is more unpredictable than a score of the complete opposite of what they would normally desire? If the staff ends up throwing a fit about it, then they obviously are not committed to the theme of the show. Either way, the system is shaken up, the unpredictable happens, and hypothetically the Blue Devils should be happy to receive said score. The 2012 Blue Devils show is obviously created to promote discussion and thought, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling. Other thoughts? Using this logic, after viewing an artist's painting, poet's poem, an artist's photograph only once, you would have to not show it again - ever. If exhibited a second, third, fourth time, it would be exactly the same and no longer a representation of Dadaism. Just a thought also. Mitch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxfreq1128 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) Isn't this like the 5th time a corps has done this same show with a different title in the past couple years? The whole "We're so crazy and wacky and we play and do things that dont go together because our theme is that there is no theme" is about as played out as malaguena. Whether its Juxtaposition, walking on a hi-wire, what the hell am i doing here, a mad world, going through a surreal door, etc, etc, etc....yawn.... !! Dude. Nothing is as played out as Malaguena (says the fan of Malaguena, love that chart.) I'm okay with wanting to move away from the straightforward drum corps format a little bit. The shows you mention aren't really that similar... Edited June 22, 2012 by saxfreq1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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