flammaster Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Here's the thing: The Blue Devils play to win the game. The are the masters of maxing out the sheets. The sheets include criteria about engaging the audience, and the Blue Devils do that VERY well. They say nothing about "entertainment". In fact, the word entertainment does not appear on any of the current sheets in any caption. The second the DCI sheets include entertainment or "throwing babies" as criteria, you can bet your sweet arse that the Blue Devils will make you throw your baby faster, farther, and with greater accuracy than any other corps. Why? Because they play to win the game. ding ding ding ding ding ding! Tell him what he wins bob! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Here's the thing: The Blue Devils play to win the game. The are the masters of maxing out the sheets. The sheets include criteria about engaging the audience, and the Blue Devils do that VERY well. They say nothing about "entertainment". In fact, the word entertainment does not appear on any of the current sheets in any caption. The second the DCI sheets include entertainment or "throwing babies" as criteria, you can bet your sweet arse that the Blue Devils will make you throw your baby faster, farther, and with greater accuracy than any other corps. Why? Because they play to win the game. Pretty much, and that' why I didn't march there. Winning was the end all/be all for me. Still won once, but that was more of a happy accident I new sheets do say audience engagement, and given the length and content of this thread, they are engaging perfectly. There's nothing that says engagement with the fans needs to be screaming and cheering, it can be stunned silence and headaches. I wish "throwing babies" was on the judges sheets. that would really make the shows fun, trying to see who can throw them the farthest, and who gets the most. I assume they would use a big scale, or would they just count them out individually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cron Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 The second the DCI sheets include entertainment or "throwing babies" as criteria, you can bet your sweet arse that the Blue Devils will make you throw your baby faster, farther, and with greater accuracy than any other corps. HAHAHAH! Just the statement I needed during this dull day at work. So many mental images spring instantly to mind. Somehow, I can even picture the DCP recoil. "Man, it's so boring the way BD makes people throw babies. They all just land in the same place...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammaster Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 There were no more babies left to throw after Madison played. Sheesh! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersop Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) As I see it, the 2012 show theme from the Blue Devils pays homage to a small group of pop culture artists ( Dada Group ) that migrated to posh Zurich Switzerland in the 1920's. The Dadaists as they called themselves flaunted conventionality, intellectualism, and conformity, and rationality. As such the byproduct of their art work had lots of elements of the nonsense, or what would be called " anti intellectualism". You are to observe the work not through the normal channels of intellect, reason and logic.... but through the emotional senses of the appreciation of anarchy, nonsense, chaos, absurdity, and so forth. So how does this relate to the Blue Devils scoring highly so far in the DCI judging community in, for example, the General Effect Music and Visual Captions ? Well, if we look at this rationally, it would appear that the GE judges are being asked how much nonsense they can take this year from the Blue Devils. The answer to this question so far appears to be: " a lot ". The GE caption judges are rewarding the Corps for perfectly ( in their evaluation and observation ) capturing the sheer brillance of this absurd theme and show. Now this is what MY reasoning is telling me as to what the judges are thinking when they are rewarding the BD in the General Effect Music caption for example. On the other hand, if my reasoning is flawed here on why the BD are scoring so high right now in the General Effect Music caption, it might be because I'm not as nonsensical as I need to be in my observations. If I was a Dada ( or a supporter of this anarchy on the field ) I would have reached the level of illogical and irrational thought awhile ago that this all requires and commands to be fully appreciated as it is by some fans and most of the judges. But be patient with fans like me. We are a work in progress. Don't give up the hope that someday we can't reach this level of acceptance of the beauty and briliance of something that is of such sheer and utter nonsense out on the field. Wait .. why am I being quoted here? I was making fun of the picture. I could say tons of things I like and dislike about this show .. and I'll leave it (mostly)at that. But in regards to your last few sentences ... I know where you're at. I've been there myself. I didn't get 86 BD until I was about 25 years old. I had no appreciation for what's considered "modern jazz" at that point in my life. I can say the same for a few other shows that caught me off guard .. yet slowly worked their way into my psyche and eventually clicked in my brain. That said, I still think the visual design of this years show is highly symmetrical, oversimplified, lacking velocity and requires a ton of individual focus rather than ensemble marching technique (with demand). This all fits into BD's formula ... so I'm not really griping. I dig the overall show .. I like the music being played (I loved it the first time around) ... and now .. I need to contradict myself: I have often complained in years past about MOST, if not ALL, corps not using a slower movement in a lateral fashion that shows off superior marching technique. This is something I felt had been thrown out the window in fear of actually having to show technical excellence in exchange for velocity demand. Corps blow thru sets .... lean into everything .. afraid of doing a stop and go and lock into a set for fear it might not be "clean". Well, BD has so much of it in this show I have to eat my words .. I just wish they had a healthier mix of both. I fear with it .. they will be in the same boat that SCV was in Ballet for Martha (Not enough velocity or ensemble demand). In the end, I think this will come back to bite them ... or maybe Not. It seems these days that BD has a side bet going amongst themselves to see how little conventionality they can get away with and still win. This is why ppl complain about chairs and mirrors and coat racks and whatever other kitchen sink they throw out there. Doesn't bother me a bit. I get why they do what they do.... I have little to object about. Doesn't mean I always like it or support it .. but I do respect them for their choices and the results that come from it. I'm just waiting for Moxley, Gibbs, Downey, Smith, Karlin and the rest of the gang to come out with a book in 20 years about how they gamed DCI year after year and still wound up with more Titles than any other corps in drum corps history. Should make for a great read and I want an advanced copy right now Edited July 16, 2012 by supersop 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallace Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) Jeff is right about what Crown needs to do to catch up. Some of it is in their field coverage, and you can especially see it in the body movement choreography. Every flaw can be seen especially with the light colored unis. Some of it is their drill. Watch the legs on direction changes or in rotating lines. I'm not worried about their guard or their brass; however, Jeff's comments about the battery are correct. Simplification would help, and I don't think it is necessary to have the concert drums spread all around the field to achieve the desired impact for FFCM. Move them closer or amp one of those bad boys. It's overkill and unnecessary. BD is perplexing. I remember the baby throwing shows of old when audiences screamed their heads off much like the Madison 95 performance ovations that were mentioned earlier. Their shows were electric. Now, I marvel at their technical prowess, but I don't feel what they're trying to convey. I understand it on a cerebral level but not viscerally. Isn't that the hook for drum corps? It should be a sensual experience like eating a great steak or dating a hot woman! Let's be honest. Nobody wants to go out with a gal 'cause she's an expert in dadaism. Edited July 16, 2012 by wallace 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersop Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 OMG I SEE GRANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Smith Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I think the judges have bought into a notion that in order to be sophisticated and intellectual about the activity that they have to squeeze their butt cheeks, walk a little more erect and nod their head in honor to the resplendent Blue Devils. Well...I'm gonna say it: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES! I suppose I will be properly scorned for saying this by those who are clearly more deep in their understanding of the intricacies and nuances of this sublime art form that takes place outdoors on high school football fields in the middle of corn fields with mosquitoes snacking on people while they snack on kettle corn and soft-serve ice cream. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Removed a couple inappropriate comments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danguernsey Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Maybe this show is just a big dare to the judging community? It's just saying, "How weird and crazy can be we until you can't judge us anymore?" This is a staff that knows exactly what they're doing, and how to be the best year in and year out. I think they know exactly what to do to max out the sheets, without always needing the audience behind them. yes, there are years in DCI when the winning corps took GE by getting the crowd behind them, but it's not a requirement. I think that BD is just daring the judges to try and knock them for being weird and crazy. There is perhaps some validity to this, "daring the judges/drum corps system," so to speak. Perhaps BD is taking an "anti-drum corps" stance, applying the anti-art, or anti-beauty, revolt of the original Dadaists of 1916-1923. For them, that entailed an absolute negation of not just notions of beauty in art (clarity, order, proportionality, harmony), but also the institutions that supported art and art history--ie, art museums, art academies, art criticism (reception of art). In so doing, their radical skepticism asked the ultimate question: "what IS art?" In that regard, they were similar to the Italian Futurists of the pre-World War One years (1909-1914). That is, negate the past--ie, destroy classical beauty, museums, glorify violence and dissonance, strive for Nietzsche's idea of "creation through destruction." Only open-ended anarchy of the future existed for the Futurists. The Dadaists, by contrast, not only negated the past and present social order, but also the future. They were borderline nihilists, echoing the existential mood in Europe during the 1920s and 30s. Interestingly, Marcel Duchamp took his anti-art stance to its logical conclusion: he stopped making art all together, taking up chess in the mid-1920s. Applying Dada conceptual art to BD, perhaps BD is interrogating, or "daring," the drum corps activity in an aggressive way, including the judges or "art critics," to ask, "what is drum corps?" For BD's sake, hopefully they'll avoid Duchamp's negation of art making all together. As for me, I learn more about Dada by going to art museums (Dada is now mainstream--post-modernism), lectures, and reading books about the movement in order to teach it to my students. Drum corps isn't educational in that regard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.