MarimbasaurusRex Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I keep seeing, in drum circles particularly, that people refer to a more true to form arrangement as a transcription. But, this is not the case. Transcription and arrangement mean the same thing. Transcription is a verb and arrangement is a noun, both referring to the act of altering a piece for a particular purpose. There is no such thing as "a transcription." Transcription is an act resulting in an arrangement. When a piece is altered greatly, like most modern drum corps arrangements, it ceases to be an arrangement and becomes a composition on a theme. Come on all you music majors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emc2 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Too bad. Could you imagine a full Mahler/Bruckner show? So many long phrases and tension!!!! Would love it! Boston has done a great job this year with Mahler. Boston added in Evey reborn, was a good move on Boston part as well. Have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Boston has done a great job this year with Mahler. Boston added in Evey reborn, was a good move on Boston part as well. Have a great day. I love how Boston is very faithful this year to "Pines of Rome" (movement 1 and movement 4 used in their show) - it was refreshing to see a corps play a lot of the original work as-is again, instead of what I (jokingly) refer to as "A Fantasy on "(Fill in the Blank of Any Rep Piece)", or "Variations on _____", or "A Rhapsody on _____", etc., etc. as their musical selections for their show these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 It may be worth emphasizing that even the most faithful drum corps arrangement of classical music almost inevitably requires significant cutting of the original. Two years ago, several people praised SCV for their "faithful" arrangement of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, but of course their version was only a third as long as what Bartok wrote (and also included a bit of his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which in the original is also about three times longer than a drum corps performance). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 It may be worth emphasizing that even the most faithful drum corps arrangement of classical music almost inevitably requires significant cutting of the original. Two years ago, several people praised SCV for their "faithful" arrangement of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, but of course their version was only a third as long as what Bartok wrote (and also included a bit of his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which in the original is also about three times longer than a drum corps performance). I'll take several minutes from the original rather than three and a half notes any day... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbeau Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Boston has done a great job this year with Mahler. Boston added in Evey reborn, was a good move on Boston part as well. Have a great day. The way Boston blended Evey Reborn with Shostakovich 10 is some great and creative arranging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) Being creative with motifs, by definition, is called arranging; converting a score over to a drum corps as close to verbatim as possible to the origonal material is called transcribing. That is not opinion, but factual definition. Here is the deal IMO of drum corp arranging: I like creative arranging in drum corps as long as I can close my eyes, listen to the music without watching the drill, and it makes sense to me in a musical communication manner. If the music apart from the drill sounds disjunctive, with no sense of journey from departure to destination, then I personally think it is a poor arrangement. Again, just my opinion. Edited August 2, 2012 by Stu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Somewhere along the way the brass/percussion writers started improving their skills. It may also be that more accomplished writers jumped onboard and the weaker ones moved on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I keep seeing, in drum circles particularly, that people refer to a more true to form arrangement as a transcription. But, this is not the case. Transcription and arrangement mean the same thing. Transcription is a verb and arrangement is a noun, both referring to the act of altering a piece for a particular purpose. There is no such thing as "a transcription." Transcription is an act resulting in an arrangement. When a piece is altered greatly, like most modern drum corps arrangements, it ceases to be an arrangement and becomes a composition on a theme. Come on all you music majors! Transcribe is a verb...Transcription is a noun... Mirriam-Webster online dictionary... tran·scrip·tion noun \tran(t)-ˈskrip-shən\ Definition of TRANSCRIPTION 1: an act, process, or instance of transcribing 2: copy, transcript: as a : an arrangement of a musical composition for some instrument or voice other than the original b : a recording (as on magnetic tape) made especially for use in radio broadcasting Here is a segment of the Wikipedia on the term that covers the difference between a transcription and an arrangement in how the terms are used in music... Transcription may also mean rewriting a piece of music, either solo or ensemble, for another instrument or other instruments than which it was originally intended. The Beethoven Symphonies by Franz Liszt are a good example. Transcription in this sense is sometimes called arrangement, although strictly speaking transcriptions are faithful adaptations, whereas arrangements change significant aspects of the original piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emc2 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 The way Boston blended Evey Reborn with Shostakovich 10 is some great and creative arranging. Yes Boston staff has done outstanding job with this year's show. The show is darker than last year's show IMO. It will sound great in the dome at finals. Boston soloist are just knocking it out of the ball park again this year ( great sound and projection). Have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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