jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I agree with the sentiment and am still waiting for the Cavaliers to do a Surfjan’s Illinois show. But I don’t share your faith in the designers being able to pull it off. The designers like the judges are often out of touch and I don’t think they know how to listen to that stuff any more or what makes it good and then be able to translate it to the field. Recent examples of pop songs in drum corps have often been piano driven, soft-rock covers of the originals. Seems designers need someone else to show them the way…Creep was not the Radiohead version, Mad World was not based upon the Tears for Fears original and the Lady Gaga stuff this year seems more faithful to her piano versions than the radio version. There use to be a lot of pop in drum corps in the 70s and many of the designers are from that era….and they got old and now try to out bando each other and seem lost in their little, isolated bando worlds. I say bring on the new blood, bring me the new designers and allow those new designers to succeed in scores and placements on the field. I cringe every time I hear a 50 year old man telling me what kids want and think is cool because I know it ends up like Sara Jones, in tears. As much as I hate the idea of corps doing "pop" music, I love this idea. Sufjan is awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 yes if done well, the judge should reward it. But that doesn't man they have to know it. The key is getting the judges to judge whats there, not what they want there, and for designers to lay it out in a way that makes sense. I'll admit I dont know a lot of the stuff the corps are playing this year, and I won't know everything any bands I see will be playing this year. I don't have the time to go dig it all up. I'll look at what they present, and how they present it, and go from there. if for me, on effect, it communicates, visual and audio corrdinate, etc, who gives a #### what they are playing? I've seen good wind ensemble. I've seen bad wind ensemble. I'veseen people pay thousandsfor names to write their shows their kids can't play. You've heard me say this in indoor: " I don't care if you bought your show from Box 6...your kids can't play it". How can they reward something that sounds like crap though? I am a big fan of most of the music cited in this thread, but it would sound horrible played by a drum corps. Judges are not going to reward stupid show designs ... sorry. That isn't to say that it can't work with the right song and the right arrangement, just that most of the time it doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 There is a reason there are not 60 horn players in Radiohead. The music isn't designed to sound good played by 60 horn players. It is is designed to sound good being played by a guitar and synth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Why? Because I fear that drum corps might actually listen to it and start designing shows that feature a bunch of crappy pop music. I agree that there is a lot of great pop music out there. I think there is even more great alternative and rock music out there. But that music was not designed to be played by a drum corps. I don't know that I have ever heard a corps play pop music without it sounding at least a little cheesy. Cheese is the worst part of drum corps. If that ever became a trend among top corps, I don't know that I could stay a fan. Let Radiohead be Radiohead. Let drum corps be drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedawn Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 There is a reason there are not 60 horn players in Radiohead the score of Turandot. The music isn't designed to sound good played by 60 horn players. It is is designed to sound good being played by a guitar and synth an opera orchestra. This argument pretty much destroys every drum corps show ever, except for those based on original compositions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 (edited) This argument pretty much destroys every drum corps show ever, except for those based on original compositions. No it doesn't. You must have misunderstood me. I wasn't saying that the only drum corps music that will sound good in drum corps is music that is designed for drum corps. I was saying that Radiohead music was designed to sound good when played on guitar and synth, and it DOESN'T sound good when played by 60 horn players. As I said, I'm sure there is some contemporary popular music that would work well (I think Jersey Surf's show works well this year, for example), but the large majority of it wouldn't, in my opinion. Please, drum corps designers, don't ruin two of my favorite things (drum corps and Radiohead) by mixing them together in a distasteful way. Edited August 3, 2012 by jasgre2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 But that music was not designed to be played by a drum corps. Neither was Bird & Bela in Bb, Fanfare for the Common Man, Pictures at an Exhibition, Turandot, The Planets, , Carol of the Bells, Firebird Suite, Symphony for the New World, Masquerade, All By Myself, Pines of Rome, Organ Symphony, etc...etc...etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOSMarcher Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 . . . so, instead, let's mostly expose people to the latest entries in the insular wind ensemble world, where outside of the music education and performance clique, no one has ever heard of the composers who have written for the small niche that is high school and college wind ensemble. Let me think: do I want to hear Bjork in drum corps? Or James Swearingen? I'll bet "In All Its Glory" will rock the field. I get what you mean, but I would hope a drum corps would pick something more interesting than middle school band music. Maslanka has some awesome stuff. To be honest, I love when drum corps do well done pop arrangements. Bluecoats creep was awesome!!! ... but so was Asphalt Cocktail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Neither was Bird & Bela in Bb, Fanfare for the Common Man, Pictures at an Exhibition, Turandot, The Planets, , Carol of the Bells, Firebird Suite, Symphony for the New World, Masquerade, All By Myself, Pines of Rome, Organ Symphony, etc...etc...etc... http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php/topic/153043-dear-show-designers/page__view__findpost__p__3192701 Can you give me an example of a good sounding pop song performed by a drum corps, that was originally written for guitar and synth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedawn Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 No it doesn't. You must have misunderstood me. I wasn't saying that the only drum corps music that will sound good in drum corps is music that is designed for drum corps. I was saying that Radiohead music was designed to sound good when played on guitar and synth, and it DOESN'T sound good when played by 60 horn players. Oh, I don't know about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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