Kevin Powell Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) Drum corps is not that large... and is driven by individuals from a creative perspective. Sadly, the activity has lost too many brilliant creative minds far too soon... and I often wonder what the pace of change might have been had some of them had not passed so young. Anyway, I do believe that the internet and creative influences on a global level (I do think a new generation of top designers will come from Asia) will begin to affect the pace of change and jump start a new era of interest. That is just comparing apples to jumbo jets. Take the rules, competition, judges and all the kids out of the game and you might be able to make a comparison. Edited August 23, 2012 by Kevin Powell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) I don't really understand the comparison between drum corps and sports. DCI itself however tried to make that analogy first,... not me. They compared the heart rate of a drummer to that of an athlete, called it the " Major Leagues ", etc and pitched it to ESPN as a competitive sport with all sorts of info as to why it was "a sport ". I've never heard a symphony called " the Major Leagues of " anything at all. Edited August 23, 2012 by BRASSO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) Compare the evolution of the activity with that of Miles Davis from 1959 to 1989... Picasso from 1901 to 1940... Martha Graham from 1926 to 1956... Stanley Kubrick from 1960 to 1999... you get the picture. . You are comparing individual artists and musicians in their personal journey of change. This is far different than an activity to activity change. The notion that the Drum Corps change has been " glacial " is certainly an odd assessment of the degree of change in my opinion. If you believe that the Drum Corps of ( say ) 1965, appear and look remarkably like the Drum Corps of 2012, then we simply disagree. I don't believe the Drum Corps changes have been " glacial like " in the last 50 years at all. On the contrary. I believe that the changes have been " volcanic- like ". Theres been an explosion of changes since 1965.The changes been positively seismic and earth shattering. Oh well, people see and hear things differently, no question about it. Its cool. Edited August 23, 2012 by BRASSO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmyown Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Drum Corps to me is music and motion, choreographed in a way that is in one way impressive (peel your face off, 10 spin throws, running drill til you drop) while also needing to be entertaining (story-telling and/or emotional, impressionable)...But if I can't turn on a recording of a show in my car and really enjoy the playing, music, arrangements, etc...I'm just not interested. Pre-recorded segments, incongruous arrangements and continuous dissonance just doesn't work as an entertainment medium...for me. The kids performing all these shows are amazing to me. Take nothing away from their skill, resilience, commtitment and fortitude. But some (by all means not all) of the activitiy's current arrangements are not listenable musically on their own. I've seen every production more than once this year (WC) and downloaded most of the FN recordings, and am very concerned about the potential one or more successful corps could have on the long term direction of WC Drum Corps. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've seen every production more than once this year (WC) and downloaded most of the FN recordings, and am very concerned about the potential one or more successful corps could have on the long term direction of WC Drum Corps. Examples ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmyown Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Examples ? Fair question...as I said, my feelings on this are not directed at the performers, who all amaze me. And clearly this direction is a reflection of what is being rewarded by the judges...who must be completely reset/changed out if any effort in changing the scoring system is going to result in different outcomes...but IMO: BD Cavaliers BK Cadets (Hopkins influence has its peaks and valleys year to year) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) Fair question...as I said, my feelings on this are not directed at the performers, who all amaze me. And clearly this direction is a reflection of what is being rewarded by the judges...who must be completely reset/changed out if any effort in changing the scoring system is going to result in different outcomes...but IMO: BD Cavaliers BK Cadets (Hopkins influence has its peaks and valleys year to year) I understand the fear.. but I don't think there are any real trend setters in DCI. As recently as 2008, Phantom Regiment won it all with a well understood classic story of " Spartacus ". A theme done before in Drum Corps.. and a theme even done by them before. It was a big hit with audiences.. but no other Corps was effected at all. The Cadets shows of late have run the gamut of head scratchers like " The Zone " to fan friendly ( some say even cheesy ) shows in both 2012 and 2010. Crown did a show in 2011 that was nothing like this year's show in either music, style or showtheme. I don't see Phantom Regiment or Boston or Madison adopting the style of BD anytime soon. Nor Bluecoats. And SCV has never adopted before anything that BD was doing. Even the Cavs may decide to change up what they did this season as obviously this years style and theme took them down a non productive path that they'll probably want to get off of. Theres lots of variety in these DCI shows in my opinion. I heard Jersey Surf intends to put together a similarly styled show they did this year, for next year. So I'm a bit hopeful that we'll continue to see Corps forge their own path and styles they are most comfortable with. Edited August 23, 2012 by BRASSO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Compare the evolution of the activity with that of Miles Davis from 1959 to 1989... Picasso from 1901 to 1940... Martha Graham from 1926 to 1956... Stanley Kubrick from 1960 to 1999... you get the picture. The evolution of drum corps is glacial in comparison. People are freaking out about electronics and mic'ing horn players and soloists... in 2012... Miles was using electronics and effects on his horn 40 years ago that were light years ahead of where drum corps is now. Men landed on the moon over 40 years ago, and we still limit the tour to just Earth? Not everything needs constant change. Need I remind you that soccer is still the world's most popular sport? Oh, guess I just did! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgerbob Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Drum corps is not that large... and is driven by individuals from a creative perspective. Sadly, the activity has lost too many brilliant creative minds far too soon... and I often wonder what the pace of change might have been had some of them had not passed so young. Anyway, I do believe that the internet and creative influences on a global level (I do think a new generation of top designers will come from Asia) will begin to affect the pace of change and jump start a new era of interest. Were those individuals being judged for three months a year, culminating in a championship? Yes, drum corps can be art, but it's also competitive. Artists can be competitive but there's no Art World Champion. Those artists could do anything they wanted, and they did. Drum corps can't (yes, including BD) because they will get knocked by judges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockyGranite Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) I can't speak to most of the OP's post because, frankly, I don't have any kind of in-depth knowledge of Drum Corps from twenty years ago...or even two years ago. But I believe I can make a point about BK's show this year. Avian is anything but "silly"...well, except maybe for that little Jetson's thing. But the music, the drill, the drumline and, for sure, the guard costumes were all perfectly in line with the sci-fi story theme. Now, some people might call the guard's uniforms outlandish, but can someone tell me how a "traditional" (whatever that is) guard uniform could portray an alien bird-like species? I should probably add a point about the recorded singing and the synthetic sounds in BK's show. I found the lady's singing to be beautiful and the synthetic sounds were used perfectly as transitions and as other-worldly mood setters. None of it seemed out of place and none of it interfered with the excellent music of Firebird Suite. I can understand a person not liking BK's show because it's sci-fi. That genre is not everyone's cup of tea. But not everyone likes Las Vegas, environmentalism or Christmas either. Does that mean all of these shows are "silly"? I think not. Edited August 23, 2012 by RockyGranite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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