Frontiers: 2016

[newdaddy]

This is probably where I get kicked off of these boards for causing too much commotion, and if that is the case, I'm sorry and I've been happy to chat with you all.

Is drum corps an art form? Hell, yeah, we're all going to say, sure. But drum corps remains its own kind of black hole or pocket universe - people fall into it and don't come back out, people on the outside have no idea what goes on on the inside. The worst serious criticisms to the claim that it's capital-A Art might include that it's unsubtle, its insular and its derivative. Looking back through all the previous years' programs, some of those arguments might be hard to entirely refute. How many iterations of West Side Story or Roman Festivals are really plowing new ground? (or going back, Children Of Sanchez, Malaguena, etc.)

The other side is also easy to argue though. For one thing, drum corps has a unique instrumentation that makes sense musically and is thrilling to listen to. There's tremendous emotion and effort poured into these shows - that's self-evident. There's also this ephemeral nature to DCI especially - a show exists on the field for just the space of one summer - eight weeks - and then it's gone forever. (Don't kid yourself, FN VOD is not ever the same thing as being there.) And DCI especially has, love it or hate it, continued to change things up over the years, allowing (or forcing) innovations to continue to happen.

For drum corps to really be Art, it needs to be recognized as a source of ideas. Now, at least musically, a lot of ideas come in from other arenas (classical music, contemporary orchestral music, jazz, some Broadway, some pop or rock) but not a lot of ideas go out from drum corps to the outside world.

Here's my proposal; for one year, it is agreed that all DCI World-Class corps perform solely original music in competition. AND, by the end of the season, at least one piece from each show must get released in a transcription or arrangement for some other instrument or ensemble (wind band, string quartet, punk rock group, two pianos, whatever.) To ASCAP, or however that works.

Cavies won with an all-original book (2001, right?) And most music on the field is so idiomatic, so heavily drum-corps-ified as to be nearly original music anyway. (How would Puccini feel about Turandot with a battery feature? I have no idea.) I'm sure that in a radius of every corps there are a few people who quietly have a home-brew score, some sketches at least, they'd love to hear played live. In a sense, DCI would be commissioning new art.

If it's a bomb, it's just one year, and we'll go down as having tried something brave and without precedent. If it goes well, we'll have created something entirely new.

Edited August 21, 2012 by newdaddy

[glory]

I love the way you framed this activity (unique and thrilling instrumentation, ephemeral, etc.). I doubt, however, you'll find much support for such an idea on DCP. Too many traditionalists here.

Not sure they'd be wrong in this case, either. Not sure original music by itself should even determine whether drum corp can claim the big "A" in Art. Original music isn't always great music. More important, narrowing the musical scope in this way seems to contradict Art's imperative to keep itself open to possibilities.

HH

[ShortAndFast]

I think it's an interesting idea. I've generally liked original compositions done for corps. Often more than an arrangement that hacks a great original to bits to make it "work" in DCI.

Not to take anything away from Prime, Klesch, Bocook, etc., but why not come at this the other way around? Commission a composer who has been supportive of drum corps to write a piece that can be used for the show and also published for wind ensemble or brass band or whatever. I think that would be an interesting collaboration - I could see a great piece emerging from Bertrand Moren + Crown for example.

I think it's hard to mandate something like this. If you force 25 DCI corps to do original compositions, the best such composition will probably be pretty good. But the 25th-best may not be anything you'd want to listen to!

[Michael Boo]

I have no problem with all the corps getting together and deciding for themselves the framework of rules by which they'll all agree to live under, but I have a problem with corps being dictated what they will play.

Another concern is many shows may come out sounding like a senior composition student's attempt to cram in everything they've ever learned about composition into one production. (As a composition major, I attended plenty of recitals where I sensed the composer feared they might never have another idea, and therefore they had to put everything they had into each and every composition.)

As for embracing the idea that DCI should be responsible for introducing new art...DCI is not the Medici family.

And as for the notion that if it's a bomb, it's just one year...few fans have several hundred to a few thousand dollars hanging around that they can invest in travel and tickets to blow on a full season of bombs, even if it's just one year of bombs. A lot of fans give much of their disposable income to travel to enjoy drum corps, and I doubt many would be happy with an entire activity telling them, "Trust us."

The beauty of drum corps is if someone doesn't enjoy or appreciate one production, there's another one they will fall in love with.

The sincerity of the OP is something I applaud.

The probable reality and effect of such a proposal, forcing all corps to do original music shows...not so much.

But I would encourage them and anyone else to keep the ideas coming.

[HeWhoWaits]

but not a lot of ideas go out from drum corps to the outside world.

To see the influence of Drum Corps on the "outside world" we only have to look as far as high school marching bands. Many people who would never consider attending a Drum Corps show will see their local high school marching band five or six times every football season.

Design elements, marching styles, musical selections, etc., etc., etc. that start in DCI shows make their way out to high school marching band shows fairly quickly.

[skywhopper]

Why focus on the music? Drum corps will not make any waves in the art music world with their own compositions. Cavies had six years of custom music: 00, 01, 02, 03, 06, and 08. They won with four of those. The music is good in itself, but what impact did it have on anything? It didn't even have much of an impact on the activity itself.

There are elements of art and craft in most every aspect of drum corps. But making an artistic impact outside the marching band world can't be the goal of a competitive, participant-funded activity. Star wanted to create Art, so they left DCI and its restrictions behind. Were they successful? Well, Blast is still touring. Is it great Art? Or is it just another jukebox theater show with a unique take on presenting popular repertoire? Rock of Ages but with a less specific setlist and different instrumentation?

IMO, drum corps is as much an art as an orchestra concert, a ballet performance, a musical production, or an opera. How many *performances* of great works of music or ballet or opera do people discuss for ages? Why hold drum corps to a higher standard than you hold the New York Philharmonic?

[maestro!]

but not a lot of ideas go out from drum corps to the outside world.

Weren't Broadway's "Blast" and Disneyland/Disneyworld's "Magic Kingdom Korps" influence by drum corps? Broadway and Disney are definitely part of the "outside" world, seeing audiences from around the globe

Here's my proposal; for one year, it is agreed that all DCI World-Class corps perform solely original music in competition. AND, by the end of the season, at least one piece from each show must get released in a transcription or arrangement for some other instrument or ensemble (wind band, string quartet, punk rock group, two pianos, whatever.) To ASCAP, or however that works.

We're talking a whole different ball game here. If you're going to force someone to write a composition, and then on top of that force them to publish it so that the general public can buy it, then, unless they self-publish, you are asking them to write from the heart and soul just to give away all the rights to that "artwork" at the end of the season. When music is published, the composer loses the rights to what happens to the music, or what is done with it in the future. The only things they worry about from then on out are the tiny fraction of royalties for sales, on top of those for performances of the piece, etc.

Self publishing would be a way to go, but then there will always be the discussion of why arrange that composition for other instruments or ensembles, if it's the drum corps sound you're trying to get exposed to the "outside world"?? If Jazz, Rock, Chamber, Duets, etc etc etc are already well known in the "outside world" then what you'd really want to publish isn't sheet music, rather audio. Audio, audio, audio! Interestingly enough, it already does get published. By DCI though...and that's where there may be an interesting discussion too. What kind of marketing and distribution could be conjured up to get these audio clips and files to the general market (if that's what you seek)? Or putting the season's music aside (since it'd be controlled by DCI), what other corps repertoire could be published as audio files and exposed to the outside world, as it were? That would be up to each individual corps. You can't force it though. I like your train of thought though...maybe just got off at the wrong station

[newdaddy]

Well, I appreciate people giving the idea some consideration. Thanks for all comments.

I think, in retrospect, one thing that is frustrating is that the Drum Corps instrumentation and performers are available nowhere else in the world of music other than ... drum corps. I don't see how one would go about getting a piece performed for this instrumentation if it weren't specifically for competition. Maybe that's what I'm wishing for (or part of it) - a day around finals week where corps could be recorded off the field, and could blow through pieces not part of their normal book. That's not what the OP is about, admittedly.

[Pete Freedman]

You wound't have to require all the top 12 to do original works in the same season; you could create a voluntary program, the Original Works Program (OWP), that allows corps to commit to an OWP-compliant show in some specified future season. The work would be adapted and published for marching bands, brass theater, and other brass bands as part of DCI's OWP series. This library of works would grow by at least one work each year.

The corps gets some exposure (i.e. fame) outside of DCI, not to mention the income from sales of the work, and the gravitas of reaching out to other areas of the marching arts. DCI gets to firm up the connections with those same arts (mostly BOA), and gets to be a music publisher. And the gravitas. (love that word!)

Even if none of this happens, it would still be cool for DCI to create a web page with all material that was written for drum corps (like the Cavie's shows) and just link to wherever you can buy it. If nothing else they'll sell some licenses to view the shows online or blu-rays, even if DCI makes no money from the sale of the work itself.

At the end of the day, the idea of showcasing existing written-for-drum-corps works and promoting new ones is a great one.

So that leaves just one burning question that everyone will want to know:

Why is this thread called Frontiers: 2016 ?

Edit: Duh, I get it. That was his suggestion for the name of the program and the year it would be implemented. I is a dummy.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Pete Freedman

[newdaddy]

There are ways to back off the severity of the original proposal and still have something productive. I like Pete's suggestion above that DCI actively promote the original music (with a web page and/or other means.)

How about an end-of-season award for the best original piece?

Or, rather than entire programs being original writing, we could shoot for every corps to include one original piece in 2016 (or whatever year seemed reasonable.)