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Opera changes all time. Don't take my word for it. Here's a couple of bits from The Wall Street Journal:

When Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's five-hour, intermission-free opera "Einstein on the Beach" made its premiere at the Festival d'Avignon in 1976, many spectators and critics responded in ways seldom seen outside of encounters with spaceships or hallucinogenic drugs. The work's experimental composition, poetry, lighting design, choreography and performance merged to form an enigmatic sense of the life of Albert Einstein, shattering expectations of traditional opera and expanding notions of what theater and opera could be.

So that was 1976. How about 2011:

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of "Siegfried," the third of four operas in Wagner's Ring Cycle, opens Thursday with an element guaranteed to spark intermission chatter. Three-dimensional projections—which do not require special glasses—will be cast onto the production's massive, movable set; in one scene, they will create the illusion of a forest, and what lies beneath.

It took me all of 10 minutes to find those quotes. No doubt there are plenty more.

But even if we concede for the sake of argument that it hasn't changed, so what? Fife and drum corps are mostly unchanged. Is that our model? To be an anachronism?

Because that's really the point. If you're trying to argue that change is unnecessary for drum corps, you're arguing that drum corps shouldn't remain relevant, that being an anachronism is okay, which it's not.

HH

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To draw a more apt analogy, what would football fans think if the football rules for 2013 allowed wide receivers on pass routes to grab lacrosse sticks stuck in the ground to catch passes thrown by quarterbacks in the pocket ? And DB's on defense would likewise be allowed to grab the lacrosse sticks positioned at spots on the field in the ground to then prevent wide outs from catching thrown balls ? Would the fans call it the neccessary and natural " evolution " of the sport and be ok with this so called minor " change " ?

Edited by BRASSO
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The same thing they felt when plastic helmets, facemasks and instant replay entered the game.

HH

There is " change " and then there is " CHANGE ". I think we all understand here that all "change" is not the same in terms of degree, breadth, scope, etc There is what we call cosmetic changes and then there is what can be referred to as major transformative changes that radically change the thing from previously. Would American football fans be ok if the high schools and colleges began to use what is called an European football in Europe in their football games here in the US instead of an American football ?

Edited by BRASSO
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Well... If you're going to define the criteria and define only in limited ways that favor your argument, then there's no discussion to have. I'll just say this: Instant replay has changed the outcome of games. There aren't many differences more fundamental than that.

HH

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Well... If you're going to define the criteria and define only in limited ways that favor your argument, then there's no discussion to have. I'll just say this: Instant replay has changed the outcome of games. There aren't many differences more fundamental than that.

HH

of sure, " instant replay " in football is the same level of " change " as changing the instrumention in Drum Corps. Are you kidding ? I do agree that Opera , invented in 1597, was changed by " lighting " after 1800 however too.

It would have been difficult to incorporate "lighting" in Opera in the world without Thomas Edison.

But for the record, " lighting " did not change Opera from 1597 until 1800. Adding " lighting " and " costume " changing ( and instant replay in football ) is what we call cosmetic changes.

Now,...having said this... if we put in 4 goal posts in football, (2 each enzone), change the contour of the football, allow 20 players on offense, 20 on defense, allow lacrosse sticks positioned at stations on thefootball field to be utlized, etc.. NOW we're talking about comparable " change " here, and you've got a case for comparable changes in football to that of Drum Corps the last 50 years.

When Opera adds " english narration " to the Italian Aria performance, get back on here right away on this.. We'll converse. Now THAT would be a copmparable change for Opera, comparable to Drum Corps change, and you'd have a very compelling case to be made about the changes in these things mirroring the changes in Drum Corps the last 50 years.

Edited by BRASSO
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Now,...having said this... if we put in 4 goal posts in football, (2 each enzone), change the contour of the football, allow 20 players on offense, 20 on defense, allow lacrosse sticks positioned at stations on thefootball field to be utlized, etc.. NOW we're talking about comparable " change " here, and you've got a case for comparable changes in football to that of Drum Corps the last 50 years.

I'd love to see the NFL, with their better athletes, play on a CFL sized field. Plus, add in a few of their offensive rules. That would be some change without any hope needed!

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The criteria keep changing. When do we get to talk about the introduction of the forward pass in football? Or the move to the football field from the parade route in drum corps?

HH

Well, to keep your analogy "comparable" in degree and scope ,you'll get to talk about this change of the march of the Corps onto" the football field from the parade route", when football teams march out of the stadium in step into the street carrying a European football and cheerleaders out front carrying lighted pom poms that narrate pre programmed cheers to the crowd when you push a button on the pom poms, and before this NFL football game is now changed to touch football and played out on the street before a reviewing stand in front of referees and fans there.

And yet still state :" things change and evolve in the NFL, but its still NFL football ".

Edited by BRASSO
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If you're trying to argue that change is unnecessary for drum corps, you're arguing that drum corps shouldn't remain relevant

If you can find a single comment from me on DCP that says that " change is unneccessary for Drum Corps ",then I will promise you to speak in favor of all changes, including the future utilization of woodwinds in Drum Corps.

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