So Lighting is the "Next Step" for DC?

[NewSkool]

I read a couple months ago that some believe that "lighting" is the next big thing for drum corps. Well, if the trend of the band world being a testing ground for drum corps ideas, this should show you that yes, lighting is coming.

Bellow are 2 images of the Berkner High School marching band from Richardson, TX. Their show about water (groundbreaking concept, btw) is complete with LED panels on the front sideline and several fog machines. This ensemble is very talented musically and visually, placing well both at the state and national level. So do we really need to spend this kind of money on something that is so not musical? Something that adds to the visual without any work?

I consider myself pretty open-minded about the use of new technology in the marching world. I can understand electronics if they are used as an instrument or to help with ensemble balance. I can understand props to some extent if there is interaction with those props that add to the performance aspect of the show. But this stuff is just sitting there, costing a TON of money.

Have at it, DCP.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/487050_10100323877633674_2001532639_n.jpg

Edited October 18, 2012 by NewSkool

[Schickmeister]

[Photographer Jim]

I see the addition of a rule allowing lighting to be an uphill battle. For lighting to be effective it needs to be used in a dark environment. Unless a corps could be sure that their performance was to be in the later part of the evening, using lighting effects would be a lot of expense for little payoff. Additionally, corps who typically go on early in the evening would be at a distinct disadvantage to corps performing later in the evening when lighting effects would be best utilized. So, from a competitive standpoint, the use of lighting would create an unlevel playing field as well as a financial burden for many corps. I can see how it might work for a HS marching band who typically performs at a halftime show in the late evening, but I think it would be a hard sell for most corps in DCI.

[Michael Boo]

I read a couple months ago that some believe that "lighting" is the next big thing for drum corps. Well, if the trend of the band world being a testing ground for drum corps ideas, this should show you that yes, lighting is coming.

Bellow are 2 images of the Berkner High School marching band from Richardson, TX. Their show about water (groundbreaking concept, btw) is complete with LED panels on the front sideline and several fog machines. This ensemble is very talented musically and visually, placing well both at the state and national level. So do we really need to spend this kind of money on something that is so not musical? Something that adds to the visual without any work?

I consider myself pretty open-minded about the use of new technology in the marching world. I can understand electronics if they are used as an instrument or to help with ensemble balance. I can understand props to some extent if there is interaction with those props that add to the performance aspect of the show. But this stuff is just sitting there, costing a TON of money.

Have at it, DCP.

For as much as we know, it may not have cost them much at all if the supplies for the panels came from some business a band parent perhaps owns. If a corps wished to spend money on this sort of thing instead of funding the buses from point A to point B, or paying instructors, or replacing uniforms that are falling apart...well...I guess that's their prerogative.

I have not seen the show in question and will look for it on YouTube. Having said that, I can't imagine something this "up front" and glaring not being distracting.

But I've been wrong before.

Now, if they could be programmed to send undetectable subliminal messages to the judges, the expense might pay for itself.

[Michael Boo]

I see the addition of a rule allowing lighting to be an uphill battle. For lighting to be effective it needs to be used in a dark environment. Unless a corps could be sure that their performance was to be in the later part of the evening, using lighting effects would be a lot of expense for little payoff. Additionally, corps who typically go on early in the evening would be at a distinct disadvantage to corps performing later in the evening when lighting effects would be best utilized. So, from a competitive standpoint, the use of lighting would create an unlevel playing field as well as a financial burden for many corps. I can see how it might work for a HS marching band who typically performs at a halftime show in the late evening, but I think it would be a hard sell for most corps in DCI.

And there's that, too.

[actucker]

If this takes off, I think it will be in the same way that lighting has been used for BOA nationals. Last year there were two or three effects that were never even used until they got to the dome in Indy. Considering our championships are in that same dome, I can see the lighting being planned for that venue.

Not arguing whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, just pointing out what I think is likely.

That being said, lighting did make way for some interesting ideas in indoor percussion last year. Given you're talking about an indoor environment where you're dealing with a more predictable lighting environment. Its not just strobe lights that are being explored. Things like display screens, LEDs, glowing props etc are all in the mix. Who knows if it will catch on in an outdoor environment. Word on the street is that there's a band that has ever single student wired up with a battery operated set of LEDs.

[MikeD]

I see the addition of a rule allowing lighting to be an uphill battle. For lighting to be effective it needs to be used in a dark environment. Unless a corps could be sure that their performance was to be in the later part of the evening, using lighting effects would be a lot of expense for little payoff. Additionally, corps who typically go on early in the evening would be at a distinct disadvantage to corps performing later in the evening when lighting effects would be best utilized. So, from a competitive standpoint, the use of lighting would create an unlevel playing field as well as a financial burden for many corps. I can see how it might work for a HS marching band who typically performs at a halftime show in the late evening, but I think it would be a hard sell for most corps in DCI.

Just asking as I have no idea...is using lighting as part of a corps props outlawed right now?

[Galen]

I see the addition of a rule allowing lighting to be an uphill battle. For lighting to be effective it needs to be used in a dark environment. Unless a corps could be sure that their performance was to be in the later part of the evening, using lighting effects would be a lot of expense for little payoff. Additionally, corps who typically go on early in the evening would be at a distinct disadvantage to corps performing later in the evening when lighting effects would be best utilized. So, from a competitive standpoint, the use of lighting would create an unlevel playing field as well as a financial burden for many corps.

This would be true in an outdoor environment, but not in a dome- which, by a strange and surely-totally-unrelated coincidence is where Finals and most of DCI's major events take place.

[Gold_Bond]

Not to worry. "Corps will have the option to use them, but won't be required to do so."

Or whatever malarky was said when A&E and the other toys were allowed in.

[GeneralTsoChicken]

And there's that, too.

Yes, but if there was much concern about leveling the playing field DCI would overhaul numerous things. Leveling the playing field seems to be buzzworthy conversation, but rarely important legislation.

I think we'll see lighting within the next 10 years, if the activity lasts that long.