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2012 DCA Rules Congress - Baltimore, MD


Glen

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The first congress after George has a corps marching DCA. Do we think this is coincidence?

Hopkins did't submit the proposal, and had nothing to do with it's passing. Though you win the award for being the first person in this thread to attempt to connect those dots. A&E has been proposed at every rules congress in the last five or six years, if not more.

The difference was that enough voters woke up and realized what the rest of us have known for years, that A&E was important, necessary, and needed to be passed now.

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It has been proposed before - and laughed out of the room, as described above. Too bad it wasn't laughed out again.

But it will NEVER lead to amped soloists, voice or electronics, so don't anybody worry.......:rolleyes:/>/>

Yes, it will. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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Hopefully never. I do agree that amps was long over due. Even if you disagree with the decision, I think everyone knew it was coming eventually.

However, unlike John, I don't support the blandification of mixing BOA, WGI, DCI and DCA into all sounding the same.

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This will finally allow us to play with the musical touch required for today's pit books, prevent unnecessary damage to our instruments (and our bodies)

*looks at 2011 BD during the big shout in "Say a Little Prayer"....notes the person on the vibes POUNDING the keys at around the 6:57 mark of the vid.

Very end of 2011 Cavies...yep....pounding away.

There are certainly other examples.

Remember the argument that amping the pit would mean players wouldn't have to pound their instruments into the ground for their part to be heard and contribute?? Remember also when the allowable size was increased, so more corps added brass or drums....thus drowning out the amped pit? So...now you add more pit instruments (I counted 10 LARGE keyboards at one point) in an effort to counter the larger brass/battery...some of them miked (Really, BD??? You need to mike a guy who's parked near the sideline and already screaming a double C???)...you can't turn the amps up or you get distortion...so the only thing to do is to whang the things harder.....which kinda defeats the original purpose of amping them.

If you have 10 large keys in the pit, they're amped, and the players -- even at the very top -- still feel they need to beat them to death....there's something wrong here.

When it's a soft horn passage, an exposed key passage, etc and they can be heard normally, they CAN....WITHOUT BEING AMPED.

Amping, then increasing the wind size, and thereby forcing the keys to he heard over THAT, even with amp assistance, renders irrelevant the orchestral technique argument used to approve amps in the first place.

It's happened in DCI....I see it happening in DCA now.

Sad.

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Hopkins didn't submit the proposal, and had nothing to do with it's passing. Though you win the award for being the first person in this thread to attempt to connect those dots. A&E has been proposed at every rules congress in the last five or six years, if not more.

Heh. Someone was going to ask eventually. Wasn't Hopkins actually quoted as saying a few months ago, in jest of course, that now that he had a seat at the table, he did have a sheaf of proposals to suggest?

The difference was that enough voters woke up and realized what the rest of us have known for years, that A&E was important, necessary, and needed to be passed now.

That is to say: you prefer it. It wasn't "known" that A&E (or just A, for the moment) were "important" and "necessary". It was believed by some people that A&E was important and necessary, and at last those people have gotten those who vote on the rules to share that belief. The inherent value of amplified pits --or of pit writing that requires amplification to be distinctly heard-- can't be proved, because it really is just a matter of taste. If I tell you that I prefer the sound of an unamplified pit, you can't demonstrate otherwise! You just disagree.

But you won.

Champions of A&E have pointed out that in other musical realms, those elements are often used. However, they are not always used. The existence of jazz and rock bands, and the occasional orchestral piece incorporating electronica, has not led to the total demise of groups who play Bach or Beethoven more or less as written. Where are the historical-minded corps that will perform unplugged at the top corps level, as the Cleveland Orchestra plays Mozart at the top orchestral level?

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I got to see all of the proposal for the DCA Meeting.. Hopkins had none, nada zip...

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Hopefully never. I do agree that amps was long over due. Even if you disagree with the decision, I think everyone knew it was coming eventually.

However, unlike John, I don't support the blandification of mixing BOA, WGI, DCI and DCA into all sounding the same.

Words into mouth much? Show me where I said that. (Hint: I didn't).

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