Geneva Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Well, I am not a fan of pit amplification. I have been unimpressed with what this added expense adds to the final performance package in DCI. In my view, the pit should be more of a support and adornment to the primary acoustic presentation of brass and percussion. Amplification inevitably will lead to a more primary melodic use of the pit. And don't kid yourself, synth bass is just around the corner, eeeew! The only positive which I can think of is that it would enable repositioning of the pit to the BACK sideline to remove the annoying visual clutter from a corps' performance. How about it DCA? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) This is something that should have been done years ago, WGI and BOA figured this out well before DCI even. As for cost, it's quite low. A workable set of mics, board, amps, speakers and cables can be done reasonably. Most high school winter lines and bands can afford the equipment, and their operating budgets are a fraction of most DCA corps. Don't care if it isn't that much my concern is it costs more. And when I think of corps I usually don't think of most corps, I think of the smaller or newer corps that are keeping the activity alive. Those new corps are what is the big difference between DCI and DCA for me. Just concerned how amped corps vs non-amped corps will show up on the score sheets. Let's not forget pits were optional when they came out too. Edited December 9, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 The only positive which I can think of is that it would enable repositioning of the pit to the BACK sideline to remove the annoying visual clutter from a corps' performance. How about it DCA? Some of us really enjoy that which you call annoying visual clutter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOReason Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 What's all the complaining about, first DCI did no off the line, than DCA, then DCI did the pit, then DCA, then DCI did the banner line dancing, then DCA, then DCI did B flat horns, then DCA, now amplification of the pit so what's next, you want to know? Just watch DCI and soon DCA will follow. I sat behind a group of high school kids at DCA in Annapolis, and there main thing was Guard. Music was just to support the guard, it's coming and Drum Corps is going................ I will miss the great horn lines and drum solos, but there is still time. And thank God DCA got smart and is going somewhere where the fans can enjoy the I & E, have fun and not spend a million dollars to do so!!!!!! :cool:/> And every time DCA followed suit it was because DCI was/is the paradigm of the activity and DCA will either change or cease to be relevant. And if you think DCA attendance is sparce now, imagine if the corps still began on the starting line, had no pit, no banner line dancing and still played on valve/rotary or 2 valves! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Some of us really enjoy that which you call annoying visual clutter. Some of us were around before the pre-pit days Liz. When I started following corps in 2002 it took me a while to get used to the number of people "standing around" too. At least the stadiums I've been at since have higher stands. At some of the local shows I used to go to some people would have been watching THRU the pit to see the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burdettsky Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Who cares about this A&E nonsense, let's get to more important matters. So what about this proposed ten corps regional idea in Scranton? Any more specifics on this as far as date and who would attend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Some of us were around before the pre-pit days Liz. When I started following corps in 2002 it took me a while to get used to the number of people "standing around" too. At least the stadiums I've been at since have higher stands. At some of the local shows I used to go to some people would have been watching THRU the pit to see the show. :blink:/> And I get that BUT it always seems that some people want to bring this activity back to things that occurred in their timeframe. For those of us who weren't around for that timeframe it seems not just an irrelevant and obscure idea, but also self centered. It's not like the pit is some new concept. They've been around now for going on 30 years and there are a few generations of drum corps members that have been there with its existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Hopkins was there but not for the vote, if I read correctly on FB. And he's not the Director with the vote. Rich Hammond is. Soooo when Bush proposed it LONG before C2 even existed, was Hopkins behing that too? :unsure:/> Starting to feel that we have an X-Files conspiracty going on here...Or maybe the vote occurred on the grassy knoll? :wink:/> eh, paraphrasing the words of the wizard, "don't look behind the curtain, nothing to see here..........." As Bill asked earlier,........which corps voted for, and against, the proposal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuoKaerf Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Amplification inevitably will lead to a more primary melodic use of the pit. And don't kid yourself, synth bass is just around the corner, eeeew! Pits have been used for primary melody for two decades now. The only positive which I can think of is that it would enable repositioning of the pit to the BACK sideline to remove the annoying visual clutter from a corps' performance. How about it DCA? While this can be made work OK in WGI, there's major issues with this. Cymbals and concert basses typically are not close mic'd (you do see some contact mics inside concert basses) and rely on direct sound. Lining this up is a nightmare from back sideline up front. It's rare for the marching ensemble to be playing for any length of time that far back. It just sounds like you don't like pits, or any relevant show from the mid 1980's to today. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuoKaerf Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Don't care if it isn't that much my concern is it costs more. And when I think of corps I usually don't think of most corps, I think of the smaller or newer corps that are keeping the activity alive. Those new corps are what is the big difference between DCI and DCA for me. Just concerned how amped corps vs non-amped corps will show up on the score sheets. Let's not forget pits were optional when they came out too. That is absolutely valid. My one caveat would be to ensure people don't see this as required. If you have a 20 person hornline with 6-7 frontline members, you can get away without amps. With a 60 person hornline, there's a big difference in balance between them and 8-9 mallet instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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