Blue Devils 2013

[Plan9]

Nope, I call BS on that. I mean, it sounds so...Beiber to complain about audience members disliking a corps' artistic concept. We all come to the table with preconceptions-good or bad. Does that give corps members a license to tell people who dislike your so-called art to spin on a gong mallet? Absolutely not. If a person is not emotionally mature enough to handle criticism then perhaps music shouldn't be their vocation.

The real question is why can't an audience member say "I appreciate the technical aspect of your performance, but the concept left me wonting" without being villified or looked at as a target to throw up the proverbial middle finger to because they fail to understand the light that your art is bringing into the world?

Again, missing the point. I know, because I've made it before (from my perspective), perhaps to the point of nausea for some. The dislike he is referring to is not about artistic difference, it's about the connection (in his and my opinion) that dominating corps (particularly these days) have on the audience. Particularly a corps that is pushing the envelop like Stravinsky did in Paris. And the way that members of such a corps process that reaction and maintain their energy and mental attitude on the field.

If an audience member (as you say) doesn't like a production artistically and they sit there with no reaction or polite applause.....no one is mentioning that at all.....how the hell would you know what they're thinking anyway? It's the more vocal reaction and even anger that MM's must process. SOI had to do it, Cadets had to do it, BD has had to do it and Stravinsky had to do it. In all cases, the outcome resulted in historic changes to the art, the organizations flourished and the bad audience reaction became footnotes. And keep in mind, that even most of the harshest critics of BD 09, 10 & 12 agreed that they deserved to win, they just didn't like the productions.

So, let me ask you, how would you handle "life on the field" if you were a MM in a corps that had a fantastic show that was getting boos while dominating scores across the country, and not "the love" that other corps were getting. You know your show is awesome, you know you and your fellow MM's are performing at another level all together, reflected in the scores, comments and your own love of the show...... and you hear this vitriol (which is partly for the production and partly for other things not related to the show at all). What would you do? Serious question.

NOTE: BTW, SOI flourished in their hit production of Blast...spreading Marching Music to a whole new audience.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Plan9

[acolli17]

I figured out why Blue Devils' shows bother me (hear me out)!! I'm excited because I've been trying to figure it out for so long. I've come to a couple of conclusions:

- I absolutely love the Blue Devils' shows recently, from 2008 to 2012.

- I don't like the Blue Devils when I saw them live, in those same years.

- I've loved drum corps since my dad took me to the Ypsilanti show in 1995 when I was 6.

But what I realize is I absolutely love the Blue Devils when I'm not trending my listening to drum corps, when I'm not in that mindset. I've really been in the mood for contemporary style music lately (Joby Talbot, Philip Glass, Zoe Keating, etc.) and then I watched a video of a kid playing along with BD's 2012 show, it fits perfectly in the mindset that I'm currently in. But it doesn't fit my corps mindset. It's just so different from what I'm used to seeing on the field, and I think this is why I'm now so excited to see them play Rite of Spring. I think Rite of Spring is absolutely perfect for them.

Everyone knows about how the first performance of Rite of Spring caused riots, and how it was because the performance was so different from anything they had ever seen in that context, the people just couldn't handle it (there's a great podcast from WNYC Radio Lab that talks about this). It then goes on to talk about how a year later, at the exact same venue, the same setting of Rite of Spring was performed to tumultuous approval.

I think the Blue Devils are this century's representation of Stravinsky, only in a more precise setting - drum corps. We as drum corps fans know the general style we like to hear on the field (which is why so many of us are against amplification, narration, synths, woodwinds, and everything else), so when that norm is challenged, we challenge back. Which brings me back to my original point: I love the Blue Devils' shows. But my mind has to be ready to approach them, and that so far hasn't been the drum corps setting.

What's my point here? I don't really know. Maybe I'm just rambling because I got the day off of work and my mind needs stimulation. Either way, I'm just excited that I've come to this realization, and that I've realized that Blue Devils may now be one of my favorite corps, even if it's not in the moment. Hopefully some of that makes some semblance of sense.

:Edit: had to fix one of the composer's names.

Edited May 31, 2013 by acolli17

[BRASSO]

NOTE: BTW, SOI flourished in their hit production of Blast...spreading Marching Music to a whole new audience.

Star of Indiana left DCI because they no longer wanted to perform in an environment that would have their marchers subjected to competition that would be judged by a handful of selected people on critera established by the collective others.

So Star was able to be totally free to design a show where the audience itself would judge its value and worth. This new theatre environment for them was the the antithesis of DCI. The paying customer was " the judge ".

As such, the type of theatre show designed by the staff of the former Star of Indiana DCI was much more audience friendly to a much larger and much more diverse audience than the DCI judging community is. While it did play " Medea", the show was chock full of the biggest classic musical and visual hits of DCI corps that its fans liked even better than the DCI judges did.... ie, " Melaquena ".... " Simple Gifts "..... Officer Krupke " from West Side Story "...... " Bolero ".... Chuck Mangione's " Land of Make Believe "....as well as the Bayonne Bridgemen's snare drum line blind fold skit.... the Phantom Regiment's classic cross over march move with Guard.... and a host of other classics from Drum Corps.

" Blast " was an award winning Tony Production and a many decade International hit because it was decidedly NOT anything like Star's last couple of years of DCI competition judged shows that were as esoteric as one can imagine. Star of Indiana did not take these types of shows to Broadway and to the World Stage at all. They pretty much abandoned these types of shows and went instead with what they correctly believed would be audience friendly show, now that they were free from the constraints of DCI judged shows judged by a selected elite handful of non audience " judges ".

Edited May 31, 2013 by BRASSO

[Plan9]

about as much as folding chairs and the Great Depression

Chairs (folding or not) were often used as props in tap dancing, popular in the U.S. in the the 20's & 30's and vaudeville.

I know how much you look for deep meaning and connection to the story line in all DCI productions! :blink:/>

[Quad Aces]

NOTE: BTW, SOI flourished in their hit production of Blast...spreading Marching Music to a whole new audience.

Edit: Brasso and I must have been typing our responses at the same time...

Don't know if this was your point or not with the above comment, but Blast flourishing had little to nothing to do with the design choices that Star made in their controversial show(s). Aside from the musical selection of Medea, Blast's show design really had nothing at all in common with say Star's 1993 show. A lot of the same people were involved, but the approaches to the two shows really couldn't have been more different.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Quad Aces

[Plan9]

Star of Indiana left DCI because they no longer wanted to perform in an environment that would have their marchers subjected to competition that would be judged by a handful of selected people on critera established by the collective others.

So Star was able to be totally free to design a show where the audience itself would judge its value and worth. This new theatre environment for them was the the antithesis of DCI. The paying customer was " the judge ".

As such, the type of theatre show designed by the staff of the former Star of Indiana DCI was much more audience friendly to a much larger and much more diverse audience than the DCI judging community is. While it did play " Medea", the show was chock full of the biggest classic musical and visual hits of DCI corps that its fans liked even better than the DCI judges did.... ie, " Melaquena ".... " Simple Gifts "..... Officer Krupke " from West Side Story "...... " Bolero ".... Chuck Mangione's " Land of Make Believe "....as well as the Bayonne Bridgemen's snare drum line blind fold skit.... the Phantom Regiment's classic cross over march move with Guard.... and a host of other classics from Drum Corps.

" Blast " was an award winning Tony Production and a many decade International hit because it was decidedly NOT anything like Star's last couple of years of DCI competition judged shows that were as esoteric as one can imagine. Star of Indiana did not take these types of shows to Broadway and to the World Stage at all. They pretty much abandoned these types of shows and went instead with what they correctly believed would be audience friendly show, now that they were free from the constraints of DCI judged shows judged by a selected elite handful of non audience " judges ".

You don't know this to be the reason for their departure....why couldn't it be an amazing and radical opportunity that enlisted the talents across the DCI landscape. The blast production used many of the styling innovations of SOI including props and, interestingly, chairs (Jeff :tongue:/>). My point was that the crowd reaction did and does nothing to the success of these organizations.....they just blow by the closed minded and wait for them to come around....and they always do.

BTW acolli 17 nailed it!!!!! :thumbup:/>

[loopin' froot loops]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. Crown will come out west & have a good majority of their show done. They'll probably find success early because BD is notorious for moving at their own pace & just "putting something out there" (for lack of a better term) in the first few weeks of the season.. I'll hold all my judgments on the "trees" until they figure out how they'll really use them (around the "dirty south" part of tour). So, I'm expecting the interwebs to explode twice this season. Once after Stanford, then again around day 3 of Allentown. After all, all this bickering & predicting is all in good fun, right?

Oh, and I love waffles.

Edited May 31, 2013 by loopin' froot loops

[Jeff Ream]

I understand that everyone has their own opinion but can we actually talk about 2013 season and not what happened in the past any word from blue devils spring training

sure. until we see video or hear clips, we can just treat this like a predictions thread.

[Jeff Ream]

Again, missing the point. I know, because I've made it before (from my perspective), perhaps to the point of nausea for some. The dislike he is referring to is not about artistic difference, it's about the connection (in his and my opinion) that dominating corps (particularly these days) have on the audience. Particularly a corps that is pushing the envelop like Stravinsky did in Paris. And the way that members of such a corps process that reaction and maintain their energy and mental attitude on the field.

If an audience member (as you say) doesn't like a production artistically and they sit there with no reaction or polite applause.....no one is mentioning that at all.....how the hell would you know what they're thinking anyway? It's the more vocal reaction and even anger that MM's must process. SOI had to do it, Cadets had to do it, BD has had to do it and Stravinsky had to do it. In all cases, the outcome resulted in historic changes to the art, the organizations flourished and the bad audience reaction became footnotes. And keep in mind, that even most of the harshest critics of BD 09, 10 & 12 agreed that they deserved to win, they just didn't like the productions.

So, let me ask you, how would you handle "life on the field" if you were a MM in a corps that had a fantastic show that was getting boos while dominating scores across the country, and not "the love" that other corps were getting. You know your show is awesome, you know you and your fellow MM's are performing at another level all together, reflected in the scores, comments and your own love of the show...... and you hear this vitriol (which is partly for the production and partly for other things not related to the show at all). What would you do? Serious question.

NOTE: BTW, SOI flourished in their hit production of Blast...spreading Marching Music to a whole new audience.

you? nauseate people?

:tongue:/>/>

but yes, they did deserve to win those shows.

and...having been booed in an arch rivals town while getting the gold placed around my neck.....i enjoyed the moment that much more!

Edited May 31, 2013 by Jeff Ream

[Jeff Ream]

Chairs (folding or not) were often used as props in tap dancing, popular in the U.S. in the the 20's & 30's and vaudeville.

I know how much you look for deep meaning and connection to the story line in all DCI productions! :blink:/>/>

oh, so they needed to dance and do vaudeville that year. that would have helped