Blue Devils 2013

[zachariaswmb]

By who ?

DCI commissioned a national coast to coast fan poll a few years back and asked national fans for their favorite DCI shows of all time.They published the results. Star '93 was not even in the top tier with national audiences. It wasn't even " the greatest show " of the DCI judging community for 1993 that witnessed it live and judged it live in 1993 either. I have nothing against Star '93. It was a pretty creative show. But lets not go overboard here and claim the Star'93 Star show is one of " the greatest shows of the modern era " when national fans ( as well as the DCI judging community ) think otherwise according to DCI's own published data. That said, this does not mean that you or some of your friends have to forgo your observation that to YOU its one of the greatest shows of the modern era, as these things are always of a personal like/ or dislike basis.

http://halftimemag.com/articles/07-2010/07-2010-features/top-5-legendary-drum-corps-shows.html

[MikeD]

DCI and BD both claim this is a Major League; correct? Winners in all Major Leagues get booed; part of the territory of playing the game with big boy/girl pants. So, the BD performers should just suck it up, get over it, and quit being cry babies. Or... is DCI only a Major League when it fits into their convenient philosophy?

Where did you see any of the above happening? What I read from the poster was that the corps took the booing, internalized it, and used it to fuel their desire to perform even better.

[Stu]

http://halftimemag.com/articles/07-2010/07-2010-features/top-5-legendary-drum-corps-shows.html

The premise of the question in the Halftime survey is different than the premise of the question in the DCI survey; and the word choice is vital. In the Halftime article they use the word 'legendary' (as in paradigm shift, game changers) as opposed to the word 'favorite' (as in entertainment, love, ecstasy). Ergo, it is no wonder, at least to me, that the two surveys yielded somewhat different results.

[BRASSO]

http://halftimemag.com/articles/07-2010/07-2010-features/top-5-legendary-drum-corps-shows.html

This is a Marching Band magazine, and its survey was a MUCH smaller sampling than that of DCI's national coast to coast survey of national fans, which had a much broader, deeper, larger sampling of the diverse Drum Corps audience base. If we took Drum Corps World magazine thats been in existence for decades and had Chief Editor, Publisher writer Steve Victors, & Art Kellerman, et al select some DCI Directors, arrangers, fans, etc and poll their hand picked voters, the results there would naturally come up with an entirely different listing of Corps. But I would no more use them as a source for this as I would Halftime Magazine.

That why the national coast to coast DCI survey is MUCH more beneficial in gauging national interest as it involved ALL elements of the full spectrum of fans, not just a tiny subsection, whether its DCP, Halftime Magazine, Drum Corps World, or polling all the DCI Hall of Fame inductees, etc or any other small tiny subset.

Edited May 31, 2013 by BRASSO

[Stu]

Where did you see any of the above happening? What I read from the poster was that the corps took the booing, internalized it, and used it to fuel their desire to perform even better.

I was answering a 'specific' question posed by Plan9; it was not a commentary on anything else but only directed at that 'specific' question.

[BRASSO]

Where did you see any of the above happening? What I read from the poster was that the corps took the booing, internalized it, and used it to fuel their desire to perform even better.

You make it appear however that a Corps performs " even better " with booing. Under this logic then Corps would want to receive booing as it appears it makes them perform " even better " than they otherwise might not. But this is silly. There is no evidence at all that booing make a Corps perform " even better" than they otherwise might not. We've been told repeatedly by educators and researchers that positive reinforcement increases better performance levels in youth and young adults than does negative reinforcements will. So look, we can't have it both ways, you know ?

I believe BD won the title last year and it had nothing at all to do with anyone sitting in the stands,... nor their reactions to their show either, whether it was good, bad, or indifferent.

Edited May 31, 2013 by BRASSO

[Quad Aces]

As a post script, the follow up production to audience friendly " Blast " was an esoteric, out there production called " Bast 2, Shockwave ". Interestingly enough, unlike " Blast ", this venture added in woodwinds to the production. The Star staff might have wished they had many more DCI judges in their audience, as it might have filled some of the empty seats. This venture was much more in line with the DCI type of esoteric shows. It was highly innovative... so much so that it innovated itself quickly out of operation. It was a collossal flop and had to close its doors and send its performers home.

Blast 2 - Shockwave was definitely NOT an esoteric show that is more in line with the DCI type of esoteric shows - I saw it.

I'm not saying it was a box office hit, because it wasn't. So much so, that they never even recorded a soundtrack for it (as far as I know), which is a shame, because there was some great music in there, just like the original Blast.

Yes, it had woodwinds, but in some of the songs they were used in a very clever way - such as using them to form a full sax section, when added to the brass instruments formed a full big band on stage.

Blast 2 - Shockwave tried to do exactly what Blast set out to do - NOT be esoteric and have songs that would appeal to a wide range of audiences. Songs that were in the show included Bohemian Rhapsody and John Williams' Swing, Swing, Swing (where the aforementioned full sax section was utilized).

Blast 2 - Shockwave may not have succeeded at the box office, but it wasn't because it was esoteric and Blast was not.

[BRASSO]

Blast 2 - Shockwave was definitely NOT an esoteric show that is more in line with the DCI type of esoteric shows - I saw it.

I'm not saying it was a box office hit, because it wasn't. So much so, that they never even recorded a soundtrack for it (as far as I know), which is a shame, because there was some great music in there, just like the original

I saw both " Blast " and " Blast- Shockwave " as well.

I can agree in retrospect that " esoteric " probably is not the best descriptive phase for me to use to describe the " Blast 2- Shockwave " edition. Its like a lot of sequels, the 2nd version tends to pale compared with the original hit.

The sequel did have recognizable songs, but man, they sure were chopped up. The cast was smaller in size. They went with lots of sax and percussion. The drums & guard were up to par, but anybody that knows brass will tell you that the brass line was not nearly as strong as the caste that was traveling in the original " Blast ", and frankly I thought the arrangements of the songs were a lot shorter in duration and not as appealing in arrangements either. So I guess I would recaste this show as " less filling, (non) taste great " as it really was " Blast Light ". But sure, upon further reflection, I think I could have perhaps used a more apt term to describe the "Blast 2- Shockwave " show as it really can't be properly described as " esoteric " , especially when there are lots of shows that could fit this description much more readily and aptly.

Edited June 1, 2013 by BRASSO

[MikeD]

You make it appear however that a Corps performs " even better " with booing. Under this logic then Corps would want to receive booing as it appears it makes them perform " even better " than they otherwise might not. But this is silly. There is no evidence at all that booing make a Corps perform " even better" than they otherwise might not. We've been told repeatedly by educators and researchers that positive reinforcement increases better performance levels in youth and young adults than does negative reinforcements will. So look, we can't have it both ways, you know ?

I believe BD won the title last year and it had nothing at all to do with anyone sitting in the stands,... nor their reactions to their show either, whether it was good, bad, or indifferent.

I responded specifically about Stu's comment, who IMO completely missed the boat about what the BD poster wrote. It certainly was not a general comment; it was specific to the one post the BD poster made about how they dealt with an adverse reaction.

[Plan9]

Where did you see any of the above happening? What I read from the poster was that the corps took the booing, internalized it, and used it to fuel their desire to perform even better.

Thanks Mike. You're correct. And to clarify, my initial comments were in reaction to a previous poster and former BD MM who revealed some interesting thoughts about similar experiences he had in the mid 90's in response to the OP's initial comment. Decade to decade nothing changes much in this concern...MM's handle things similarly. Ironically, the big boy pants comment from stu was 180 degrees out from what that poster and I were conversing about. Speed reading may be to blame. :rolleyes:/>