Drum Corps is About 100 Years Behind

[BRASSO]

If the artists are still alive.... Trying to think who we have seen in the last 20-25 years who was younger than us. Only ones that come to mind are replacements for the original members in Allman Brothers, Stones, drawing a blank but caught Clarence Clemens on is last tour (only Springsteen show we ever saw).

But do understand your point about re-inventing. Off the top of my head Tony Bennett along with Rod Stewart. Even the Welsh (like my wife) Wizard Tom Jones working with Wall of Noise and in a UK pop festival that I caught on Paladia(sp?).

None of the big Rockers that are still packing them in in the large venues have changed much at all the last 40 years, imo.

Its mostly the same style of music played with most of them, except with some high tech enhancements. Tony Bennett has not changed one iota either in my opinion. He does not do rock, soul, rap, alternative, country, funk, etc... its still the traditional ballad from the 50's that he sings even today..... Jimmy Buffett was told to change in the early 70's by his Agent and his Record Producer. He refused. The big label record companies dropped him. He lost exposure, but his loyal fans remained, and he kept singing his style of songs. He kept his original band pretty much intact. He wasn't played on the radio, but his music added to his fan base and the next generation came to him in the late 80's and his career took off again with the next generation. But his shows, his music, his band, were pretty much the same. By contrast, Bob Dylan was a giant icon in the early 60's. He was " it ". He was numero uno in Folk Music playing his Folk Guitar. But when electonic guitars started to take hold, Dylan went with " the next big thing " the electric guitar. His many Folk music fans left him in droves once he decided to plug in his guitar, and try to meld in with the rock scene that was taking place. It didn't work as he tried to change his music. He got lost in the 70's, his record sales were nowhere near what they used to be in the early 60's. By the late 80's he reinvented himself again and tried his hand at Country Music, but he was a fish out of water there too. Bob Dylan never recaptured the commercial success he had as a folk music artist in the early 60's. He changed into something he wasn't. The moral of the story is, if you play appealing music, connect well with audiences, remain true to your roots, people will eventually find you, even if you don't change a thing. Sometimes the next generation, and the generation after that, will find out what the earlier generation found appealing. Tony Bennett, The Stones, U2, Jimmy Buffett, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Wynton Marsalis, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana,Stevie Wonder, George Strait, Paul Mc Cartney, Metallica, AC/ DC, etc all pretty much have stayed true to their roots of the style of music they play. Thats primarily why they still pack them in today despite the fact that some in their audience were not yet born when they first hit it big decades ago.

Edited August 27, 2013 by BRASSO

[jjeffeory]

None of the big Rockers that are still packing them in in the large venues have changed much at all the last 40 years, imo.

Its mostly the same style of music played with most of them, except with some high tech enhancements. Tony Bennett has not changed one iota either in my opinion. He does not do rock, soul, rap, alternative, country, funk, etc... its still the traditional ballad from the 50's that he sings even today..... Jimmy Buffett was told to change in the early 70's by his Agent and his Record Producer. He refused. The big label record companies dropped him. He lost exposure, but his loyal fans remained, and he kept singing his style of songs. He kept his original band pretty much intact. He wasn't played on the radio, but his music added to his fan base and the next generation came to him in the late 80's and his career took off again with the next generation. But his shows, his music, his band, were pretty much the same. By contrast, Bob Dylan was a giant icon in the early 60's. He was " it ". He was numero uno in Folk Music playing his Folk Guitar. But when electonic guitars started to take hold, Dylan went with " the next big thing " the electric guitar. His many Folk music fans left him in droves once he decided to plug in his guitar, and try to meld in with the rock scene that was taking place. It didn't work as he tried to change his music. He got lost in the 70's, his record sales were nowhere near what they used to be in the early 60's. By the late 80's he reinvented himself again and tried his hand at Country Music, but he was a fish out of water there too. Bob Dylan never recaptured the commercial success he had as a folk music artist in the early 60's. He changed into something he wasn't. The moral of the story is, if you play appealing music, connect well with audiences, remain true to your roots, people will eventually find you, even if you don't change a thing. Sometimes the next generation, and the generation after that, will find out what the earlier generation found appealing. Tony Bennett, The Stones, U2, Jimmy Buffett, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Wynton Marsalis, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana,Stevie Wonder, George Strait, Paul Mc Cartney, Metallica, AC/ DC, etc all pretty much have stayed true to their roots of the style of music they play. Thats primarily why they still pack them in today despite the fact that some in their audience were not yet born when they first hit it big decades ago.

Excellent post, Brasso.

My nephew, who is now 21, listens to older stuff WAY more than newer things. He tells me quality is quality...

I tend to agree.

[JimF-LowBari]

Tony Bennett has not changed one iota either in my opinion. He does not do rock, soul, rap, alternative, country, funk, etc... its still the traditional ballad from the 50's that he sings even today.....

OK I don't follow Tony Bennett (not what I listen to *shrug*) so stand corrected. IIRC he has released some albums containing duets with more current singers and that's what I thinking of. Just didn't know what style was sung.

[mingusmonk]

danielray, I am grateful for your contributions here. They are the stuff that keeps places like this going. But, I am convinced, even if drum corps somehow DOES find a way to catch-up to the 100 years it's behind, there will always be folks posting how it's STILL not enough. And, you sir, will lead the charge. This topic is really not about drum corps, is it?

[IllianaLancerContra]

So they should be performing what? Miley Cyrus? Lady Gaga?

[BRASSO]

So they should be performing what? Miley Cyrus? Lady Gaga?

In my view, it matters little who the performer is... its the music itself... and its all in its arranging and in its presentation. ( and you should be made aware that at TOP 12 Corps recently has performed a piece composed by Lady Gaga... and successfully received by audiences, near as I could tell anyway ). Some of the world's best symphonies have played music composed by some pretty undesirable characters both within and from outside the rock realm or the pop music realm. sometimes in collaborative ventures right up on stage together too. Why should summer Drum Corps be any different in this respect ? So yes, if the music from Miley Cyrus is a good piece to explore in Drum Corps, go for it ( assuming no rights issues ) If Drum Corps can handle music from 300 years ago, it should be able to at least consider from time to time other modern genres of music from today's music world, imo

Edited August 27, 2013 by BRASSO

[Stu]

OMG!!!! In September 2013 The Chicago Symphony is performing works of Brahms and Verdi!!!! The CSO is 100 years behind!!!!! OMG!!!!!

[skywhopper]

OMG!!!! In September 2013 The Chicago Symphony is performing works of Brahms and Verdi!!!! The CSO is 100 years behind!!!!! OMG!!!!!

To be fair, I think many big orchestras are in tighter financial straits than DCI.

My problem with this thread is that no one has yet defined what it means to be "100 years behind".

Danielray appears to have based it on the year that the Blue Devils' music was written (though he didn't mention that part of BD's source material was a one-year old updated arrangement of that piece). But I would argue that Blue Devils' mix of a 100-year-old piece with two jazzy arrangements of that piece, blending together field battery and trapset, and a brass band with synth patches ranging from sampled guitar to dubstep-style bass, coupled with their frenetic hyperactive visual design is in fact a perfect representation of today's postmodern Internet-driven mashup/remix/meme-based culture.

Here's some other recent takes from the past couple of years, apparently also 100 years behind:

Dubstep remix (clever):

Electronic remix (low-key but impressive):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQb4qHOVjnM

8-bit mix (annoying, but funny):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEs7mhBZIDo

John Cage inspired, computer-generated infinite never-repeating (sound starts at 0:15 and thankfully only lasts 45 seconds):

Remix via Fantasia:

As remixed by Metropolis Ensemble:

The Bad Plus live performance (awwwesome):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdE49jdfn6Y

[N.E. Brigand]

To be fair, I think many big orchestras are in tighter financial straits than DCI.

Yes, I think dan mentioned that too, somewhere earlier in this discussion. There's an article on the subject in the current issue of The New Republic that is well worth reading and made quite a few points that seemed germane to drum corps. Given Music City's demise, it may be particularly apropos that the TNR article starts out discussing Nashville's symphony.

[BRASSO]

Yes, I think dan mentioned that too, somewhere earlier in this discussion. There's an article on the subject in the current issue of The New Republic that is well worth reading and made quite a few points that seemed germane to drum corps. Given Music City's demise, it may be particularly apropos that the TNR article starts out discussing Nashville's symphony.

Any musical ensemble that remains aloof, distant, elitist, is bound to run into its ability to sustain itself as a functioning enterprise. Even the Dada Movement in Zurich self imploded after only a few years there of chaos, anarchy and neglect, and its overall distain for audiences. On the other hand, modern day Symphony Orchestras that have ventured out better to their communities, ala the Boston Symphony and its Boston Pops Orchestra, the London Philhamonic, The Venice, Italy Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo, Ohio Symphony, etc with appealing offerings and performances outdoors on occasion are generally by comparison to other Symphonies and other musical ensembles doing pretty well.

Edited August 27, 2013 by BRASSO