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Madison Scouts 2014 -- Playing the Music of Stan Kenton and Don Ellis


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I agree; I as looking forward to this show because I love Kenton & Ellis music, but this show doesn't do much for me. The corps performs well enough, but like you said the arrangements seem bland and fairly uninteresting to me. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, though it's interesting to me you say you feel this way after seeing them live: I& maybe it was awesome live. I think if this corps is trying to generate effect with just playing + marching well (as opposed to some sort of story, or through-line/theme, or crazy use of props, etc), the arrangements aren't cool/interesting enough on their own and the performance isn't exciting or clean enough. I know it's early, and tweaks and cleaning will come & I'll still be holding out hope the corps will thrill me

I enjoyed the show, but not to the level where I have enjoyed Scouts in the past. The soloists were great in the closer, but it is almost like they are using 3 great minutes at the end to make up for 8 minutes of just good. It reminds me a little of their 98 show. I remember 93-97 Scouts just blew me away, the power the energy, and the performance level. Then came 98, and something seemed to be missing. I feel like the last couple of years, Madison has been building again, and then this year, it seems like a little slip back.

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Wow...didn't see these psychedelic guard unis....pretty radical! I sincerely hope there

are many more changes and additions to the show to bring it together!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152085592590916&set=a.10152085589275916.1073741846.307943455915&type=1&theater

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For what it's worth, this is one of the few shows since 2008 that I've actually enjoyed musically. A bit miffed they didn't go with Bulgarian Bulge's original 16/39, 16/36 time signatures, but 16/32 and 16/36 still kept it pretty close. It's still remarkably close to the original and that's still quite an accomplishment. Plus, holy smokes brassline. Where was this the past few seasons? And why aren't they getting rewarded for it? (Especially in content?!)

It's also incredibly frustrating that no one seems to be giving them the praise they deserve for the exotic rhythmic things they're doing this year. I suppose when you're not Blue Devils, Cadets, or Crown, people just won't give you instant credit for being "innovative" (in quotation marks). I honestly can't think of a show with this much time variation in recent history. Cadets 83 comes to mind, but nothing much in the last few decades. I'm also kinda confused at the backlash about the arrangements. We hear worse from the top corps each year and they do just fine. Maybe Madison is being treated differently by expectation? I don't know. People don't seem to realize how dependent they are on a cheap 8 count fff Major Chord to the box at the end of a phrase despite it not fitting the music, or a N6 resolving downward to tonic despite it being cheap Michael Bay-esque solution to a problem that needs more finesse and creativity. For the most part, musically, this show delivers what DCI has needed for quite a while.

I also tend to agree with the criticism of the single colorguard member slow-walking. But even though the slow-walking towards the later half of the show just doesn't work, I applaud them for truly doing something completely different and committing to it. It worked for SCV 06 because it wasn't invasive to the show (it occurred on the outer perimiter), and it's not quite working right now because of the duration of time. I suspect they'll figure it out and change it for the better sometime this season. From the videos I've seen, there's still a ton of guard stuff to be added.

As for the whole "explosion of color" thing: It's... kinda working... but it's (let's say) muted due to inefficiency. Crossmen 2003 is a great example of a color explosion, Right now the color choices seem faded rather than dynamic and explosive. Part of the problem is the actual design of the flags and outfits. While Crossmen 03 uses larger squarish sections for their climax, Madison 14's uses shapes with far less area. Unfortunately the end result ends up being washed together in a sort of "mixing paint" effect that makes the color look grayish to me from farther away. There's not enough surface area to let the color develop, so the effect becomes muted.

But again, this is one of my favorite shows anyone has done since 2008. I've generally avoided following DCI for a few years now because the rule changes aren't for me, but I guess I get to follow at least one corps this year.

Edited by NR_Ohiobando
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Attended rehearsal at Warhawk last night with my longtime buddy who's a Scouts alum. Significant changes made to the closer. Much more energy and improved visuals IMO. I was very impressed with the instructional staff and how quickly the members learned the changes. I would expect staff to continue making positive adjustments throughout the summer.

BTW many Scouts alums in town Madison today to rehearse for Macy's thanksgiving day parade. They're expecting 400 strong to march including 100 from current corps.

Edited by ecamburn
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The flam section in Fanfare is one of those gems I can watch over and over.........really hope this show comes together, LOVE the selections.

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Yea that flam section is really nice.

I like their music. I think this year is really diverse. We have old school and new school. A good mix IMO.

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Alright I bought fannetwork and was catching up on shows. I watched this with my friend this morning and his comments were it was boring musically and visually and stopped watching. I was trying to figure out the show. Its got the name time trip so is it just playing old songs? Then the guy walking around confused me. I think the drill is to easy again for them after the improvements they made a couple years ago(2012 love that show) the thing I notice the most was the bent leg. Any reason for the change?

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