mingusmonk Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Every Last Song from The Dark Tower series: http://io9.com/every-last-song-from-stephen-kings-dark-tower-series-c-1601378646 In a Spotify playlist Stephen King's - The Dark Tower Remember, no Beatles or Beatles solo works on Spotify. :( 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 they should reconsider the standard issue programming philosophy and look for a position that will allow them to start competing on a more even basis with corps that are currently in the 8th-10th spots, rather than the 12th-16th spots, as a first step toward making the much harder push into the 5th-8th range. By my lights, they are doing precisely that with the Van Doren-led team they brought on in 2013, and which returned in 2014. You disagree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriTroop Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) It would be a cryin' shame if the Troopers abandoned their identity. I want the variety and uniqueness that different corps bring to the field and I don't think there's any shame in identifying with the past. This is a nuanced thought, but I actually necessarily prefer the Troopers being all about Americana and Patriotism. Instead, I prefer them embracing their western and civil war roots. There's material out there that would allow for an in your face, modern, tough show without jumping the tracks. For example, I have felt for some time that they could do a really great/edgy show from the movie Tombstone. "You tell 'em I'm coming, and hell's coming with me!" http://youtu.be/6Yh7Cdm2GgY Howdy Granny, nice to see you chiming in. I'm in agreement, and you probably predicted that. However, I can see Troop pushing their limits quite a bit more, musically speaking. I think part of the problem is how boxed in we are by our history and our head gear. No, I would not want us to take on shakos, but when we try to do something else, people look at us and say "I can't buy it with you wearing cowboy hats." I wish it weren't so. No idea how we shake it, other than to just try to swagger through it. Troopers identity has nothing to do with the music and all about the visual. Pick good challenging music, write some kick ### visual to go with it, make all elements Finals-worthy, and you're done. Getting that level of skill takes time, this year's show is a step in the right direction, and if you don't think the show isn't going to help with retention and recruitment then you're crazy. Yep, dead on Pinwiz. Honestly, I wish Troopers would re-envision movement on the field and do something completely new. The "straight leg" and "bent leg" dichotomy is not the only way to move bodies. I think we have the staff smarts to come up with something completely new, or at least something that makes us look much more different and is more physically efficient. I also wish we - and EVERY OTHER CORPS OUT THERE - would stop copying the "poopy pants" or "squish a bug" body moves everyone at the top started doing a few years ago. I know that's where most drum corps instructors learned their stuff, but surely we can do better. I really want Troop to take a leading edge on visual performance and come out with something that turns heads in a whole new direction. Visual is where the game is played now, and I know that Troopers admin and staff are aware of that. They're playing the right game - but there was a lot of catch up to do. Edited July 25, 2014 by TerriTroop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) Troopers identity has nothing to do with the music and all about the visual. Pick good challenging music, write some kick ### visual to go with it, make all elements Finals-worthy, and you're done. Getting that level of skill takes time, this year's show is a step in the right direction, and if you don't think the show isn't going to help with retention and recruitment then you're crazy. Agreed, and 2014 is a step that, in my armchair assessment, is challenging the members to a degree rarely experienced in Troopers' history. They are in the deep(er) end of the pool with their music and visual demand this year, and the corps is learning how to rise to that level of demand (the consensus among the DCP intelligentsia is that Troop is not marching particularly well this year, when I believe the more accurate assessment is that the corps has been handed a more complex, exposed, demanding visual package that requires that much more precision in order to look clean. In other words, they may be marching better than last year, but the visual demands are greater still, and cleaning is that much more challenging). When they get it, especially the visual aspect of it, they will have crossed a threshold. My sense is they are approaching an inflection point. It is a painstaking process. Which is why retention and its analog, recruiting, are increasingly vital to continued success. You need to have a critical mass of membership that already is up the learning curve and equipped to start performing earlier in the season. The programming/identity aspect, of course, is critical, too, and is a topic I'll save for a later post. Short version, which I've stated before: It's not the music, it's what you do with the music. Edited July 25, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) hell's coming with me. That would be a great name for a show. They'd sell a pile of T-shirts, for sure. Edited July 25, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckH Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Every Last Song from The Dark Tower series: http://io9.com/every-last-song-from-stephen-kings-dark-tower-series-c-1601378646 In a Spotify playlist Stephen King's - The Dark Tower Remember, no Beatles or Beatles solo works on Spotify. :( #### -- I'd forgotten how much music Stephen King referenced in that series. And there'd be narration, of course... "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troopers1 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) In response to slingerland - I would posit that top talent goes to BD or Cadets or whoever because they win a whole sh#t-ton. Good programming helps them win so it's a supporting factor. The Troopers' current programming philosophy is excellent, and will progress as the competitive possibilities open up. - Moving from 18th to 13th was a big deal for any corps. It doesn't happen often. To downplay that as nothing (and therefore no argument supporting Americana themes) because the corps hasn't won championships in living memory just doesn't follow. Edited July 25, 2014 by troopers1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RContra Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) There is much disagreement if DCI competition is " a sport ", despite the uncontested fact that in the recent past it has most certainly been promoted by DCI as such and marketed as such.. including to that of packaging it as such to the sports tv networks. If we accept your position that DCI is "a sport", let the record show that it is the only single sport in the entire world, amateur or pro, and at any level, that does not have a formalized agreed too, transfer policy in place among its league and its member " sport " teams. It is inconceivable that just 3 " sport" teams alone would dominate a 25-50 member sport league by winning over 80% of the sports league titles in that league over the last 35 years with a standard transfer policy in place of some sort that all sports, and all their leagues have. There is no sports league in the world that has this level of systemic widespread and pervasive disparity in team competition like we witness in the " sport " of DCI league competition. Lets not single out the Troopers for"athlete" move to the top sport teams here in DCI, as the top tier "teams"take in the lower teams best talent each and ever year, and have done so for decades, making competition placement inertia a completely unique phenomena to DCI at levels unheard of in any other " sport " and " sport league " anywhere in the world. So...? Edited July 25, 2014 by RContra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) As the nominal OP, I'm going to pull a little rank here and ask that we don't take this thread into "DCI is(n't) a sport" territory. That subject is under discussion elsewhere. Thank you. Edited July 25, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
year1buick Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Every Last Song from The Dark Tower series: http://io9.com/every-last-song-from-stephen-kings-dark-tower-series-c-1601378646 In a Spotify playlist Stephen King's - The Dark Tower Remember, no Beatles or Beatles solo works on Spotify. :( That's awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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