Troopers 2014

[BRASSO]

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Again, to my CENTRAL point - when the Troopers were an actual threat to win, they were VITAL and CONTEMPORARY - not a sepia toned print of a Nebraska farm family from the 1880s. If they want to compete again, they'll start reflecting the actual country they're representing, not some 1950s movie version of it.

Quite aside of your jaded view of your neighbors, ( which I don't subscribe to ) one look at Corpsreps and you'll see that there is no coorelation whatsoever between the Troopers themed shows and their placements. They have done mostly shows on positive, uplifting, optimistic America ( that has historically worked well for the Cadets ), in both their best years and worst years. The Cadets do well with the idealized, uplifting, and romanticized America themed shows because they have the talent to pull it off, the fans for the most part like these type of shows, respond well to it ( even if you don't ), and the judges love it too. The only thing that separates The Troopers from the Cadets is not the romanticized, idealized version of America themed shows... its in the construct of the shows, and in its performance abilities of its performers. Other than that, the Troopers deliver the goods to most fans across the country, and their patriotic themed shows are a hit and their shows are received very very well, by your local and national neighbors that you seemingly so despise so much.

Edited July 25, 2014 by BRASSO

[2muchcoffeeman]

I've seen Troopers live 4 times this year. No leaping from the stands was involved in any of those cases. That's not me downplaying anything; that's simple reportage.

First step toward fixing your business/team, whatever, is acknowledging the current situation. And the current situation is that the Troopers are liked, but not feared. People want them to be a top corps again, but the product isn't there to do that. They need to start swinging for fences that are further away, in the hopes of making the program a final destination, rather than the corps you go to before you audition for Vanguard or Bluecoats or BD or whoever.

You and I are attending different shows. And you make many assumptions about what the current administration understands, or doesn't understand, about the "current situation."

I don't disagree with your liked-vs-feared diagnosis. But whether to "swing for the fences" requires the Troopers to abandon their identity is a different question.

[Slingerland]

You and I are attending different shows. And you make many assumptions about what the current administration understands, or doesn't understand, about the "current situation."

I don't disagree with your liked-vs-feared diagnosis. But whether to "swing for the fences" requires the Troopers to abandon their identity is a different question.

It's a sport. To compete in the sport, you have to adjust your game plan to fit the rules of the sport, and then challenge the rules of the sport to push it even further out. If you don't want to do that, then you've essentially consigned yourself to staying exactly where you are.

Cadets figured it out in the early 80s. Cavaliers not long after. Both of them are corps who were competitors in the 50s and 60s and revitalized themselves in the 80s by embracing that philosophy. Neither of them had to let go of their traditions or "abandon their identities" in order to do so. They just had to broaden their horizons.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Slingerland

[quietcity]

You and I are attending different shows. And you make many assumptions about what the current administration understands, or doesn't understand, about the "current situation."

I don't disagree with your liked-vs-feared diagnosis. But whether to "swing for the fences" requires the Troopers to abandon their identity is a different question.

Troop does not need to abandon it's identity, but they sure could stand to evolve it a bit. According to Corpsrep, Trooper's repertoire going back to 1958 is about 95% Western and Americana music. There is the occasional jazz and show tune, and in 1976, it looks like they did a totally non-western show. But otherwise, its turtles all the way down.

Now, it can't be easy to draw talented performing members to Wyoming, and having such a limited artistic range year after year, decade after decade, surely makes it even harder. What other corps has such a restricted musical palate?

So, with all due respect to the great Jim Jones, Troopers might want to gradually ease some new material into their shows.

[N.E. Brigand]

The REAL United States would be a more interesting topic; it includes a lot of music that doesn't sound like Copland or Elmer Bernstein western movie soundtracks. It's music whose composers are black and Hispanic and Asian - and they don't write in commonplace America lingo ffrom the turn of the last century.

Aaron Copland is every bit as real and as American as Vienna Teng, though I would agree that it's worth emphasizing the reverse is true.

I suppose one could argue that last year's Elmer Bernstein movie soundtrack use was a little bit less American than the rest, given that the movie, The Magnificent Seven, was a remake of a Japanese film, The Seven Samurai. But Kurosawa was very influenced by John Ford, so round and round we go.

[Slingerland]

John Ford didn't write music. Movie imagery doesn't figure in to drum corps shows.

The Magnificent Seven soundtrack is iconic, but only when seen in its time frame, a time in the early 60s when Americans still spent hours glued to the television watching western tv shows, because that iconography felt right to them, despite its historical inaccuracies. Then the 70s happened, and the nation figured out that our national story regarding the West was more a mixture of Blazing Saddles and Heaven's Gate than Magnificent Seven.

The old tropes are dead. No point in trying to breathe new life into them. There's an America that exists in the present sense, and doesn't require putting on 1800s goggles in order to see

(And before anyone comments, I have the exact same problem, aesthetically, with Cadets' show; it's a fantasy version of America today, that ignores the very real divisions in the country in favor of a lollipop version where a few well-chosen words from a President fixes everything. Today, if a President says "let's do this because it's the right thing to do," half the country says...well, a line spoken by a little old lady in Blazing Saddles."

Edited July 25, 2014 by Slingerland

[BRASSO]

It's a sport.

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.

Edited July 25, 2014 by BRASSO

[2muchcoffeeman]

What part of "Ramparts" is 1880s? It was composed in the 1960s -- about half a century later than about half the music one hears in DCI in any year -- and was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force Academy, for goodness' sake. To boot, it's a piece of music last played on a DCI field before any current DCI marching member was even born, which is something that can't be said for several of the major pieces being played this year by top-8 drum corps. Did someone say trope?

There's nothing sepia-toned about it.

Edited July 25, 2014 by 2muchcoffeeman

[N.E. Brigand]

John Ford didn't write music. Movie imagery doesn't figure in to drum corps shows.

Heh. Tell the Blue Devils that (in any number of years, not just this one).

As for the rest of the post, while it appears we agree on politics, we disagree on art.

[randyb]

Hmmmm...drawing members is a problem???? They have kids from all over in the corps that want to go to the Troopers. ...mine is from South Carolina. Unless you are part of the corps, one would think it would be hard for you to make a statement like that!!

Troop does not need to abandon it's identity, but they sure could stand to evolve it a bit. According to Corpsrep, Trooper's repertoire going back to 1958 is about 95% Western and Americana music. There is the occasional jazz and show tune, and in 1976, it looks like they did a totally non-western show. But otherwise, its turtles all the way down.

Now, it can't be easy to draw talented performing members to Wyoming, and having such a limited artistic range year after year, decade after decade, surely makes it even harder. What other corps has such a restricted musical palate?

So, with all due respect to the great Jim Jones, Troopers might want to gradually ease some new material into their shows.