N.E. Brigand Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I've long felt that there should be a moratorium, say, of 12 years for anything that was performed in a first-place show, 11 years for anything that was performed in a second-place show, and so on. Completely voluntary, of course. Cadets satisfied that condition with their Barber show last year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 All of Copland's music that I've heard has that quality, and the vast majority of it hasn't been played. In general it has to be said that drum corps, including top drum corps, go back to the same well way more than necessary. Each time it happens we can come up with reasons it makes sense this time, but over the long haul it's clearly unnecessary. I think it comes from a time when they would play the same music in consecutive years, presumably on the theory that they would have more practice and would play it better. So as long as they're not doing that, it seems OK, to them. But not to many fans, who want to see a drum corps take on something new. I want to see better versions, or updated and improved versions as well as something new. New for the sake of new is not better than going to the well too much. Now, I am not saying that I want to hear "Promise of Living" again. I wouldn't mind hearing something like Belshazzar's Feast again though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I have a theory. Maybe they have an unwritten guideline that each year they have to include some music the audience knows. Not necessarily from drum corps, but from somewhere. While Star 93 didn't meet this rule, both SCV '10 (Bartok) and Cadets '13 (Barber) did, because fans knew some of both shows from the Star 93. Crown '13 included ASZ, BD '13 was RoS which lots of people know, obviously Les Mis is famous, and certainly America by Simon and Garfunkel is famous. Phantom played a piece Crown had played in '10 I think? Has anyone heard of such a guideline? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoln Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) I have a theory. Maybe they have an unwritten guideline that each year they have to include some music the audience knows. Not necessarily from drum corps, but from somewhere. While Star 93 didn't meet this rule, both SCV '10 (Bartok) and Cadets '13 (Barber) did, because fans knew some of both shows from the Star 93. Crown '13 included ASZ, BD '13 was RoS which lots of people know, obviously Les Mis is famous, and certainly America by Simon and Garfunkel is famous. Phantom played a piece Crown had played in '10 I think? Has anyone heard of such a guideline? I don't think this is the case. Edited January 28, 2014 by LincolnV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoln Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) I don't think this is the case. Double post sorry. Edited January 28, 2014 by LincolnV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaddyt Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Interesting, as I would think the opposite. I think they spend a LOT of time thinking about and searching for ideas only to come to the conclusion that "Promise of Living" is the best piece to use. I mean, it's a classic. Could they have found other pieces to use that say Americana? Maybe, but nothing as recognizable. It's Copland. Considering Hop fully admitted to not being aware that Star played Medea back in '93, it's certainly possible he thinks they're bringing Promise of Living to field for the first time ever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rannec Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Considering Hop fully admitted to not being aware that Star played Medea back in '93, it's certainly possible he thinks they're bringing Promise of Living to field for the first time ever. Source? I'm pretty sure that in his 20 minute show announcement last year, he said that the rest of the design team didn't want to do it because of star and that his logic was 'most of these kids weren't even alive for star 93, why shouldn't they play it?' Would assume that he knew about it, especially how close the end of the 93 season was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaddyt Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Source? I'm pretty sure that in his 20 minute show announcement last year, he said that the rest of the design team didn't want to do it because of star and that his logic was 'most of these kids weren't even alive for star 93, why shouldn't they play it?' Would assume that he knew about it, especially how close the end of the 93 season was. I didn't copy/save the instance, but I'm pretty sure it was the same show announcement. Maybe I'm mis-remembering it, but I do recall being shocked that he wouldn't have known about Star's repertoire for the exact same reason you gave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaddyt Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I went back in time through the forums and I did mis-remember. Hop and the staff were not aware that SCV had done Symphony #1 in 1999. Not that Star did Medea in 93. Chalking this one up to old age. In other news, I came across a tidbit that before last year was even done, they were already looking towards 2014 and doing The Last Five Years.... Wish that would've happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Considering Hop fully admitted to not being aware that Star played Medea back in '93, it's certainly possible he thinks they're bringing Promise of Living to field for the first time ever. True, but since I personally saw Hop see Star play Medea back in '93, I kinda doubt he's telling the truth and really cares to tell the truth. I mean, if I can remember one of the more iconic corps playing a really popular or iconic or notorious piece of music like Medea, I'm pretty sure he can too. Obviously he knows that Promise of Living has been played a bunch by many other corps, SCV played it two years in a row in '84 and '85 when he was REALLY into the beginning part of his directing career, HIS corps played it previously in 1996, two corps played it in 2005. Most importantly Crown played it in 2009 & 2010 ( even though corpsreps doesn't have it listed for 2010) Obviously, he doesn't care. Since 2001, the Cadets have had NO problem playing music that other corps have played and done well with... Before that, no way the Cadets were going to play repeated music with George Hopkins in charge, unless it was something that the Cadets had done before. Gee, the show title for 2003 was even called "Our Favorite Things". I'm sure that design team knows what other corps have played in the past. A cynic might even see a pattern where he's selecting music that other corps have previously performed and done well with for some kind of effect. Others might assume that he is giving performers of this generation an opportunity to play an updated version of some of these classics. At the end of the day though, it's what they want to do. They do what they want < said in Eric Cartman's voice>... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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