Stu Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 ... I would hate to see you end up in psych... Too late! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Nope; I thoroughly enjoy the musical Miss Saigon; and I thoroughly enjoy Chairman Dances (as long as these pieces are performed in some sort of context which somewhat reflects original intent). Miss Saigon is a story about an American Military Service Man who falls in love with a Vietnamese girl and they are tragically torn apart with the fall of Saigon. And SCV portrayed this in their show in a way which was respectful to the original story line. And if Blue Stars utilized Chairman Dances in a way which contextually placed the chart in some sort of connection to Mao and his wife, or placed in a show which conveys the historical aspects of China, or placed it in the context of reflections on the various forms of leadership within Far Eastern Countries, or even placed it in a more abstract context such as the relationships of leaders and their spouses have to each other, that would make relative show-concept sense. However, Blue Stars are apparently crowbarring Chairman Dances into a story line of, “Where the Heart Is and what it means to build a home, and how that environment shapes and forms the love of a family”; apparently simply because, according to DrumManTx, the music ‘sounds’ upbeat and has an optimistic feel. Which, by the way, is a far, far, far, far, far, far cry from what the music of Chairman Dances is meant to convey. My hunch is that they just liked the music irrespective of the context; and they will not visually connect the original perspective to their show design but create their own non-sequitur visual concept. ok...so....2009 Troop. Western Side Story, featuring a lot of West Side Story, written to show life in NYC in the 50's, but tied to a western theme as in "ride em cowboy". based on your description above, you had t have hated it. if you say otherwise you have contradicted yourself. Rare occurence I know 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 The members of the audience may have listened to the music; but if they are not aware of the composer's intent for a piece of 'programmatic', not 'absolute', but 'programmatic' music they are still in a state of ignorance. Ignorance is merely lack of knowledge; and if the audience is made aware of the original composers intent of a programmatic piece of music the audience is no longer ignorant and will, in turn, have a deeper enjoyment of what the composer intended. Or, the audience will be confused by the musical choices which create disjunctive story-telling communication. That is not elitist but educational. By the way, this is why I rather despise the nature of DCI shows becoming more and more story-telling ‘programmatic’ in nature where the audience needs to be aware of the background, especially the in-depth historical background of something like Cabaret Voltaire and the Dada movement, to really grasp some of these modern DCI shows. I am not a dinosaur seeking back to better times, but I do wish DCI would get out of this ‘the show concept/design has to tell a story’ and just present ‘absolute music’ non-programmatic show designs with great choreography and drill. you do realize that some of the music in Phantom 08 had absolutely nothing to do with Spartacus when it was compsed right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Beethoven's 9th Symphony, though it contains the words of Ode to Joy, is a work of ‘absolute music’ not ‘programmatic’. So I see no problems utilizing it within any contextual situation (although I think Beethoven would frown upon it being used in say a porn movie). On the other hand, Beethoven’s opera Fedlio has an actual story-line about how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named Fidelio, rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. So I do believe some relationship of the original intent should be contextual used when developing a derivative work or story-line which uses music from Fedlio. That would be real horrorshow. I'm here all week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RContra Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 AHHHHH!!! Can we get this thread back onto the Blue Stars and off of Stu's quirks? Pretty please? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 AHHHHH!!! Can we get this thread back onto the Blue Stars and off of Stu's quirks? Pretty please? Sure. But not before this: Announcing the 2014 Blue Devils program: A Clockwork Blue. Musical selections: A little bit of the old Ludwig Van Singing In The Rain etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I had predicted Blue Stars to finish in eleventh place, but now I'm having second thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) you do realize that some of the music in Phantom 08 had absolutely nothing to do with Spartacus when it was compsed right? Yep; but let's see if there are actual contextual connections to the show concept/design as opposed to non-sequitur crowbarring: Spartacus, by, Kahachaturain. A story about the struggle of a Hero, along with Love, Conflict of Good vs. Evil, and a Battle to end the Evil lead by the Hero. Ein Heldenlbeb, by Strauss. Well by diggers it is a tone poem about guess what, a Hero. Battlefield from (Ka), by Dupere. Hmmm, it is a story about Conflict and Love with a huge Battle between Good and Evil lead by the Hero; my oh my. Dance of Ecstasy (from Danses Fantastiques), by Tjkenavorian. A dance which evokes a trance like state of mind written in the musical style of folk music of Armenia and other areas surrounding the Black Sea. (Spartacus was from Thrace, which is an area next to the Black Sea. Also Tjkenavorian and Kahachaturian compositions are closely related). Toccata (from Piano Concerto no. 1), by Ginastera. A piece of ‘absolute’ music with no programmatic story-line attached to it whatsoever; so it can be used as a backdrop for most anything. * All I am seeking is to understand the same type of actual concept/design contextual connection for a programmatic piece about Chairman Mao has to the Blue Stars show about 'what it means to build a home, and how that environment shapes and forms the love of a family'. Edited February 7, 2014 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 ok...so....2009 Troop. Western Side Story, featuring a lot of West Side Story, written to show life in NYC in the 50's, but tied to a western theme as in "ride em cowboy". based on your description above, you had t have hated it. if you say otherwise you have contradicted yourself. Rare occurence I know I have been to many Summer Shakespeare Festival productions where they place the play in a modern setting, yet the actual story remains intact. The same type of situation holds true for the 2009 Troopers; they took a 20th century story and placed it in an 19th century setting yet kept the story-line intact. They also did not use any music which created a non-sequitur to the story-line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm agreeing with Stu for the most part on this. But I would say it's better to use material that has a related story line to the current show, especially if all the other music choices do so. That is, the fact that all the other choices in Blue Stars' show relate to the home means that this one should too. And in fact it probably will because we will see either Mao's wife dancing with a picture of Mao (less likely) or someone missing someone (more likely). Remember that the premise of this discussion is Stu's assertion that this will not happen. I only disagree with the idea that it's bad or wrong in some way not to be consistent. It's just better to be consistent if possible. And there should be plenty of other material around the home theme to choose from. And I kind of disagree with RContra's objection to the tangent. This is a thread about nothing else but Blue Star's musical selections, so if you want to bring up another aspect of those selections, who's stopping you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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