Narration -- Do designers think audiences are now more accepting?

[garfield]

It should be noted here that narration is not the same thing as vocal effects.

Best example is Crown 2013: The first half of the show used vocal effects (harmonic chanting, counting). While I was ambivalent about it upon first hearing, I eventually decided that these effects really did enhance and deepen the minimalist music of Glass, and the frenetic visual production. Kudos to Crown for being this daring, and pulling it off.

The second half of their show, however, is just straight-on narration, and worse, narration of a sappy and generic love story. All turgid prose and Hallmark sentiment, no poetry. After repeated hearings, I still find this narration intrusive and unmusical, lacking any artistic merit. Worse, it distracts from the gorgeous sounds of that amazing horn line. If I were the narration judge that night, I would have spanked Crown for this section. I am guessing that Crown felt they had to add some vocals to the second half of the show, to balance it with the first half, which incorporated vocals so thoroughly.

So, moral of story: vocal effects = good, narration = bad. Thoughts?

2002 Cadets, American Revival

The guard, on two occasions, made vocals that mimicked military life, mostly parade chants. Were they vocal effects or narration?

I do like your comparison although I see it a little differently. I envision Crown '13 as it existed without the narration in the ballad as the guard worked, the horns blew, and the two exceptional guard members were showcasing their talent, and I think the effect and impact of their performance would not have been the same without the story line of the love story. Beautiful and well done, to be sure, but without the love aspect so well expressed, which led - beautifully - into "Impossible you say?" and back into the analytical style of The Light Fantastic. The love story was a nice segue between EOTB and Cooper and carried the storyline through the show, IMO.

Narration, to me, IS a vocal effect whether its telling a love story or counting steps or random numbers.

Edited May 2, 2014 by garfield

[garfield]

I find your strained attempts obtuse, lacking in legit educational value, and not adding to intelligent discourse of World Class DCI drum and bugle corps. Your super-broad brush strokes are impossibly applied "one-size-fits-all" as you seem to want to do, and upon doing so it reeeeaaaaly coems off as eye-rolling naive.

I was originally in the process of typing up a more thought-out, intelligent reply talking about how narration is at times a part of the actual original composition (Lincoln Portrait, Einstein on the Beach, etc) that corps are just adapting for the field. Or talking about how there obviously is special talent needed to "talking in a mic" otherwise there wouldn't be people who seemingly struggle with it, as evident in some drum corps productions we've seen (which says nothing about the myriad of pro "narrators" and voice talents who work commercials and animated productions). Have corps sucked at performing/designing narration? Of course. Have corps sucked at performing/designing percussion? Of course. Drill, brass, guard, etc? Of course. Design is hit or miss, as is performance, and that applies to ALL captions of a design. On the flip side, there has been great design in all of those named captions as well. Including narration.

If you willfully want to ignore that, that's your problem. If you don't LIKE narration, that's your choice and I don't care either way. Claiming there's no talent involved, or that there is zero added benefit EVER in narration is flat out wrong, and if you can't recognize that then you're just being naive or stubborn.

Um, yea. What he said.

[BRASSO]

I find these strained attempts to build narration up into something it isn't, for example, a true art form, hilarious. Narration is widely panned, and that sticks in your craw because your fave corps used narration conspicuously. There is no special talent in talking into a microphone as it is done in drum corps.

Things change, HockeyDad. While the tone quality of the brass playing was and remains important, today its imperative( we're told ) that its very important for the narrator(s) to have just the right ( as said above ) " tone " quality in their voice as well.( Lets hope none of these voice soloists get a cold on tour, by the way ). Judges apparently are evaluating ( among other things ) the" pacing".... " clarity".... " tone quality " and so forth. Its not easy you know to be a speaker during shows. It requires WAY more than a beaming, confident personality. You need to speak well , with confidence,and with good timing ( but when you think about it, this might help more in the future in the real job world than having good" tone" quality on a trumpet, or a baritone, etc.. so it probably does have some future benefit, regardless of what we think of all these talkovers of the music in these performances.)

Edited May 2, 2014 by BRASSO

[BRASSO]

I find your strained attempts obtuse, lacking in legit educational value, and not adding to intelligent discourse of World Class DCI drum and bugle corps. Your super-broad brush strokes are impossibly applied "one-size-fits-all" as you seem to want to do, and upon doing so it reeeeaaaaly coems off as eye-rolling naive.

I was originally in the process of typing up a more thought-out, intelligent reply talking about how narration is at times a part of the actual original composition (Lincoln Portrait, Einstein on the Beach, etc) that corps are just adapting for the field. Or talking about how there obviously is special talent needed to "talking in a mic" otherwise there wouldn't be people who seemingly struggle with it, as evident in some drum corps productions we've seen (which says nothing about the myriad of pro "narrators" and voice talents who work commercials and animated productions). Have corps sucked at performing/designing narration? Of course. Have corps sucked at performing/designing percussion? Of course. Drill, brass, guard, etc? Of course. Design is hit or miss, as is performance, and that applies to ALL captions of a design. On the flip side, there has been great design in all of those named captions as well. Including narration.

If you willfully want to ignore that, that's your problem. If you don't LIKE narration, that's your choice and I don't care either way. Claiming there's no talent involved, or that there is zero added benefit EVER in narration is flat out wrong, and if you can't recognize that then you're just being naive or stubborn.

after reading this rant, I am convinced you'd make a great narrator for some Corps. You are confident, speak forcefully and without hesitation. The tone quality of your rant might be a bit harsh to the ears and sensibilities of some, but its still early in the season, and with proper input from a few DCI judges that visit here from time to time, they could utilize their vast experience with proper speaking to have you in mid season form before you know it with just the right inflection, pacing, tone quality, etc and the like to be a first rate speaker for some Corps if you are over 12 and under 22. ( in the meantime, your keyboard work looks stellar to me too )

[perc2100]

It should be noted here that narration is not the same thing as vocal effects.

Best example is Crown 2013: The first half of the show used vocal effects (harmonic chanting, counting). While I was ambivalent about it upon first hearing, I eventually decided that these effects really did enhance and deepen the minimalist music of Glass, and the frenetic visual production. Kudos to Crown for being this daring, and pulling it off.

The second half of their show, however, is just straight-on narration, and worse, narration of a sappy and generic love story. All turgid prose and Hallmark sentiment, no poetry. After repeated hearings, I still find this narration intrusive and unmusical, lacking any artistic merit. Worse, it distracts from the gorgeous sounds of that amazing horn line. If I were the narration judge that night, I would have spanked Crown for this section. I am guessing that Crown felt they had to add some vocals to the second half of the show, to balance it with the first half, which incorporated vocals so thoroughly.

So, moral of story: vocal effects = good, narration = bad. Thoughts?

I agree that Crown's vocal stuff at the top of their show REALLY worked well for them: moreso than narration in the back half. The stuff in the back half didn't bother me, though, and I thought it was coordinated well with their music & vis. design.

In general, I would be really hesitant to automatically write off any narration as bad: or even all vocal effects as good (I thought the way Crossmen did the radio thing with vocal effects was not done very well). I do think it is more difficult for drum corps members to straight-up narrate than it is to do vocal effects. A snare great drummer will likely be able vocally articulate a rhythmic passage; great brass players will likely be able to well articulate signing chants. It's often awkward for someone not well trained in vocal delivery to carry several phrases of a production on their own: I see that often in HS drama productions. I think it has been more rare for drum corps staffers to have properly trained their narrators to the same proficient and exciting degree as they train their members to play, spin, and march. While I don't like some narration stuff, and I think it sometimes falls really flat and can come across as amateur, especially compared to the waaaaay above average marching/playing performances, I don't mind corps continually striving for finding that great delivery of words, or the perfect marriage of music, vis. design & voice. Crown 2013 has come the closest, BY FAR IMO (though some stuff Cadets 2005 did was really great - the Bjork stuff + vocal drumming stuff for example) so we'll see what happens in the future.

[perc2100]

after reading this rant, I am convinced you'd make a great narrator for some Corps. You are confident, speak forcefully and without hesitation. The tone quality of your rant might be a bit harsh to the ears and sensibilities of some, but its still early in the season, and with proper input from a few DCI judges that visit here from time to time, they could utilize their vast experience with proper speaking to have you in mid season form before you know it with just the right inflection, pacing, tone quality, etc and the like to be a first rate speaker for some Corps if you are over 12 and under 22. ( in the meantime, your keyboard work looks stellar to me too )

Yeah, my wife and bosses might not appreciate my delivery as much as others...

[MikeD]

Jean Shepherd!!!!

Mike, remember when he was a radio personality in NYC? A master storyteller.

Oh, yes, he was great! And the story for that film comes from one of the funniest books I ever read, Shephard's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. I recall laughing so much at the Bumpus family I actually had tears.

[HornTeacher]

Oh, yes, he was great! And the story for that film comes from one of the funniest books I ever read, Shephard's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. I recall laughing so much at the Bumpus family I actually had tears.

Hey! Be careful what you say about the Bumpus family. I happen to have a Bumpus in my line (Bethia Bumpus -- 1600's Massachusetts And there is NO way I could ever make that name up!!!).

[skevinp]

And one of MY favorites films..."The Christmas Story".

Ironically, the narrator thereof commented on the artistic nature of a sort of specific form of narration:

"My father worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay."

[quietcity]

2002 Cadets, American Revival

The guard, on two occasions, made vocals that mimicked military life, mostly parade chants. Were they vocal effects or narration?

I do like your comparison although I see it a little differently. I envision Crown '13 as it existed without the narration in the ballad as the guard worked, the horns blew, and the two exceptional guard members were showcasing their talent, and I think the effect and impact of their performance would not have been the same without the story line of the love story. Beautiful and well done, to be sure, but without the love aspect so well expressed, which led - beautifully - into "Impossible you say?" and back into the analytical style of The Light Fantastic. The love story was a nice segue between EOTB and Cooper and carried the storyline through the show, IMO.

Narration, to me, IS a vocal effect whether its telling a love story or counting steps or random numbers.

I like your take on Crown's narration, and will go back and watch the show again with that in mind.

Now, if narration is simply another vocal, hence musical, effect, it should be judged on it's artistic merit in the same way the horn line is.

Consider: the effect of this narrated love story comes across quite differently in the actual Glass opera. The words are the same, but they are recited by an aged man, in an arch and stentorian style. His voice bursts forth from a cacophony of muted female voices that are chattering abstractions and nonsense. The effect is one of depth and mystery, if not profundity (I mean, the text itself is not particularly compelling.)

In Crown's show, it is of course a young man who recites the words, and he does so in a sincere and rather bland manner. As a result, there is a completely different feel to the story. If feels smaller, a bit banal. A young corps member simply cannot add the gravitas and irony that an older, trained actor can.

This highlights one problem with narration in drum corps: the voice actors here are not masters of the craft, and there are many examples where this has proven detrimental to a show. The best corps are increasingly populated by professional-level young musicians, but not by professional level voice actors.

Maybe DCI will someday allow special guest stars for narration purposes. William Shatner, call your agent!