Why do People Feel the Blue Devils are so Innovative?

[TESB]

No one has ever done the prop integration they have. Chairs, poles, mirrors, houses, whether you dig them or not, they're the only one doing them really really well. Other corps like Blue Stars and Cadets have props Crown 2007 too, but nothing like what BD is able to pull off every year.

The drill is always really thoughtful, deliberate, and well balanced and the shapes move with each other and push and pull on each other, the shows are typically very dense. Everything just seemed designed and purposeful whereas when I watch comparable corps, I feel like the drill writer is just churned it out on a pyware in March and left the other visual ideas to someone else's interpretation.

People always write off BD's drill as staging and I've never really been too sure what this means. Is good staging like apt places for instrumentation to be heard or how and where performers are organized on the field aesthetically. Either way BD does it really well and (my opinion) other corps are either ignoring that aspect or are just behind.

Their shows also seem to me, especially when they're really good years, like they were written by one person with a unified intention, everything fits, nothing seems like a bad fix or band-aid, often movements bleed into each other, transitions are seamless as they should be and jarring if they need to be.

That's barely even to mention the music, they play chords and dissonance that no one else does. And it's not so much that they do these things that no one else does, but everyone else just does something so similar to each other in comparison I feel.

[Quad Aces]

No one has ever done the prop integration they have. Chairs, poles, mirrors, houses, whether you dig them or not, they're the only one doing them really really well. Other corps like Blue Stars and Cadets have props Crown 2007 too, but nothing like what BD is able to pull off every year.

The drill is always really thoughtful, deliberate, and well balanced and the shapes move with each other and push and pull on each other, the shows are typically very dense. Everything just seemed designed and purposeful whereas when I watch comparable corps, I feel like the drill writer is just churned it out on a pyware in March and left the other visual ideas to someone else's interpretation.

People always write off BD's drill as staging and I've never really been too sure what this means. Is good staging like apt places for instrumentation to be heard or how and where performers are organized on the field aesthetically. Either way BD does it really well and (my opinion) other corps are either ignoring that aspect or are just behind.

Their shows also seem to me, especially when they're really good years, like they were written by one person with a unified intention, everything fits, nothing seems like a bad fix or band-aid, often movements bleed into each other, transitions are seamless as they should be and jarring if they need to be.

That's barely even to mention the music, they play chords and dissonance that no one else does. And it's not so much that they do these things that no one else does, but everyone else just does something so similar to each other in comparison I feel.

Thanks for the well thought out and well written post, and I definitely see what you are saying.

I agree about the dissonant chords - no one is really playing dissonant chords like they are, but then again, corps have played dissonant chords before.

So, is BD just doing these things well, or are these things innovative and changing the activity?

Edited May 5, 2014 by Quad Aces

[HornTeacher]

Maybe the best musical analogy would be to the practice, especially found in choral music, of the strophic form versus the through-composed form.

Strophic form is the practice of delineating the music into "sections" -- an example of which would be the common church hymn. A "strophic" drum corps show may not employ sections which are repetitions of the same material, but would be formulated on a "Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D (or more) basis. Maybe think of it as being a "Latin Opener, Jazz Ballad, Percussion Feature, Slam-Bang Closer."

A piece of music with a through-composed form is NOT based on versal or formal repetition: it's form, instead, consists of a song which finds it's formal basis on a continuing, non-repetitive flow of the music. Basically, beginning "spins," through always changing development, to an ultimate conclusion.

Through the history of DCI (especially in the early years), Corps formulated their programs on what could be considered a "Strophic" basis. The Blue Devils, however, have taken a more through-composed attitude to their shows. Point A leads to Point B...which leads to Point C...which leads to Point D. As such, it becomes a form which is based upon it's totality -- not upon a mere assemblage of several disparate sections.

Or put in more common terms..."The Whole becomes greater than the Sum of it's Parts."

(Edited since I couldn't spell a simple word like "ballad" the first time. Geesh...

Edited May 5, 2014 by HornTeacher

[TESB]

Thanks for the well thought out and well written post, and I definitely see what you are saying.

I agree about the dissonant chords - no one is really playing dissonant chords like they are, but then again, corps have played dissonant chords before.

So, is BD just doing these things well, or are these things innovative and changing the activity?

That's actually an interesting question. Doing different things with the same basic drum corps formula is inherently innovative, but whether they're changing the activity for it who knows. I'd say that the GE rule changes and the allowance of all brass are BOA-like gimmicky things that are probably pushing the activity in Crown, Cadets, and Phantom's direction. Like I can already see the year down the road where phantom fields 16 french horns or crown marches a section or two of trombones. If it's done well, awesome, that would be the point of change and innovation.

If anything BD could just be an anomaly and eventually the reign will end and we'll all come out the other side looking and sounding more like Crown and Phantom.

BD has been doing the prop thing for years now and no one else is really even trying. Academy had some chairs I guess, some people have a platform or something here and there, I think Spirit's saloon show last year had something like that. Cadets dabbled in it last year, and that I think is the closest anyone's ever gotten to doing a BD-like prop show.

But like I said, it's not maybe so much the BD is so game changing, it's that others do a lot of rehash stuff from themselves and others. BD is guilty of this as well for sure, doing props year after year is a version of this, but it's not like they have a single shape or pattern or show structure or genre or theme they repeat year after year. It's not like Crown, who does what it does and it works for them, where it's okay to year after year have a preshow-theme-show-up-later structured show, and it's okay to do the similar 3D drill in the same spot in the show with really similar transition drill and music around it, have the percussion stuff around the field, use that ribbon company front every year in multiple parts of the show. Not just them, plenty of corps play the same chords in the same forms in the same parts of shows year to year.

There's nothing inherently wrong about this and it's just one case from one corps. and it's a weird to say it's wrong for that to happen in DCI, which has a history of corps repeating themselves and programs year to year, think of BD's channel one's and ya gotta trys, Vanguards phantom of the operas, phantom's spartacus shows, I know there is more. But stack that up against a corps which consistently puts out original, clever, thoughtful stuff every year and at least maybe one could understand why some people consider BD a breath of fresh air.

Edited May 5, 2014 by TESB

[CobblyKnob]

In my opinion, one thing that the Blue Devils have mastered that other corps haven't is the proximity, or spacing, between different elements happening at the same time. Recent shows from other top corps like Cadets and Crown seem to have one main thing occurring at any given time, and the "staging" is set to feature that one thing whether it's a huge curvalinear form with big chords, or a battle of angels and demons. BD seems to have so much happening at once that the average drum corps fan doesn't really know what to look at, and since theres no obvious choice, they unconsciously label it as "cluttered", "sporadic", "esoteric", and whatnot.

BD's visual package has them moving in and out of large and small groups, and each one is simultaneously doing something unique and challenging. Each of these visual groupings seem to correlate with the musical events happening as well. When a group is doing something especially unique, or is more important to the story line, you'll usually find something else directs your attention to it whether its a member sprinting across the field, a really cool body visual, or a sudden blast of brass sound. It's this strategy that I believe makes the Blue Devils innovative.

The whole middle section of their 2011 show is a clinic on this. This video has a great vantage point if you don't mind the shaky hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3q1OPBqmZk

Edited May 5, 2014 by CobblyKnob

[RContra]

In my opinion, one thing that the Blue Devils have mastered that other corps haven't is the proximity, or spacing, between different elements happening at the same time. Recent shows from other top corps like Cadets and Crown seem to have one main thing occurring at any given time, and the "staging" is set to feature that one thing whether it's a huge curvalinear form with big chords, or a battle of angels and demons. BD seems to have so much happening at once that the average drum corps fan doesn't really know what to look at, and since theres no obvious choice, they unconsciously label it as "cluttered", "sporadic", "esoteric", and whatnot.

BD's visual package has them moving in and out of large and small groups, and each one is simultaneously doing something unique and challenging. Each of these visual groupings seem to correlate with the musical events happening as well. When a group is doing something especially unique, or is more important to the story line, you'll usually find something else directs your attention to it whether its a member sprinting across the field, a really cool body visual, or a sudden blast of brass sound. It's this strategy that I believe makes the Blue Devils innovative.

The whole middle section of their 2011 show is a clinic on this. This video has a great vantage point if you don't mind the shaky hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3q1OPBqmZk

This is a fantastic point, and a conscious effort on the part of the design team.

Vocabulary is the main motivator here. It's easy on the audience to direct their eyes, and judges tend to appreciate that as well. But as the judges get to know your show throughout a season, words like "vocabulary" and "varied" on the sheets start taking priority. That's when BD can squeeze out those points that are the difference between first, second and first places when Saturday night comes around.

My only complaint with this stems from the numerous band (and corps, from time to time) programs I've worked with where vocabulary is crammed in for the sake of vocabulary. If you're competing in a circuit where there's a judges' critique, this becomes an ace in the hole, especially if you see the same people multiple times throughout the season.

"You see, one time Shostakovich took a massive dump and made a face like this, so we're having our colorguard put on that expression within the second movement, coupled with spinning flags that are silk-screened with the name of his long-lost great, great grandniece. Now that you know that, thank you in advance for those two tenths of a point at a future show."

I know there's some hyperbole in there, but I can't tell you how many designers I've heard saying similar things while quoting BD's recent successes. I can't claim to know where the line should be drawn (or if), but I'm guessing there's got to be a balance somewhere.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this question that I ask my design clients that was suggested to me by another designer buddy of mine. When beginning a show, I always ask a band director to rank the following statements

--I want to win.

--I want to provide an educational experience for my students.

--I want to be entertaining.

--I want to be clever.

There's no right or wrong answer, but I always say that the hierarchy should dictate the show design. If all you're concerned about is being as clever and multi-layered as possible, yet you put entertainment at number one or two on your list, then we have a problem. It's always fun to see how directors respond to the rankings versus how they act, and especially how they act when they realize the stark dissonance between the two.

Edited May 5, 2014 by RContra

[MelloMatt]

That's actually an interesting question. Doing different things with the same basic drum corps formula is inherently innovative, but whether they're changing the activity for it who knows. I'd say that the GE rule changes and the allowance of all brass are BOA-like gimmicky things that are probably pushing the activity in Crown, Cadets, and Phantom's direction. Like I can already see the year down the road where phantom fields 16 french horns or crown marches a section or two of trombones. If it's done well, awesome, that would be the point of change and innovation.

If anything BD could just be an anomaly and eventually the reign will end and we'll all come out the other side looking and sounding more like Crown and Phantom.

BD has been doing the prop thing for years now and no one else is really even trying. Academy had some chairs I guess, some people have a platform or something here and there, I think Spirit's saloon show last year had something like that. Cadets dabbled in it last year, and that I think is the closest anyone's ever gotten to doing a BD-like prop show.

But like I said, it's not maybe so much the BD is so game changing, it's that others do a lot of rehash stuff from themselves and others. BD is guilty of this as well for sure, doing props year after year is a version of this, but it's not like they have a single shape or pattern or show structure or genre or theme they repeat year after year. It's not like Crown, who does what it does and it works for them, where it's okay to year after year have a preshow-theme-show-up-later structured show, and it's okay to do the similar 3D drill in the same spot in the show with really similar transition drill and music around it, have the percussion stuff around the field, use that ribbon company front every year in multiple parts of the show. Not just them, plenty of corps play the same chords in the same forms in the same parts of shows year to year.

There's nothing inherently wrong about this and it's just one case from one corps. and it's a weird to say it's wrong for that to happen in DCI, which has a history of corps repeating themselves and programs year to year, think of BD's channel one's and ya gotta trys, Vanguards phantom of the operas, phantom's spartacus shows, I know there is more. But stack that up against a corps which consistently puts out original, clever, thoughtful stuff every year and at least maybe one could understand why some people consider BD a breath of fresh air.

Blue Stars had a fantastic use of props in the Kevin Ford era. I felt that sometimes their prop use was more effective than anything BD has done as of yet. It is a pity Blue Stars and Ford parted ways, as I felt there was really something good there. Same with when Blue Stars used Frank Sullivan. But alas, all good things come to an end. (One more thing about Ford/Sullivan era, sorry, complete honk.) I felt their show design was very fresh and they consistently put a solid product out on the field.

[TESB]

Blue Stars had a fantastic use of props in the Kevin Ford era. I felt that sometimes their prop use was more effective than anything BD has done as of yet. It is a pity Blue Stars and Ford parted ways, as I felt there was really something good there. Same with when Blue Stars used Frank Sullivan. But alas, all good things come to an end. (One more thing about Ford/Sullivan era, sorry, complete honk.) I felt their show design was very fresh and they consistently put a solid product out on the field.

I'm actually not very familiar at all with Blue Stars history, what years were those Kevin Ford prop use years? Are those the bicycle, factory, houdini years? A couple years ago I remember a ramp I think?

Edited May 5, 2014 by TESB

[GUARDLING]

I'm actually not very familiar at all with Blue Stars history, what years were those Kevin Ford prop use years? Are those the bicycle, factory, houdini years? A couple years ago I remember a ramp I think?

Guardling :

cadets also had some pretty big props in the 90s..their western show was a fav. of mine. and I think stonehenge had some big ones also. Props really aren't anything new. Now BD , IMO have incorporated theirs creatively in the past few years for sure.

Edited May 5, 2014 by GUARDLING

[tesmusic]

If you're wondering about the Blue Devils being innovative, get a recording of City of Glass which was used as much of the 2010 Through a Glass Darkly show.

Listen to the first version from 1948, then the 1951 revisions. Much of the music BD used is from the 2nd and 3rd movement of the 1948 version.

Listen to the Kenton recordings and forget what BD did, and see if you think it could go on the field, without considering what was done in the arrangement.

If that's not innovative, both in taking the risk to use that piece in the first place, and how they made it fit for the field, then I don't know what is.