kdaddy Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Generally, I prefer the original. I just like to hear the arranger's take. But a few cases where I prefer the arrangement: - Crossmen 90 (the New York Voices stuff is cheesy and unlistenable) - Regiment 12 (I don't care much for opera, so several other shows would also fit in this category) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranintothedoor Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 having said this, if DCI Corps add more singers to their performance in future years, then we could perhaps make a legitimate comparison. weeelll, i dunno. the fact that the tunes you mention are popular and most people in the stands will know the lyrics already, then a strong instrumental performance will ignite that person's prior understanding of the song and build on top of it. I agree with you if the piece is original or unfamiliar to most. But a popular, widely understood tune doesn't need lyrics at all to be powerful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 (edited) weeelll, i dunno. the fact that the tunes you mention are popular and most people in the stands will know the lyrics already, then a strong instrumental performance will ignite that person's prior understanding of the song and build on top of it. Perhaps, but the question before us, is whether or not the original sourced music is made better or worse by comparison when its done with instrumentation alone. Without redundancy, I think you know my opinion on this. Its also helpful perhaps for us to always consider the sourced material to begin with when making these comparisons. The most fundamental question to ask ourselves on this sourced music is whether or not the original sourced musical composition was principally designed to be sung, and with insrumentation as backup to the lyrical singing ?.... or was the piece written ( Classical Music pieces often come immediately to mind ) where the composer's primary intent in the writing of the musical composition was that it is to be played without singers. Some music is written for Opera of course.. with singers in mind, Some music however... all genres... are written with the expectation that no singing will accompany the arrangement ( this commentary must sound boring to Music Majors in our midst, as you know this intuitively as well as by training and experience ). In my view, the great musical compositions that were designed for lyrics and singing that become big classics, almost without exception, tend to pale in comparison to the original sung song, when played without the intended singing, and with just instrumentation alone. Thiis does not mean that when BD plays " When a Man Loves a Women " instumentally that it can not invoke great enthusiasm for us. But for many people, including myself, that really loves BD's instrumentation version of it, it still pales in its comparison of the musical piece when the instrumentation of it is accompanied with singing by Percy Sledge ( and others similar) of this musical composition. Edited June 5, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seen-it-all Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 (edited) Generally, I prefer the original. I just like to hear the arranger's take. But a few cases where I prefer the arrangement: - Crossmen 90 (the New York Voices stuff is cheesy and unlistenable) - Regiment 12 (I don't care much for opera, so several other shows would also fit in this category) I generally liked the '90 crossmen translation of NYV, except for Now or Never...that chart got very cheesy indeed. But the rest I thought was reasonably faithful, especially Baroque Samba. Truly great opener for them that year. Far from "unlistenable" IMO. I couldn't get that tune out of my head all summer! LOL Edited June 5, 2014 by seen-it-all 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksampsondavis Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Franz Biebl's Ave Maria is better than PR's. No drum corps has ever done Mahler better than Mahler. But I get your point coffeeman. Agreed. There's so much untapped potential in his second symphony! Maybe some of it's been done before (movements 1, 4), but never as excitingly as it could be. I wish the cadets would use the finale in a show instead of as a warmup. Or anyone for that matter...think of the closers you could write from that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Corps Guy Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 DC fans, already a small and self-selected lot who seek out a music genre set apart from the mainstream, have an automatic preference for the DC idiom. So, I guess the answer to the OP's question is "all/most drum corps music is superior to the original source." I mean, there may be DC charts that we think were weak -- that is, weak as drum-corps arrangements -- yet I'm guessing most of us still prefer those charts to the original composition. I agree with you. This would be why I suggested that we take out our obivous bias (Myself included). You really have to be able to justify your statement. Maybe the real question is "What piece can you justify to a non-DC fan that the Drum Corps version is better than the orginal?" We are all preaching to the choir right now. C'MON MAN! Bring your "A-Game" and really justify that the drum corps version is better than the orignial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Corps Guy Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 I think all of us on DCP have musical ADD. I resemble that remark. I'm Hurt. But I think in a good way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.l. Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Any Les Miz show, minus a few songs here and there. Just not a fan of the source material. Some songs, like Spirit's '07 ballad Hide and Seek, are much much better in original form b/c the vocals and lyrics are so important. That's one of the reasons I'm wary about Bluecoats and Oregon (?) playing Hymn of Axciom b/c the songs are similar with the use of a vocoder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Totally agree with Crossmen '98 and "First Circle"...love Metheny's version, but Crossmen just nailed it for me. It really is a great "condensed" version of "First Circle" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 I'm not in the music business, or an educator, so my knowledge of composers is limited, but one piece I would prefer in its original form to DC is Barber's Adagio for Strings. I love what Cadets did with it, sure, but if I had to live on an Island with only one version, I'd grab the original. I agree, and the vast majority of drum corps arrangements are just that: good, or great, or OK arrangements of the original source material. Often the arrangements lack a lot of development, and often they lack specific themes, and sometimes even intent. All of that is fine, to make it work for the medium, but IMO the arrangements rarely, if ever, transcend the originals. I'm sure a lot of us first discover a piece via the drum corps arrangement, get to love the arrangement, and then when we hear the source material in its true from it might feel lacking (no battery percussion, different instrumentation/colors, possibly different tempos, possibly with a lot more development, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.