Can it be

[GUARDLING]

Is that even a word? What does it mean?

oops...disaster...you knew it

[FlamMan]

Because all classical/symphonic music sounds the same. my bad.

Style & variety would include Spanish, Scottish, Brittish, Jazz, Pop, Broadway, etc...The lack of musical diversity in the drum corp activity is curious & disapointing.

Edited June 23, 2014 by FlamMan

[Cleveland1]

Style & variety would include Spanish, Scottish, Bristtish, Jazz, Pop, Broadway, etc...The lack of musical diversity in the drum corp activity is curious & disapointing.

Do i need to redirect you to the 2014 program thread?

Jazz? Madison is doing stan and don.

Spanish? Crossmen has some, as well as some jazz. and most of their pieces were made by folks who either are still alive or died recently. not all that classical.

Colts aren't even touching classical. pink floyd and radiohead.

Cadets are doing a copland show and he has his unique sound.

Boston's russian themed pieces are aggressive and distinct from most other shows.

Bluecoats are doing music that has not been done in DCI before.

Blue Stars are not doing much classical, as they also feature phillip phillips and simon and garfunkel.

and so on and so forth.

the show is more than the music, or even the source material. SCV 2014 Scheherazade is very different from 2004, despite using the same material. the show is different, the arrangers are different, the entire design is different.

If you don't think DCI is diverse in its sound, then you aren't looking too deep.

[GUARDLING]

Do i need to redirect you to the 2014 program thread?

Jazz? Madison is doing stan and don.

Spanish? Crossmen has some, as well as some jazz. and most of their pieces were made by folks who either are still alive or died recently. not all that classical.

Colts aren't even touching classical. pink floyd and radiohead.

Cadets are doing a copland show and he has his unique sound.

Boston's russian themed pieces are aggressive and distinct from most other shows.

Bluecoats are doing music that has not been done in DCI before.

Blue Stars are not doing much classical, as they also feature phillip phillips and simon and garfunkel.

and so on and so forth.

the show is more than the music, or even the source material. SCV 2014 Scheherazade is very different from 2004, despite using the same material. the show is different, the arrangers are different, the entire design is different.

If you don't think DCI is diverse in its sound, then you aren't looking too deep.

one has to be WILLING to recognize diversity 1st before accepting that it IS there.

[CrownLeadSop]

So what you're telling me is that designers from DCI also spend their time designing in the Fall and Winter? And they happen to design for BOA and WGI groups? And that, like DCI groups from year to year, there has been some crossover and bleed in formula, approach and overall aesthetic?

Truthfully, if you want to change the look and face of DCI in any way (to go back to the "glory days" or forward to the future of pageantry), the designers need to change. You will need to oust a long list of current/future DCI Hall of Famers to really change the activity in any discernible way, as we've seen at an individual corps level repeatedly (Jeff Fiedler to SCV comes to mind) - but then, who do you replace them with? My guess is the "next crop" of designers will be students or contemporaries of the very people you would hypothetically get rid of. How much would actually change?

DCI operates as a non-profit organizer of a series of member organizations, and the heads of those organizations are responsible for the direction of the activity. If it's not what you want to see, you'll have to take it up with the corps directors. WGI is not influencing DCI, designers are influencing DCI/WGI/BOA.

[Spandy]

90% of drum corps are playing classical/symphonic music. That isn't what I call variety. It's quote boring actually.

Aside from the fact that we have corps this year playing Louis Armstrong, Bobby McFerrin, Simon & Garfunkel, Philip Philips, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Duke Ellington, Randy Newman, Bill Withers, Stan Kenton, Don Ellis, etc...

You are also lumping together under the "classical/symphonic" label a huge spectrum of pieces, composed all over the world and hundreds of years apart, and for dozens of different purposes and/or audiences... , from the 18th century to the 21st, from chamber music to symphonies, from operas to movie scores, from all choral works to all percussion and everything in between. There is plenty of variety to be had here.

[corpsband]

Aside from the fact that we have corps this year playing Louis Armstrong, Bobby McFerrin, Simon & Garfunkel, Philip Philips, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Duke Ellington, Randy Newman, Bill Withers, Stan Kenton, Don Ellis, etc...

You are also lumping together under the "classical/symphonic" label a huge spectrum of pieces, composed all over the world and hundreds of years apart, and for dozens of different purposes and/or audiences... , from the 18th century to the 21st, from chamber music to symphonies, from operas to movie scores, from all choral works to all percussion and everything in between. There is plenty of variety to be had here.

Stupid facts. Always in the way !

[FlamMan]

Do i need to redirect you to the 2014 program thread?

Jazz? Madison is doing stan and don.

Spanish? Crossmen has some, as well as some jazz. and most of their pieces were made by folks who either are still alive or died recently. not all that classical.

Colts aren't even touching classical. pink floyd and radiohead.

Cadets are doing a copland show and he has his unique sound.

Boston's russian themed pieces are aggressive and distinct from most other shows.

Bluecoats are doing music that has not been done in DCI before.

Blue Stars are not doing much classical, as they also feature phillip phillips and simon and garfunkel.

and so on and so forth.

the show is more than the music, or even the source material. SCV 2014 Scheherazade is very different from 2004, despite using the same material. the show is different, the arrangers are different, the entire design is different.

If you don't think DCI is diverse in its sound, then you aren't looking too deep.

Other that Scouts, it is a real stretch to call your list "diversified". Part of the problem is that the guys arranging brass charts arrange everything in a similar fashion as opposed to arranging a song true to its original form. This is one of the issues that I have with Smiths Scouts arrangements as well as most arrangers. Songs are way too chopped up & their is just too much deviation from the original tune for my tastes. Too much deviation, too many notes, too much dissonance, too dark.

[chris ncsu]

Other that Scouts, it is a real stretch to call your list "diversified". Part of the problem is that the guys arranging brass charts arrange everything in a similar fashion as opposed to arranging a song true to its original form. This is one of the issues that I have with Smiths Scouts arrangements as well as most arrangers. Songs are way too chopped up & their is just too much deviation from the original tune for my tastes. Too much deviation, too many notes, too much dissonance, too dark.

Just...cut a few and it'll be perfect.

[chaddyt]

That is exactly what is wrong with drum corps today. The WGI influence has not been good for this activity.

Says you. Others would argue the opposite.

The only thing I can't stand is the body movement. I find it to be insipid.