HornTeacher Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) I just had an interesting experience. I was on YouTube, and by accident ran across the "Best 2009 DCI Moments TEASER" video. 38 seconds long...that's all. No more than 3 seconds per group. No drill...no marching...just 2-3 seconds of full-throated block chord sound from each group (which also made for a pretty cool chord progression in some cases). What really hit me was this: take away the drill design, music choice, arranging idiosyncrasies, marching technique, flag technique -- in other words, taking a moment to listen to the basic hornline sound from top group to 12th group -- there isn't a real big difference. An interesting thing to do would be to listen to it with eyes closed, and see how many could discern the exact group simply by their "sound." Across 11 minutes? Yes...that's easy. But it really reinforced to me (and this might be the coolest thing) that in terms of sound quality, there is a much closer relationship between 1st and 12th then is sometimes thought. Try it for yourself. Let me know what I'm missing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_XokHDC22g Edited June 25, 2014 by HornTeacher 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000Cadet Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Wow that was pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotorCityMusician Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I hear a lot of difference. For example glassmen was high brass sound Boston was low brass and cavies were a quiet blend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAZZER Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 1. They are all brass & percussion ensembles [ok, synths too] with VERY similar instrumentation. 2. They all employ essentially the same keyed brass. 3. Power chord orchestrations are quite similar. 4. Performers are well trained and in excellent shape at the time of the audio/video. I'm sure there are other attributes, just a quick few off the top of my head. Thanks for sharing link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I just had an interesting experience. I was on YouTube, and by accident ran across the "Best 2009 DCI Moments TEASER" video. 38 seconds long...that's all. No more than 3 seconds per group. No drill...no marching...just 2-3 seconds of full-throated block chord sound from each group (which also made for a pretty cool chord progression in some cases). What really hit me was this: take away the drill design, music choice, arranging idiosyncrasies, marching technique, flag technique -- in other words, taking a moment to listen to the basic hornline sound from top group to 12th group -- there isn't a real big difference. An interesting thing to do would be to listen to it with eyes closed, and see how many could discern the exact group simply by their "sound." Across 11 minutes? Yes...that's easy. But it really reinforced to me (and this might be the coolest thing) that in terms of sound quality, there is a much closer relationship between 1st and 12th then is sometimes thought. Try it for yourself. Let me know what I'm missing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_XokHDC22g Yeah, but the difference in real life is huge. Do a blindfold test of the top 12 corps playing some standard piece of music and I'll bet you $1000 you'll identify Crown, BD, Cadets, Phantom, and Madison's corps by the level of talent and by the method they use. I'm not setting those corps up as better than everyone else, and many people will instantly recognize many other corps by how well they play, but I'd bet you on at least those. And by the way I think they're all great - all the way down to 17th place, or into the OC corps. I love them all, but the talent and training spreads are huge. (in my opinion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Yes, Ray...you're right. And I admitted to your point as such with my original posting of "Across 11 minutes? Yes...that's easy." However...my point is that even though we have corps ranked 1-12...or even 1-17...the difference in the SOUND...and yes, with that goes no small part of ability...is relatively equal. A given corps may have a better bottom-ended sound. But that, I would argue, is as much to do with the specific musical scoring as it is with any kind of argument regarding inherent ability levels from group to group. Crap...I'm probably the lone idiot screaming from the mountainside...but even though that may be so...I still maintain that... Hmmmm... Ok. Becoming clearer. Thank you for allowing my moment of thought.... Kids are kids. Kids make up the activity. Some corps have kids with more technical ability...and some corps have kids with lesser ability. Some corps have kids with greater marching ability...and some corps have kids with lesser marching ability. But...after listening to the link that I posted in my original thread posting...it simply struck me that, by and large, the talent level appears to be somewhat equal. Now...I am NOT one of those Pollyanna's who believe "ALL the kids are winners...and deserve a gold medal." There are those who, through training, musical scoring, and group effort, accumulate more points than other groups. And there are those who accumulate less. Such is the monster. I guess I'll simply go back to my original statement of awe and recognition...that being, "WOW. 1-to-12, these groups of young people really sound alike. More alike than we'd sometimes like to think." Sorry for the personal rant.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Yes, Ray...you're right. And I admitted to your point as such with my original posting of "Across 11 minutes? Yes...that's easy." However...my point is that even though we have corps ranked 1-12...or even 1-17...the difference in the SOUND...and yes, with that goes no small part of ability...is relatively equal. A given corps may have a better bottom-ended sound. But that, I would argue, is as much to do with the specific musical scoring as it is with any kind of argument regarding inherent ability levels from group to group. Crap...I'm probably the lone idiot screaming from the mountainside...but even though that may be so...I still maintain that... Hmmmm... Ok. Becoming clearer. Thank you for allowing my moment of thought.... Kids are kids. Kids make up the activity. Some corps have kids with more technical ability...and some corps have kids with lesser ability. Some corps have kids with greater marching ability...and some corps have kids with lesser marching ability. But...after listening to the link that I posted in my original thread posting...it simply struck me that, by and large, the talent level appears to be somewhat equal. Now...I am NOT one of those Pollyanna's who believe "ALL the kids are winners...and deserve a gold medal." There are those who, through training, musical scoring, and group effort, accumulate more points than other groups. And there are those who accumulate less. Such is the monster. I guess I'll simply go back to my original statement of awe and recognition...that being, "WOW. 1-to-12, these groups of young people really sound alike. More alike than we'd sometimes like to think." Sorry for the personal rant.... Nah, the rant is cool. I just disagree - I think the sound (live) is enormously different. Probably the biggest difference in corps at each level. I absolutely stipulate that I could be completely wrong... But my life's experience tells me that I could identify each level by sound alone. But I love the argument and the passion. Oooh, and one other thing - in some cases, for better and for worse, I think one can identify what brand of brass the kids are playing on in a live performance. Some brands, for much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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