bmjfelts1988 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Okay first of all, I absolutely LOVVVVEEEEE your show and have ALWAYS been a big Crossmen fan (notice my signature banner). I do have one question for you. I realize this video was a first performance... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqbGqlMpUM ...but if you need to use a Dr. Beat to establish tempo at the beginning of the show, why not just use an old fashioned vocal drum major count off instead? I realize vocal count offs are something that have become taboo in modern drum corps (for whatever reason, I'll never know....I mean...professional groups do it...maybe not orchestras but jazz, rock...anything commercialized, vocal count offs are normal)....I digress....even if it's considered "taboo"....it is FARRRRR less obnoxious to hear a DM count off for early season comfort than it is for a Dr. Beat. To me, the Dr. Beat just seemed......well.......to put it blunt.....laaaaame! Let your drum major give a count off instead, please and ditch that stupid horrific sound that we all hate anyway. Believe me, no matter how old school a DM count off might seem to the modernists out there, it would be far more professional than that stupid met sound. Edited June 27, 2014 by bmjfelts1988 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spandy Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Okay first of all, I absolutely LOVVVVEEEEE your show and have ALWAYS been a big Crossmen fan (notice my signature banner). I do have one question for you. I realize this video was a first performance... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqbGqlMpUM ...but if you need to use a Dr. Beat to establish tempo at the beginning of the show, why not just use an old fashioned vocal drum major count off instead? I realize vocal count offs are something that have become taboo in modern drum corps (for whatever reason, I'll never know....I mean...professional groups do it...maybe not orchestras but jazz, rock...anything commercialized, vocal count offs are normal)....I digress....even if it's considered "taboo"....it is FARRRRR less obnoxious to hear a DM count off for early season comfort than it is for a Dr. Beat. To me, the Dr. Beat just seemed......well.......to put it blunt.....laaaaame! Let your drum major give a count off instead, please and ditch that stupid horrific sound that we all hate anyway. Believe me, no matter how old school a DM count off might seem to the modernists out there, it would be far more professional than that stupid met sound. Sound travels very slowly. By the time the DM's voice reached the back of the field, his countoff would be way behind his hands already (same reason you keep the long ranger behind the corps, and hornline NEVER listens to the pit for tempo). This was a preview/dress run at the end of a rehearsal, right? I don't have a problem with it. Edit: Some more specific maths for you. Sound travels at ~500 feet per second. At a tempo of 187, the delay from front sideline to back sideline is just over a full beat. And then it's another full beat before the sound from the back reaches the front sideline. So if the pit in the front and the hornline in the back corner both start off the major's voice, they'll come in two beats apart. http://youtu.be/rMPfLctjXbY Edited June 27, 2014 by Spandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmjfelts1988 Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Sound travels very slowly. By the time the DM's voice reached the back of the field, his countoff would be way behind his hands already (same reason you keep the long ranger behind the corps, and hornline NEVER listens to the pit for tempo). Then have the backfield drum major count it off. Again, much less obnoxious - far more professional. Edited June 27, 2014 by bmjfelts1988 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barigirl78 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Okay first of all, I absolutely LOVVVVEEEEE your show and have ALWAYS been a big Crossmen fan (notice my signature banner). I do have one question for you. I realize this video was a first performance... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqbGqlMpUM ...but if you need to use a Dr. Beat to establish tempo at the beginning of the show, why not just use an old fashioned vocal drum major count off instead? I realize vocal count offs are something that have become taboo in modern drum corps (for whatever reason, I'll never know....I mean...professional groups do it...maybe not orchestras but jazz, rock...anything commercialized, vocal count offs are normal)....I digress....even if it's considered "taboo"....it is FARRRRR less obnoxious to hear a DM count off for early season comfort than it is for a Dr. Beat. To me, the Dr. Beat just seemed......well.......to put it blunt.....laaaaame! Let your drum major give a count off instead, please and ditch that stupid horrific sound that we all hate anyway. Believe me, no matter how old school a DM count off might seem to the modernists out there, it would be far more professional than that stupid met sound. It was just an exhibition. If you have access to the Fan Network, you'll see them in the Stanford show. They did not use Dr. Beat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranintothedoor Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Yeah, it looked like a dress rehearsal (exhibition) to me. The metronome sounds simultaneously with the backfield conductor. This way, the front ensemble starts the music the same time the corps steps off. Why do it at a performance? I'd say, early season, it's just another chance to build that muscle memory for everyone. They may also be skipping preshow choreography, etc. I'd also venture a guess to say that they still have bugs to work out tempo-wise at the beginning, so they figured better safe than sorry. IMO, the fact that they didn't change anything from their rehearsal for the run-through is the definition of being professional. :-) Reminds me of that old cello player that performed a master class in college. He and the accompanist got off and so he just stopped the performance and said, "We messed that up... we're going to do it again for you." and re-started the movement... which was amazing to me! To him, his priority was the art, not the perception of us in the audience. After all, it wasn't Carnegie Hall (re: DCI Finals), just a master class (re: exhibition run-through). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmjfelts1988 Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 Yeah, it looked like a dress rehearsal (exhibition) to me. The metronome sounds simultaneously with the backfield conductor. This way, the front ensemble starts the music the same time the corps steps off. Why do it at a performance? I'd say, early season, it's just another chance to build that muscle memory for everyone. They may also be skipping preshow choreography, etc. I'd also venture a guess to say that they still have bugs to work out tempo-wise at the beginning, so they figured better safe than sorry. IMO, the fact that they didn't change anything from their rehearsal for the run-through is the definition of being professional. :-) Reminds me of that old cello player that performed a master class in college. He and the accompanist got off and so he just stopped the performance and said, "We messed that up... we're going to do it again for you." and re-started the movement... which was amazing to me! To him, his priority was the art, not the perception of us in the audience. After all, it wasn't Carnegie Hall (re: DCI Finals), just a master class (re: exhibition run-through). Still don't understand why they couldn't just have the backfield conductor count off instead of using a met. The DM could have even done so with a met only audible to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterA Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 As much as many people find Dr Beat annoying, a majority of corps use this pre/early season. If anything, look at it in the big picture of things. This was a preseason performance, and the corps all use it to help themselves get better. Would you rather see home preview videos with no Dr. Beat, and have a subpar show come finals, or would you rather see a preview show with Dr. Beat, and have a better performed show come finals? In my opinion, we are lucky to see shows before the season begins, warts and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actucker Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Still don't understand why they couldn't just have the backfield conductor count off instead of using a met. The DM could have even done so with a met only audible to him. Because that's not how they rehearse. You don't change things from rehearsal to performance. Groups have a rehearsal process that takes them off met. Obviously they weren't far enough into that process to take away the met for that moment in the show, and as such, the kept the metronome. Why would they add another step in their rehearsal process (learning how to go off of a drum major count off) so that one or two people would be more satisfied with the unfinished product they are watching at a preview show? This is a non issue. It would have been a waste of time to rehearse a different way to start the show knowing that they would be off met before the first performance anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmjfelts1988 Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 As much as many people find Dr Beat annoying, a majority of corps use this pre/early season. If anything, look at it in the big picture of things. This was a preseason performance, and the corps all use it to help themselves get better. Would you rather see home preview videos with no Dr. Beat, and have a subpar show come finals, or would you rather see a preview show with Dr. Beat, and have a better performed show come finals? In my opinion, we are lucky to see shows before the season begins, warts and all. Again, why not have the backfield drum major count off instead - with a dr. beat that is not audible to the audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmjfelts1988 Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 Because that's not how they rehearse. Then rehearse that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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