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DCI and the triumph of the Simulacrum


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You can not win DCI without doing this. Better get used to the Simulacrum if you want to approach 100 points, otherwise you're going to be stuck around 95-96 because of words like dirty, tired, boring, old-fashioned.

It's a brand new day!

So you're about to quote the judge who just referred to a 95 show with those terms? I can't wait!

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So you're about to quote the judge who just referred to a 95 show with those terms? I can't wait!

Nope; just look at the sheets the past several years. It's pretty apparent what gets rewarded on the sheets.

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Nope; just look at the sheets the past several years. It's pretty apparent what gets rewarded on the sheets.

Actually the sheets are fairly vague as far as what instrument they apply to (specifically the role of keyboards/sound effects). This is something left to discussion among the judges I presume? This unfortunately leaves room for DCP people to declare absolute knowledge about it.

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Actually the sheets are fairly vague as far as what instrument they apply to (specifically the role of keyboards/sound effects). This is something left to discussion among the judges I presume? This unfortunately leaves room for DCP people to declare absolute knowledge about it.

Just joining in and offering an opinion on the discussion; haven't declared absolute knowledge on this particular topic. Just identifying the quacking sounds coming from the ducks.

If you look at the scores of the corps placing high, then look at their design, it becomes completely apparent what types of things are highly rewarded. No judgement, just an observation.

Staging trumps drill every time. WGI style > Brass theater style > DCI drill. The simulacrum wins. It's cleaner and easier to judge. It fits what the sheets ask of it.

Edited by jjeffeory
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A lot of the electronics mania generated by a simulated pitch bend this year reminds me of the idea that "live" DJs are "performing", when at best, they're manipulating the Simulacrum.

Much in our culture no longer discriminates between true performers and manipulators of sounds, or the Real and Simulated, though, so I'm sure my opinion is invalid and that I'm a cultural invalid.

Have Grammy-award winning rappers like Eminem or Weird Al...

(who deserves a whole topic on his own here, the guy who satirizes the triumph and fakery of the Simulacrum in pop culture, like Stewart or Colbert in their areas (remember "truthiness"?), and the endless possibilities that satire could bring to DCI, which we've sadly lost with the death of VK and Bridgemen, and DCI by glorifying the Simulacrum has become so much HEAVIER and sickeningly EARNEST, even self-righteous, in the last unsatirical decade as they desperately try to manipulate the Simulacrum to add simulated profundity to show GE just as they try to add profundity to baselines, scrambling to balance out the Simulacrum with Seriousness and Meaning, and thus jumping the shark with tasteless desperation in design all too often),

...achieved the same level of mastery as musicians and performers as a pianist or violinist? Many in the young generation would say yes. And they'd say that piano and violin music are boring and irrelevant.

My god! A show using "experimental orchestral" music is so Similacrum! A show about Presidents and using 60 year old music is so Similacrum! A show about a ballet using music from a ballet is so Similacrum! A show about an Italian film director using Jazz and Big Band charts is so Similacrum! Scheherazade? More like Sheherazacrum!

I mean, the only "Simulacrum" thing I see here is your cynical judgement of an activity that brings a new direction and change every year. I actually cannot even think of an activity that is more removed from the "Similacrum" as DCI is.

Piano playing?? People have been playing piano for centuries! Violin? Maybe that bach violin concerto can be performed for the 9,000,000th time just to show that we are not part of the Simulacrum!

Performing intricate drill/movement with wind instruments, percussion and color guard? I think we're coming in at almost 90 years... but really at the level it is now... no more than 40? If having "electronic effects" suddenly makes this activity heavily and sickeningly glorify the Simulacrum than you would be hard pressed to find anything that doesn't... making this whole thesis pretty pointless.

DCI =/= Simulacrum

Edited by charlie1223
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Just joining in and offering an opinion on the discussion; haven't declared absolute knowledge on this particular topic. Just identifying the quacking sounds coming from the ducks.

If you look at the scores of the corps placing high, then look at their design, it becomes completely apparent what types of things are highly rewarded. No judgement, just an observation.

Staging trumps drill every time. WGI style > Brass theater style > DCI drill. The simulacrum wins. It's cleaner and easier to judge. It fits what the sheets ask of it.

And I'm saying that an alternate explanation for all the staging is the idea that it's a reasonable addition to the educational experience for the members, not because it is important in the judging. Does it influence the judging? I would hope only slightly, and similarly for all the top corps.

Now, it is possible that Michael Cesario's appointment at DCI sent a message to the directors that "showbiz values" (staging, etc.) are more important than they were. And that perception on their part may be why there's more of it nowadays.

He has after all been passionately arguing for it all these years (for the betterment of DCI, IMO). But that doesn't mean the judges are actually focusing on staging to any extent. That's where I'm dubious. The most he said in the interview on FP was music GE judges can consider the intended emotional impact from the visual in determining whether it meshes with the music; not whether the staging is in itself good.

Previously, this:

RED

would be judged by the "text judge" as very well framed expression of the red color, and by the "color judge" as a very good expression of the blue color. Perfect scores all round.

But under the new rules the text judge can say that the text is well framed but not consistent with the overall effect. And so can the color judge.

This does not mean the judges are judging the staging/synth directly as if it were the thing being judged.

Edited by Pete Freedman
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And I'm saying that an alternate explanation for all the staging is the idea that it's a reasonable addition to the educational experience for the members, not because it is important in the judging. Does it influence the judging? I would hope only slightly, and similarly for all the top corps.

Now, it is possible that Michael Cesario's appointment at DCI sent a message to the directors that "showbiz values" (staging, etc.) are more important than they were. And that perception on their part may be why there's more of it nowadays.

He has after all been passionately arguing for it all these years (for the betterment of DCI, IMO). But that doesn't mean the judges are actually focusing on staging to any extent. That's where I'm dubious. The most he said in the interview on FP was music GE judges can consider the intended emotional impact from the visual in determining whether it meshes with the music; not whether the staging is in itself good.

Previously, this:

RED

would be judged by the "text judge" as very well framed expression of the red color, and by the "color judge" as a very good expression of the blue color. Perfect scores all round.

But under the new rules the text judge can say that the text is well framed but not consistent with the overall effect. And so can the color judge.

This does not mean the judges are judging the staging/synth directly as if it were the thing being judged.

Love your example! I think that was a really good one. Another twist. If the show is about irony, then both judges can agree that what has been shown can again be perfect.

I believe that when the judges are told to judge things that would typically favor one skill set over another, THAT's tacitly saying to do one skill, not the other.

I do not agree the all the staging is the next great thing for DCI. Honestly, I don't think it works as well in the larger venues as it does in smaller venues.

I don't and didn't agree with everything that was initially written, but I can not say it was not written with great effect.

Anyway, good reading even if I don't agree or disagree.

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I'm not talking about 'cribbing' other work from other idioms (broadway, film, etc.), but simulating things like demand, or simulating brass sounds themselves.

Perhaps you're not, but I am: the point being that using a Boerma, a Bocook or whoever else to riff on someone elses established work already set the stage years previous for the "simulated demand" argument you're making now.

"I can't create the emotional impact I want from just playing this one part of Stars and Stripes Forever, so I'll need to shorthand it with an American flag and some guard members dressed up as soldiers" and so forth.

That's a direct predecessor to your "I can't clean 220bpm to showcase the velocity in the music, so I'll do a fast scatter/re-form/re-stage/re-pod here to try to create the same effect" argument.

DCI is nothing *but* emotional shorthand; so it figures we'd cannabilize ourselves in trying to pack more "effect" into the same number of minutes.

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