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DCI and the triumph of the Simulacrum


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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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This is exactly the problem: corps directors (i.e. DCI) have agreed to certain rules, and the format for judging.

Some kind of addition needs to be made to more highly value demand and risk-taking, to value real over simulated demand, such as drill vs. staging.

Also, a rule that bans amplification to augment brass lines should be passed.

Most importantly - GE should have more sub-captions, more guidelines for what constitutes GE. No one knows what the heck it refers to - how much 'effect' a run and gun drill and simultaneous playing generates? (not anymore). Or how well risk is managed, body movement is integrated, and how cleverly a 'production' is 'staged'. (dominant today).

I'm sure other rules need to be passed. What do the experts and fans on this board recommend?

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No, I think the reason the pitch bend got folks excited was because it was a perfect hybrid of acoustic and synthesized music. Like a good joke or magic trick, it was at first a bit perplexing, as the audience tried to process an unexpected and novel experience, e.g., "hey, horns can't sound like that!". Then when they "got the joke" about the computerized prestidigitation, the delight and applause started.

No. If that were true, Genesis would have gotten the same reaction for their pitch bend.

The Bluecoats pitch bend was coordinated with visual performance, and it fit their theme of "Tilt".

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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

I don't think you understand the point. It's not the programs or music that's played, but how the program is designed, how much demand, how much props are relied upon to generate "GE" (whatever that means these days).

This sentence from another post sums up how much simulated (demand, sound, drill, recordings) is ascendant today:

"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."

It's similar to the judging of olympic figure skating. Imagine if a quad jump that has a wobble on the landing were given less points than a "well-staged" perfectly clean triple toe loop.

​What's getting rewarded these days is cleverly risk-managed sleight-of-hand "demand". It makes me feel fooled, patronized, manipulated, not awed and inspired like I used to feel watching DCI.

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It makes me feel fooled, patronized, manipulated, not awed and inspired like I used to feel watching DCI.

So you fall for it, so to speak? You like it, but you are ashamed of enjoying it? Not trying to put words in your mouth. Making an effort to understand.

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I neither know enough about drum corps and haven't been around the activity long enough to have a proper opinion about the OP's post.

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\

This is exactly the problem: corps directors (i.e. DCI) have agreed to certain rules, and the format for judging.

Some kind of addition needs to be made to more highly value demand and risk-taking, to value real over simulated demand, such as drill vs. staging.

Also, a rule that bans amplification to augment brass lines should be passed.

Most importantly - GE should have more sub-captions, more guidelines for what constitutes GE. No one knows what the heck it refers to - how much 'effect' a run and gun drill and simultaneous playing generates? (not anymore). Or how well risk is managed, body movement is integrated, and how cleverly a 'production' is 'staged'. (dominant today).

I'm sure other rules need to be passed. What do the experts and fans on this board recommend?

DCI should immediately assign at least 3 judges that are under the age of 35 to the big regionals. There is a reason that DCI music arrangers draw inspiration from music derived from the 1760's, 1860's, 1960's. They themselves are marinated and immersed in this music and most of the judges are too. Its like 2 park city benches where on one bench a couple of 50-70 year olders are commiserating with a couple of other like minded 50-70 year oldees on music. Whats their conversation like ? You tell me. Then 100 yards down the path there is another city park bench. There are a couple of 25-35 year olders on this park bench talking about music. Whats their conversation like ?. Are the two park benches having the same conversation ? You tell me. Now.... pretend you are a saavy current DCI Show Designer, and you want to score well in Music on the current DCI sheets. For which park bench do you write your DCI Show Music for ? You tell me. And so... thats where we are today, it seems to me.

Edited by BRASSO
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Doesn't matter what judging panel you get it's the access by certain corps get to them to threaten err.. indoctrinate them on what is good and bad.

Judges IMHO should be impartial and not have any association with ANY corps. Wanna fix part of the problem go back to a build up tear down system. Field judges can easily do a tear down whereas judges up top can do build up.

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\

This is exactly the problem: corps directors (i.e. DCI) have agreed to certain rules, and the format for judging.

Some kind of addition needs to be made to more highly value demand and risk-taking, to value real over simulated demand, such as drill vs. staging.

Also, a rule that bans amplification to augment brass lines should be passed.

Most importantly - GE should have more sub-captions, more guidelines for what constitutes GE. No one knows what the heck it refers to - how much 'effect' a run and gun drill and simultaneous playing generates? (not anymore). Or how well risk is managed, body movement is integrated, and how cleverly a 'production' is 'staged'. (dominant today).

I'm sure other rules need to be passed. What do the experts and fans on this board recommend?

I agree with you here. The vagueness in the wording of the bullet points is at the heart of this. We agree that DCI judges should not reward staging and electronics on the brass sheets and music GE sheets. And we don't really know whether the scores and placements are because of the better staging and electronics of some corps or just that the scores will correlate with those things because of third variables, for example (better arrangers and designers).

If there were a bullet point in both ensemble brass and field brass sheets rewarding "challenging technique during rapid foot travel" or somesuch, that would help a lot.

If there were also a parenthetical note in music GE like this: "(but not the quality of the visual design itself)" that would also be a good thing.

As far as synth work, something like "keyboard skills should be rewarded as one member of the ensemble, and only the expression in the technique, not the quality of the sound itself." I'd be fine with that.

The judges may not need these clarifications (I think they don't, you may think they do), but the fans would sure appreciate it, because there sure is a lot of concern out there.

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I don't think you understand the point. It's not the programs or music that's played, but how the program is designed, how much demand, how much props are relied upon to generate "GE" (whatever that means these days).

This sentence from another post sums up how much simulated (demand, sound, drill, recordings) is ascendant today:

"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."

It's similar to the judging of olympic figure skating. Imagine if a quad jump that has a wobble on the landing were given less points than a "well-staged" perfectly clean triple toe loop.

​What's getting rewarded these days is cleverly risk-managed sleight-of-hand "demand". It makes me feel fooled, patronized, manipulated, not awed and inspired like I used to feel watching DCI.

You can't have a thesis like "DCI and the triumph of the Simulacrum" and then say that huge parts of DCI are also not a part of it. You cannot take the most important parts of DCI like music selection and program choices and ignore them and then say that DCI as a whole embraces the simulacrum. That like saying "yeah they are playing big band jazz music but don't you see how perfectly staged the trumpets are!? Simulacrum apologists!!"

You can't simply say that because DCI uses electronics and cares about "staging" that it suddenly is a part of the Simulacrum. Is staging and electronics such Hallmarks of the simulacrum that everything that utilizes these things is suddenly inferior to things not in simulacrum?

Look if you want to say championship shows don't have as much demanding drill as they used to you can say that. If you want to say that "where" things take place on the field is more important that "how" they happen that's fine too. And you can say that electronics do not have a place in modern drum corps... whatever! But why wrap this all around some convoluted philosophical idea?! Can we just call a spade a spade please?!

Edited by charlie1223
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Why am I thinking of these?:

or

AustinPowers_246Pyxurz.jpg

The Austin Powers pic has me thinking of a Stepford Wives show. Or maybe Stepford Wives as done by Philip K. Dick. (Terrific, now I have that bit of mashup fiction rolling in my head.)

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