xbones7480 Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Can we expect a style change for Crossmen from Markworth. From what I heard so far, looks like a much more mature sound. Anyone else have any insight on this? And will a style change help or hurt the Crossmen. What is their style? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Not really familiar with Markworth's writing. Waiting to hear before I make any judgements. Haven't heard anything from this year yet. Not really sure what you mean by mature? I think the horns under the last three caption heads have sounded pretty mature no matter who is writing the music... even with some very questionable and "immature" writing in the early Texas years. Chuck has written some great books in his time at the Crossmen. I thought they were very mature sounding books in terms of writing and orchestrations. Much of what he asked the Crossmen to play required mature performers. Now are you talking about a more mature style? Because I have no clue what that means. I would say that the Crossmen have a style that works for them. The style not being anything concrete though. It seems like straight classical music just doesn't work. I don't know if it has been really given a serious good effort by the corps. But any year they try classical.. it doesn't seem to go well. They really do well with a mix of genres. Pop/world/multiple styles of jazz. Basically a mix of everything but classical instrumental music. Now does a change in style hurt or help them? It all depends on the design staff. They can design whatever the hell they want, play whatever they want. As long as it is written effectively and they set their members up for success. If it's a good show, the fans don't care who is playing it. Yeah the Crossmen have been known as a corps that when at it's best GROOVE. But hey there was 95... and yeah some questionable decisions were made... but I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad, unenjoyable show. Personally, I would love to see Crossmen be able to be the Crossmen no matter what kind of show they put out on the field. The BEST corps year in and out can play any style they want. Look at BD and Crown... they both are great at playing any style thrown at them. As long as you put out an effective enjoyable show, I'm all in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Crossmen are standing in third (not regiment third, so with their left foot behind right) this year then doing a funny do-si-do step to take the first step. HA, good luck with that. It is funny when people spend (waste?) time doing things other than actually getting better at marching and playing. The time devotion to make that work won't pay off in excellence. Basically, interesting decisions being made there already this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Is it still the same visual staff teaching technique as the past couple of years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Is it still the same visual staff teaching technique as the past couple of years? Brad's clan, yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 No comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEdevilYOUknow Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Crossmen are standing in third (not regiment third, so with their left foot behind right) this year then doing a funny do-si-do step to take the first step. HA, good luck with that. It is funny when people spend (waste?) time doing things other than actually getting better at marching and playing. The time devotion to make that work won't pay off in excellence. Basically, interesting decisions being made there already this season. I went to one of the camps and learned the technique... the first step isn't awkward at all unless you make it by doing something crazy. The only thing that is funky is coming back to third from a backwards march. I don't know why the decision to switch to third was made, but really, it's not that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
va9590jm Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Surprise, surprise...people making a mountain out of a mole hill. Nothing new for DCP. Honestly, does it really make that big of a difference how the corps is standing? As long as it is easy to move in and out of, what does it matter? Its not awkward to step out of/halt in third (either way, left or right in front, doesn't matter) unless you MAKE it awkward. If they want to have something that is uniquely their own, then let them do it. Its a minute change, at best, and one that I'm sure doesn't really mean they have to spend "(waste)" a lot of time on it. All corps have to teach how they stand at the first camps anyways, whether its parallel, or a V or third or what not. Also, I would disagree on the point about classical music. The corps has done okay with classical in the past, haven't they? Maybe not straight up classical recently, but a Crossmen take on it. Habanera anyone? What about The Planets in 2008? There have been some decent takes on classical music recently, but maybe it shouldn't stand alone? After all, the corps has also succeeded with classical in the past with Russlan and Ludmilla (84). Yes, maybe Medea didn't work too well for them, but that was a poorly designed show that had too difficult of drill for the level of the corps to execute (you can hear the feet in the trumpets all over the place!). Markworth has written for the front ensemble every year since 08? I believe, and wrote for the entire percussion ensemble last year. I wouldn't be too concerned about his writing. From a percussion standpoint, it won't be really any of a style change. In particular for the front ensemble. They have had a really solid identity with his writing. I for one believe its going to be yet another competitive year in the 9-15 range. Correction: this is from the bio that was posted: This follows several successful seasons as both the Crossmen Front Ensemble Arranger (2008, 2011 – 2013) and the Percussion Ensemble Arranger (2014). In 2014, Markworth also arranged both the Brass and Percussion parts to Zambra, the corps’ third production. So there you have it. Now granted, Zambra was probably the weakest part of the brass book last year, in my opinion, but I qualify that with it also being the percussion feature. Again, I'm not too concerned. Edited December 3, 2014 by va9590jm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 Crossmen are standing in third (not regiment third, so with their left foot behind right) this year then doing a funny do-si-do step to take the first step. HA, good luck with that. It is funny when people spend (waste?) time doing things other than actually getting better at marching and playing. The time devotion to make that work won't pay off in excellence. Basically, interesting decisions being made there already this season. Making an arbitrary change like this often creates an opportunity to eliminate bad habits by replacing them with fresh learning. In the visual realm all that matter is consistency. Unlearning the old can be far more difficult than learning the new. OTOH simplicity is almost always better than complexity. So ... sight unseen ... I'll reserve final judgement. How's that for fence sitting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 The corps has done okay with classical in the past, haven't they? Maybe not straight up classical recently, but a Crossmen take on it. Habanera anyone? What about The Planets in 2008? I straight up love Aaron Guidry, but there are a ton of fans (me included) that do not include Planet X in "doing okay with classical." Regardless, they'll be fine, and they've got a very good staff in place. (No matter what position they step off from. Cripes.) Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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