Madison in Macy's Parade

[perc2100]

Thanks to C. Holland's excellent post, we now have confirmation that (1) the Scouts deliberately didn't make TV staging a priority, preferring to focus on other matters, and (2) they had very little time to rehearse together (and still put out a great product).

Yeah, sometimes in situations like this the best (maybe only) approach = KISS: Keep It Simple Silly

With EVERY production of any type, it could always be better, and hindsight is 20/20 (even BD 2014 could've been a little cleaner ). The best takeaway from C. Holland's post IMO is (paraphrasing), "TV blocking & other matters weren't in our control so we chose to focus on what was in our control (i.e. performing) and to our best to represent Madison Scouts/drum corps." That's really all that needs to be said: they took care of performing the heII out of their production and left editing and camera angles to the TV crew

[Jeff Ream]

That is very true, but you also have to pay attention to what TYPE of impression they made when performing at a national scale. Yes, they were on TV, but that doesn't necessarily assure that they got attention, which is why I think Brutus had some good points. I agree any exposure at all is good, but I don't think it's wrong for a little criticism on the execution. They got some time on the air and millions of people probably saw it, but were the viewers pulled in or did their eyes glaze over? For everyone on this board and any other DCI fans, this is a huge deal and so obviously everyone involved in the activity is excited about it, but the goal is to attract new fans to DCI.

here's what the national scale thinks of when they watch the Macy's Day parade:

what commercials showing sales are

what music or tv stars are on the floats

waiting for Santa because that means right after he arrives they can flip on the Detroit Lions pregame show.

right now, more people know who the Madison Scouts are then did before. 95% of the people watching the parade have no idea what clean is and isn't, nor do they care. They saw a huge group, that was stupid loud.

Which means they're equal to KISS in terms of loud, but less pyro.

[Jeff Ream]

It's AN important thing, no doubt. So is quality. So is presentation. So are a lot of things. And look, they were overwhelmingly well received by drum corps fans and the like, so who the heck cares if people decided to take a more critical look at things which could have been done better? If all we're looking for are roses being thrown at our feet, the activity will go nowhere. And let's not mistake these relatively minor critcisms (in contrast to all the things they did well in this parade) for nastiness or dickishness. I've seen none of that in this thread, or anywhere else for that matter. Take the critcism for what it is. Or don't, and move on. But enough with the hyper-defensiveness. Overall, they were great. It was good for DCI. And there are things which can be learned from their performance to make things better for the next corps to do it. That's all.

Resume your turkey sandwich leftovers!

the general non drum corps public wouldn't know clean if it smacked them in the face. The only people that care about clean are drum corps snobs.

I realized they weren't clean. I cheered like hell anyways.

from 2009-2011, I was the percussion caption head for the Tournament of Bands All Star Band that performs in the Philly parade every year. So, the day before the parade, 150 or so kids from PA, NJ, DE, MD, WV and VA show up to where Surf has camps, and with 4 hours of rehearsal, 6 at most, we go over a few quick exercises, the street beat and the parade tune.

'

Will we be spotless? hell no. Most of the kids in the snare never played with more than 2 other kids next to them, and we had 8/9. They came prepared, we didn't try to adjust anyone's technique, and the goal was to hold as ensemble. And in those 3 years, and the years since others took over, we did just that. And for an event like that or Madison, where you have limited rehearsal time and a huge group, what else can you expect?

[Jeff Ream]

Wow, really? I loved that Cadets performance at the Olympics. It was different, fun, appealed to the masses while at the same time showing off exactly who the Cadets were what they could do. As for Scouts, they did exactly what they wanted to do, needed to do, and should have done. I loved it, fracks and all.

Madison showed, before the whole country, what their brotherhood is about.

a-#######-men

[Jeff Ream]

Yet if someone had been as nasty to the Scouts about this parade (which has not happened in this thread as far as I can tell) as you're being to the Cadets, we would never hear the end of it. I've got several friends who were a part of that Cadets performance and everyone I've ever met who was involved in it said it was one of the most amazing experiences of their lives. That sounds awfully familiar to many of the things I've read from Scouts alums in this thread and elsewhere.

And since we've already been lectured about the importance of exposure, how about a ten minute performance in front of a live audience of 85,000 and a worldwide television audience in the billions. Do you think that increases or decreases the odds on them making SOME kind of impact somewhere? As opposed to a thirty second clip in a nationally televised parade? I'd say BOTH corps made some kind of positive impact, to the degree that they could reach a large amount of people. Most who would be reached, I would imagine, were already aware of the activity in some form or other. But two marquis big name drum corps performing in front of the kind of mass audiences most corps have never known? It's all good. How anyone could think otherwise is beyond me.

As far as the Cadets performance goes, it still baffles me as to why so many drum corps fans were so turned off by it. They did exactly what they were asked to do. And oh by the way, they did it extremely well. They even got to perform a significant portion of their competitive field show. In front of the WORLD.*** Was the rest cheesy and cornball? You bet. But they approached it with the same quality and level of excellence as everything else they did. And how is that more corny than playing a mash-up of Christmas songs and the tune "Happy?" Maybe the Cadets were just adapting their act to the stage upon which they were asked to perform. Just like the Scouts did for this parade. Something to think about.

(*** = note that they got way more applause for the corny stuff than they did for the DCI competitive stuff....but suddenly applause is something to be embarrassed about, coming from someone in the Scouts?? Who knew?)

I think those with criticisms about the Scouts performance in the parade have been reasonably respectful in their remarks. And for one simple reason. They DO see the bigger picture and realize that this kind of exposure is nothing but good for the activity. But hey, lets resurrect and subsequently trash the 1996 Cadets to make a point about how the Scouts were so much better. That makes sense. That's classy. There's the true brotherhood of the drum corps fraternity in action. Please...

Seriously, anyone who was embarrassed by what *either* corps did in front of these massed audiences is not a true fan of drum corps IMO.

[Jeff Ream]

What it boils down to is, like any performance activity, the performer(s) (or designers) need to (1) know the audience, and (2) design for the audience.

and Madison did.

[Jeff Ream]

Jeff Ream: I think the Cadets were the last corps to march Macy's Day Parade and played Swing, Swing, Swing with a smaller than usual corps but did drill as well.

I think the Santa Clara alumni corps was the last drum and bugle corps to march the Rose Bowl parade, so often marched by the Hamm Indians drum corps of MN.

For all the armchair-adjudicators critiquing this and that with TVs that may or may not be color perfect, sound perfect, and distraction free, this eye witness shares these insights.

Some of the screamers played Bb. Other horn players were on G bugles.

Each group playied on those instruments with which either they were more familiar or had marched on the drum corps competition field. The horn arranger for this project and faculty did a masterful job uniting 7 GENERATIONS into one sound. That means there were great grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers, and grandchildren marching as one. Pretty neat trick I say and kudos to those "dinosaurs" and those no longer in Body by DCI tour shape who made the extra efforts and follow through. Percussion included a rank or two of those whose drums were the old style tenors (not meaning quads or multi-drum apparatus) played with traditional tenor mallets.

Remember, the ensemble was not well rested and not due to any mis-step by administration. For one, they were at Macy's at 3 am for an hour and a half TV staging rehearsal (in uniform at 36 degrees.) For most, Eastern time zone is not what their bodies are used to. Then at 5 a.m., while the armchair-adjudicators were still well asleep, the corps, due to street closures, (they) marched ten blocks/avenues over to the buses and breakfast facility. Then back to the start of the parade which extended for three miles. Temperatures dropped to 30 degrees and the snow flurries began. Even the young high school and college groups were struggling. Many of their soloists did not play the whole parade route. Madison did not mail it in but delivered what they had!

Come on, people. Be realistic. We're not talking an August evening at LOS conditions or personnel.

Why give in to Brutus with his -10 DCP rating just to hear himself talk??? Or the other naysayers whose contribution to the activity is only in their own minds and myths?

I heart you

[Jeff Ream]

so a couple points from someone who actually participated in this event, and took it personally.

thanks for all your feedback, good, and... well... seriously? sometimes, if you don't have anything nice to say, just... (comments censored)

Hope you enjoyed your holiday. We sure as hell did.

Anyway, we did it because well, why not. We have a corps that just celebrated 75 years, alumni who are very active in supporting the current corps, and three directors who wanted to "get the band back together" so to speak.

I had the ability to hang out with guys who just marched, and guys who marched 30 years behind me and chat like we're all old friends. That's some magic if I've ever seen it.

We couldn't do more drill than we could learn and clean in 12 hours (4 tues night, 8 wed, and practice time at the rehearsal site on our own), we had to make it accessible for everyone from the 15 year old current member to the 50, 60, and 70+ year old members, and to be honest, we have a boatload of participants, so it didn't leave room for much more than a park and bark. 2 step intervals just don't let you move around with a big old horn that easily. So yea, it was about getting everyone together under one roof, and trying to peel the paint off the wall. No, we didn't care about numbers of people for tv. We wanted representation.

All of this was ok with all of the participants, directors, and yes, even Macy's and CBS and NBC who have to OK what goes on the TV. And no, no one cares about tv frame size or viewing angle. Not one single group. You as a ensemble cannot have any idea what the artistic director and production coordinator's are thinking and what they feel needs to be broadcast. I too, work in entertainment production, so don't talk to the masses here like they are stupid. They're not. It was out of our control, so we didn't worry about it.

All decisions for your performance are approved by Macy's and the TV Stations. They have to approve everything you plan to play and do. If they don't like it, you have to change it. We had to cut music (we had all learned already) out of the performance last minute to make it all work in their time frame due to their proposed layout of performances during the broadcast.

So seriously, as much as I enjoy the banter every once in awhile, shuddup. We jumped at the chance to go out and blow the windows out of the Foot Locker, and we did. We forced the recording engineer to ENTIRELY revamp his approach. haahahahahahah. Which was awesome.

We went out and had some fun in the cold. For those of us who don't march anymore, it was a chance to not just put on a uni and pick up a horn, drum, or piece of gear, it was an opportunity to put on THAT uniform. You can say there are corps that change you when you put on a uni, but there's something different about being in the Scouts, or Cavies, Cadets, or BD or even Troopers. There's a history, and a tradition. I think that's why I have such a hard time thinking about forcing more injury onto my body by marching for someone else. It'll just never be the same. It's beyond inspiring to see gents from the 60s and 70s in the streets working on 5s till they were perfect. Gents who hadn't picked a horn up in 30 years to magically find a way to pull not just a buzz from their lips, but to pull together something presentable. And the guys who hadn't carried a drum in years to put on the harness (and a back brace) and hack until the wee hours of the morning so they felt it was clean enough to finally sleep at 3 am.

I got a call from a friend tues night saying he's proud to be my friend, he'd watch for us, and there's not many corps that could pull off "pulling everyone together again". Even his own corps he aged out from he admitted they just don't have the support or pride from past generations to fathom making something of that scale happen. that says a lot. and it says a lot about the three guys who worked their butts off to organize this. housing, travel, busses, uniforms, horns, drums, flags, rifles etc etc etc. practice space and the family members who came out to help as support staff sewing unis last minute to make them perfect, dealing with food, checking people in and issueing horns and gear.

So I hope you all had a happy holiday, if you enjoyed seeing us rattle the streets of NYC, you're welcome. This made the best start to a holiday season Ive ever had, and it bittersweet with this being the first holidays without my father, it became something my fam could really get into, Because Dad loved the holidays, and he loved the Scouts. I wish he'd have been here to see it.

cheers.

Thank you and your Brothers for doing it

[Jeff Ream]

Cadets in 2005, I think. Still quite awhile ago, but Cadets are the last DCI corps that I can think of to have done it. They and Scouts might be the only two though

I amazed I couldn't find anything online talking about that, because I looked.

props to them. I must have been sleeping in and missed it totally

[JimF-LowBari]

For getting up at o'dark thirty,marching 3 miles and then hoofing to the TV point in front of Macys (thanks for the info Cory) and then doing a show you learned in a couple of hours.... at whatever age.... in less than great weather.... looked ####ed clean to me.....