2000Cadet Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 This part I can agree with. Take the Re-write of Spring show as just one example. The way they incorporated historically accurate dance elements into the brass choreography was something I never would have picked out on my own, but once I read an explanation of how they had incorporated it I sought out Youtube videos of some of those classic performances and was amazed at how much that added to my appreciation of their show. There is layer after layer of musical and visual reference, homage, and interpretation.That level of depth in design, year after year, is inspiring and is one (of many) things that keeps me interested in Drum Corps, and the Devils do it better than anyone. To be clear, that's not the only approach to show design that I can get behind. Others have mentioned that this year's Bluecoats show was based on an abstract theme and was wildly succesful. i think it's unfair to call out the Cadets or any other corps for wanting to take that approach, making an assumption that it will not be succesful. Let's see what they put on the field and then voice an informed opinion. Who's to say they can't do both an inspirational presentation of the material and layer it with a cerebral concept at the same time. Crown has been pulling that off at the highest level for a few years now, including their first championship. BAC this past year as well. Please please please though, no narration. YMMV but that's the one thing that really turns me off. Variety is the spice of life I guess. I wholeheartedly agree. Let the music and drill speak for themselves. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 And we are both smart enough to read between the lines; he didn't mention it just because. Eh, I read his "since the 1980s" as meaning nothing more than "for a long time". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Are we sure this isn't Brutus in disguise? I just started having flashes of Plan9 in the writing. But I think he's more coherent than this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Tough crowd, but that's expected. Insults before inquiry is par for the course with most posters. The point was to offer feedback BEFORE any major design decisions were made. I've seen this - and other - corps get so far into a concept there's no escaping it, and the show suffers for it, which ultimately it means the members are limited by it, which I always hate to see. Show concepts can be so arbitrary and so abstract they obscure the emotional and narrative content of the music. This concept for the Shostakovich show appears to be exactly that, which is a problem. The Cadets will doubtless have the personnel, and surely have the music, to win gold. What has hampered them more than anything else, more often than not in the last 15 years, has been an uneven and sometimes slapdash approach to design. The Blue Devils more than anyone else in the last decade have developed show designs that reveal meaning and display an aesthetic unity that the judges have rewarded well. I cited WGI because it is a visually driven medium. DCI design is most effective when the visual reveals the narrative of the music, even if doing so abstractly. I cannot recall in 30 years of following DCI, though, when a show concept was based on a number of a piece of music. Does that mean this concept is innovative, or just missing the point? The "X" concept is just so arbitrary and abstract it seems to declare from the outset that the concept will have little to do with the music. Concept for concept's sake. It would be like PR featuring a show of the music to Spartacus, but instead of calling it "Spartacus" and basing the visual on the narrative, they title the show "8", have a drumlins of 8 snares, etc., because the score was the 8th film score composed by Alex North. it's an odd numbered year....that usually bodes well AND the concept isn't preachy. that helps too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 it's an odd numbered year....that usually bodes well AND the concept isn't preachy. that helps too The odd-year factor is MUCH more important than the design rants of the OP. If he's so smart, why isn't he on the design staff? Same reason the rest of us aren't, if you ask me. In the alternate, well, there's DCP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 The odd-year factor is MUCH more important than the design rants of the OP. If he's so smart, why isn't he on the design staff? Same reason the rest of us aren't, if you ask me. In the alternate, well, there's DCP. well, seing as CWp and CWG compete in WGI, he probably wants nothing to do with the organization Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Are we just not going to talk about SCV's Th3ee? Everything was done in multiples of three, including section make-ups. The corps even came onto the field and set up in the giant pyramid in 3s. Was pretty cool to see them all take different paths to the first set in their little pods. I'm like that Vanguard show a lot. But I'm not sure how analogous it is to calling a show "X" because the music happened to be a composer's tenth symphony. If I remember aright, SCV's show was fully titled, "Th3ee: Mind, Body, Soul", and as I recall the music had nothing to do with the number three at all. Which point may actually work against the O.P.'s argument, because... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 I'm going to come close to playing devil's advocate and say I do understand what the OP is getting at with the whole "Shostakovich's 10th wasn't about the number 10" thing. This was a minor quip I had with Crown's 2010 ("A Second Chance") design: it's not like the audience could get that these were 2nd Symphonies just by listening to them (unless you recognized the music, I guess). They weren't about the number two, or a second chance. That being said, that didn't preclude Crown from taking the great music and incorporating it into a very good show. The fact that they were second symphonies was just kind of arbitrary to the success of it. This might be a valid-ish concern... but I'll reserve judgment until I ACTUALLY SEE THE DANG SHOW. I've shuddered at half of the design announcements in some years, but those I was most cynical about have turned out to be pretty awesome. Sometimes. ...as noted here, in what is probably the best post in the thread, a wonderful show may very well have music that has nothing to do with the theme. In that sense, the O.P.'s argument reminds me of Stu* nine months ago complaining that Blue Stars' stated theme of "home" was at odds with their musical selection of "The Chairman Dances" because it arguably celebrated communism, or something like that. *Speaking of whom: was he banned or did he just stop posting? I had to attend to other affairs for a couple months in the spring, and when I came back, he was gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000Cadet Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 (edited) Look, I just wanna jazz-run into a rotating box while playing bell tones. Is that too much to ask???? On another note, I'm confident that if this show design take shape the way they want it to, Jeff Saktig will probably do wonders with the drill. At least that's my biggest hope. Edited November 20, 2014 by 2000Cadet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 This show is gonna SUCK! No. This show DOES suck! Look, I think we can all agree that the Cadets sucked in 2015, but it's time to move on and start talking about 2016. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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