cowtown Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 From a fake Chinese rubber band As preseason optimism is replaced the cold slap of reality my feeling so far is that it is a down year for DCI. Shows and performances are not where they should be as there is a lot of slop on the fields. I’m looking at designers then staffs as the culprits. Oh, there are exceptions and to you, thank you. In a town full of rubber plans Corps are trying to build GE with the next new thing, the coolest prop, the grooviest sound effects, and the most ham-fisted vocals. With a few exceptions, only the judges and their own staff seem impressed with the results. Writing GE into the drill is a lost art, it’s been replaced by rolling around on the field. How many corps have their brass on the ground at some point in their show or even worse doing characterization? How is that innovative or even good design when they all do it? Does it fit every show? No, it’s another lazy design and ticking a judging box; it’s Fake Plastic GE But gravity always wins The marching basics have been neglected with regards to technique and drill. Everyone wants to be the Blue Devils but most can’t pull it off. Perhaps, a bit less body movement, velocity and characterization because those effects only work when the basic block is squared neatly. More time is clearly needed on the visual basics. A lot of people seem to think drum corps needs (insert own personal agenda with a good dose of hyperbole) to survive, it only needs to be good. She looks like the real thing. She tastes like the real thing. My fake plastic love Props, platforms and tarps. Your Arabian Phallus field-scape offered little more than a cheap joke, did Oprah like it? And I still can’t’ find the kitchen. How many paper planes is that? More fringe, more fabric? In my mind, they might look even worse with the banners. What’s the cost per point benefit ratio? But I can't help the feeling. I could blow through the ceiling. Perhaps it’s the new sheets and the vague GE 1 and GE 2 that has the designers lost. Or maybe it’s dancing Crown, skipping Dada-Fellini BD and B movie Regiment’s success that ruined you all but in your rush to jump the next band wagon ….it looks amateurish and is poorly preformed. You’ve put too much trust in an often failed, short-lived effect at the expensive of the biggest GE available to you, marching and playing well. You’d be mistaken to think it was another Old versus New, it’s good versus and bad and bad is winning. Designers and staff its time to look at yourselves It wears me out, it wears me out 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 To borrow a phrase, Genkus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Or maybe the exploration of thought and imagination matters more to those people than performance quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Solid execution is good General Effect. Was true in the 1950s & is true today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Solid execution is good General Effect. Was true in the 1950s & is true today. But that's not factually accurate. And the exclamatory sentence, while humorous, is also un true. Case in point being the introduction of running sequences in the last few years. There is almost zero execution involved in those, but they most definitely add General Effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowtown Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Or maybe the exploration of thought and imagination matters more to those people than performance quality. So designers are charging members to explore their imaginations under the guise of education and all their imaginations are telling them to roll around on the field with their horns and then to run around? I can see that at any dog park There is some really bad running out there this year perhaps they are trying to do too much....jack of all trades, master of none Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 So designers are charging members to explore their imaginations under the guise of education and all their imaginations are telling them to roll around on the field with their horns and then to run around? I can see that at any dog park There is some really bad running out there this year perhaps they are trying to do too much....jack of all trades, master of none Anyone can be a tick hound and teach execution. You can even teach a monkey to do something the same way repeatedly and follow a system of processes. Hell, you could teach a team of monkeys. Hell, you could call it 1970s drum corps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuStu Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 the tail certainly has been wagging the dog in this area for quite a while. I particularly dislike the excess body movement. When used sparingly, and when there's a point behind it, it can be very effective. When its done just for the sake of doing it, it just looks hokey. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlejaw Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 I definitely don't agree with you cowtown, I think this is one of the most creative and competitive years. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowtown Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 I would pay dearly to see Monkey Drum Corps Again, it’s not old versus new, it’s poor design and teaching, group think show design and props that don’t even act as window dressing after the 2 minute mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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