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Where have the dynamics gone?


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Was in attendance at the Lafayette (La) show on Monday night and felt I was at an outdoor Broadway musical. Very little on that field was entertaining TO ME. NOTHING at all got me on my feet and really got my adrenaline going. Not even with the Big Boy Corps that were there. Music selection is STILL god awful atrocious. (Louisiana Stars did show promise for the future, as they did look and sound very good for a second year Corps.)

Louisiana Stars played Beethoven. Carolina Crown played Beethoven (and other tuneful classical music). How did the Stars "show promise" playing the same sort of presumably "god awful atrocious" music that the night's champion played?

For that matter, according to your profile, one of your all time favorite shows is Santa Clara Vanguard's 1989 treatment of The Phantom of the Opera. That's a Broadway musical, one of the biggest. How come you didn't feel that watching SCV's show 26 years ago was like being "at an outdoor Broadway musical"?

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It's a compulsory contest today. How many notes can we play and how fast can we run. It really is amazing BUT, some of the music opportunities have been passed over. It's a shame.

Exactly right.

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Louisiana Stars played Beethoven. Carolina Crown played Beethoven (and other tuneful classical music). How did the Stars "show promise" playing the same sort of presumably "god awful atrocious" music that the night's champion played?

For that matter, according to your profile, one of your all time favorite shows is Santa Clara Vanguard's 1989 treatment of The Phantom of the Opera. That's a Broadway musical, one of the biggest. How come you didn't feel that watching SCV's show 26 years ago was like being "at an outdoor Broadway musical"?

I've read LSUGrad's reviews for quite a while, and I don't think it's unfair to say he has been unhappy with DCI for a long time. It's a shame the shows aren't grabbing him more, but speaking as a fan of the 1990's of DCI, I don't want to go back to the 90's of DCI.

Mike

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I think it's because the activity has evolved into a visual based entity. Whereas when many of us marched it was a music based activity where visual was added to that. Now i think there are ideas admins have for their shows, starting with either music or vis, an then going designing a show based on a larger picture. Instead of picking a great lineup of music, and adding everything around that.

I think that's why certain shows feel "old school" to us now. Madison and Troop for example feels like a more music based show, where visual was added to enhance it. Whereas the Blue Knights or Blue Devils feel like a metaphor is placed on a field (or an idea) and the music and staging are added around that idea instead.

I haven't been able to listen to a CD (yeah some of us still buy those) or a show online WITHOUT watching it since the mid 2000s. Because none of it makes sense without seeing it. It also makes me feel that its hard to distinguish corps from each other by sound now. I can tell BD, SCV, Madison, Phantom still, but gone are the days when everyone had a sound that defined them. Now it all sort of sounds the same to me.

Guess that's why I like Open Class. It feels like those shows are more based on music first.

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I am finding this a very interesting read.

That the environment of LOS (size, echo, largely tiered seating) determines dynamics seems logical. Instrumentation within the hornline has also shifted while at LOS (e.g., more tubas.)

The controlled environment of Lucas Oil Stadium impacts show design, especially for the higher echelon corps - as it should. Not only does it impact the voice and electronics choices, it also impacts visuals as well. For example, as much challenge as Crown has faced this season with their large banner, they know that in the dome there will be no adverse weather conditions.

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I think it's because the activity has evolved into a visual-based entity. Whereas when many of us marched, it was a music-based activity where visual was added to that. Now I think there are ideas admins have for their shows, starting with either music or visual, and then going designing a show based on a larger picture. Instead of picking a great lineup of music, and adding everything around that.

Bluecoats last year (and I think this year) have said they first picked the music they wanted to play and then crafted a visual idea to go with it.

That said, as a comment on general trends, this is definitely a point worth further consideration.

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While Crown's show certainly is "louder" this season, it's not correct to say there's not dynamic range in the show. So I respectfully disagree that it's "not Crown's strength" this year. As evidence I present:

they've made some good musical changes during the season to add dynamic range and contrast, which is a good thing

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While Crown's show certainly is "louder" this season, it's not correct to say there's not dynamic range in the show. So I respectfully disagree that it's "not Crown's strength" this year. As evidence I present:

Holy Dynamo! I think this definitely qualfies as dynamics present and in the house!

Ott coming in Indy - final cleaning of this stuff and I believe they've got a shot at it!

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