Jeff Ream Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I've been mostly responding and reading, but this is my first "wish" from DCI and, by which, I mean the corps that make it up: Please, please, STOP STOP STOP teaching pit members to bob up and down with a completely over-emphasized beat of the tempo like an apple thrown in a bucket of water. I understand and agree with mechanical and defined mallet pre-positioning and even orchestrating the unison hand movement, but... THE BOBBING UP AND DOWN IN MOCK-EMOTION KEEPING TIME IS NOT USED ANYWHERE ELSE IN KEYBOARD PERFORMANCE - YOU SHOULD NOT BE TEACHING OR ALLOWING IT IN DRUM CORPS! IT LOOKS S-T-U-P-I-D, *NOT* PROFESSIONAL, AND IS A ***HUGE DISTRACTION*** FROM ENJOYING THE QUALITY OF THEIR PLAYING. Thank you for allowing me to spout off. I'm sure some of you actually enjoy watching the pit act like bobble-headed puppets at the end of some "magical" string controlling their movements. So be it. Dear DCI: ignore this guy. you can tell watching it when the kids are truly into it, or just playing notes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 While I can certainly perceive the logic as put forth in your rationale...personally, I'm not buying it. I think that it might be far safer to argue that it is nothing other than a spontaneous physical expression of a performer being "into the music." (a point of which, if I am reading your rationale correctly, you were inferring). As far as the "communicating with each other" point...naaahhh. If nothing else, nobody can argue that the performer is incorrect in his or her assertion of "I was just into the vibe, man." oh no, it's done for communication purposes too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) oh no, it's done for communication purposes too I know. I'm a horn player, myself. What I said was out of slight sarcasm....which I took care of through editing. Edit: Sorry. Didn't read your response completely. I thought you were speaking of my response to Garfield's post. Mea Culpa. Edited August 10, 2015 by HornTeacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Dear DCI: ignore this guy. you can tell watching it when the kids are truly into it, or just playing notes My only retort is that for the same reasons you can tell when kids are faking it instead of just playing notes. Their expressiveness and "communications" comes from their hands and arms, not from their heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammaster Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) I've been mostly responding and reading, but this is my first "wish" from DCI and, by which, I mean the corps that make it up: Please, please, STOP STOP STOP teaching pit members to bob up and down with a completely over-emphasized beat of the tempo like an apple thrown in a bucket of water. I understand and agree with mechanical and defined mallet pre-positioning and even orchestrating the unison hand movement, but... THE BOBBING UP AND DOWN IN MOCK-EMOTION KEEPING TIME IS NOT USED ANYWHERE ELSE IN KEYBOARD PERFORMANCE - YOU SHOULD NOT BE TEACHING OR ALLOWING IT IN DRUM CORPS! IT LOOKS S-T-U-P-I-D, *NOT* PROFESSIONAL, AND IS A ***HUGE DISTRACTION*** FROM ENJOYING THE QUALITY OF THEIR PLAYING. Thank you for allowing me to spout off. I'm sure some of you actually enjoy watching the pit act like bobble-headed puppets at the end of some "magical" string controlling their movements. So be it. It's called pulsing they do it to keep time. It is way better than hearing dut dut dut all the time. They get into it big time. My son is one of those people who do that and he plays 7 instruments, teaches 3 high school drumlines and is director of a music for youth organization. He just turned 20 on semi finals day. They get out there and DO IT. What about you? Edited August 11, 2015 by JohnZ personal attack removed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) It's called pulsing they do it to keep time. It is way better than hearing dut dut dut all the time. They get into it big time. My son is one of those people who do that and he plays 7 instruments, teaches 3 high school drumlines and is director of a music for youth organization. He just turned 20 on semi finals day. They get out there and DO IT. What about you? ...but I understand your sensitivity about your son. Edited August 11, 2015 by JohnZ personal attack removed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDz Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I've been mostly responding and reading, but this is my first "wish" from DCI and, by which, I mean the corps that make it up: Please, please, STOP STOP STOP teaching pit members to bob up and down with a completely over-emphasized beat of the tempo like an apple thrown in a bucket of water. I understand and agree with mechanical and defined mallet pre-positioning and even orchestrating the unison hand movement, but... THE BOBBING UP AND DOWN IN MOCK-EMOTION KEEPING TIME IS NOT USED ANYWHERE ELSE IN KEYBOARD PERFORMANCE - YOU SHOULD NOT BE TEACHING OR ALLOWING IT IN DRUM CORPS! IT LOOKS S-T-U-P-I-D, *NOT* PROFESSIONAL, AND IS A ***HUGE DISTRACTION*** FROM ENJOYING THE QUALITY OF THEIR PLAYING. Thank you for allowing me to spout off. I'm sure some of you actually enjoy watching the pit act like bobble-headed puppets at the end of some "magical" string controlling their movements. So be it. The battery "duhts,"........ the pit "bobs,"........ and the Scouts "Gotta Dance" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brichtimp Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) It's called pulsing they do it to keep time. It is way better than hearing dut dut dut all the time. They get into it big time. My son is one of those people who do that and he plays 7 instruments, teaches 3 high school drumlines and is director of a music for youth organization. He just turned 20 on semi finals day. They get out there and DO IT. What about you? "Pulsing"can look really false to me and detract from the unbelievable mallet work going on in the pit (IMHO). And, I think excessive Duts are also a crutch to some degree. I don't want to hear it....the composer did not pen Duts into the score. Edited August 11, 2015 by JohnZ quote edit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulie1340 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Here are my ideas... 1. Fire Neulion. Evidently they haven't got a clue. Video presentation platform is trash. Doesn't work on iPod/iPhone/iPad or Android anything... and its 2015? I still can't believe that the 2015 DCI Awards Ceremony on YouTube doesn't work, sure it has 60+ thousand hits but I'd wager 90+% of them were unsuccessful. 2. Gotta get the archives back online. And must make it possible to see last night's show, not just while its going on. Maybe DCI could apply for a grant from some musical history association for the arts or even the feds to fund the corps efforts to secure extended copyrighted material usage rights. 3. Something should be done with the scoring system to get the fans that have paid to be present at a show involved. It would be great to see a corps score well because they were a huge crown pleaser even though their execution might not have been as perfect as another corp's. Maybe something could be done to allow the fans to text an address with the corps number of their choice as the corps they most enjoyed... only announce the address in the stadium and only allow texts to be counted if they come in within a 5 minute period. The technology exists, its 2015 and lots of fans have texting capability. Do a field test making it a component of the score, maybe call it "General Effect-Human". Thanks for listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 3. Something should be done with the scoring system to get the fans that have paid to be present at a show involved. It would be great to see a corps score well because they were a huge crown pleaser even though their execution might not have been as perfect as another corp's. Maybe something could be done to allow the fans to text an address with the corps number of their choice as the corps they most enjoyed... only announce the address in the stadium and only allow texts to be counted if they come in within a 5 minute period. The technology exists, its 2015 and lots of fans have texting capability. Do a field test making it a component of the score, maybe call it "General Effect-Human". That sounds expensive and complicated. Not only that, DCI already has a pretty incompetent digital crew in my opinion. The way they've handled their new streaming service, their redesign of their website, posting scores early multiple times at competitions.. Heck, they even screwed up the Awards feed which you pointed out as well. I think your idea is good in principle, but does not seem practical. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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