FlamMan Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) No, not at all. I wish it was more melodic though. I wish it was required that hornlines play for at least 9:30 of every show. I wish corps would play 3-4 pieces during shows and actually have sustainable melody and a piece that builds...not so chop and bop, and I think Madison is kinda chop and bop this year. While I like many shows this year, I agree with you on the lack of horn playing. Horn lines just don't play enough nowadays. I also agree that the Scouts are trying to cram too many movements into their show which results in a herky jerky choppy show that just doesn't flow musically. Pick a song & play it as written. What a concept! Edited July 18, 2016 by FlamMan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 While I like many shows this year, I agree with you on the lack of horn playing. Horn lines just don't play enough nowadays. I also agree that the Scouts are trying to cram too many movements into their show which results in a herky jerky choppy show that just doesn't flow musically. Pick a song & play it as written. What a concept! I'm working on a demonstration of an identical segment between the 1999 and 2016 Scouts shows and it totally illustrates your point. More and more the brass is "featured" as opposed to "playing music." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 As far as choppy arrangements, who doesn't have them this year? Maybe Regiment and SCV. Crown has the least choppy book by a mile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I'm working on a demonstration of an identical segment between the 1999 and 2016 Scouts shows and it totally illustrates your point. More and more the brass is "featured" as opposed to "playing music." "Featured" as opposed to "playing music" is the perfect way to say it. Well put. No one just plays an entire song anymore. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 "Featured" as opposed to "playing music" is the perfect way to say it. Well put. No one just plays an entire song anymore. The other term I like is "sound effects." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Crown has the least choppy book by a mile. You haven't listened to SCV yet, have you? Crown is playing two different pieces of music in their ballad itself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) You haven't listened to SCV yet, have you? Crown is playing two different pieces of music in their ballad itself... That's not what choppy means. And yes I've heard it, I know the show by heart. Funny that you mention SCV because the second piece suffers somewhat from choppiness (corps plays for 20 seconds, then only the percussion for 20 seconds, repeat). It's not actually their fault because the source material is only about 2 minutes long, so they need to pad it. At least they're doing something interesting visually when the brass isn't playing! Plus there is at least some musical continuity so I can't ding them too much. Even choppier arrangements have no continuity from section to section, so it literally feels like corps are playing a bunch of 20-second pieces, as opposed to 3:30 pieces. I recommend listening to some older drum corps arrangements and comparing them with today's to see what I mean. There are entire styles of arranging that you very rarely hear corps attempt anymore. I'll pick a random clip from YouTube, let's say Crossmen 1992, Appalachian Morning. They don't put their horns down at all during the clip and play through the full 3 minute piece. Who is doing anything remotely close to this this year? It's almost like an entirely different medium. And this is *immediately after* the first big hit of the show, the spot where today you would have just the percussion play for a full minute before the brass comes back in. And viewers are somehow expected to maintain focus. This is what we mean when we say "choppy arrangements." Edited July 18, 2016 by Hrothgar15 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nine White Russians Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 "Featured" as opposed to "playing music" is the perfect way to say it. Well put. No one just plays an entire song anymore. I was just talking to a former friend yesterday about that. We agreed that long gone are the days when corps just came out and played songs. They didn't have to fit together in a concept or theme, they were just good solid tunes that you could hum all the way to the parking lot. It was truly music (even if some songs had to be shortened for time). I would actually spend way more being all the CDs to listen to, rather than the DVDs. Music has very little to do with this modern activity, and that's one of the reasons I just don't care that much about it anymore. Sure there's excitement with all the visual stuff going on....but the "music" is simply a soundtrack for what's happening on the field. Back in the day, the music was so well developed that you could get emotional from listening to it. It hit you in the heart strings! And that happened most of the time with most corps. There were tunes that made me tear up on a regular basis. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I was just talking to a former friend yesterday about that. We agreed that long gone are the days when corps just came out and played songs. They didn't have to fit together in a concept or theme, they were just good solid tunes that you could hum all the way to the parking lot. It was truly music (even if some songs had to be shortened for time). I would actually spend way more being all the CDs to listen to, rather than the DVDs. Music has very little to do with this modern activity, and that's one of the reasons I just don't care that much about it anymore. Sure there's excitement with all the visual stuff going on....but the "music" is simply a soundtrack for what's happening on the field. Back in the day, the music was so well developed that you could get emotional from listening to it. It hit you in the heart strings! And that happened most of the time with most corps. There were tunes that made me tear up on a regular basis. Now granted, there may be many that disagree with you, but that's mostly because they have limited exposure to older drum corps so they have nothing to compare it to. Almost a blessing in disguise... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcikon2 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I have to agree with a couple of posters about the lack of "songs" being played today compared to 10+ years ago. I have been following this activity since 1975. I used to purchase CDs from all of the corps. I no longer do this since 1) I either don't recognize the music or 2) the music is so chopped up that I don't care for it. On the other hand, I see where shows have gotten more creative. Staging has become an integral part of shows these days. Though I may not like all of the music being played, I can appreciate the difficulty of drill and guard book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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