BRASSO Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) To paraphrase the legendary William D Revelli, I know whether a band is really good by closing my eyes. Everything else follows in importance. IMHO, the greatest high school bands don't have the musical maturity and horsepower of BD, Crown, Cadets, et al. Design is up for grabs. We couldn't possibly " close our eyes " ( imo ) however and know where to place the DCI World Class units in placement. Sure, we might have BD ahead of Pioneer and such, but there is no way in the world we could determine the very top DCI units in any season without watching the Design, the Guard, and the " marching " they do in their show. The " closing of the eyes " would permit us only to hear the music.... and we all know here that its primarily the visual more than the musical that permeates what is considered " really good " in DCI these days ( determined by judge placements ). Thus, " the really good " DCI units today are actually the ones we need the eyes to know......way more so than the ears to know, imo. Edited November 13, 2015 by BRASSO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 To paraphrase the legendary William D Revelli, I know whether a band is really good by closing my eyes. Everything else follows in importance. IMHO, the greatest high school bands don't have the musical maturity and horsepower of BD, Crown, Cadets, et al. Design is up for grabs. There are definitely a number of BoA fans who do not like the way drum corps sound. Too forceful for them, too brassy, not subtle enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brichtimp Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 There are definitely a number of BoA fans who do not like the way drum corps sound. Too forceful for them, too brassy, not subtle enough.Interesting thought....as someone who grew up exposed to the quality of sound produced by the best bands in a concert hall, I hear fabulous controlled power, phrasing and dynamic contrast produced by the elite DCI corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) There are definitely a number of BoA fans who do not like the way drum corps sound. Too forceful for them, too brassy, not subtle enough. While perhaps true...there are also a lot of DCI fans that don't care what BOA fans think. ( just sayin') Edited November 13, 2015 by BRASSO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brichtimp Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 We couldn't possibly " close our eyes " ( imo ) however and know where to place the DCI World Class units in placement. Sure, we might have BD ahead of Pioneer and such, but there is no way in the world we could determine the very top DCI units in any season without watching the Design, the Guard, and the " marching " they do in their show. The " closing of the eyes " would permit us only to hear the music.... and we all know here that its primarily the visual more than the musical that permeates what is considered " really good " in DCI these days ( determined by judge placements ). Thus, " the really good " DCI units today are actually the ones we need the eyes to know......way more so than the ears to know, imo. I try not to confuse quality of show design with quality of the musicians and arrangements. I think the best DCI performances contain some of the best playing.....of course, the sheets look for the other elements. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) Interesting thought....as someone who grew up exposed to the quality of sound produced by the best bands in a concert hall, I hear fabulous controlled power, phrasing and dynamic contrast produced by the elite DCI corps. Boston Pops Musicians & Conductor Keith Lockhart, et al are apparently increasingly coming around to this thinking as well. For example, drawing off last summer's success, the Boston Pops Orchestra has reportedly expanded their collaborative efforts ( initiated by Boston ) with DCI units for next summer's performances at Tanglewood & Boston. Edited November 13, 2015 by BRASSO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I don't see much disagreement on this point regarding the level of performance. Show design, however, is where the disagreements are happening here. Drum corps staffs have been 'infiltrating' the HS band scene for decades with corps-style design, even before DCI came along, thinking of bands like Bergenfield HS in NJ, where Dr Baggs and then Don Angelica (an alum of the band) were the band directors pre-DCI era. At least here in NJ, that infiltration exploded in the 70's as corps declined and competitive bands grew. Yea, I came up in the Midwest explosion of "corps-style" and both our band and our drumline emulated corps. So we agree, then, that the comparison is not one, right? But I'm not even sure what the design disagreement is here. Bands influencing drum corps design? Vice versa? Designers eschewing drum corps in favor of HS bands? (How many can of them can actually afford to do that?) I think good design is only revealed in the presence of excellent execution and, because most marching bands aren't capable of attaining those levels of execution, the designers adjust their output to the expected level of execution. And vice-versa. What's the issue again? I enjoyed many bands this season and will likely enjoy many more next year. But to suggest this design is better than even Pioneer, let alone Troopers or Cavaliers, is folly IMO. The two idioms are barely comparable except in name. But it's fun to talk about! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I'd agree with this assessment too.( and it really does not conflict with my remarks, imo ). The best performing H.S. marching bands do tend to be found in BOA, and the better non H.S. marching bands can be found elsewhere, including DCI. As for the non H.S. marching bands, is the Texas A& M marching band better than the Blue Devils marching band ? I don't think we can say at all which is " better " as they do not compete vs. one another, and neither has agreed before hand on the judges, & judging system criteria to take place between them that would allow us to make such an unbiased decision on this. Thats my central point. Stop it, Brasso. You're making an arse of yourself. You can stop calling drum corps marching bands. It's not impressive, it makes only an obvious and juvenile point, and it's irritating. If you want to discuss marching bands in general I'm sure there are boards you could find to do that. I know you know this one's about a niche of that realm that we call drum corps. I don't suppose you'd go into the bagpipe band boards and start calling them marching bands (well, maybe YOU would). Is the Texax A&M... Pfft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Maybe the guard uniforms from the entry from Alaska will shock the posters back into some maturity lacking in recent discussion, yes Mods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Maybe the guard uniforms from the entry from Alaska will shock the posters back into some maturity lacking in recent discussion, yes Mods? Actually, these guard unis on the female guard depicted here doesn't seem shocking to me. I kinda think they're pretty cool as a matter of fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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