BRASSO Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 (edited) Death is inevitable ( 2008 Phantom Regiment" Spartacus " for example, or "Juliet ", etc),... Dreams is even a better poignant psychological topic, imo Lots of Corps have done shows over the years that are derived from the inspiration of Dreams too Cadets 2005 " The Zone ", immediately comes to mind. There are countless others. Edited January 20, 2016 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 To the OP...what is the objective of using a drum corps show in a psychology course? Is it even a remote possibility that the intended message is clear when more than likely the audience will have a limited understanding of the medium used to send the message? Posters on this forum, who come from the activity, can't come to a consensus on what a lot of shows are trying to portray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 (edited) A semifinalist marching band show in BoA grand nationals this past fall was actually set in a psychiatrist's office. It was . . . [searching the BoA live blog] . . . Ben Davis H.S. from Indiana. Their show was titled "Hypnotic State" and featured Prokofiev's Sarcasms and Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Too much talking for my taste. There is an early October video on Youtube, but from that you can't really tell what the show is about. Maybe a corps should attempt Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. (Edited to fix typo.) Edited January 21, 2016 by N.E. Brigand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingusmonk Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 A semifinalist marching band show in BoA grand nationals this past fall was actually set in a psychiatrist's office. It was . . . [searching the BoA live blog] . . . Ben Davis H.S. from Indiana. Their show was titled "Hypnotic State" and featured Prokofiev's Sarcasms and Mussorsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Too much talking for my taste. There is an early October video on Youtube, but from that you can't really tell what the show is about. Maybe a corps should attempt Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. That Ben Davis show needed a heavy dose of editing. There were a ton of ideas thrown in but not much clarity and focus on the message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 A semifinalist marching band show in BoA grand nationals this past fall was actually set in a psychiatrist's office. It was . . . [searching the BoA live blog] . . . Ben Davis H.S. from Indiana. Their show was titled "Hypnotic State" and featured Prokofiev's Sarcasms and Mussorsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Too much talking for my taste. There is an early October video on Youtube, but from that you can't really tell what the show is about. Maybe a corps should attempt Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. Well, of course then, Cadets Cancer Show fits the bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadevilina Crown Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I would consider Cadets 2007 "This I Believe" to be a "psychology"-type show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 (edited) Too bad this student is not thinking of doing this for a Math Class instead of a Psychology class. Otherwise, BK's " Second " and Cadets " 10 " recent shows could fit the bill. Could be a lot tougher though too. We can be thankful he's not attempting to do this for a biochemistry class. Edited January 21, 2016 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NR_Ohiobando Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Um, why are you showing drum corps in a psychology class? Most people would not care about drum corps nor be able to appreciate what the show is trying to accomplish from an artistic standpoint. I could understand if you were showing it to an arts class (dance, theatre, music) but showing it to your Psych class seems a bit of a waste of time and you might just end up boring people unless you know 100% they understand and will be engaged by what you're doing. Seems a bit cringe-worthy. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you know everyone in the class will be interested in watching 10 minutes of a "marching band show". That said, since no one else bothered to expand upon their choices: 1988 Suncoast Sound: "Symphonic Dances for the Contemporary Child" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alfk4uOhQ8o * This is one of my absolute favorite shows of all time. If I recall, the main psychological idea of this show is that "Children want to act like adults, but adults only act like children". * It begins strangely hopeful with a solo female dancer approaching an inflatable ball colored to represent the earth/world. She begins playing with it, slowly drawing out the colorguard who arguably represent the children of the world. The music remains hopeful throughout the entire opener with fantasies on common children's songs like "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and "Go Tell It On The Mountain". The colorguard (children) are dressed in a very off-putting color scheme, intentionally to literally match lyrics of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" (red & yellow, black & white) * At the end of the opener (2:56 marker on the video) the corps-proper forms a set in the shape of the world. The ball that our main character picked up is now represented by the entire drum corps with her by its side. We will now see how a child views the world and may hope to play with it. Of course, they still want to act like grown ups. * The next portion of the show could be called "This Is The Way We..." and further explores the idea that children will imitate adults. The music becomes jagged, angular, and somewhat uneasy. Maybe imitating adults will not be as easy or fun as it seems. Part of the female colorguard (3:10 marker on the video) now dresses in fully masked odd looking red/yellow/black/white outfits. A soli of these female dancers come out in dresses, perhaps intended to represent how a child imitates their mother figures in life. * From 3:50 to 4:00 our solo child is pulled aside by a female dancer before meeting a solo male dancer (likely representing the father figure). The father figure is joined by other male colorguard members representing father figures. The mood quickly turns sour as the group surrounds our solo dancer holding what appear to be belts. Snapping whip sounds are heard as they taunt our solo dancer and crack them towards her. The child may be imitating things innocently, but the things they imitate may not be innocent in real life. At 4:38 the corps-proper now forms a picture of a house with our main character inside, and the music approaches a dissonant attacked climax. * 4:40 Whistles sound and everyone scatters. Maybe we got caught doing something we weren't supposed to. * The section starting at 4:47 introduce faceless red, yellow, black, & white groups of colorguard members. Are they adults? Are they children? Are they how our character views adults? We're not quite sure, but our main character doesn't seem to be sure either. She curiously approaches each group, but is angrily pushed away by each one. No one seems to be very friendly or want to play with her. Or maybe they just don't want to play by her rules. Or maybe they don't want her to play by her rules? Perhaps its best left ambiguous considering our show's main idea that children & adults aren't much different. * At the 5:25 marker our main character begins playing with the inflatable earth ball again, but it catches the interest of our faceless colorguard members. They grasp and grab at the world, attempting to take it from her. * Our soloist regains control of her idea of the world, and runs away with it. The colorguard members respond by picking up giant flags parodying typical world powers in a red/yellow/black/white color scheme. The corps proper rushes forward in a company front with dissonant syncopations until our World Powers are represented backfield. * Now the 5:52 section. The big one. The pit rushes a timpani riff in a sort of fast paced death waltz. The colorguard members now dress in an incredibly off-putting green with pink colored melted fabric face covering. It's like a toy soldier crossed itself with an actual flesh soldier and climbed out of the uncanny valley to meet our lead dancer. Also for the first time in the show, rifles are picked up. And for those who don't know, this show was groundbreaking for colorguard and WAAAY ahead of its time. The rifle work here is very modern. THIS MEANS WAR! * From 6:25 on it appears that our main character is now playing war. It's not uncommon to see kids do this. Cops & robbers, video games, kids love imitating what they see on TV or hear about. She hops on the back of a horn player while wearing a helmet and carrying a rifle. Her melted toy soldiers still tossing rifles like crazy towards the front. * After the absolutely insane rifle tossing (culminating with the insane dual 15 yard chucks at 7:28) our main character brings out a flag representing The Bomb. The corps proper forms a mushroom cloud and everything crescendos to an unnerving climax. What's more is that the audience isn't given a chance to applaud the pretend battle. The syncopated cuts are given lengthy fermata rests that instead provide an awkward reflection time. What did we just watch? Did she just do that? Is that okay for kids to want to imitate dark things like that? Our main character has her "Bomb" stolen away by one of the colorguard members, maybe for the best. She throws her war helmet at the ground, either in disgust or frustration of what she just imagined. Is she upset about war? Is she upset she cannot continue the fantasy? The corps proper turns backfield to transition to our quiet section of the show. * At 8:05 the wall is raised between the colorguard and our soloist dancer. Though unintentional, the designs do not match up on one side of the wall providing another imagery of the struggle we've seen thus far. * Our main theme from the opener returns in a slow and dramatic ballad fashion. Our dancer finds some flowers and seems to want to connect with what lies beyond the wall. Eventually a single colorguard members appears to sign something in ASL to the crowd and the child. * 9:50 reveals the entire colorguard dressed in dramatic full sparkling white costumes revealing their faces. Our main character seems to respect and look up to them, so perhaps it is another image of adults. The main theme returns triumphantly with a bright explosion of light and sound. At 10:15 our main character poses in an outstretched reach for the flowers before the corps leads us into the finale. * Our character disappears backfield before the corps-proper restates many ideas we saw up to this point. Triumphant brass is followed by dissonant trills, but the main theme leads through some exciting chord changes before the powerful closing statement. * But no! You can't be happy with that fanfare ending. Our main character reappears from backfield with the inflatable ball representing the world. She happily plays and tosses it while the corps proper slowly dissolves into a company front. And then... * WHACK!!! WHACK!!! WHACK!!! It's not as much fun as you think little girl. Terrified, she gives a thousand yard stare to the audience before giving the adult world one last glance and running back to a safer place. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 (edited) If this was a Political Science or Government Studies Class project, I 'd keep it very simple and just play a short version of Santa Clara Vanguard's rendition of " Send in the Clowns ". I think all the students in the class would instantly get it. Edited January 21, 2016 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefrontensemblenerd Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 As far as Psychology goes...the only shows I can think of are 1988 Suncoast, 2010 Cavies, 2014 Blue Knights or even 2013 Blue Devils. But some of those are a stretch even. If you want something that will stir up a discussion however, I highly recommend this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IUX0Qy-IDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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