Stop all the Storytelling

[DasTuba]

Exactly. Yes, some corps are telling stories. A lot of them aren't. I'd much rather have the variety than trying to homogenize everyone into one type of show

Agreed and I think this might be the best year yet for drum corps as far as variety goes, not to mention talent level.

[C.Holland]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather have some story than an arbitrary idea or concept pulled from nothing. But like others have mentioned, I think its ok to have a mix of each in your finals performances.

some corps who do shows about nothing (performing their 2017 show... "The Best of Seinfeld") to shows about a concept "hero" which is pretty a brilliant idea, to those who tell a full story, when you put them all into one evening's show, give you the variety of entertainment we go to these shows for.

Edited July 14, 2016 by C.Holland

[Herk]

Over the 15 years of my DCI fandom, there has been a strong move toward explicit theme and direct storytelling.

In 2014, Crown did a show about outer space. It's pretty much the consensus view that it wasn't the greatest design, but hear me out. In the beginning of the season, there was the Major Tom introduction, an overly-long but timbrally-intriguing percussion feature, the echo effects etc.

One of the (many) great things about Space Oddity by Bowie (RIP) is that it trails off at the end. The listener is left to wonder what happened to the astronaut. Did some small valve on his spaceship fail and cause him to asphyxiate? Did he go into a wormhole? Did mysterious radiation transform him into an interdemensional squid-creature? But in Crown's final narrative with added narration, Major Tom goes into space, some things happen, then he comes home. There's not a lot of space for the audience to contribute to the narrative with their own creativity.

One of the reasons that I (and many others) prefer the movie 2001 (an inspiration for the Bowie song) to Arthur C. Clarke's novelization is that it shows, rather than tells. Everything is spelled out in the book, whereas the viewer has to interpret the images, etc. in the film. Drum corps, I argue, is the same way. Would Cadets 2005 been better with giant waterfall props in Liquid? Subtly and discretion can be good things, but I feel like judging is pushing everything to be SO literal and forcing everyone to tell a LITERAL story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Drum corps is a ~13 minute audio-visual medium. Hard to tell a simple story in a coherent and compelling way in that time, let alone something deeper, even with narration etc. Even Crown 2013, which some see as the greatest show designer ever, basically comes down to "love is nice."

TL;DR: Stop trying so hard to be "deep" and tell some profound story in your show, use music and visuals to create a mood and err on the side of subtly

I like variety, but if given the choice for entertainment value I'd choose the "story" show over the JABOM/M show.

[Lance]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather have some story than an arbitrary idea or concept pulled from nothing.

yep. definitely a taste thing.

my only problem is that there are very few staffs that are capable of creating a 12 minute show on a football field with effective storytelling.

too many corps sacrifice too many of the elements i like (music choices, musicality of brass and percussion, etc) in their feckless attempts to shove a story down my throat.

but it's all about taste. we're not all looking for the same thing in a drum corps show.

Edited July 14, 2016 by Lance

[ouooga]

Stories can be hit or miss, more so miss. A story makes it easy to write a show, but it's hard to actually tell it well. I can think of a ton of flops, but then you look at SCV '04 or Phantom '08 and you see there's a ton of potential. I agree, abstract is my personal favorite, but I can also think of a lot of abstract shows that don't really grab me either. Bottom line, it's harder than we think to put together a solid show.

[Eleran]

too many corps sacrifice too many of the elements i like (music choices, musicality of brass and percussion, etc) in their feckless attempts to shove a story down my throat.

unfortunately, there are also corps that sacrifice those things even when they aren't doing a story.

[noahsigs]

I like variety, but if given the choice for entertainment value I'd choose the "story" show over the JABOM/M show.

"Stop trying to make JABOM/M happen. It's never going to happen."

[Fran Haring]

I've always enjoyed "tell a story" shows when they are done well.

But the shows I like the best are ones I can enjoy by either following the storyline/concept, or by just being entertained by the performance at face value.

Sometimes, deep thought on a drum corps field makes me reach for the Excedrin bottle. LOL

[BRASSO]

The best " stories" in Drum Corps are actually the " stories " we regale ourselves with years later.

Oh... the " stories ".... you can only imagine... ( haha!)

[C.Holland]

In the end, effective design works for either. And really, theme, story, broad Seinfeld like concept, the color Red...whatever...

If the show is well thought out and holds your attention... does any of it matter? Bluecoats seem to hold everyone's attention pretty well, as does Academy. Two different styles.