DAvery Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 It is impossible to create the best total arrangement of melody, counter-melody, rhythm, color and harmony when your hornline only plays for 6 minutes. Hornlines should be playing upwards of 10:00 in an 11:30 show. This is an ensemble activity. It's even more alarming when some corps are playing 9 pieces this year. How the heck are you going to sustain melody through 9 pieces when you are only playing for 6 minutes? No wonders the arrangements are all chop and bop with little build up, little phrasing, and little sustained melody. Bottom line, horn books, in general, are designed to play the sheets and score well. They are not designed to entertain the audience. Such a shame. I agree. And in addition you have to wonder about the musicality of these shows. Chopped up arrangements, added brass flourishes and (many) unneeded percussion parts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 (edited) It is impossible to create the best total arrangement of melody, counter-melody, rhythm, color and harmony when your hornline only plays for 6 minutes. Hornlines should be playing upwards of 10:00 in an 11:30 show. This is an ensemble activity. It's even more alarming when some corps are playing 9 pieces this year. How the heck are you going to sustain melody through 9 pieces when you are only playing for 6 minutes? No wonders the arrangements are all chop and bop with little build up, little phrasing, and little sustained melody. Bottom line, horn books, in general, are designed to play the sheets and score well. They are not designed to entertain the audience. Such a shame. This is absolutely false, and your wanting 10 minutes or more out of brass lines is completely WRONG. When did a brass line EVER play for 10 minutes in an 11.5 minute show? Even from 1972 to 1982 I doubt this was the case, and in those days the pit had less contribution to the show. To say it is impossible to create the best total arrangement of melody, counter-melody, rhythm, color, and harmony when the hornline only plays for 6 minutes is very FALSE. Maybe not easy, but it can be done. Length of time does not make something better The more the brass plays the more the composer/arranger must utilize their voices vs. pit and battery In drum corps today, pit and battery are important I'm a brass guy myself and I love great brass lines, but I want variety of arranging and I want all the voices of the drum corps to be utilized, and that includes pit and battery. For some corps, like Carolina, they prefer to feature their brass a little more, and I love it; but I don't think it makes their show any better than Bluecoats. It doesn't make their musical construction any better than Bloo. In fact, I'd say Bluecoats have a better overall musical book than does Crown. They feature their pit and battery percussion more and better, and still feature a healthy dose of amazing brass. To me that is better because the activity is called DRUM & bugle corps, not BRASS corps. Edited July 30, 2016 by jwillis35 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Theoretically speaking, if two corps brass lines had the same difficulty and performance level of drill AND the same difficulty and performance level of music, shouldn't the corps that played more have a higher score? If the difference in time were a few seconds, then NO. If the difference were an entire minute or more, then YES. By the way, Carolina is winning brass at most shows this year. However, if the conditions you list above happen, the corps that has their brass playing more may also have issues with not featuring their percussion as much, perhaps even a lack of thematic development and musical extensions with instruments other than the brass (like pit and battery). So the corps with the brass line that plays longer may suffer from a less-varied construction of the musical book. It all depends on how the judges view things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Thanks so much for doing this. Would it be possible to do this same type of analysis for the top 12 in, say, 1990? I would guess each hornline played on average ~10 minutes that year. PM me if you need resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 I agree. And in addition you have to wonder about the musicality of these shows. Chopped up arrangements, added brass flourishes and (many) unneeded percussion parts. You are wrong. Sorry. Is this what they are saying about Bluecoats, SCV, Cavaliers, Phantom, and on and on? I hear some of this garbage about BD, and even then it's not true. BD's musical book is constructed really well. It's why they are scoring well. Lots of variety. If you guys want a brass concert go see a brass choir or British-style brass band. This is not where DRUM & bugle corps is today. The title of the activity assumes it should be an even split between drums and bugles, 50/50. How about that? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 (edited) It's pretty obvious that percussion plays for longer stretches at a time by themselves (read: hornline stops playing) in today's shows because pit amplification allows for non-horns to play sustained notes. Edited July 30, 2016 by Hrothgar15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 For the OP, I would find it interesting, if you had time, if you could view those same corps and gather the following: length of time battery plays on its own length of time battery plays with pit only, but no brass length of time pit plays on it's own length of time pit plays with brass but no battery I think that along with brass timing might show the variety of musical construction among the voices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwalter Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 If you guys want a brass concert go see a brass choir or British-style brass band. With that logic, if I wanted to listen to a piano, I would go to a piano recital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 It's pretty obvious that percussion plays for longer stretches at a time by themselves (read: hornline stops playing) in today's shows because pit amplification allows for non-horns to play sustained notes. Yea, except the battery parks at the back of the field for three whole minutes without moving. And frankly, we could do with a hell of a lot more pit tacet than we're getting. This whole argument is absurd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Yea, except the battery parks at the back of the field for three whole minutes without moving. And frankly, we could do with a hell of a lot more pit tacet than we're getting. This whole argument is absurd. Depends on the corps doesn't it? I remember when Oregon Crusaders and Bluecoats did Hymn of Axciom in 2014, Oregon actually used their battery in the ballad while the Bluecoats decided to leave their battery in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.