Front Ensemble Choreography

[steeldrum]

Call me old school but I dislike the over emoting from the pit, the orchestrated "bounce movements", leg kicks, etc. And I really hate front ensembles wearing costumes that don't match the corps proper uniforms. Don't put them in clown suits because you're doing a carnival theme show.

To me the pit is there to musically complement the production, and should not be a distraction to the show on the field. I honestly watched the crazy girl in Boston's pit more than I watched Boston's show because of that viral video. Please, just give me fantastic musicians playing beautifully written music instead of hyperactive front ensemble theatrics.

[N.E. Brigand]

Not exactly. Front ensemble movement is generally treated like any other aspect of the musical or visual performance - the students bring a certain level of performance to the table, and the instructors then gauge how best to go about unifying the look and feel of the whole ensemble.

[...]

I know it's really strange for someone outside of pit world to see the kids doing what they're doing - and there are certainly many instances of downright irresponsible instruction on this topic (see - Boston synth player being allowed by staff to make a spectacle of herself) - but the groups that do it right are coming from a place of genuine emotional dialogue within the ensemble, not just pandering to the audience or the judges.

Lots of interesting points in here. Two quick thoughts:

To whom should facial expressions be addressed? The judges in the box or the judges on the field? What looks interesting up close may be lost at a distance. What looks good at a distance may look lousy up close, e.g., an over-exaggerated expression may sell the emotion of the music to the box but look ridiculous on camera.

(And this needn't be only about the pit. There were a number of close-up camera shots of guard members this summer who looked plain silly thanks to their emoting--but from on high, they were probably fine. And what about "The Wink"? A moment that brought the house down (on Saturday especially--I love when he hears the crowd reaction and laughs--but did the G.E. judges on Thursday or Sunday even see that? Do they ever look at the projection screens?)

And professional classical musicians generally don't move much, and hardly ever in sync. One big (and, I've always thought, poor) argument that was made in favor of amplifying the pit was that it would enable the musicians to play as they would in the concert hall. Why should how they visually present be any different?

Edited August 29, 2016 by N.E. Brigand

[Phan_of_Drumming]

Lots of interesting points in here. Two quick thoughts:

To whom should facial expressions be addressed? The judges in the box or the judges on the field? What looks interesting up close may be lost at a distance. What looks good at a distance may look lousy up close, e.g., an over-exaggerated expression may sell the emotion of the music to the box but look ridiculous on camera.

I would say neither. And before I even get to that, I would caution you not to be too fixated on facial expressions. Yes, the Boston synth player was one particularly egregious example of front ensemble emoting gone wrong - it was a gross spectacle that distracted from the performance, it was clearly not genuine (as, over the course of the season, the outlandish-ness of the performance grew as she was swept up in the media attention), and it wasn't conceived with the aim of improving the ensemble's performance.

That said, facial expressions on their own aren't a large part of what front ensemble's think about when they discuss "emoting." Generally, when front ensembles discuss their movements, they're looking at the size of their pulsing and the sharpness and timing of their gestures (i.e. - is this a hard mallets up, is this a soft release or a harsh release, etc.). When facial expressions do come into the mix, they are - when performed genuinely - usually aimed at the other members of the front ensemble.

I elaborated on this at length in my original post, but to reiterate: It is emotionally and mentally draining to put yourself in the emotional context of the music that you're performing when you play that music as often as drum corps kids do. To be legitimately sad about sad music is hard when you've performed that sad music a thousand times in the last week. The emoting helps counteract that. It enables the students to look up and down the line and see people engaged in the emotional dialogue of the show, which (in theory) is supposed to make it easier for them to tap into that. In other words - "Johnny looks sad while he's playing so that helps me feel sad here, too."

The gestures have to be big because the front ensemble communicates over a large distance. If I'm the front row vibraphone on Side 1, and I'm communicating with the front row vibraphone on Side 2 who has my part, there could be 20 or 30 yards of distance between us. The gestures have to be big in order to translate, and they have to be big in order to be effective in achieving the purpose I outlined above.

(And this needn't be only about the pit. There were a number of close-up camera shots of guard members this summer who looked plain silly thanks to their emoting--but from on high, they were probably fine. And what about "The Wink"? A moment that brought the house down (on Saturday especially--I love when he hears the crowd reaction and laughs--but did the G.E. judges on Thursday or Sunday even see that? Do they ever look at the projection screens?)

And professional classical musicians generally don't move much, and hardly ever in sync. One big (and, I've always thought, poor) argument that was made in favor of amplifying the pit was that it would enable the musicians to play as they would in the concert hall. Why should how they visually present be any different?

Professional classical musicians don't move much? Since when? If you're referring to a large string section playing in a symphony orchestra, then care is definitely taken to make bowings uniform across the section. That's done in part to achieve consistency in tone quality and articulation, but it's absolutely also done for visual effect. But that aside, you've got the wrong genre:

The front ensemble is not a symphony orchestra. They are a chamber ensemble. And chamber ensembles move.

Chamber groups move to indicate time. They move to indicate mood. They move to indicate breath, and they move to indicate intent. All of that complex dialogue happens through motion. And when the size of the ensemble gets too large for everyone to be moving, they bring in a conductor whose baton is meant to communicate all of that information from a single authority.

The bottom line is that good front ensembles don't move for the audience or the judges. They move, just as they perform, for each other. Understanding that is key to understanding why they emote the way that they do.

P.S. - I don't want to derail this thread, so perhaps we should start another one on this topic. BUT, in regards to amplification: There isn't a front ensemble in DCI this year that would be heard over their brass line without amplification; and even if you just set up a front ensemble on the sideline, the only thing you would hear from the Lucas Oil Stadium press box would be the cymbals, the concert bass drums, and the xylophone. All of the gorgeous, lyrical writing in the SCV pit this year? It would disappear. And you can forget about playing anything in the bottom three octaves of your marimbas - none of that would carry without amplification. And it's not because the kids today don't play loud enough; it's because rosewood bars simply aren't capable of projecting that loudly without engaging in a technique that destroys the instruments and does permanent, long term damage to the performer's hands. Amplification enables the front ensemble to be an equal contributor to the music component of the show. Don't like that kind of writing and show design? That's fine, then we obviously have a difference in taste. But none of the great shows of the last decade would be possible without the contributions of an amplified pit.

It occurs to me that FE "emoting" is not unlike a snare drummer playing fake accents, or the whole line "splitting" a pattern - they are all examples of visual and not musical components of the performance.

A few posters here hold the view that, if what a drum line is playing is not audible from the sidelines or box, it should not be included in the efficacy of judging the line. In effect, visual difficulty in playing technique is irrelevant and should not be part of the judging criteria.

I wonder if the same viewpoint is held regarding FE emoting? After all, does the "acting" change the audible component of their performance?

Cognitive studies absolutely show that when gestures are attached to musical sounds, they can affect the listener's perception of the sound even when that sound doesn't change. In one study, the sound of a timpanist (I think it was a timpanist?) striking a drum was played over two videos of a timpanist striking a drum. In the first video, the timpanist uses a sharp gesture to strike the drum, and in the second he uses a flowing gesture. The study participants rated the second note as being "longer in length" than the first, even though the recording was the same. Examples like that abound in the music cognition world of gestures impacting what we think we hear. So yes, the motions do impact the audible aspect of the performance.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Phan_of_Drumming

[N.E. Brigand]

Well, I was thinking of the percussionists at the back of your standard symphony orchestra. Not much pulsing there. But really, even in a chamber ensemble such as you describe, even in a string quartet, there's nowhere like the kind of uniform bobbing up and down we see in many drum corps pits.

[MikeD]

Well, I was thinking of the percussionists at the back of your standard symphony orchestra. Not much pulsing there. But really, even in a chamber ensemble such as you describe, even in a string quartet, there's nowhere like the kind of uniform bobbing up and down we see in many drum corps pits.

Drum corps/Marching Band is a visual medium as much as a musical medium, so I don't mind the pit contributing to the visual side of things when it fits the show.

[Phan_of_Drumming]

Well, I was thinking of the percussionists at the back of your standard symphony orchestra. Not much pulsing there. But really, even in a chamber ensemble such as you describe, even in a string quartet, there's nowhere like the kind of uniform bobbing up and down we see in many drum corps pits.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Take a look at that performance by the Wave Quartet (one of the modern powerhouse chamber ensembles of the percussion world) and compare it to modern drum corps. Get about two minutes in, and you'll find it's not that far off - and they don't have to communicate over distances of 20-30 yards.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Phan_of_Drumming

[garfield]

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Take a look at that performance by the Wave Quartet (one of the modern powerhouse chamber ensembles of the percussion world) and compare it to modern drum corps. Get about two minutes in, and you'll find it's not that far off - and they don't have to communicate over distances of 20-30 yards.

I disagree. The musical emphasis of body movement demonstrated by the Wave Quartet is nowhere near the choreographed bobbing of a typical FE. Maybe it's a teaching method error, or maybe it's just showmanship. But another poster here insists that the "pulsing" is to maintain tempo, which is nothing like what the Wave Quartet is demonstrating.

I have no problem with expressiveness in the FE. In fact, that's the point, actual expressiveness can be lovely to "sustain" a note or to emphasize staccato as Wave is doing. Choreographed head/shoulder bobbing and knee-bending dips is ineffectual and distracting from the performance, IMO.

[rr4353]

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Edited June 21, 2017 by rr4353

[Fish]

Front ensembles have been emoting since at least the late 1930's....

https://youtu.be/fM3HdjhV1Xw

Edited August 30, 2016 by Fish

[Eleran]

Front ensembles have been emoting since at least the late 1930's....

https://youtu.be/fM3HdjhV1Xw

I remember that video, but those marimba players can't hold a candle to the "emoting" of the bass