Cesario out as Artistic Director

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, FTNK said:

Stu, have you seen Boston? It's just narration/loud chord/narration repeat

Nah; have not seen any corps yet. Since around 2007 or 2008 I have only attended Friday-Saturday at Finals.  Friday to take in all of the shows as a whole, and Saturday to key in on the few I like and go to the restroom or get a hotdog (then go to the restroom) during the the ones I dislike.  If what you say is true I may be going to the restroom during Boston's show both days.

[cixelsyd]

13 hours ago, Jake W. said:

Oh honey! I can't find #### this good to smoke, and I live in Colorado! Send some of it my way.

As someone with a degree in music education and who has been teaching band and orchestra for a good ten years, I can tell you --- unequivocally --- that yes, corps today are (in general, not every one of them) offering up brass books with MUCH more substance and technicality, as well as nuance and detail, than previous decades. If I'm playing something for my students to model terrific tone quality and technical prowess on the field, there are incredible examples across every decade (and terrible examples across every decade), but most of my examples come from this century. And not so that they're somehow relatable, it's simply because attention to tone quality, balance, and blend (as well as demand and execution) have all vastly improved over time as the bar is raised higher every year.

Depends on how you define "substance".  I could defend every word of your post, if I interpret it a certain way.  However... for those who consider "substance" to be the ability of a hornline to reach up from a football field and mess with your vitals like a defibrillator, some find more of what they seek by looking back in time.  Personal taste plays a huge part in this, of course.

But another part of it is the "fear" factor.  Back in the day, many hornlines played seemingly without fear.  It defies all logic, given that for most of that era, they were judged more on avoiding "ticks" than their technical/emotional content.  But then for awhile after that, we made brass sections progressively cleaner by removing more things.  The practice of "watering down", whether by removing players until those who remain are clean, or by removing whole phrases that are difficult to play cleanly, became more prevalent.  This, despite the buildup system of judging having recently replaced the tick system.

Technically, you may be impressed hearing a modern hornline play 16th note runs cleanly.  Others may not be as impressed by this mechanical exercise, as the other nuances of the music (volume, intensity) are lost in the process of cleaning the run.

Technically, you may be impressed by the balance/blend of a modern hornline.  Others may not be as impressed if that balance/blend was achieved by sacrificing dynamic impact.

To each their own.  Not all craft beer aficionados will fully appreciate a fine wine, and vice versa.

 

 

[MisterA]

MC is a super nice guy, but I don't think DCI ever needed an artistic director. And as an announcer I found him extremely annoying to listen to. But as much as I disliked his announcing I felt bad when they let him go for being a little too flamboyant. To me, it doesn't seem like anything has changed since he became artistic director. I still really enjoy about 98% of the shows on the field each summer. I really think each corps should be influenced only by the staff, not by someone who has been named artistic director. i don't remember which year he was appointed exactly, but it seems like too much crap is happening on the field these days that shouldn't be. How low has the activity gone to allow sampling of prerecorded professional recordings being allowed to be used? If something can't be performed by one of the 150 members on the field, then it shouldn't be needed or used. No offense meant to the corps, but do we really need recordings of Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, or snippets from Charlie Brown Christmas or It's A Wonderful Life? Not sure if any of this falls under Artistic Director or not, but it seems like this stuff started about the time MC took over that position, again one in my opinion that was never needed in teh first place. Hopefully Dan Acheson will be the next to retire from his position.