Segmentation: How DCI Has Gotten More Complicated... And Less Difficult

[MikeRapp]

2 hours ago, Jim Schehr said:

it's all about the music first and foremost. 

Well, then why not just put chairs out there in a semicircle? Play the whole ###### show sitting still? Music difficulty and proficiency would be off the charts.

Drum Corps, fundamentally, is about music AND drill. Together. Matched as seamlessly as possible. Corps that do both, together, the best, should win the gold. Just marching your ### off with crappy performance, or just torching the music while standing still, should not be rewarded above corps that do both.

[Bobby L. Collins]

1 hour ago, jwillis35 said:

In reference to Blue Devils 2017 and Flight of the Bumblebee I feel this may not be the best example. How many drum corps can even play this music? No matter how good a corps is I doubt any drum corps can play it and still march intricate drill. I think Blue Devils had to make a choice. You are either going to clean drill or the music, but not both.

But why not both?  I mean, according to just about everyone on here, BD is the paragon of musical and athletic achievement.  Why then does playing AND marching a presto-tempo piece of music with a high technical demand have to fall outside of their capabilities?  That particular piece practically mandates a rapid-fire series of formations, which is why it's so jarring and off-putting to the sensibilities of so many fans to see practically no movement (other than skulking gesticulation from those not playing) in a piece that, for all intents, demands movement.

And that's the real problem with egregious interpretive dance in this activity; more and more it feels like they're having them dance because they simply don't have any ideas for drill, or perhaps spent so much time cleaning music they ran out of time to teach drill.  So either poor design, or poor time management.  And as a fan, that's frustrating.  Personally, I would rather have dirty music AND dirty drill than have well-polished music with zero drill and everyone standing around looking like toddlers trying to distract their parents while they're on the phone.  But that's how you win medals today.  And that's equally frustrating.

 

[MikeRapp]

With today's sheets, I dare say Angels and Demons would not win the gold. Might not even medal over the last three seasons.

[GUARDLING]

22 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

It's not either or and never is. If a corps makes a choice to do one thing then they live with the outcome. Right now, what we have is an activity that clearly values one thing over another, it will significantly reward Bumblebee but not punish BD for standing still while playing it.

Again, I'm not complaining as much as I am pointing out the facts. Clearly, DCI decided at some point that ensemble-wide marching is significantly less important than music proficiency. The result is what we see now, which are far more stand alone small ensemble or even soloist music moments and far less large ensemble musical and drill moments.

What has made drum corps totally unique, historically, is the massive corps-wide design and execution. It has ALWAYS been, fundamentally, a group activity, not an individual activity. What we have now, quite obviously, is far far more emphasis on individual activity TO THE EXCLUSION OF corps-wide activity. In my view, it has not been a good move for the long term.

Actually the corps wide massive design as you speak of was also a trend and not part of  any history but a snap shot in time, just as today's trends will be viewed decades from now.

Not agreeing nor disagreeing with a personal preference you may have.

Edited August 12, 2017 by GUARDLING

[MikeRapp]

It all comes down to what the kids want most, both mm and fans, and what the corps want most. It may well be that we are in an era in which people want jazz hands over Machine and Angels and Demons. Which is cool, if that's what the kids want to watch.

[hostrauser]

3 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

In reference to Blue Devils 2017 and Flight of the Bumblebee I feel this may not be the best example. How many drum corps can even play this music? No matter how good a corps is I doubt any drum corps can play it and still march intricate drill.

This year alone any of the top four or five could play the music. Crown has made a name for themselves playing music this hard while moving, too. Look at their 2012 show. Heck, look at their show this summer. True, they aren't doing super killer drill during their hard musical moments, but they ARE moving while playing.

 

1 hour ago, MikeRapp said:

I have no issue with what Blue Devils have traditionally done. But now, what they do has become the activity. Because the sheets dictate it. 

Watching semifinals this year was a bit scary. Just too many corps trying to be something they can't be, from a design and talent standpoint. 

THIS. A hundred times, THIS.

It's not so much that what the Devils do scores well that bothers me. It's that we are at or very close to the point where that is the ONLY way to score well in DCI.

[jsd]

I think the genesis of all this is easily traceable: Michael Gaines and the Cavaliers.

When they were consistently winning, it was because their visual design was unparalleled. But, it was short bursts of creative eye candy while they played donut holes in the brass section, and while their percussion was top notch, it all happened (as the OP states) in segments. 

But, it won. Multiple times. Consequently, to be competitive with them, designers and arrangers began to emulate them. When in Rome...

I think this phenomenon can also be traced back to WGI, specifically Fantasia. When they won with their "City Of Glass" show, it marked the end of any semblance of musicality and length of phrase being rewarded. The transitions became pedestrian, and the emphasis was put on creating Michael Bay moments of flash, bang, and whiz that were fun to watch, but lacked in substance. In other words, it was reflective of what was (and still is) happening in pop culture. That style of design found its way into all other arenas of the marching arts. 

As long as this type of design gets rewarded, it isn't going anywhere.

[MikeRapp]

Blue Devils leadership has convinced DCI that individual and small ensemble performance is more important and more challenging than full ensemble performance. I have no doubt that, whatever dci chooses to value, Blue Devils' design team will find ways to max it out. I really love all of it, but I do miss the huge, field-wide ensemble designs that emphasize one big message rather than dozens of smaller, albeit perhaps more "proficient", moments. There are times, many times, when I literally don't know what to look at, and even times when I don't even know that something is happening. Amplification has made this even more of an issue.

I like the Tempest and Fillini shows way way more than Metamorph because those shows hinge on several key, ensemble wide scenes. 

[cube]

In my opinion, BD was on the right track to fixing the segmentation issue in 2016, but here we are.

[Everyfan]

This is a whole lotta text just to say "I'm mad that BD is going to win again." Haters gotta hate.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Everyfan