Bluecoats 2018-LETS GO BLOO

[Jurassic Lancer]

1 minute ago, Terri Schehr said:

Well. Boston has pretty fantastic percussion.  Watched them last week. They are fierce. 

And the difference is not that big nor insurmountable. Big enough to keep Bloo down? Not hardly. 

[Terri Schehr]

Just now, Jurassic Lancer said:

And the difference is not that big nor insurmountable. Big enough to keep Bloo down? Not hardly. 

It’s a different approach.  I think it will even out in the long run. 

[pudding]

The pit book is insanely challenging this year. The battery book is not quite as demanding, relatively speaking, but still no joke. I'm confident that they will clean up. And if they don't, the staff knows how and what to water. 

Edited July 2, 2018 by pudding

[pudding]

Also, Bloo always gets the shaft in percussion content recognition, where other corps are given the benefit of the doubt. Tom doesn't do gimmicky things like doubling inner mallet runs in the outer octaves, or unnecessary splits to add what I like to call "fake difficulty" . It's just pure musicality, which unfortunately too many percussion judges miss in their fervor to look at the "drum corps percussion" perspective. Only the man himself, Jeff Prosperie, has ever given Bloo the recognition they deserve for Tom's sheer appropriateness of composition. 

[Cappybara]

14 minutes ago, pudding said:

Also, Bloo always gets the shaft in percussion content recognition, where other corps are given the benefit of the doubt. Tom doesn't do gimmicky things like doubling inner mallet runs in the outer octaves, or unnecessary splits to add what I like to call "fake difficulty" . It's just pure musicality, which unfortunately too many percussion judges miss in their fervor to look at the "drum corps percussion" perspective. Only the man himself, Jeff Prosperie, has ever given Bloo the recognition they deserve for Tom's sheer appropriateness of composition. 

As someone not well-versed in percussion, does SCV's percussion do the same gimmicky things that you mentioned? I've always found them to have particularly musical arrangements as well

[pudding]

3 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

As someone not well-versed in percussion, does SCV's percussion do the same gimmicky things that you mentioned? I've always found them to have particularly musical arrangements as well

SCV is a huge offender of the outer octaves gimmick. In general, I find that Paul's writing is very musical and appropriate but in my opinion Sandy's writing gets too showy at the expense of taste. To he fair, however, when much of your show design philosophy is "Write percussion, then fill in the gaps with brass", it can be difficult to strike the best balance in terms of compositional restraint. 

This is of course not to say that SCV's performers aren't excellent; they of course are, and it's always a pleasure to listen to them from a technical perspective. I take issue, however, with the blatantly enormous benefit of the doubt that the Rennicks have with respect to their content scores. Just because every 20 seconds is another percussion feature does not mean that the content scores should increase every time. 

 

[BRASSO]

 The Bluecoats are fabulous this season and their 2018 show is an entertainment hit wherever they appear. Thats what I take away from this Corps here in the 1st week of July.

[Jake W.]

Ok. It took me a lot longer than the past few Bloo years (I'm usually hooked right away), but I'm finally on board with the show. There's a ton of energy and a spectacular visual package --- never doubted that at all --- just haven't been all the way on board with the music yet. Now that I've familiarized myself with the source material and realize how well their music book has been put together, I'm all in. It just took a bit of research and a few rewatches to absorb & appreciate all that's happening musically. I will say that "Session 44" doesn't initially read as musically audience-friendly as the last four years or so --- let me add a bold-print caveat of *initially*, meaning the one fresh chance an audience member has to take in the entire show for the first, and often only, time. It took a bit of digging and a few rewatches to really get into it for me ---- something I haven't been used to doing the last few years when they grab you right away and leave you humming various earworms after they've finished performing.

The opener is complex as hell, I think much more so than the last two years especially where the openers were so melodic you could pretty much hum along. But I'm embracing that change; it's tons of notes coming at you nonstop, and I appreciate the challenge they're giving themselves in the first few minutes.

Now that I've familiarized myself now with Saro, I've gotta say, Bloo's rendition of it is pretty #### magical. Again, I feel like this ballad is different than the hummable Hymn of Acxiom, Woods, Great Gig...this one is more about the chord progressions and the ethereal mood it creates as opposed to an earworm ballad. And I like that, a lot. It's a different approach for Bloo, and the mood the corps creates in Saro is just...uplifting, wistful, moving, almost mournful...seriously perfect. Almost the manifestation of what Grow Till Tall always wanted to be but never quite was.

And now that I've listened to the original Dry Cleaner From Des Moines a few times, Bloo's arrangement of it is pretty spectacular, not to mention dripping with authenticity. It goes without saying that the singer is beyond talented.

So, my early season thoughts on the show are that it's obviously gold medal worthy, and is yet another stellar, top-notch creation from the staff at Bluecoats. The music book is unquestionably a solid step up in complexity from the last few years. It doesn't get in your head right away; however, now that I've given my brain a few chances to absorb all that's going on, there's so much fantastic stuff happening. Just a deeper music book that takes a few listens to really get into.  I truly appreciate the step out of the comfort zone the music designers took this year; this is a deep & challenging music book that sends the corps into new territory and should turn out to be another one for the books by the season's end.

[pudding]

Excellent analysis Jake, and I more or less agree with all of your points. However, where I find myself unsold is the visual package. While Iove and appreciate the music, I don't understand any of the visual decisions (besides the suits; they lend a very jazz vibe). Why the chairs? Why the color scheme? Why the guard outfit? Visual is out of my wheelhouse, but I can usually at least understand what's going on. Here, nothing. 

[Cappybara]

10 minutes ago, Jake W. said:

Ok. It took me a lot longer than the past few Bloo years (I'm usually hooked right away), but I'm finally on board with the show. There's a ton of energy and a spectacular visual package --- never doubted that at all --- just haven't been all the way on board with the music yet. Now that I've familiarized myself with the source material and realize how well their music book has been put together, I'm all in. It just took a bit of research and a few rewatches to absorb & appreciate all that's happening musically. I will say that "Session 44" doesn't initially read as musically audience-friendly as the last four years or so --- let me add a bold-print caveat of *initially*, meaning the one fresh chance an audience member has to take in the entire show for the first, and often only, time. It took a bit of digging and a few rewatches to really get into it for me ---- something I haven't been used to doing the last few years when they grab you right away and leave you humming various earworms after they've finished performing.

The opener is complex as hell, I think much more so than the last two years especially where the openers were so melodic you could pretty much hum along. But I'm embracing that change; it's tons of notes coming at you nonstop, and I appreciate the challenge they're giving themselves in the first few minutes.

Now that I've familiarized myself now with Saro, I've gotta say, Bloo's rendition of it is pretty #### magical. Again, I feel like this ballad is different than the hummable Hymn of Acxiom, Woods, Great Gig...this one is more about the chord progressions and the ethereal mood it creates as opposed to an earworm ballad. And I like that, a lot. It's a different approach for Bloo, and the mood the corps creates in Saro is just...uplifting, wistful, moving, almost mournful...seriously perfect. Almost the manifestation of what Grow Till Tall always wanted to be but never quite was.

And now that I've listened to the original Dry Cleaner From Des Moines a few times, Bloo's arrangement of it is pretty spectacular, not to mention dripping with authenticity. It goes without saying that the singer is beyond talented.

So, my early season thoughts on the show are that it's obviously gold medal worthy, and is yet another stellar, top-notch creation from the staff at Bluecoats. The music book is unquestionably a solid step up in complexity from the last few years. It doesn't get in your head right away; however, now that I've given my brain a few chances to absorb all that's going on, there's so much fantastic stuff happening. Just a deeper music book that takes a few listens to really get into.  I truly appreciate the step out of the comfort zone the music designers took this year; this is a deep & challenging music book that sends the corps into new territory and should turn out to be another one for the books by the season's end.

Matches my thoughts perfectly. Took me some listens to get into it as well, but man they outdid themselves this year. I've always been outspoken against singing in DCI, but I really can't imagine this show without it.