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Notable moments in shows where the MMs wrote or came up with the idea, and staff ok’d?


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I was thinking to a reply I recently posted on another thread where a notable musical moment in a show was written not by the arranger but by the members themselves who performed it, and the staff gave it a huge thumbs up so it was kept. The story I gave was from ‘84 when the 4-man mello section wrote the entire “Wailing Mellos from Hell” part heard in the final phrase of Fanfare & Allegro that you hear on the DVD.  We later learned they had taken a car and gone offsite so no one would hear them cook up what they had in mind.

I thought I read somewhere (can someone confirm it?) that the MMs of Star ‘91 essentially took Zingali’s “napkin sketches” of the cross-to-cross move he had in mind and made his vision come alive by figuring out their own drill. 

Are there other instances where members came up a really notable moment beyond a simple, say, drumline visual? 

 

Edited by TRacer
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30 minutes ago, TRacer said:

 

I thought I read somewhere (can someone confirm it?) that the MMs of Star ‘91 essentially took Zingali’s “napkin sketches” of the cross-to-cross move he had in mind and made his vision come alive by figuring out their own drill. 

 

 

The cross-to-cross has been much discussed on DCP and its predecessors over the years.

The process of creating the 48 counts was indeed collaborative and improvisatory, but I don't think could be called member-driven.

The definitive account is by the late Bill Cook:

'Late in the afternoon (August 4), [George Zingali] told Jim--"the new
closer is not right."  A few minutes later, he left the
stadium.  None of us knew where he had gone or if he would
be back.   About eight o'clock, George returned and said:
"we are going to have two crosses at the finish instead of
one." The next five hours were unbelievable.  He ran from
one section to another telling members where they should be
at the end of the final cross.  He wanted them to count
measures--"count and run around until time to make your
final set."   Hour after hour, the corps tried and failed
but finally, at 2 a.m. the next morning, the cross was seen.
The next night in Lynn, Star put in the new move; needless
to say, there were more than a few wrecks at the end but we
won over SCV by 1.9 points.'

Edited by mfrontz
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All the machine sounds (zzzz, whirr) in the 2006 Cavaliers show were put in because me and another pit member were acting out the robot fight scene from Eurotrip during a water break one day in Pretour.  We figured out you can take the siren out of the bell and were using those.  Also the trumpet player doing the robot was put in when someone saw Matt dancing during a break.

For reference:

 

Edited by drummer5485
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I believe that the center marimba rifle toss in the ballad of the 2011 Bluecoats show came about because the center marimba was tossing a rifle one day and the staff decided to put it in the show.

 

Also, all of the shenanigans at the beginning of the preshow of 2013 Spirit was done by the staff saying "Hey, figure out some bar-scene choreography. If we like it, thumbs up; if not, think of something else until we do."

Edited by pudding
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 In DCA, marchers used to come up with new ideas that would appear in shows all the time. Sometimes these new ideas didn't come from the staffs that were marching in theses ranks either.

 Also, without giving anything away, Boston will have a change added to their show in the coming weeks that is being developed and incorporated into their show from a recent Boston Crusaders age out ( 2017 )

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10 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 

 Also, without giving anything away, Boston will have a change added to their show in the coming weeks that is being developed and incorporated into their show from a recent Boston Crusaders age out ( 2017 )

Just in time for SA BRASSO?  If the idea came from a tech, that would be great that a tech is allowed to make suggestions.

Edited by Ghost
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25 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Just in time for SA BRASSO?  If the idea came from a tech, that would be great that a tech is allowed to make suggestions.

 I did not state when, nor what, nor who it will reportedly come from... only that the idea came from a recent age out in the Corps from 2017. It was in the plans and ok'ed by design staff going back to the winter as a matter of fact. Thats enough info to share, as it adequately responds to the OP's question, and without compromising info provided to me in confidence, and which is not for public consumption at this time. It will be made visible on the field of competition this summer in due time, and afterwards perhaps we can give credit for it to that recent age out at that time..

Edited by BRASSO
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 I got to believe " the winks " we are witnessing in shows with soloists now, did not all originate with the design staffs of all these Corps... lol!

Edited by BRASSO
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