Has Audience Culture Changed?

[N.E. Brigand]

7 hours ago, DCIDADDIO said:

My wife went to DCI TOC in Broken Arrow and she recorded the performance for me. I was SHOCKED! I thought if anyone knew about drill, marching and music...it would be Broken Arrow. The Singer from Bloo came out of that school and they have a rich tradition of making or winning finals. The response...tepid at best. Even my son who was in one of the corp said...what was that? I heard crickets! Anyway...the video told the story. Katy was much better and it was relatively hot there as well.

In Broken Arrow they've become jaded by go-carts.

[N.E. Brigand]

6 hours ago, seen-it-all said:

It seems to me that the general audience at a DCI show is made up of people largely associated with "the activity" to some degree, whether that means current/former marching band members, indoor color guards/drumlines, former drum corps members or potential future members. It's kind of a closed loop with little to no "outsiders" and while I don't have any numbers to back this up, I'd say a decent percentage of them have seen their share of WGI events and BOA events.

I attended my first drum corps show in 1989. I went because I was in marching band, one of the corps had been rehearsing at our school, and friends in band had been to a drum corps show the year before. There were a lot of high school students at that show.

(Still, I take your points about branding.)

[GUARDLING]

1 minute ago, Jeff Ream said:

everything can be hit or miss. Personally, 2000-2007 were wasteland years to me. I liked fewer shows than I disliked. With the heavy GE emphasis on intellectual over everything, man it got to be ###### boring. But the tide truly started turning IMO in 2011, and every year I like more and more. This year top to bottom, flaws included, no show makes me say I want to skip it, even Madison, but I think thats more train wreck than anything.

All of this comes down to personal taste I think. MAny would agree with you and I'm sure many won't . ( I happen to agree for the most part) I do think the tide started to change way before the last 10 years. Things debated today were not just started in the last decade. 

Short story. AS a very young Horn player ( me ) I decided after many years to get some guard experience because I knew it's where I really wanted to be. After I did and started teaching a bit, very loca., I was lucky enough to have Zengali as a friend and mentor. He taught and showed me where the direction was going for not the moment but for decades to come. He was right and we are here. like it or not.

I totally agree from 2011 things are going at a fast pace and the quality just keeps growing from top to bottom. Every year does seem to try and outdo the last.

[N.E. Brigand]

3 hours ago, seen-it-all said:

All I know is that when I wanted to see really innovative and out of the box design during the years I mentioned, I would much rather have gone to Dayton/WGI or Indy/BOA because that's where I was seeing it. 

I've heard this before, straight from the lips of a very experienced DCI / BOA / WGI designer, but I would love to hear more people's thoughts on this subject, with details. What innovative ideas have people seen in each of those activities (or DCA, for that matter), and were those particular innovations good or bad?

[N.E. Brigand]

3 hours ago, Precious Roy said:

Starting to stray off topic a bit here, but thinking about it -- that could prove to be an interesting operations model:  a DCI corps' show designers align themselves with several high level HS bands, and use their competitive seasons as "trial balloons" for the upcoming DCI season. Whichever band's show gets the most positive feedback from the judges, that's the basis for your drum corps show the next summer. You get a couple months head start on the design process for the show (with direct input from judges), and get to weed out design ideas that later are deemed to "not work as well," or those that become apparent that they have less room to grow.

One high school band I know shares (or used to share) arrangements with a college band on the other side of the country. Cool arrangements of pop/rock tunes.

When the Marx Brothers first moved into the movies after many years on stage, before they started filming, they would first do a tour in which they tried out various jokes around the country to see how they played with audiences before incorporating them into their films.

[N.E. Brigand]

23 minutes ago, Lead said:

Shows have changed. There used to be literally 6-8 seconds of nothing built in between 4 separate pieces of the show.

Now a show is one continuous thing. Most shows don't have 'applause moments' built in. 

Even (competitive) high school shows are now doing the same thing. It's one concept and one flow, and typically that flow isn't broken.

But is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[N.E. Brigand]

23 minutes ago, pudding said:

Used to be, sure. I hear this oft repeated when discussions of "proper etiquette" arise concerning classical concerts. However, I am of the opinion that there is a certain courtesy that should be paid to the other members of the audience; of course, one should enjoy the music and the experience as one wishes, but only to the extent that it does not diminish the experience and enjoyment of the person next to you. In Mozart and Beethoven's time, it was expected that audiences would respond with their cheers or jeers immediately; this is no longer the case. Particularly when artists and composers are crafting subtle, nuanced experiences into their works, it is rude and disrespectful to disrupt not only the performance, but the experience of your fellow audience member. 

Of course, if live reactions are expected at a particular venue, then naturally one should not hold back their reactions. I still think, however, that some consideration should be given to whether the reactions are disruptive to the person next. If I cannot hear a percussion lick because the person next to me is screaming about a fantastic brass hit, then I will be put out. 

Maybe some of us find silent audiences to be disrupting of how things ought to be.

I'm only half joking.

[Jim Schehr]

1 hour ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I have no objections to opinions like these--some of which I agree with--and I don't want to pick on your post in particular, but I would like to request that people be more specific, as often as possible. Whose jumping don't you like? Which show ought to have more drill? Are there shows that do have more drill? Which ones? Are they being underscored? Would the audience generally agree with you or do they prefer what they see?

No

Edited July 23, 2018 by Jim Schehr

[N.E. Brigand]

23 minutes ago, GUARDLING said:

Remember the days of the drum major turning to the audience for applause and interacting. Even in DCA, those who were famous for it did away with this sort of thing.

With one notable exception, although he didn't do it last year.

[N.E. Brigand]

1 minute ago, Jim Schehr said:

Dude I don’t owe you an explanation to any of your silliness.

Fair enough. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for more details (as I did of several people's claims, so it wasn't just you, which is also why I wrote "I don't want to pick on your post in particular"), but I didn't mean to come across as demanding an answer. My apologies.