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DCI 2018 Post Season Review


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 I believe in diversity. Most museums have Modern Art, Classic Art. Has Michaelangelo's works " evolved "over the centuries ? Because an artists work is " old ", do the young no longer value it because of such?

 We can go to " Youtube " right now and typed in " Luxury Homes " to see what types of home architecture is showing up in the " modern 2018 Luxury Home Market" , both here and abroad. See and learn what the affluent, the wealthy, the educated are purchasing these days. What is being built ? What is being valued ? What is being purchased ?

 What do we find ? Well, we see lots of diversity. We see minimalist homes, traditional Colonials, Frank Loyld Wright 1950's, newly constructed Victorians,  expansive Log Cabin styled Luxury homes..The luxury homes run the gamut in desirability from the Traditional, newly constructed, to the Ultra Modern, newly constructed. Who are purchasing the Traditional, newly constructed Colonials, Victorians, old Farmhouse, traditional Log Cabin Luxury Homes etc... well, its not the wealthy over 60 for the most part. Its also the wealthy young in their 20's- 50's that are buying both the Modern and the Traditional. And nobody builds homes... even luxury homes.... with front porches any more .  Afterall, porches are " old " and just relics from the distant past that young home buyers no longer want or desire any more in modern home construction these days now. Right ?

 Attire ? Has this " evolved " ?. Just look at the summer attire the marchers in Corps wear off the field in all these corps the last 25 -35 years. Most of the young don't look like anything the young wore in the summers the 80's/ 90's. Right ? Or wrong ?

 Is a 1956 Chevrolet Convertible Corvette valued, cherished here in 2018 ? Who are purchasing the Traditional, Classic Cars from the 1950 's ? 70- 80 year olders ?  No, I don't believe so.  Most are wealthy  that are under 50 years of age as a matter of fact. If older cars did not have a viable market, would their fans have a TV station ? 

 Music ? Are the concerts that are being packed with audiences in outdoor stadiums these days just from groups that started up the last decade ? I don't believe so. The concerts that are selling out stadiums are not just from the recent, " modern " groups. Some are from groups from the 60's/ 70's,/80's/ 90's that have not changed a thing in decades, and have not had a top 50 hit in decades. Who are in attendance at these outdoor concerts ? 60-80 year olders ?. No. Far from it. The audience is diverse. Its got the older. But its also chock full of the young in the mix who still like the music that has not changed one iota in decades..

 Movies ? Is it just the new," modern" movies that the young enjoy ? No. I don't believe so. Some of the most watched movies of all time... today... right this very minute... are movies that came out 30-40- 50 years ago. What Film won the 2011 Academy Award for " Best Picture " ?. It was " The Artist ". The film was a 1920's retro film. No actors talked more than 4 words in the movie. Color ? no Color. 99.99% black and  white.  The producers originally could not get money to finance the dam thing .Most investors, venture capitalists, said, nobody would want to come out and watch a retro 1920's talkless movie done in black and white. Were they right ? No. They were wrong. People around the world came out in droves for the movie. Were the audience over 65 ? No. It was a diverse audience, the young included.. Do the young still watch the movie " Casablanca " ?   Its in black and White. It was made in 1943. The young arn't interested in" old,"  movies ?. Old TV reruns ?  Really ?

 Composer's Music played ?  Are DCI Drum Corps playing just " modern " written music ? Well, its true, Corps do play SOME modern composed music. But is it ALL modern music ? Oh heck no. Much of the music played in DCI Drum Corps as a matter of fact was composed anywhere from 35-250 years ago. Do the 16-22 year olders in Drum Corps today enjoy music that was written, played in many cases over 50 years ago ? Did the Music composed CHANGE in those years ? Did it " evolve " ?. No. Its enjoyed today by the young the same way it was enjoyed by the young in the 1940's, 1950's and so forth. Has the principal musical instrumentation of the traditional Symphony Orchestra " evolved " over the last 50 -100 years ?  I don't believe so. Not much, if at all. Has this effected the musically inclined youth to call it " old " and " outdated "  ? If so, I have not heard this uttered. The Music Educators don't seem to believe it needs to " evolve " and " change with the times " to remain relevant to the musically gifted Youth of today's' " modern times ".

 Fenway Park in Boston ?  Has it changed since the 1920 's ? No. Not really. Do the young no longer attend games there because its " old " ? No. The young, college aged from all over the country that go to the many colleges in Boston come to the games in droves. The " old " place is even considered " hip " in some quarters.. And even many of young, college aged, don't want its real grass ever changed to the" modern" artificial grass there either..

 I could go on and list dozens of things that have not changed, nor " evolved " one iota over the years. So this notion we oftentimes hear that " things must evolve and change from what went before " really is not entirely accurate at all. There are LOTS of things in this world that have not changed one bit, and the fact they have NOT changed has in fact in dozens of cases made them invaluable, cherished, and of even of increased  financial worth. I'm not saying DCI needs to go back to what was done before. That train left the station long ago anyway, imo.  I'm simply pointing out that this often heard phrase we hear that " things need to change and evolve, or die", is not an entirely accurate observation at all. Even among the young, its a specious claim at best.

Edited by BRASSO
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ETA, you are not alone. I felt little to no emotional connection with the shows this year. 

Sure, they were all performed extremely well - but I spent most of my time asking, "What does this mean?" "Why did they do that?" "What in the world is going on?"

I miss the music. It is very clear that music no longer drives a show. Shows today are driven by the visual, with the music as incidental support - like the background to a movie.  

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I feel the exact opposite - this was one of my favorite years in decades.  I like that corps are starting to get out of the "DCI style show" box and try new things, and it makes me excited to see what they're going to do next.  The kids are taking everything thrown at them - march, dance, pose, roll, run *and* play - and are putting on quality productions that I know I couldn't have done back then. 

I'm a product of the late 80's/early 90's in DCI, but I'm happy as a clam with what they're doing now.

Mike

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Some good, some bad. The cinema broadcasts are often highly misleading as to how the shows feel in person.

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3 hours ago, MikeN said:

I feel the exact opposite - this was one of my favorite years in decades.  I like that corps are starting to get out of the "DCI style show" box and try new things, and it makes me excited to see what they're going to do next.  The kids are taking everything thrown at them - march, dance, pose, roll, run *and* play - and are putting on quality productions that I know I couldn't have done back then. 

I'm a product of the late 80's/early 90's in DCI, but I'm happy as a clam with what they're doing now.

Mike

I am with Mike on this one. I am the product of the early 90s as well and I think the demand is higher than ever. 2018 was an awesome year for drum corps overall. We saw some high quality shows from a lot of corps.

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1 minute ago, Ghost said:

Try holding the July 4th Esplanade Concert without playing 1812.

 They'd shoot the person advocating that out of a Cannon, and onto the Charles.

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4 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 They'd shoot the person advocating that out of a Cannon, and onto the Charles.

From where the 105's are positioned, they turn one of the guns around and shoot them on top of the MIT Dome. The students over the decades have done a pretty good job of putting something up there.

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3 hours ago, MikeN said:

I feel the exact opposite - this was one of my favorite years in decades.  I like that corps are starting to get out of the "DCI style show" box and try new things, and it makes me excited to see what they're going to do next.  The kids are taking everything thrown at them - march, dance, pose, roll, run *and* play - and are putting on quality productions that I know I couldn't have done back then. 

I'm a product of the late 80's/early 90's in DCI, but I'm happy as a clam with what they're doing now.

Mike

did you see late 80s early 90s DCI live? visually things have really progressed - but musically, I still far prefer the acoustic sound of old

that said - I do love what's happening today as well... 

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2 hours ago, George Dixon said:

did you see late 80s early 90s DCI live? visually things have really progressed - but musically, I still far prefer the acoustic sound of old

that said - I do love what's happening today as well... 

The acoustic sound was not from this world.  It was full, transparent, in tune, and energetic.  I wish I could time warp each and every one of you born too late to have heard the ‘75 Scouts, ‘76 Blue Devils, ‘77 Cavaliers, and any Jim Ott Spirit of Atlanta line live.  The sound is great now, please don’t get me wrong, but there was a hard edge to the sound those lines put out.  It wasn’t just loud.  It was good.  

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