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"All they do is stand around and play!!!" A Comparison


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Alright peoples... I did one of these for Garfield 1987 and Blue Devils 2017.  Inquiring minds wanted to know.

I'll upload tomorrow.

Have a good night!

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All I want to say is thanks for doing this. Very interesting analysis. I think the overall trend in DCI has been to much greater variety in programming. I love watching great shows from the past but also really dig the new variety of stuff being done by Bluecoats, SCV, etc. Realistically today’s shows truly are harder than the shows of 20 years ago. As you pointed out the music really is harder across the board. They actually do still do a lot of drill - yes even BD. But these performers are also doing dance, all kinds of body work they never did before, and they are almost actors at times. Add to that electronics being used for all sorts of effects, props to run and climb on, vocalists to be integrated, BD is even using a violin this year, etc, etc.  Put it all together and this is a lot of complexity for the performers and the design staff. Let’s give the corps of today their due. They’ve taken the work of great past corps and built on it to make something that is fresh and relevant for today’s members.  Now let’s all get out to Indy and cheer these awesome young people on. 

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You keep saying Star is “only using one or two valves.” You seem to forget or not know that Star NEVER had 3 valve instruments. So that’s all on 2 valve g bugles, the only valves they had.

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3 hours ago, Minimaster said:

You keep saying Star is “only using one or two valves.” You seem to forget or not know that Star NEVER had 3 valve instruments. So that’s all on 2 valve g bugles, the only valves they had.

It's not about the type of horn that they are using... It's about the register of the ostinatos that they are playing.  The ostinatos would be employed with a limited valve combination even if they had 3 valves and even if they were on Bb.

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When rifle tosses began to draw more applause and standing Os than solos it was evident that the activity had shifted to visual and away from music. Two and four bar phrases and lots of movement has replaced great ensemble work.

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46 minutes ago, Gantang said:

When rifle tosses began to draw more applause and standing Os than solos it was evident that the activity had shifted to visual and away from music. Two and four bar phrases and lots of movement has replaced great ensemble work.

You should watch the second video that I posted.  It deals with the aesthetic differences directly with the comparison of 2 extremely different shows.

Also note that the Respighi show in '91 is made up of repeated 2 and 4 bar phrases whereas the '14 show has longer lyrical lines and phrases.  I think the criticism has much to do with the desire to hear fuller development of less source music.  Some of those older shows used only 1 or 2 pieces of source music.

Edited by cfirwin3
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9 hours ago, cfirwin3 said:

Alright peoples... I did one of these for Garfield 1987 and Blue Devils 2017.  Inquiring minds wanted to know.

I'll upload tomorrow.

Have a good night!

I was going to say do Cadets 1997 to BD 2017....

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10 hours ago, cfirwin3 said:

Alright peoples... I did one of these for Garfield 1987 and Blue Devils 2017.  Inquiring minds wanted to know.

I'll upload tomorrow.

Have a good night!

Concerning the dissolving company front drill when you say it's "uncomfortably similar to the drill that people hate today", and how it was "ok" then - I think the difference is that  it was a single, small portion of the show, whereas now that type of drill is a much larger percentage of a show. I think anything that's gets overused (and almost seems 'compulsory') will always eventually become disliked and complained about, and then change starts to happen.

One other thing - the amount of time the horns play is significantly more back then compared to now (not in all cases obviously). '87 was pretty much 11 minutes of constant playing.. think the longest rest for the sops was 3, maybe 4 measures.. and there weren't many of those.

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17 minutes ago, frachel said:

Concerning the dissolving company front drill when you say it's "uncomfortably similar to the drill that people hate today", and how it was "ok" then - I think the difference is that  it was a single, small portion of the show, whereas now that type of drill is a much larger percentage of a show. I think anything that's gets overused (and almost seems 'compulsory') will always eventually become disliked and complained about, and then change starts to happen.

One other thing - the amount of time the horns play is significantly more back then compared to now (not in all cases obviously). '87 was pretty much 11 minutes of constant playing.. think the longest rest for the sops was 3, maybe 4 measures.. and there weren't many of those.

I wouldn't get caught up on the amount of playing before first addressing the difficulty and proficiency of the playing.  Otherwise the criticism relies too much on an incongruity... apples and oranges.

In essence, the "I want them to play more often and longer" is really an aesthetic issue (which I talk about almost right away in the Garfield video).

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8 hours ago, cfirwin3 said:

It's not about the type of horn that they are using... It's about the register of the ostinatos that they are playing.  The ostinatos would be employed with a limited valve combination even if they had 3 valves and even if they were on Bb.

The way you say it in the video makes you sound uneducated on the activity.

I’d half expect you to tell us that you’re going to do Star 94 next.

 

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