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Time to Say Goodbye, after 15 years


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honestly the loss of sound i most miss is being able to hear tenors and bass in a dome

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On 10/15/2019 at 3:34 PM, Ray Kimber said:

For several years my delight with Drum Corps has been waning.

 My first experience with Drum Corps was in 2004 at the invitation of Dr. Thomas Root.  It was electrifying for me.  The sound had majesty, grace, and purity.  I went to the souvenir trailers and purchased every CD I could lay my hands on.  The quality of the recordings were much more variable than quality of the Corps on the field.  None of the CDs were electrifying to me.

 Then for many years I endeavored to record all those elements, with various success.  Along the way I provided yearly support for the Ogden Corps Encore Show.  I recall clearly when I was faced with the first instance of canned show program, I was incredulous.  In subsequent years the shows got even more canned and more amplified - rather than a race to have great musicians it was a race for expensive mixer boards, equalizers and speaker systems.

 As a side note there was also a race to incorporate props and scenery. 

 During the last show in Ogden, I listened carefully - I was not electrified.  I was electrified during some of the rehearsals that didn’t have the amplification running.

 It could be that there is a cumulative million+ hours of devotion within the members of a corps, and then all that majesty, grace, and purity is stuffed through a PA system.

 Now I have lost any interest in attending or supporting.  I don’t like listening to amazing musicians through a vitiating PA system.  Moreover I feel guilty about any of my efforts, donations, or support that subsidizes PA systems. It might be valid to compare the use of PA systems to steroid use, for my taste it sounds bad and feels like cheating.  I sorrow for those million hours of musician devotion that I don’t hear with majesty, grace and purity.

Ray Kimber, Ogden Utah

I hear every word.  And I agree about the amplification.   Although I'm not to the point of throwing in the towel, as they say,  I must say the recordings I enjoy the most are those prior to loud speakers and props.  Nothing better than pure, clear not assisted sound.  And who knows, maybe things will change for the better.  I almost wish there was a two part competitive competition.  Music/drill and musical show production.

 

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4 hours ago, Spatzzz said:

You want to know what I think anytime this topic comes up? Whether anyone wants to admit it or not the Drum Corps activity is a form of artistic expression. What would have happened if the forward progression of art would have stopped at any point in history because people thought "this is what art is and it can't change from this form ever". It's a dumb argument but by all means continue to do the equivalent of reducing your exposure to art to anything up to the time of say Micheal Angelo.  You are missing so much greatness and the only one losing is you not those moving the idiom forward.

(When I say you I don't mean you specifically garfield but the "you" being those that want the activity to be what it was way back when)

Ugghh!  You just MAKE me want to correct you!  EVERYONE else besides you can believe differently and you're STILL the only one in the room who's right.  Right?  But...

Yes, of course.  And it's judged and rewards points and sponsorship and demand from future MM's can determine success or failure.  This is not artistic expression like Caravaggio or Bernini.

Who's this?  A distant cousin twice-removed, maybe, to this guy?  (Don't hate me, I couldn't resist.)

And thanks for being specific in your use of 'you'.  That said, you miss the point. The Michelangelo or Caravaggio "Art" that people see today IS the art in its original form.  Sure, each's artistic talent and maturity morphed in their lives, but fans still witness and experience it live, as the art was when it was created.  I exaggerate for effect and point - I'm not interested in G-horns and carrying tymps at all.  My point is that one can put Mr. Angelo (:whip:) up against almost any modern artist and his work still holds up to judgement of peers and fans.  Not so in drum corps, where all things older than last year are banished as too old to repeat, and increasingly, "down-rewarded" for NOT being avant-guard enough.  You can't compare a '75, '85, '95, '05, or even '15 show to this year, "today's design".  I've overdone my point.

One simply can't compare "artistic expression" when it's rewarded real, tangible financial benefit for "designing to the sheets" now, can one?  And especially so when one totals the potential financial gain that being a great designer can bring to the design process.  Michelangelo wasn't "painting to the sheets" in the Sistine Chapel, was he?

Performance art, yes.  Maybe you meant that, and I'd agree with "Performance Art".  In performance art, I appreciate all eras and I wish that the eras that I particularly like(d) were ABLE to be judged and rewarded as much as the current champion so I might have the chance again to see that design again.  But, alas, I'm asked to ban my appreciation for older design to digital downloads while expected to pay significant sums to see current design only, and little else, stand a hooters chance in hel11 of contending for the financial gain of being a top-contender.

The Arms Race of A&E, prop, design, staff, and tour expense all in the name of "A-E" is bankrupting corps, destroying the tour, and is unsustainable.  (Do I have to say "IMO" on a forum board?)  Excuses for "Artistic Expression" are the fodder of designers and, run amok, the activity can't keep up.  The Artistic Expression that puts real, demise-level pressure on corps organizations to participate, and do it safely, only in the realm of a $750,000 (or TWICE THAT!) annual budget screams for someone to wrap duct tape around "Artistic Expression's" head and shut him up so the activity can catch its collective financial breath!

How, in God's name, are any of the corps expected to build any sort of financial safety net when it takes every, single penny every year just to comply with what "The Sheets" are rewarding?

 

 

 

Edited by garfield
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52 minutes ago, Spatzzz said:

That's fine. But are you selfish enough to think that if YOU don't like the evolution of the activity then it shouldn't evolve? I don't think you are. If you don't like modern drum corps that is fine, no one is telling you that you have to. If you have kids would you want them to remain 8 years old because you liked them best at that age? 

If drum corps was exactly as it was in the 70's, 80's or 90's or whatever era people think was their favorite the one thing for certain would be that drum corps would no longer exist at all.

I roll my eyes at the “that ain’t drum corps” crowd as heard it first in 1975. I walked away before (for 10 years) and can do it again. 
 

And for the record I read the first post in this thread as someone not liking use of amps and not a call to go back to ......

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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7 minutes ago, garfield said:

The Arms Race of A&E, prop, design, staff, and tour expense all in the name of "A-E" is bankrupting corps, destroying the tour, and is unsustainable.  (Do I have to say "IMO" on a forum board?)  Excuses for "Artistic Expression" are the fodder of designers and, run amok, the activity can't keep up.  The Artistic Expression that puts real, demise-level pressure on corps organizations to be participate, and do it safely, only in the realm of a $750,000 (or TWICE THAT!) annual budget screams for someone to wrap duct tape around "Artistic Expression's" head and shut him up so the activity can catch its collective financial breath!

How, in God's name, are any of the corps expected to build any sort of financial safety net when it takes every, single penny every year just to comply with what "The Sheets" are rewarding?

 

 

 

*Quote shortened just for quicker scrolling.  LOL*

Well said. it's quite an arms race, I agree. And one that does not bode well for the future.

 

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1 minute ago, Fran Haring said:

*Quote shortened just for quicker scrolling.  LOL*

Well said. it's quite an arms race, I agree. And one that does not bode well for the future.

 

He who dies with the most toys wins or last one still standing wins? Ugh

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4 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

*Quote shortened just for quicker scrolling.  LOL*

Well said. it's quite an arms race, I agree. And one that does not bode well for the future.

 

Remember who makes theses decisions though....the corps...I do remember that said also way back when guards changed uniforms yearly and even using more than 1 set of flags..Oh and they had to match the corps..lol

Edited by GUARDLING
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Just now, GUARDLING said:

Remember who makes theses decisions though....the corps...I do remember way back when guards changed uniforms yearly and even using more than 1 set of flags..Oh and they had to match the corps..lol

Oh, absolutely.  It's the corps that are possibly slitting their own throats here.  LOL.

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4 minutes ago, GUARDLING said:

Remember who makes theses decisions though....the corps...I do remember that said also way back when guards changed uniforms yearly and even using more than 1 set of flags..Oh and they had to match the corps..lol

Yea, ya' know.  I, well, maybe not...  I don't think, well, OK.  We can stay with that for now.  It is a collective, that's for sure.

 

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