A Commentary on Narration

[ThePlanets]

7 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

3 years of intense planning and the only way they could think of to bring the story forward was narration covering up the brass?

Better than Cadets 2014

My read is more balance between narration and brass. A dimension of you can listen to the rambling if you so choose or you can listen to the brass. IMO the brass book could have a lot more content though...one of the reasons why they probably won't win gold.

[Cappybara]

Just now, ThePlanets said:

Better than Cadets 2014

My read is more balance between narration and brass. A dimension of you can listen to the rambling if you so choose or you can listen to the brass. IMO the brass book could have a lot more content though...one of the reasons why they probably won't win gold.

Yes the lack of demand is the book is the result of playing accompaniment to the narration. You can’t have a complex book playing underneath the narration or the audience is unable to focus on both things at once. 
 

And I’m sorry but using the Cadets organization under Hopkins as your bar for whether the narration is good or not is really the lowest bar you could possibly find 

[ThePlanets]

33 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Yes the lack of demand is the book is the result of playing accompaniment to the narration. You can’t have a complex book playing underneath the narration or the audience is unable to focus on both things at once. 
 

And I’m sorry but using the Cadets organization under Hopkins as your bar for whether the narration is good or not is really the lowest bar you could possibly find 

No kidding but the shows I cited still took home silver and bronze respectively and 07 was already being compared to this show in AM earlier post.

[Triple Forte]

On 7/12/2022 at 11:25 PM, 1956OPR said:

Another is to take a stand and say no to any electronic narration on the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will guarantee you there would be 0 disappointed people and 0 tears shed if corps never used narration again!  

also why in 2022 ; “ which is almost 20 years after they first allowed narration in DCI “ are corps using it so  much?  Don’t they have enough new toys to play with? 😊
 

[ftwdrummer]

On 7/13/2022 at 6:17 PM, DeanInChicago said:

Do you remember that time you applauded a rotating company front?

Do you remember that time you cheered the unison flag work?

Do you recall ever throwing babies at narration?

<Emphasis added.>

Crown 2013.

Edited July 15, 2022 by ftwdrummer

[George Dixon]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:18 AM, Cappybara said:

Yes the lack of demand is the book is the result of playing accompaniment to the narration. You can’t have a complex book playing underneath the narration or the audience is unable to focus on both things at once. 
 

And I’m sorry but using the Cadets organization under Hopkins as your bar for whether the narration is good or not is really the lowest bar you could possibly find 

Bloo has one of the hardest musical books on the field this summer so... particularly percussion. Just as challenging as BD, Crown etc.

[Ashontheinternet]

2 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Bloo has one of the hardest musical books on the field this summer so... particularly percussion. Just as challenging as BD, Crown etc.

agreed. the book Bloo has this year is pretty intense. a lot of the Percussion stuff is just mind blowing to me. the guard work aint easy either, trust me on that. 

[CFC1905]

4 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Bloo has one of the hardest musical books on the field this summer so... particularly percussion. Just as challenging as BD, Crown etc.

You serious? Phantom Regiment plays instruments and marches drill for, you know, the entire show. 

[George Dixon]

1 minute ago, CFC1905 said:

You serious? Phantom Regiment plays instruments and marches drill for, you know, the entire show. 

yes I'm serious, Bluecoats music and visual books are very demanding - you know.

[tedrick]

The corps that are designing their shows around narrated stories are attempting to push the boundaries out to evolve a new activity and move closer to an indoor, staged musical theater experience.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something -

Electronics and sound reinforcement have been great tools for performing inside dome stadiums but we don't need to evolve the activity into something it was never intended.

What really burns my biscuits is the marching members are paying thousands of dollars to perform a challenging book - and this is the best book these designers can provide? The DCI activity doesn't exist solely for professional creative designers - it's about the audience, the music and the performers on the field -- when the designers give the members a weak book that's a bad reflection on those designers - they are being selfish - OR: the designers should pay members to stroke their egos and march their BOA career-enhancing productions - 

I've been going back and listing to shows from the 80s and 90s and the quality of the books is head and shoulders above what's performed today - I truly feel sorry for members today -- I appreciate that no designer wants to do another Bernstein show or another Copeland show or Fiddler on the Roof for the 6th time - but come on people -- it's obvious the the musicality and lyric quality is not there anymore - like someone said in another thread shows have become like Olympic figure skating programs - string together the requisite number of tricks to get the reward from the judges - sorry - that is not very impressive. AI could do a better job of that - 

Designers need to get back to programming musical shows - 4 songs that don't suck, as my friend used to say -

2016 was a great year of entertaining musical shows -- we need to get back to that again -- unfortunately it's up to the designers and the judges. If they are going to continue down this current WGI narration trend, I would recommend that young musicians take their talents to better places.