Pitch me your DCI show concepts.

[SurfCub80]

Ok, their brand is supposed to be “Camp nostalgic, entertaining” someone please get this in the hands of Jersey Surf TODAY!

OMG start with the classic 90’s X-men theme, build out the toppling city sky scrappers (it’s just hinges and pulleys). “Storm” shooting streamers, and find a Bonnie Tyler like vocalist to close it out. This is a top 15 idea.
#jerseysurf #bobjacobs 

Omg the highest tower could be the Avengers tower but has a huge NJ on it!

Edited August 14, 2022 by SurfCub80

[2muchcoffeeman]

On 8/13/2022 at 7:09 AM, MidWAmericanArts said:

Cool idea, but I’m just imagining wind sound effects that would be cheesy.

Oh, for sure, you could go completely cheesy with the wind concept. An undisciplined creative team could design a show full of sight gags and fart sounds that the members would be embarrassed to perform.

But I think you can be serious and dark with the idea. As with all forces of nature, wind has its menacing and dangerous side. Sure, Mr. Cloud can push your Sunshine Sailboat around the world -- or an unwelcome front can push a wildfire into a explosive tidal wave of destruction. There's a correlation between constant wind noise (have you lived in Wyoming?) and suicide (I'm not suggesting that's the sort of idea that ought to be presented in a drum-corps show; I'm just saying wind is a fickle and sometimes dark force). The wind can literally drive you crazy.

I'm the furthest thing from a drum-corps designer, but my layman's observation is that most DCI show themes are very loosely knit; there is very little literalism going on. Right Here, Right Now is more of a device than a theme. Tempus Blue? It's a label, not a narrative.

As a concept to wrap your mind around, wind has the benefit of being instantly understood, yet In the hands of a good design team is a huge canvas for creative interpretation. It could provide opportunities for soaring, gorgeous majestic power but also intimacy. Certainly the soundscape possibilities are numerous. The overall wash on the theme easily could be dark and foreboding (oil isn't intrinsically evil, after all, but Voracious, blind greed for riches is corrupting). Yet precisely because of that prevailing mood of lurking menace, the wind (being what it is) also could provide a few, well-chosen and restrained opportunities for comic relief.

Dunno. I think it has possibilities. And it's certainly a Wyoming thing.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by 2muchcoffeeman

[cfirwin3]

Murphy's Law.

As expected, everything that can go wrong, does.

Velvet Knights?

[ftwdrummer]

12 minutes ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

Oh, for sure, you could go completely cheesy with the wind concept. An undisciplined creative team could design a show full of sight gags and fart sounds that the members would be embarrassed to perform.

But I think you can be serious and dark with the idea. As with all forces of nature, wind has its menacing and dangerous side. Sure, Mr. Cloud can push your Sunshine Sailboat around the world -- or an unwelcome front can push a wildfire into a explosive tidal wave of destruction. There's a correlation between constant wind noise (have you lived in Wyoming?) and suicide (I'm not suggesting that's the sort of idea that ought to be presented in a drum-corps show; I'm just saying wind is a fickle and sometimes dark force). The wind can literally drive you crazy.

I'm the furthest thing from a drum-corps designer, but my layman's observation is that most DCI show themes are very loosely knit; there is very little literalism going on. Right Here, Right Now is more of a device than a theme. Tempus Blue? It's a label, not a narrative.

As a concept to wrap your mind around, wind has the benefit of being instantly understood, yet In the hands of a good design team is a huge canvas for creative interpretation. It could provide opportunities for soaring, gorgeous majestic power but also intimacy. Certainly the soundscape possibilities are numerous. The overall wash on the theme easily could be dark and foreboding (oil isn't intrinsically evil, after all, but Voracious, blind greed for riches is corrupting). Yet precisely because of that mood of lurking menace, the wind (being what it is) also could provide a few, well-chosen and restrained opportunities for comic relief.

Dunno. I think it has possibilities. And it's certainly a Wyoming thing.

 

Also a whole bunch of different ways you can touch on it--the ever-presence of the wind making you confront impermanence (Dust in the Wind); man's attempts to harness it (turn the derrick into a windmill).

[2muchcoffeeman]

Just now, ftwdrummer said:

Also a whole bunch of different ways you can touch on it--the ever-presence of the wind making you confront impermanence (Dust in the Wind); man's attempts to harness it (turn the derrick into a windmill).

Sure. It's the stuff of boundless metaphor

[Precious Roy]

On 8/13/2022 at 12:56 AM, 2muchcoffeeman said:

Troopers: The Wind

[...]

As a meteorologist, I approve of this idea.

I would love to see anybody handle any weather/force of nature themed show. Other ideas would also include:

• Tempest (how a tornado impacts a community)
• Monsoon (a drought stricken area rejoices when the rainy season hits, but can they overcome too much rain in too short a time?)
• Tidal Forces (nautically themed music, and a drill design that shifts from one side of the field to the other, twice during the course of the show)
• A Perfect Storm (different sections represent different weather elements, like wind, rain, clouds, etc., and they all come together at the end to produce an intense whirling drill with stormy thematic music)

[Jeff Ream]

Bluecoats the music of Rush

Surf a mafia show ( but not specifically Godfather)

anyone Rocky Horror

[TrumpetFairy]

On 8/4/2022 at 10:44 AM, IllianaLancerContra said:

I also have a serious show idea:  In Flanders Fields, based on the WW1 poem by John McCrae.

 

Starts out with ragtime, representing the prewar, 1910-summer 1914.  Morphs into Mars, The Bringer of War, by Holst. 

Second movement is Sanctus by Jenkins, with the Leonard Cohen (see below) reading of In Flanders Fields, perhaps working in The Last Post (on a valveless bugle) as well. 

Third movement begins with The Yanks Are Coming and Over There medley (perhaps a bit of Mademoiselle from Armentières as well).  War ends, and we morph into Jazz Age music.

At the end of closer, narration is something like "In Germany, many felt that the German capitulation to the terms of the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles was unnecessary and a stab in the back of the German people.  They soon found a voice in an Austrian who served with the German Army in Flanders.  His name was Adolph Hitler"    with the rhythm of Mars softly in background getting louder.

This would have been great during Centenary of the was, 2014-18.

 

Here is the poem I refer to:

 

SCV did The Red Poppy 1994.  Similar concept.  

[Mello Dude]

An entire Star Trek show.  Props can be Warbirds, Borg, Federation and Klingon ships doing battles.  LED screens using Federation LCARS etc...

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

55 minutes ago, Precious Roy said:

• Tidal Forces (nautically themed music, and a drill design that shifts from one side of the field to the other, twice during the course of the show)

I think this is cool. It's a concept that can, at least visually, be very clearly communicated, which is key. All sorts of visual ideas can be hung on it. The music can be just about anything.

Edited August 15, 2022 by 2muchcoffeeman