Let's Talk About the Blue Devils...

[ContraFart]

11 minutes ago, resipsaloquitur said:

Wow. 445 comments and counting.   As for the MM experience and the legacy of a corps, this comment is revealing:

 

Are you saying no other corps has those characteristics?

[valjean]

Whenever a BD show has tepid response the answer is always "haters". That's it. That's all I got.

[Lance]

The only BD productions I've really liked in the last 10 years are 2014, 2017, and most of this year's, and I was one of the resident BD sycophants on here for more than a decade before that.  My main complaint is music choices and arrangements, but I also am not drawn to their visual style of late. It's all just taste and opinions. Criticism is one thing, but there's already people being weird.  Maybe they'll pull out the old stopwatch.  Always a blast.  

[ContraFart]

21 minutes ago, Lance said:

The only BD productions I've really liked in the last 10 years are 2014, 2017, and most of this year's, and I was one of the resident BD sycophants on here for more than a decade before that.  My main complaint is music choices and arrangements, but I also am not drawn to their visual style of late. It's all just taste and opinions. Criticism is one thing, but there's already people being weird.  Maybe they'll pull out the old stopwatch.  Always a blast.  

I want to expand on one of my comments I made in the YouTube post.

BD is like the theatre group that only does Mamet and Durang. David Mamet and Christopher Durang are probably the most important American playwrights of the last 50 years. Their plays are works of genius and theatre nerds love their shows. Audiences, not so much as neither would be considered a commercial success like say Neil Simon. Sure every once in a while you will get a "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" or a "Glengarry Glen Ross", but audiences are not falling over to see "The Actors Nightmare" or "Oleanna". The shows of Mamet and Durang take genius to act, direct and produce. BD has the talent and genius both in the staff and performers to do the art that they want, but when that art is going away from what many people love about the idiom of drum corps, you get less people connecting and when their shows are winning 60% of the time, there is fatigue and resentment. 

I have (I hope) become less of a hater this year, but I still cannot get into the show. I can see the demand in their horn book, but I do not prefer the top heavy sound and balance of BD. I can really see the demand in their drum book, but I prefer east coast drumming to west coast drumming. I can see the talent and brilliance of the performers and I will applaud them if they win this year, but I will be disappointed yet again. 

My contention since day one is that there are 4 or 5 corps that have the talent, experience and even the staff synergy of BD. A few even come close to the financial resources. What is causing only one of these groups to have sustained winning? Are we getting to a point like the Academy Awards where the art is judged more than the performance or popularity? 

[ContraFart]

1 hour ago, resipsaloquitur said:

It’s true that BD has the most experienced staff and performers in DCI. But you don’t need to have extensive art or music training to appreciate the show. If you do happen to enjoy themes about high art or mass art, then Scott Chandler and team will reward you for that. The bottom line is that there is enough variety in DCI for all sorts of fans to enjoy. But if you put down BD, you do it at the peril of this diverse activity. If we view intellectual dissonance as a problem to fix rather than an opportunity for discussion, our cultural climate suffers. 

Sure there is variety in DCI, but variety is not winning. Isn't lack of competition at the top also at the peril of this activity? 

[c.l.]

12 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

Sure there is variety in DCI, but variety is not winning. Isn't lack of competition at the top also at the peril of this activity? 

Maybe, but it’s just what judges prefer at this time. They’re just good at finding out what judges prefer in any given era. Same with the changeover the last couple of years towards the preference for Boston’s guard approach. It’s not like Crown didn’t have that same approach for the decade before minus 2009–11, but it was down to the panel’s style preference on a given night (‘13, ‘15). Competition is the least interesting thing, but it gives people something to talk about.

[Ashontheinternet]

4 hours ago, Cappybara said:

 

 

A fun yet informative video done by a member of the Funliner Podcast who marched the Blue Devils several years ago. He is essentially addressing all the common low-quality opinions people have about the Blue Devils (all their shows are the same, pay the judges, design for the judges not the fans, etc) and offering some level of rebuttal or added nuance to those opinions

 

Worth a watch simply for the simplicity and fairness with which all the points are illustrated

this video is a bit late i feel. the bd hate peaked a few years ago, and has kind of been on a decline since. most likely due to the fact that "bd haters" either learned to deal with the corps and appreciate the talent, or they fully left the activity. and as an aside, this video talks a lot about formula, and i think that it was a lot of words to say that formula = corps identity. bd ballad pods with big sonoros brass and guard work is synonymous with the bd identity, just as highly electronic, introspective, and artsy shows are synonymous with bloo. people unwilling to recognize that will not last long in this community or activity before they either learn or leave. 

[ContraFart]

5 minutes ago, c.l. said:

Maybe, but it’s just what judges prefer at this time. They’re just good at finding out what judges prefer in any given era. Same with the changeover the last couple of years towards the preference for Boston’s guard approach. It’s not like Crown didn’t have that same approach for the decade before minus 2009–11, but it was down to the panel’s style preference on a given night (‘13, ‘15). Competition is the least interesting thing, but it gives people something to talk about.

Well Keith Potter and Crowns guard and design staff went to Boston, so there is that.

But if competition is the least interesting thing, then why have it? 

[ContraFart]

2 minutes ago, Ashontheinternet said:

this video is a bit late i feel. the bd hate peaked a few years ago, and has kind of been on a decline since. most likely due to the fact that "bd haters" either learned to deal with the corps and appreciate the talent, or they fully left the activity. and as an aside, this video talks a lot about formula, and i think that it was a lot of words to say that formula = corps identity. bd ballad pods with big sonoros brass and guard work is synonymous with the bd identity, just as highly electronic, introspective, and artsy shows are synonymous with bloo. people unwilling to recognize that will not last long in this community or activity before they either learn or leave. 

"or left they fully left the activity" is the problem

[c.l.]

Just now, ContraFart said:

Well Keith Potter and Crowns guard and design staff went to Boston, so there is that.

But if competition is the least interesting thing, then why have it? 

That’s actually what I meant with Crown lol. Scores add to the story for the fans over the season and give us some level of interest, but you never bring a newcomer to a show just to hear the scores at the end. That’s all I mean.