Percussion integration

[wolfgang]

A topic on reddit among (assuming) younger fans arose about percussion features. One poster had a thought that the way they're utilized can often interrupt the flow of the program.

The drums need their score, too. I understand from a non-percussionists perspective, but also understand drum features give a chance to hear the premier lines in the world showcase their skills.

What are the best examples of integrating percussion features which also maintain the pacing and flow of the program? What examples did the opposite and felt forced into the show (this would be a design issue, not a performer issue)?

[MikeN]

I have feelings about this, and even as a drummer it's swung too far towards ramming for ramming's sake.  First corps we saw live this year was Academy, and it felt like they loaded at least two (there might have been three) fairly big features into the first half of the show - it didn't really let things get going.

Mike

[ranintothedoor]

Cavies 2002 is peak percussion integration for me. 

If you're gonna have a percussion feature, do an actual percussion feature; get the brass and guard in on it (unscrewed valve caps and vocals!?? LFG). 

Drum "breaks" are poop.  😁

(I know... there are drum breaks in '02 like at the end... that's my least favorite part of the show, actually...)

Edited January 27 by ranintothedoor

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, MikeN said:

I have feelings about this, and even as a drummer it's swung too far towards ramming for ramming's sake.  First corps we saw live this year was Academy, and it felt like they loaded at least two (there might have been three) fairly big features into the first half of the show - it didn't really let things get going.

Mike

and i feel the judges removal from the field caused this.......in order to be really seen and heard, when they come up front, they gotta get their licks in. thats not the sole reason, but it is a big factor.

 

however ram for the sake of ram has been a trend that grew before the change and never went away....it's the WGI model converted to the field

[Jeff Ream]

10 minutes ago, ranintothedoor said:

Cavies 2002 is peak percussion integration for me. 

If you're gonna have a percussion feature, do an actual percussion feature; get the brass and guard in on it (unscrewed valve caps and vocals!?? LFG). 

Drum "breaks" are poop.  😁

(I know... there are drum breaks in '02 like at the end... that's my least favorite part of the show, actually...)

shave and a haircut....BIG TICKS!

[KVG_DC]

Ramming for rammings sake has rarely appealed to me.  Even in the WGI.  I'd much rather watch something nuanced like what Ayala was doing just prior to the pandemic break with things like The Point of It All than what Chino Hills was doing.  

Mike Jackson's writing with BK was the field equivalence of that nuance but it didn't always translate. I was excited for him with Crown and the Camelot show worked for me in that integrated sort of writing but the 'mesh' with Crown Brass wasn't quite working. 

On the flip side is say, what Cadets were doing toward the end with percussion. Lots of ramming features that were impressive as heck but ... they seemed to disrupt the flow of the brass book.   The balance perhaps being BAC's percussion prior to Glitch and Boom where you'd have some nice transitions to ramming percussion.  it's integrated even more for Glitch and Boom in some ways. 

I'm a big fan of the battery working with the pit in features, (particularly if they're challenged to listen across space and on the move!) rather than treating them as separate entities and typically writing the pit into the brass musicality and the battery separate. I think SCV does one of the best jobs writing the pit and battery together in interesting ways on the field and their record of taking the Sanford as much as they have shows that. Rennick's know what they're doing.

Edited January 27 by KVG_DC

[OldSnareDrummer]

12 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:

 I think SCV does one of the best jobs writing the pit and battery together in interesting ways on the field and their record of taking the Sanford as much as they have shows that. Rennick's know what they're doing.

This. SCV has set the standard for percussion integration, blend and transition for decades. 2018 in my mind was the best at this ever. 

[perc2100]

I think anyone can pick just about any SCV show from any era to see great integration of a percussion feature that doesn't disrupt the flow.  I still think their 1991 Miss Saigon production is THE gold standard of how to integrate front ensemble percussion into the marching idiom, and Paul & Sandy Rennick to an outstanding job recently with similar concepts (and before SCV they had outstanding percussion writing that didn't bust the flow of a production w/Phantom Regiment)

[KVG_DC]

14 minutes ago, perc2100 said:

I think anyone can pick just about any SCV show from any era to see great integration of a percussion feature that doesn't disrupt the flow.  I still think their 1991 Miss Saigon production is THE gold standard of how to integrate front ensemble percussion into the marching idiom, and Paul & Sandy Rennick to an outstanding job recently with similar concepts (and before SCV they had outstanding percussion writing that didn't bust the flow of a production w/Phantom Regiment)

That Miss Saigon show was all my band alumni friends were talking about.  It was so remarkable what they pulled off. 

[Jeff Ream]

5 hours ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

This. SCV has set the standard for percussion integration, blend and transition for decades. 2018 in my mind was the best at this ever. 

some shows have felt forced in how they got things in. still the leader, but not always as seamless