What causes GOOD art to go BAD?

[markdewine]

Good point Mike, about the diffence in seeing Casper's finest live back then, or seeing a B&W video.

'74 SCV....one of my all time favorites.

And, what b**bs , 8th graders DON'T like Beethoven???

Also, on the cannibal thing....if they eat a clown, does it "taste funny" to them? :P

[ChicagoFan]

Our perspective on fine art and masterpieces is often skewed -- skewed by time. It often takes decades, if not centuries, for some art forms to be appreciated and recognized as "great".

To use but one of the examples from the original post: Beethoven's symphonies are today regarded among the finest of the genre. Yet, even in his own lifetime they were often dismissed and misunderstood. Witness a few words of contemporary criticism: "The Second Symphony is a crass monster, a hideously writhing wounded dragon that refuses to die." "We find Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to be precisely one hour and five minutes too long; a fearful period which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial." Audiences of suceeding generations were little kinder. Even by the time of his death, many of Beethoven's compositions were already forgotten, replaced by the more popular and current offerings of such composers as Moscheles, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Chaminade, Reinecke and a host of other little-remembered names. Only through the perspective of time and the disinterested evaluation and examination of neutral, unbiased critics have most of Beethoven's works been accepted into the popular canon of great art and recognized as undisputed masterpieces.

For most of us, our perspective on drum corps dates back but a few years. We are too closely connected to the activity (many of us still now directly involved or only a few years removed from participation) to allow a subjective, neutral and unbiased evaluation of shows, styles and forms of expression. What seemed wonderful and cutting-edge 10 years ago now seems dated and trite. By the same token, the offerings that we see in 2006 (which are almost certain to be immediately villified and lionized as state of the art) will likely hold little appeal for audiences in 2016. The constant evolution of the performing arts in general, and this activity of drum corps in particular, combined with ever-changing tastes and trends, necessitates a patient, time-long approach towards criticism and evaluation. Though 10, 20, or even 40-50 years may seem a very long time to our temporally challenged minds, it is but the blink of an eye in history.

Edited May 22, 2006 by ChicagoFan

[Matt_S]

Alot of those old shows are considered greats still to this day. But as time goes on...only the cream of the crop will still be remembered, so there are fewer that come to mind today than just a few years back.

This is a good point. The mediocre shows from 1986 have long since faded in our memories, but Blue Devils from that year still stand out. Twenty years later, we're going to see some shows on the field that we consider to be mediocre. But rather than compare them to the mediocre shows of 1986, we'll have people who compare those shows to Blue Devils 1986, because that's what they remember from that time, and unfortunately sometimes they think that's what all drum corps was like back then. There are great shows from every era, but in this era the mediocre shows are just as noticeable, which unfortunately has led some to believe that drum corps just isn't as entertaining.

Shows like Phantom '89 and Madison '88 are truly remarkable productions, and absolutely great shows. But before we ask "how come we don't see shows like those anymore?", please remember that those are the cream of the crop for a reason, and special precisely because they are so rare. After all, even Phantom and Madison themselves have only had a handful of shows as popular as those two.

[aatlb25]

Repetition, overusage.

[Tone Quality Matters]

All of us "Old Alumns" can work to educate kids about the evolution of the activity, and the younger crowd learns to appreciate what they have today. I always like to pull my video archives out when I have a candid group with me, and discuss the changes that have been made.

Some students I talked to last week got a real kick out of seeing corps marching tympany, company fronts, and piston rotor bugles and thought it was off the hook. It is all how you present it to the kids.

[ChicagoFan]

Repetition, overusage.

Repetition and overuse do not diminish the quality of fine art. Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Handel's "Messiah," Dvorak's 9th Symphony, Copland's "Appalachian Spring" are some of the most commonly played compositionsfrom the classical repertory, each one receiving numerous performances each year from the finest orchestras to the lowliest of high school bands. None of these works has lost any status nor is any one somehow tarnished from frequent performance. To the contrary, no matter how many times I hear a great symphony, read a masterwork of literature, look at a fine painting, I always manage to discover something new and to be captivated all over again.

[Jeff Ream]

There is some validity to what the original poster is saying. I think at least part of the reason is that every generation needs to define itself. That often goes hand-in-hand with rejecting the previous generation. You’re seeing that in drum corps today. Drum corps in the late 80s/early 90s sorta defined drum corps to me, but a lot of younger folks see that stuff as boring or at least 2nd fiddle to what’s going on today. That’s fine…they’ve got their own stuff that they get into, and the next generation will look back on their stuff as boring. That’s just the way things tend to work.

Of course, I’m generalizing…I know there are exceptions, so please don’t point them out to me. But, the general trend seems to be that older folks whine about the good ole days and the younger folks whine about us older folks whining about the good ole days.

you're right...then you see someone trot out malaguena again, and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's no knock on the cadets, but when they brought it back, it was HUGE news. same w/SCV and Russian, tho they under delivered.

the thing that is key, and also hard to do is this....if bringing back a classic, you 1) go up against the legend everyone has in their mind and 2) face the task of outdoing the legend. Why do you think Cadets have not dusted off WSS or Appalachain Spring? Look at SCV w/Russian or BD in 02 with the little bit of Channel One the played.

it IS possible to bring back something old and make it new.......it's just ###### tough to do, and for all those that try, few succeed.

the key there is finding out why. ####, one year at finals, you heard tiger Of San Pedro, Children of Sanchez or Birdland...with some corps playing at least 2 of the songs in their show.

[bobchilds]

A few of my thoughts on the subject...

I think the bottom line is that every era has it's masters, and one era could not have existed without the eras that preceded it.

Also, there's no accounting for personal taste. Recordings don't do justice to drum corps performances. But for many of us, that's all we have. I will never have a chance to see the 1972 Kingsmen, the 1965 Royalaires or the 1976 Blue Devils. I can only watch or listen to the recordings, try to mentally put myself in that time period, keep in mind the rules of the time (was dancing legal?, was it the tick system?, what kind of horns were being played?, did they have computers to write the drill at the time?), and try to appreciate what those corps accomplished.