Cadets 2006 Show – A Fresh Perspective

[GMichael1230]

Yes. Now take out all the vocals and this will be an amazing show. They destroy it.

Bingo ! Stick a pond on the fifty, have the hornline walk on water, upside down, while playhing two instruments at once, all the while drummers march their drill blindfolded and play flawless. Yous till have a singer in an evening gown and high heels standing on a table, sauntering around, putting the focus on her average vocals all the while a stellar hornline is playhing background music. Drum corps inst and never was about individuality, even a brass soloist steps out of line, but still is in uniform. We dont need no singing idols, or superstars..........Wolrd class, brass, world class, percussion, exciting, top of the line guard, and an average singer singing a song that was used to death in the WGI arena ten years ago...hardly trend setting or innovative.

The show has too much talking, bantering, sophmoric hi-jinks, and singing to ever be taken seriously, or te be "looke beyond" Layering ???? no, settling....not trendsetting, or innovative at all.

~G~

[Lance]

G, I think you'll find that a lot of us agree that a lot of the vocal stuff is just too much. Howerver, many of us just think that the timbre of the girl's voice doesn't destroy the ballad; rather, combined with the brass, it complements the brass very well, and makes the ballad sound great. Just the brass alone, or if the solo voice were brass, wouldn't sound right. Of course, as somebody brought up, the combination of sounds must be correctly balanced. If the voice is amped up too much, just like any other part in a drum corps show, it won't sound good.

[GMichael1230]

Using voice to tell a stroy is not neccisarily a bad thing if needed and done well, but why does this show need characters and voice overs to tell it's story? It's friggin Alice in Wonderland, everybody already knows the #### story. It's not some obscure novel by a 14th century Scandnavian writer for christ's sakes.

Note: I haven't seen the show yet, so if someone feels the need to tell me why the show actaully does need explaining, you can.

Using voice to tell a stroy in a drum and bugle corps show is a cop-out and a true sign of a creatively defunct design staff, or one that is seriously misguided and in the wrong direction.

Tell the story with your exisiting variables, tell me in the music, the design of the show, the interpretation of the colorguard, make me drawn into your concept by the beauty of the performane of the corps, Dont tell me something with your voice, over a microphone, I can hear that at Wal-mart.

I dont want to be directed to the sales bin, I want to be challenged by my eyes and ears, and thoughts with the brass, and the percussion, and the drill and the colorguard, you arent creative or innovative by telling me you swallowed one an hour ago, or sounding like a high-school Enya wannabe...just the opposite. Its true creativity and innovation that gets these ideas across without using a crutch like talking and vocals.

Get on the stick, start creating and get back to what used to be exciting for thousands...this isnt it.

~G~

[GMichael1230]

G, I think you'll find that a lot of us agree that a lot of the vocal stuff is just too much. Howerver, many of us just think that the timbre of the girl's voice doesn't destroy the ballad; rather, combined with the brass, it complements the brass very well, and makes the ballad sound great. Just the brass alone, or if the solo voice were brass, wouldn't sound right. Of course, as somebody brought up, the combination of sounds must be correctly balanced. If the voice is amped up too much, just like any other part in a drum corps show, it won't sound good.

Well, my personal opinion from hearing it live three times in the past seven days tells me, it doesnt fit, its too heavy, too prononced, the oppoisite of subtle, and it is overbearing.

~G~

[Lance]

Yeah, that's cool. I was just trying to let you know that I, and probably some others, agree with much of the criticism about the vocals in their show this year...just not about the ballad.

[bawker]

Maya Angelou

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.

John Schaar

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favour.

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki\

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. ~Irene Peter

The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. ~Jawaharlal Nehru

hose who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott

If you want to make enemies, try to change something. ~Woodrow Wilson

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot

change their minds cannot change anything. him to change clothes

to meet the German Ambassador: they want to see me, here I am.

If they want to see my clothes, open my closet and show them my suits.

--Albert Einstein

Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.

--Brian Tracy

Change is not progress. ~ Henry Louis Mencken

Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends some thing. ~Paul Valery

People don't change. Only their costumes do. ~Gene Moore

All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. ~Ellen Glasgow

We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. ~Lynn Hall

He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty. ~Samuel Johnson

We can play this game all night long... :P

[GMichael1230]

Maya Angelou

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.

John Schaar

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favour.

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki\

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. ~Irene Peter

The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. ~Jawaharlal Nehru

hose who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott

If you want to make enemies, try to change something. ~Woodrow Wilson

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot

change their minds cannot change anything. him to change clothes

to meet the German Ambassador: they want to see me, here I am.

If they want to see my clothes, open my closet and show them my suits.

--Albert Einstein

Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.

--Brian Tracy

Vocals and singing through a microphone during a drum corps show is a crutch, not creativity. Never accpet it just because. We are not mindless drones, we can decided whars good or not for ourselves.

~G~

7/07/2006

[Orpheus]

Ya know, I did have one particular thought when I was watching the Cadets in Huntington last week -- take out the vocals, and is this show any weirder than Suncoast Sound's "Symphonic Dances for the Contemporary Child" show? Heck, I mean ... I'm an opponent of amplified voice in DCI, but in this case, as with Cadets '05, it definitely didn't "ruin" the show for me. There've been some uses of voice in the past that I absolutely hated (especially BD '05 and Crown and BAC '04) but I've got to say that if you're gonna do it, do it like the Cadets. It's relatively tasteful and while I'm not sure it ADDS anything, I don't think it detracts, either. My first impression of the speaking during the drum feature was that it was pretty lame, and I could have done without the singing during the intro, but I have to admit that Hopkins & Co. are actually doing a pretty good job with what they're doing. And the vocals aside, it's an awesome show (... musically, at least, the visual and "storytelling" aspects still need work).

Edited July 7, 2006 by Orpheus

[wayback]

A few points, not specifics about the Cadets show, just observations about the thread (and its ilk)

- There are people who naively equate complexity ('a lot going on') with depth of design. Anyone who does not agree is labelled a simpleton (by the likes of gOat, who is obviously holding complete dosiers on all of us). So Stravinsky is superior to Satie, Mahler is superior to Mozart, and Boulez is superior to Bach? It just childish. Many would argue exactly the opposite of this view.

- The arrogance of the original poster is breathtaking. It seems she thinks if she can just explain it to us, we could join the ranks of the enlightened. ("How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cadets") We obviously can't see or hear like her. If we don't enjoy it, we must be somehow less capable as people it appears. I will enform my students.

- The analogy of the 2 paintings in the museum is classic art-bumpkin nonsense. Has anyone heard of post-modernism? So a DaVinci painting is somehow 'less complex' than a ...mmmmm... Rothko? Which is 'easier', Mr. Art Genius, an Ad Reinhardt painting or a Degas?

- she seems to believe that the Cadets are outside DCI - just some group trying to excel using the arbitrary rules given to them by some remote body. Wakey, Wakey, eggs and bakey! Mr.s Hopkins, Fiedler, et al. WROTE THESE RULES. They made the entire activity go their way (for their advantage) and now DCI MUST reward them, or look foolish.

They had the juice, but no wisdom. They fell into the same novice traps that catch the ambitious but artistically shallow. They are band directors, not artists. Their aesthetic judgments are not more valid because they run an organization that wins points from other band directors who are not artists. Children crave shiny toys, tinkly noises, and being validated by scores. I'm not putting down competition, but don't equate winning with artistic depth.

[Orpheus]

They had the juice, but no wisdom. They fell into the same novice traps that catch the ambitious but artistically shallow. They are band directors, not artists. Their aesthetic judgments are not more valid because they run an organization that wins points from other band directors who are not artists. Children crave shiny toys, tinkly noises, and being validated by scores. I'm not putting down competition, but don't equate winning with artistic depth.

And you're calling another DCP member "arrogant?"