mynameisohyeah Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 (edited) I saw a post once where somebody said that they were introducing their friend to drum corps, and the new guy asked "why are they wearing military uniforms?" I know this must have been discussed and I know that old uniforms are really traditional, cool, and make the corps look distinguished. Maybe for traditional football fields this would be the most appropriate. But on the other side of the coin, it would make sense for the entire corps, not just the colorguard, to wear uniforms that reflect the show. Blast! and WGI are good examples of groups using uniforms to enhance the show. Also, I think that although these first examples are closer to home, I would say that better examples would be Cirque Du Soleil and other stage performances. All of their feats are synchronized and calculated, similarly to drum corps. However, it would be odd for a Cirque cast to be wearing anything different from what they use in their shows. Of course there would be better and worse uniforms, but that goes for all aspects drum corps. I'm not saying do away with any sort of corps identy. BD could still have blue uniforms that look really cool, Cavies could possibly have a green uniform with white and black stripes, etc. There would be all sorts of neat ways of encorporating the corps image into a modern uniform. Just something to ponder over. Edited July 12, 2006 by mynameisohyeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Ever heard the Lord of the Rings symphony by Johan de Meij? That would make a great show.EDIT: Oh, it's been done. 1993, though. Before my time. Haha, I've been bringing this up for years. Now there's a show that could be sold solely by the music, yet would still obviously have a theme. I can see it now...Gandalf as the opener, with its opening fanfare and majestic chords, leading into the fast-paced, frantic main theme, the haunting slow melody, and the glorious repreise...then a short interlude using Lothlorien featuring a mellophone soloist, onto the slow section from the Hobbits as a beautiful ballad, segue into a low-brass-heavy Journey in the Dark featuring a percussion feature, than finish it off the rest of Hobbits leading into a huge, glorious company front with the chorale, and the show ends with quaint, dissipating notes of the original to represent the end of the novel. No amplification. No sound board. No voice. No actors. No characters. No set, just creative guard outfits with appropriate props (swords anyone?). Just straight drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon122 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 i know i have mine but what are some pieces that you think would be great single production shows?? I think Vaclav Nelhybel's Trittico could be worked into an awesome drum corps show. I mean, it already pretty much relegates the woodwinds to background runs, so give the pit woodwind parts, write some drum stuff, and you're good to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdkappasig Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 you know what might be fun...and dont throw stones ifyou think its no good, but i think it would be cool to have eric whitacre write a piece. judging from the fact that everything that comes from his pen (err mouse) is pure genius i think he could write some amazing things. mix that with the talents of todays arranging staffs so they could slightly tweak it and i think it could be amaaaaaazing. best all original show yet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 What's missing? The sound you get from a G-bugle line..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_S Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 From a post I made last November... I've been listening to a number of recent shows. I've also been thinking about what a couple of people have said on here, that the style of drum corps hasn't changed much in the last decade, certainly not in the way that Cadets in the 80's or Star in the 90's managed to turn the activity on its head. I also thought about Blue Devils '04, and the way it seemed to be different than anything else we've seen before. It wasn't striking, but it's almost as if they grooved with the whole show, showing off but never really breaking out. this was especially true when I saw them in Indy, and especially when they had their original ending tacked on. I just felt like something that no other corps had ever characterized before. Perhaps the only thing close would be the Cavaliers' Frameworks show, and it's almost as if BD '04 was the Devils' answer to that style.So after thinking about that all that, I formed an idea of what I wanted to see. Frameworks and SummerTrain Blues Mix had bent the mold of what a drum corps show should sound like. What I want to see in the coming years is a show that shatters it. How can this be done? Well, rather than take a cue from the two shows I just mentioned, I thought back to the last truly revolutionary show, and to what was said about Star '93 in Bill Cook's memoirs. He mentioned that the entire show was written as a "#### you" (my words, not his tongue.gif) to the audience, the same audience that had booed the patriotic production of the previous year. In Cook's words, "the music was to be arranged to enrage and anger". And I think this is what I want to see from a corps. Today it seems that just about every show goes for the same reaction. Excitement is generated, but it's the same excitement from show to show, and it's the same kind of excitement that's always been there. Current members and alum can argue all they want about the which era was more exciting, but this goes beyond that. What I think is lacking is that, except for one or two shows ever, drum corps has not done much to produce any emotion but one. And for some people that's been enough, and they want even more of it. But for me, it seems that there's so much room for expression and exploration, and drum corps has only even scratched the surface. How can they dig deeper? I have three styles that I have in mind that could really step outside of the box that drum corps has generally stayed in. The first possibility is to again take a cue from Star. I really feel that the biggest change Star introduced to the activity was to show the effect that the use of silence could have on a drum corps show. Just listen to Blue Devils in '94 to hear the influence that Star's silence had. But while Star shifted the thinking on this, I feel as though the mark has largely held since that time. What I would be interested to see is a show that expands even further on what Star explored with Medea. Produce a show with more expression, less full ensemble moments, a show of largely silence and soli or solo sections. This is the kind of approach that Frameworks and SummerTrain Blues Mix touched briefly on. I want to see someone go all out with that and see what happens. My other two possibilities would be to maintain the constant presence of music, but aim squarely for an emotional response other than that which has dominated corps shows. To do this, I'd like to see an exploration of music genres that have largely been untouched. The first would be minimalism. Probably the closest pieces to minimalism that have been used so far would be Kilar's Orawa and a number of John Adams pieces such as Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Wild Nights from Harmonium. But this isn't enough to satisfy me for two reasons. One, they get chopped up and arranged for drum corps so much that they could never be called minimalism, but also because such pieces are very mild forms of minimalism. I want to see the more "hardcore" pieces make it to the field, works by people such as Henryk Gorecki or Arvo Part, and even some of the more intense works by Adams, Steve Reich, or Philip Glass. A truly minimalist show would certainly break the drum corps mold. If not that, my last option would be to utilize music that is truly dissonant and discordant. The first name that comes to mind is Alfred Schnittke and some of the works that he's penned for string ensembles. This is music that you have to make an effort to listen to. You have to search for the theme, and even for the direction of the piece. I have no idea how such music could be adapted for the drum corps field. But I know that I'm intrigued to see whtat it would be like if someone were to try. I also know that the response would be fierce. Certainly the show would enrage and anger, but then, that's exactly what I want to see happen. I want to see a show from a corps that is not afraid to rile up the audience, and not afraid of putting on a show that stands the drum corps activity on it's head. I can only wish. Anyway, that's what i want to see coming from drum corps in the future, a show that lifts a middle finger to the audience that's been spoon-fed show tunes, jazz charts, and pleasant symphonies for decades. Will it ever happen? I sure hope so, not only to see the show itself happen, but also to see what its effect on the activity would be. Feel free to comment, or to write your own wish for what you like to see happen, on the field or off of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Walton Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 I too love the lord of the rings symphony I shall go listen to it now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tez Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Just a question: Has there ever been a truly atonal show? With the kind of scary loud sound a drum corps can produce, I'm sure it could make atonal music more than terrifying. Or perhaps a show could start out completely atonal and then somewhere in the middle switch to tonality. That would be an awesome effect - tension and release at its best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Has there ever been a truly atonal show? On purpose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdkappasig Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Just a question:Has there ever been a truly atonal show? With the kind of scary loud sound a drum corps can produce, I'm sure it could make atonal music more than terrifying. Or perhaps a show could start out completely atonal and then somewhere in the middle switch to tonality. That would be an awesome effect - tension and release at its best. space chords for 11.5 minutes i think you described my heaven!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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