Do you think popular music has a place in corps?

[Studio Tan]

Who could play JENOVA?

I don't know. Preternaturally talented musicians?

[danielray]

Oh, Lord...

"Shadowboxer" as a ballad.

You win. :)

There is quite a lot of great material there. Unfortunately, Jon Brion didn't produce the last album... so, it is a bit so-so.

One of the best concerts I've ever been to, actually, was Fiona Apple. She has an incredible band, and they are great live.

As you're a Lisa Loeb fan... I probably shouldn't mention that another incredible concert I stubled across was an absolute spontaneous concert for about 15 people at a ski resort lounge with Lisa Loeb and Dweezil Zappa. He was actually quite incredible, playing reductions of all these string parts on guitar. She's mighty cute, but unfortunately her stuff wouldn't work as well on the field. ;)

[12L]

So, used to be back in the 70's/early 80's that some corps would play current (or recent) Top 40 tunes. There's been Wham! on the field, Striesand...you name it. Some are dated and show their age, while others (such as Madison's 75 closer) hold their own.

Seems the trend died off around 1984/1985, and stayed dead for a good long while.

(Crown's "Watermark" was a nice exception.)

Recent trends with some of the ballad selections indicate that this might be returning in a way.

Do you think this is a good idea to indoctrinate some new folks into drum corps? Some people outside our niche....and even more to the point, outside of the sphere of wind ensemble/classical/jazz totally would have an instant "in" to the show: doesn't seem like a bad thing to me.

Additionally, can you think of any recent popular music (cue Radiohead show suggestion, which I agree with) that would work on the field?

Can't think of any music off the top of my head that would fit the bill, but I think popuular music would help to bring back a lot of fans who have lost interest over the past decade or so. In general, music that carries out a melody would be nice...I know that's a common complaint now days, but, in the words of Martin Luther, "here I stand."

[BRUXXUS]

We (see below) did Yes and ELP...ELP in '94 (DII 2nd, DI 21st) and Yes in '95. It seemed to work out great and we had a lot of fun with it

I hate when people say "my highschool" but my highschool band did an ELP show in 96 and it rocked. It was famous for years and years in Oklahoma. Funny thing is... they did a Yes show the next year.... hmm wonder where those ideas came from!

I listen to some really obscure industrial/techno/unclassified music that would work really well with a good arrangment. If anyone's interested check out the band Shpongle, and the track "Around the World in a Tea Daze". AMAZING stuff.

[Tony Flores]

I hate when people say "my highschool" but my highschool band did an ELP show in 96 and it rocked. It was famous for years and years in Oklahoma. Funny thing is... they did a Yes show the next year.... hmm wonder where those ideas came from!

I listen to some really obscure industrial/techno/unclassified music that would work really well with a good arrangment. If anyone's interested check out the band Shpongle, and the track "Around the World in a Tea Daze". AMAZING stuff.

Lemme see..uh Steve Vento by chance?

[hurdra]

I think all musical genres should be explored. I don't mind what they play - as long as it's arranged so that it sounds good being played by drums and bugles. The difficult part of arranging "popular" music for drum and bugle corps is that, if it's done poorly, it can come off sounding rather stilted and flat - a cheap imitation of the 'real thing'. In fact, I sometimes think that bad adaptations of the latest rock hit have turned "newbies" off, rather than made drum corps more interesting to them; they'd rather hear the actual song. I think that this is way so many corps gravitate toward adaptations of jazz and symphonic pieces - they just translate a little better to drum and bugle corps because the original works written for and performed by brass and percussion (along with other instruments).

With that said, though, I think popular pieces, done well, can be fantastic as part of a drum corps show! One good example of a "well done" popular piece that runs through my mind as I type this is Suncoast Sound's "Aquarius" from the mid-80's - more of a jazz adaptation, to be sure, but still true enough to the original that it was quite enjoyable for both newbie and die-hard fan alike.

Referring to today's shows, as much as I've railed about the Cadets show this year, I think they missed a GREAT opportunity with "White Rabbit" - I actually like that part of the show, and wish they'd do a little more of THAT. In fact, if they'd have the female vocalist sing THAT part (especially if she could pull off the Grace Slick growl), then I might be rooting for them a little harder . . .

[Morgoth Bauglir]

One of my biggest problems with applying main-stream music to corps is that the intention of most main-stream music is different from corps music. Most normal music, at least popular music nowadays, is very simple. The actual music, melodies, harmony, and rhythm are not the focus. The lyrics are the main intent.

Take rap for instance. Remove the lyrics, and the actual musical content is more simple and uninteresting than most drumline warm ups. The same can be said for any Pop, nu-metal, etc as well. It just lacks any real musical depth because the consumers of said music don't care and most wouldn't understand real music with complex rhythms and harmonies anyways. Another example is contemporary church music. I don't know how many of you go to a non-stuffy/formal church, but if you do, you know what I am talking about. Most of that stuff is beyond simple. A few chords, and a simple beat. I know the message is what is important, so the musical quality is not relevant in that setting. But you gotta admit, lyrical message aside, it's pretty much crap.

This is why Jazz, Classical, Wind Ensemble, etc all seem to work well in drum corps. The original music is written with real musical theories and ideas in mind. The composers know this stuff and know that their audiences mostly will as well. And without lyrics, the actual music is their material. Non-lyrical music is almost always better in corps, since corps is(for the most part) non lyrical as well(and it should stay that way).I am all for exploring new genres and styles. But if the original music is garbage(and 95% of most popular music is) there is little for even the best arranger to work with.

Edited July 16, 2006 by G-Cym

[Piper]

That's almost like a history exam. Concord, Rockford, Bayonne. Jazz, Classical, Broadway. The problem with Pop is that you have to hit it at the right time. If the DJ's yank it from the airwaves - you're sunk.

[Studio Tan]

Take rap for instance. Remove the lyrics, and the actual musical content is more simple and uninteresting than most drumline warm ups. The same can be said for any Pop, nu-metal, etc as well. It just lacks any real musical depth because the consumers of said music don't care and most wouldn't understand real music with complex rhythms and harmonies anyways.

Nobody is suggesting adaptations of nu-metal or rap, or at least I'm not. I'm trying to find popular music, or at least popular relative to contemporary wind ensemble, that can be adapted to our instrumentation because it's musically rich enough. There's plenty of that out there, and I think Talking Heads circa 79-80 is a great example. It's world-funk-dance music.

[Shadow_7]

I wouldn't say the trend died in 84/85. Even Bach and Mozart was popular in their day. Pretty much everything outside of original works is popular in it's own little circle. Otherwise someone probably wouldn't waste their time arranging it for corps. Lots of musicals and movie themes have made it into corps books almost every season. Of course popular doesn't always mean liked.

I would agree that most current top 50 stuff is fairly simple, and probably wouldn't challenge most corps members. I've thought about doing something off the radio for I&E for a while, a lot of the pieces out there are very monotonistic. Comparable to that teacher we all had who had zero inflections in their voice and spoke on a single tone. The only time the tone changed was when they got a cold.

Some of the stuff out there could make decent corps stuff. Fall Out Boy, and others. Granted that not many artists are putting out albums where every song is a top ten candidate, like some of the great albums in the past decades. So making a show out of stuff with a similar theme, but enough variety is difficult at best. Which is probably why we don't just play marches. Marching at 120 for every song of the show, just doesn't get you the winning score these days.

I'd like to see the popular trend continue. If only to make the shows more accessible to the audience. And hopefully bring in new fans. And maybe some new sponsors which is what is really needed with the current fuel costs. Not to mention the costs for the individual members. But then again, I wouldn't want to see the trend change the instrumentation to 50 Bass Drums and one Cymbal, plus an amped soloist. Which according to current rules would be legal wouldn't it? Baring the 0 for the brass score.