melligene Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 I don't think you have to do that at all. You do need to pick music that will achieve whatever effect you are trying to produce, both musically and visually. After all, how many DCA fans were familiar with Bartok's String Quartet #4 before Reading played in in 2005? Still not familiar with it. Could you hum me a few bars.....? Please take no offense but whatever Drum Corps' show I attend I want..."IMPACT"......Don't really care if it's Classical, Jazz, Pop, etc...........I want presentation at the right moment to give me Goose Bumps (ya know.....Like Hawthorne or the Kilties). Play for ME.....the judging will take care of itself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 (edited) The argument should not be about where the music comes from, but rather how it is approached. You simply cannot play symphonic music or Jazz as if you are in a hall or club. A drum corps should be a drum corps, even if that means bending a few musical standards. The trick is to balance the nature of the music to the nature of what a drum corps is. Very good points, IMO. A recent example for me: DCI's Carolina Crown this year (2006 season). I was not familiar with one single note of music that they played.... but they performed their show so well, with so much energy ( from a brass and visual standpoint... I know their percussion section had a few issues) that they blew me away. A great drum corps show, IMO. Please don't get me wrong here.... I LOVE drum corps shows that use "familiar" music..... like the shows the Empire Statesmen and other competition corps put on the field year after year, and the shows performed by the many alumni corps out there. But I don't necessarily need to know the tunes to enjoy the show, if the show is performed in a manner that connects with the audience. Fran Edited October 29, 2006 by Fran Haring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcpguy1111 Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Still not familiar with it. Could you hum me a few bars.....? Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomMoore Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Very good points, IMO.A recent example for me: DCI's Carolina Crown this year (2006 season). I was not familiar with one single note of music that they played.... but they performed their show so well, with so much energy ( from a brass and visual standpoint... I know their percussion section had a few issues) that they blew me away. A great drum corps show, IMO. Please don't get me wrong here.... I LOVE drum corps shows that use "familiar" music..... like the shows the Empire Statesmen and other competition corps put on the field year after year, and the shows performed by the many alumni corps out there. But I don't necessarily need to know the tunes to enjoy the show, if the show is performed in a manner that connects with the audience. Fran Our resident fashonista makes a great point. Case in point are some of the Cabs' recent charts which have been original compositions -- packaged, performed and delivered well and true to the Cabs' identity, and connected well with the audience. Back to the topic of the thread. I STILL love classical/symponic music in drum corps and in DCA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Zehner Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Funny, I've learned more about contemporary jazz and classical music from being a fan of drum corps since childhood. I owe many thanks to drum corps for the wonderful styles and genres of music they have introduced to me. My CD collection is a testament to that. I must admit, if I were to travel Europe, you'd better believe I'd plan to go to more than only ONE place and eat only ONE kind of food. I want to taste it all! Mmmm.... speaking of food.... TTFN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsLives Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 In my opinion, this is a fairly pointless thread. :) Could write that for just about any thread ever posted. ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMBob Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Regarding the idea that you should play pieces that are fairly well-known, I'll just say that I don't really understand. Thinking about popular music, music doesn't get popular until people listen to it - it's always new and unknown at some point. I don't know why anyone would say that to be entertaining, music has to be familiar. If that were true, no new music would ever be appreciated in any medium. It just doesn't make ANY sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsLives Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 It's ALL about entertaining the audiance. They are the ones paying for the tickets. They are the ones we need to encourage to come back.The music needs to appeal to all the age groups. From children up to grandparents.If you're going to play a classical piece at least make it a standard piece that the audiance will reccognise. The coolest thing about playing a classical number is in the reproduction of the sound. A classical orchestra is comprised of many different virieties of insterments. Dad said the coolest thing about arranging for drum corps was in being able to successfully reproduce the sound of an orchestra with such a limited number of horns and percussion. My father always stressed that it was more important to entertain the crowd. Appeal to them and they'll keep comming back. Bore them and...you've lost. No matter what the judges say. Entertainment! Exactly!! Entertaining the audience, even more precise. Yes!!! GE includes entertainment; least it's supposed to. :) Gotta judge it that way too. Some classical shows are entertaining '05 Bucs, awesome, hands-down. '06 not as much; Empire had better GE. Bucs, the last two years, great shows and music, but not 2nd or 3rd. But those are just opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsLives Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 DCA is great in it's variety of styles when it comes to music and visual. That includes uniforms. DCA corps will do well to keep that. DCI seems to be melding all their corps into the same look and sound. The only difference in those corps is getting to be just their degree of perfection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiamiSun76 Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 Still not familiar with it. Could you hum me a few bars.....? And thus a presidential scandal was born.................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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