IllianaLancerContra Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I suppose I am one of the lucky ones as I get both. Me too. I've been toying w/ the idea of a NASCAR-themed show. Guard running ovals each w/ a car-shaped flag and running into each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PR_ducky Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 For those who are new to Drum Corps in the last decade or so, you really need a bit of context for why that moment is so special to some of us old-timers. The company front was a standard part of pretty much every show back in the day, you'd come to the big musical climax and the company front would hit and the corps would push the stands, blowing back the hair of all the fans in the lower seats. Garfield had been making a name for themselves, winning 3 championships in a row in 83,84 and 85 and pushing the creative envelope in directions that few had tried and fewer had succeeded with. They were doing crazy assymetrical drills, telling stories and adding dance.. really focusing on the artistic expression of a show as much as power and precision. In 87 they created a masterpiece, Copland's Appalachian Spring. They took the fact that it was a ballet literally, with dance soloists, magnificent drill and even some posturing from the hornline (unheard of at the time) that opened our eyes to a level of interpretation that seems familiar today, but was stunning at the time. Their music was spectacular, mixing just the right blend of emotion, nuance, at times dizzying speed. At the finale they came into their company front and then.... as it came forward with those gorgeous chords, the hornline went into a freeform cascade, dissolving the company front, performing balletic movements and finally coalescing back into a company front. The fans went berserk. Garfield stood that company front on it's ear and created a moment for the ages. Still gives me goosebumps. If you watch carefully, this drill move is a work of genius. Not only does it desolve and reappear, but it completely reverses itself. One thing to watch for is the contras hauling ### across the field to get from one end to the other, also the last soprano just filling in in the nick of time. Just as genius though is the ending of the show after that where they fold into a box and slide of the field as the music gets softer and fades away into a solo. I can't say enough about this show. At the time it just totally blew me away and still does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburstall Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Garfield had been making a name for themselves, winning 3 championships in a row in 83,84 and 85 and pushing the creative envelope in directions that few had tried and fewer had succeeded with. They were doing crazy assymetrical drills, telling stories and adding dance.. really focusing on the artistic expression of a show as much as power and precision, none of which required any sort of rule change whatsoever. Fixed. :P So basically today George is saying that today's designers are not as good as on the past and need much more "freedom" (whatever that means. ) I think any real designer (one's that actual do real design work like engineering or architeture) should take that as an insult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsFan27 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 If you watch carefully, this drill move is a work of genius.Not only does it desolve and reappear, but it completely reverses itself. One thing to watch for is the contras hauling ### across the field to get from one end to the other, also the last soprano just filling in in the nick of time. Just as genius though is the ending of the show after that where they fold into a box and slide of the field as the music gets softer and fades away into a solo. I can't say enough about this show. At the time it just totally blew me away and still does. The other thing to realize is that the imaginary line of the front, had it stayed together, does move from where they started to where they ended. In other words, the line of the front exists during the whole move and moves forward. We don't see it because the members dissolve and reform, but if they hadn't, if they just did a front, it would have started where it did and ended where it did. Imaginary, but real . Cool as heck too!!! ^OO^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igor230 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Speaking to the question of the POST, lol, I marched in 87 with another corps and had the pleasure of seeing this show, unfortunately, not enough live. I cried the first time I saw it . I remember our center snare in st. louis watching the drumline's lot warm up, coming back, and saying, "they're animals!" I did hear that zingali/sylvester had tried to just have everybody scatter when it came time for them to do the contagen out of the front, but then charted everybody's position for the short hold. Also loved the old chords only, no melody trick on the push to max out the power of the brass. Listen carefully, the melody is only implied(heard about this from cesario, they did it on the push in the west side story show as well). As to those wondering what happened with 06 cadets, I think this actually fits a pretty well established patter for them. 86 was pretty much a show only a fan could love and dropped their placement significantly. Les mis was a pop show, dropped placement, then came back. They seem to follow a creative, push the envelope year, with a "let's win" year. Don't know if this is intentional or not but it is not out of character for them; and it's resulted in great things in their classic shows. It's a freaking CRIME this show has not been in a classic countdown , guess too much vote splitting with other 80's garfield shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedawn Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Fixed. :P dude. stop. its getting really, really, really old. (fyi -- without the biggest rule change of all, the dissolution of the tick system, the 83-85 drills likely would not have been attempted/possible.) 1987 garfield is beautiful. i love the video on youtube of sully preaching about performance during a marching rehearsal. he still gives the same speeches, and they still work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 (fyi -- without the biggest rule change of all, the dissolution of the tick system, the 83-85 drills likely would not have been attempted/possible.) The tick system was still used in 1983, and the drills after still would have been possible...they just would have scored about 4 points lower. :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newseditor44 Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 Here's another question.... Do you think its safe to say that this is the greatest drum corps ending of all time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Here's another question....Do you think its safe to say that this is the greatest drum corps ending of all time? Nah, Cadets 2000 has that title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newseditor44 Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 Nah, Cadets 2000 has that title. You're not biased are you? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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