Okay, well, since I probably won’t see DCI semis or finals, here’s my impression of prelims:
- Unfortunately, many of this year’s shows were rather boring. Compounded by the overuse of electronics and narration, many of the shows don’t differ in overall tone, which makes everything worse.
- The best shows emphasized brass and percussion music and visual design, using electronics and narration as *supplements*, not focal points. An arguable exception would be Carolina Crown’s show, where the singing seems to fit their show theme of “tradition to deconstructed evolution” (how I interpreted their theme).
- Most of the shows support the notion that if show designs rely heavily on electronic samples and narration in order to convey the show theme, then the music and visual design is flawed, since the music and visual design is most of what we hear and see. Furthermore, heavy electronic samples instill a disconnect between what we see on the field – brass, percussion, guard, props – and what we hear. We might see synthesizers, but synthesizers produce no unique sounds.
- Ask yourself: if the show themes weren’t announced or explained before each show started, would you know what the themes are?
- The Mandarins, my drum corps alma mater, had their strongest show in many years. I can see why they made it to broadcast this year. Good job.
- Bluecoats’ show is harder than Crown’s in terms of listening responsibilities and ensemble cohesion, much in part due to visual design. But, Crown was just “that” much cleaner in execution.
- Straight company fronts are extremely rare. In fact, the only straight company front I saw last night was in a clip from SCV’s 1989 Phantom show.
- Vanguard’s (SCV) show is musically and visually WAY more demanding than the Blue Devil’s show, and they pulled it off so well. Other than BD’s straight-out crowd-pleasing showmanship, I fail to see why SCV lost to BD by 0.3 of a point. I hope they overcome that today and tomorrow.
I’ve got more, but I’m gonna leave it at that.