From: dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn)
Subject: Madison Review, Part II
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 02:37:33 GMT



Ok.  Now for my review of the Finals performance, how it related to
Semis, and how it related to the PBS broadcast.

[DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INFO: These are my opinions.  Anything I say can
and probably will be used against me in a future posting.  I have
never marched in a corps, which may or may not put me in a better
position to be "objective" about making comments about the
performances.  I reserve the right to flame back if flamed.  I sat on
the 40 yard line 39 rows up for Semis and the 31 yard line 24 rows up
for Finals, both on the left side of the stands (left when facing the
field on the concert side).  Since these seats were not that high, I
will concentrate on the musical performance and the micro view of the
shows, rather than on the drill, although I have seen the PBS
broadcast and the drill moves they show there.]


FREELANCERS (Walton's Symphony No. 1, Richard III, Christopher
Columbus) -- A show that has lots of potential but wasn't fully
realized.  They didn't sound much better than in mid-July when I heard
them up close.  People have criticized the Freelancers for playing
inaccessible music (some things in drum corps never change), but I
think (after hearing an orchestral recording of Symphony No. 1) that
they maintained the spirit of the Walton pieces.

Did they really beat out the Glassmen by 0.1 on Friday (Semis)?  Yes.
Execution was better musically.  No politics here, in my opinion.


BLUECOATS (Beatles tunes) -- Visually, I like their uniforms for the
corps since they now look a lot more serious, but I could do without
the color guard's pink outfit.  The Bluecoats sounded much more
impressive than the Freelancers.

The show kind of wears out somewhere in the late-middle part of the
show, but if you like surround sound, the Bluecoats can deliver.
Unfortuantely, I am not that familiar with the Beatles' music, so I
can't say much about whether they portrayed the right mood(s).


VELVET KNIGHTS (Magical Mystery Tour, Brazil, Kodo Thunder, Trepek
(from The Nutcracker), Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Lizst)) -- Back to
their antics, VK pulled all the stops out to entertain the crowd.  And
they did it.  Even before the show started, they got the crowd
involved by trying (successfully) to get a wave going.  They start by
singing, "VK.  We love to fly and it shows."

The sight gags are numerous and hilarious: the Energizer bunny,
godzilla, the shark, a Norsewoman (a la Wagner), cymabals on the head
during the Asian section of the show, and the Bottle Dance (NOT!),
just to name a few.

It's hard to concentrate on the musical performance when you are
constantly looking for the next visual effect, but they were a little
rough.  Their use of color is great, especially the red fronts of
their uniforms and white backs (the most memorable use was when they
were doing the guru part of the show -- the one in read and orange
came out and the corps faces the crowd, then the one in white comes
out and the corps faces backfield).

Rosalie Sward mentioned that the Wagner character was a little out of
place with the Hungarian Rhapsody part of their show.  So either they
goofed a little or thought that the crowd wouldn't care or wanted to
create an incongrous image (which is usually what they are doing!).

Very entertaining.


BLUE KNIGHTS (Billy the Kid, Corral Nocturne (from Rodeo), Red Pony
(Aaron Copland); and Chorale and Shaker Dance (John Zdechlik)) --  I
was eagerly anticipating seeing this show after what had been said on
the Net about them.

They brought off the Copland pieces very well.  I thought that the
gunfight part of Billy the Kid was especially true to the original.  I
didn't know you could get so many different sounds out of a snare
drum!  Ralph Hardimon must be a genius.

Their show provided the audience with a totally different concept of
drum corps after VK's performance -- drum corps as a concert.  I liked
the color guard's outfits (jeans with a white blouse tied near the
midriff), as it constantly reminded the audience of what the setting
of the music is.

The criticisms I have are basically that there were times where the
melodic line was not clear enough to hear, resulting in a loss of
impact and that I would liked to have heard some more volume.  The
percussion was fun to listen to.

And now for my first disagreement with the judges.  I would have
placed the Velvet Knights above the Blue Knights this evening because
of GE and showmanship (including entertainment).


PHANTOM REGIMENT (March Slav, 1812 Overture, and Symphonies 4 and 6,
all by Tchaikovsky) -- Not having seen Phantom perform 1812 ever, I
was eagerly awaiting the show.  I liked the white with blue coloring
scheme of the uniforms, because they suggest peace, which was half of
their theme.  March Slav was a good opener, although I could imagine
some better openers.  La Marsailles was great.  I like hearing the
French national anthem, and hearing a drum corps perform it was an
extra bonus.  I especially liked the way the melody moved from section
to section, with the soprano frills going on in the background.

I thought the Symphony No. 6 part of their show was a little sloppy,
and was a little less appropriate than the rest of the musical
selections.  I haven't yet read Sward's article on Phantom's show, but
I probably should do so.

There was a large amount of drapery in the show.  The ones I liked the
least were blue ones at the end because I didn't think it had the
right effect.  At the end of the 1812, I would have liked to have seen
a big ending, but both the music and the visual seemed to be restrained.

A traditional Phantom show, with difficult music.


SANTA CLARA VANGUARD (selections from Fiddler on the Roof, including
Tradition, Sabbath Prayer, To Life, Bottle Dance) -- They also did a
couple other pieces I didn't recognize.

First things first: what they changed from California.  They took out
the color presentation and about 3 minutes of the middle part of their
show (the part where the guard dances on those stools with menorahs).
They also added a few more dynamics in some of the songs.  They added
a something or other (what is that thing called?) to the front part of
the corps' uniform.

Solid performance.  Bottle Dance had the crowd on its feet.

I am disappointed they took out some of the parts of the show.  I
thought it was good the way they visually enhanced the
Fiddler/Jewish/Russian theme.  By taking it away, the mood didn't seem
to be as right.

The percussion seemed pretty good (although I am not that astute an
observer of percussion).  The brass had a few rough edges, even though
it filled the stadium with sound.  The arrangements were not very rich
or deep (but then again, this is a musical we are talking about).  The
soloists were great.

My second disagreement with the judges: I would have put Phantom
Regiment above Santa Clara Vanguard, because Phantom's show seemed to
me to have more content.


CROSSMEN ("Songs for the Planet Earth", a whole bunch of New Age songs
that I don't recognize, except the one from last year's Glassmen
performance) -- Not knowing much about New Age music (who on the Net
does?), I can only comment on the technical aspects of the music program.

And my observation is that they were technically cleaner than SCV
(musically) and probably technically cleaner than Phantom (this is
hard to remember, but in any case it's close).

Their show seemed to be contructed very well, with a good balance of
somber moments and loud moments, along with the way the show
progressed.  The only visual thing I caught (besides the fast motion
at times) was the question mark at the end.

Congratulations to the Crossmen for making the top 6.  They are
probably now in position to construct and execute a killer show next
year.


MADISON SCOUTS (music from City of Angels: Theme and Prologue, LA
Blues, You Gotta Look Out for Yourself, With Every Breath I Take,
Funny) --  Yowsers!  Crowd-pleasing, entertaining, jazzy, etc.  A
better hornline sound and an expanded version of Funny made this show
very entertaining.

The first minute or two of the show recycled drill moves from last
year, only at twice the speed.  The pinwheel was great to see, as well
as the "surprise" company front (not really a surprise, since we saw
it last year).

LA Blues is rather different from the original, but hey, this is jazz
we're talking about (i.e. improvisation).

The expanded Funny was great, because it allowed more time for
development of the music.  The percussion feature in this section was
hot, as was the horn line with its "wail away" section.

I didn't detect much new in the way of drill, but this show was wildly
entertaining (as was last year's).  The horn line was a little rough
at times.

The guard seemed to be rather incredible, with rifle throw after rifle
throw.


BLUE DEVILS (Someone's There, Cuban Fire Suite (El Congo Valiente,
Fuego Cubano, La Suerte de Los Tontos), When a Man Loves a Woman) -- A
little disappointing after hearing their horn line up close in July.
They (the brass) seemed a bit off, and they didn't seem to generate
much volume.

As for show design (I have mentioned it before, but what the heck),
they play to the sultry jazzy theme rather well.

The color guard was good (I believe they won High Auxiliary).

People have complained about their drill, but I think their drill is
not much different (from a difficulty point of view) from previous
years.  This might not say much, but I am wondering why people seem to
be complaining extra hard this year.  I guess 1989 was the year they
had an interesting drill.

But to me, the Blue Devils have never been about drill.  They always
seemed to be about execution.  Look back at the last several years,
and the thing that sticks out is a solid jazz repertoire (except Tommy
in 1990) and playing that show really well.

They were off in Finals (and they seemed off in Semis to).  Attacks
were not entirely together and they didn't fill the stadium that much
(compared to other corps). Might this be the consequence of arranging
too much for the upper voices?

Quick opinions: the dice are ok in my book, they changed some parts of
the music (the end of El Congo Valiente, or is it the beginning of
Fuego Cubano?), I'm neutral about the "ripping off of the jackets and
shirts" (although I must admit that it does play to the theme).

I still think that the use of their color guard as the "through line"
of the show (rather than the music, as it always has been with BD)
was innovative.

My third disagreement with the judges: I would have placed Madison
above Blue Devils because of GE and showmanship.


STAR OF INDIANA (Star Spangled Overture (Gould), Chester Overture
(Schumann), Amber Waves (Gould), and Flag of Stars (Gordon Jacob)) --
An intricate and difficult show.  The variations on the American
themes seems to me to be intriguing.  Not much to say except that they
performed the show really well.

I thought they might have overdone the American images just a bit, but
the drill moves (the star, the other star, the flag, spelling out USA)
came out of nowhere.

Being an American, I got kind of tired of the theme after a while, but
the execution was great.

One thing I'm curous about.  Jim Prime is an excellent arranger, and
this year Star used 16 contras.  But I never really felt their
prescence, which leads me to ask why the show calls for them. (?!?!)
I could really hear the middle voices (something that Jim Prime is
known for).


CADETS OF BERGEN COUNTY (To Tame the Perilous Skies (Holsinger)) -- A
great show, from the music book to the visual program.  There are so
many ways that the show expresses flight that I probably missed a lot.

Here are the few I caught: jumpsuits for the guard, the rotating plane
drill form, the flags (eagle, biplane, sky), the "flying" guard (with
the assistance of other guard members).

The music is great, the horn line was great, the color guard was
great.  There were a few imprecise things going on in the horn line,
but overall they were much improved over last year's version.  I
especially liked their middle voices.  Plus, there were all sorts of
neat musical effects.  For example, there was a loud hit, and then the
contras came in for dramatic effect (remember that part?).

The best visual effect in their show that I remember was when they had
the dogfight, but then the music got tranquil.  Right at the
transition, the color guard unveils blue skies, which to me
represented peaceful skies.

The silent company front was kind of neat.

This is a show that has all sorts of potential, mainly from an
execution point of view.  Two more nights and they could have won the
Big One (TM).


CAVALIERS (Gavorkna Fanfare (Stamp), Cornish and English Dances
(Arnold), Peterloo Overture (Arnold)) -- This is some pretty serious
music that the Cavaliers played.  Gavorkna Fanfare was brought off
well.  The one criticism I have is when the low voices come in loud
for the first time, it didn't quite have the sonority I would have
liked to have heard (this is after hearing a recording of a wind
ensemble doing the piece).

Visually, there weren't too many outstanding drill moves, but the one
I liked the best was the one where the corps went to the edges of the
field and the color guard formed a squiggle thing in the middle.  This
isn't all that new, but it was neat because of the way it was
integrated with the descrecendo-ing snare.

The Revolution and Triumph theme was great (Peterloo Overture is
supposed to portray the British suppression of a revolt in 1819).  The
main melody of Peterloo is announced, but then slowly the snare drum
of war figures more prominently.  Finally, dissonance and all-out war
break out.  (It would have been interesting had the Cavies actually
acted out a rendition of the revolt on the field, but then again, the
Cavaliers have never been storytellers.)

All is resolved in the end as the main melody comes back (I assume
this is the triumph part).  The whole Peterloo thing is true to the
original, and so is the dance section.

This show also has a lot of potential (again, better execution would
have made this an even more awesome show).

Difficult music and the execution of it was what I think propelled the
Cavies to the top.  And I do not disagree with how the judges placed
1st, 2nd, and 3rd on either Semis (Cavies, Star, Cadets) or Finals
(Cavies, Cadets, Star) night.


FINAL COMMENTS.  I get the feeling that a lot of people hoped that
Star would not win mainly for two reasons.  One is that they maybe
shouldn't have won it last year (I think they should have).  Two is
that they are rich and (therefore ...) don't deserve to win because
they didn't work as hard.

I personally think both views are wrong (whatever "wrong" means).  But
in retrospect I am glad Star did not win because if Star had won, then
the first-time viewer would have gotten the impression that drum corps
was just a patriotic thing (i.e. that the judges and the crowd go for
the American theme and all the jingoism that that implies).

Since the Cavies won, I think this says to the first-time viewer that
drum corps can and do perform serious music.  Same comments go for the
Cadets.  Now, I'm not saying that the music Star played is not serious
-- it is.  But to a casual first-time viewer on PBS (who can't hear
or see the differences in the performances), it could be playing to
the stereotype of drum corps.

As to the PBS broadcast, if I had only seen the telecast, I probably
would have ranked them: Cadets, Star, Cavies, Madison, BD, mainly
because of what they showed and what was missing from the sound in
the telecast.  In fact, who knows, if this were the first time I had
seen drum corps, I probably would have put Madison in front of the
Cavies.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to see Finals live.  I did not call up DCI
early this morning, because I'm not too sure about going to Jackson
next year.  We'll see.

Now that I have spent about three hours with these posts, time to sit
back and read other people's opinions (and defend myself if need be!).

-- Donald