The Power of Music Effect

[boahistorybuff]

An earlier thread I created turned some heads I think. I say good. The reason I was harsh on a certain marching band circuit for changing its scoring sheets is that it is putting less emphasis on music effect. Without effect, a show is simply less interesting. Sure it may still grab attention, but it will not have the impact as it could and should. I dare say that the system may inadvertently (or perhaps it was done on purpose) take things back to the days when marching bands were solely to entertain a football audience or parade goers. Were some shows getting too artsy for those more interested in how the band was portrayed at the football games and not on the competitive field?

Over the last 40-50 years it has not only been the music performance that has improved, there has been tremendous strides in music effect. Shows have simply become more musical and much of that is do to the fact that BOA and many other circuits place a lot of weight on music effect. I have had a problem with some bands this year in that so much of their performance felt forced. I have also noted wonderfully emotional performances by soloists, however when the band comes in to accompany, they don't match the phrasing and it all seems to fall flat. A lot of those bands are way too good of a band with too much talent to let that happen. 

I have noticed a lot of people, particularly the students and/or spectators who have not been exposed to much musical theory, who do not fully understand music effect. I have seen questions like, how can a band play such complex and difficult music so cleanly with such clear and crisp ensemble sound that they don't score as well in music effect. First off, music effect takes a lot of time to perfect. If you spend too much time getting those difficult passages clean, it does not always leave a lot of time to learn things like musical phrasing. 

For those without as much exposure to musical phrasing, here is a basic definition of phrasing. "Musical phrasing is the way a musician shapes a sequence of notes in a passage of music to allow expression."

For those that want a deeper understanding, watch this video:

[boahistorybuff]

I have decided to pick 8 shows (some from Grand National Finals and some from BOA Regional Championships) which I feel exemplified wonderful music effect (in a couple instances, judges did not always agree with me). 

I opted to select bands that were not among this years GN Finalist group (yes many of those bands did have extraordinary examples of effect in past years). I also opted to not pick any performances from more recent years or from any performance that won the Grand National Title. In fact one of the performances I chose did not even land in the top 6 in GN Finals. When watching these shows, you will hear that the music ensemble (a key component of music performance) is not as strong as it is with today's bands. That is not to be disrespectful to these performances. It is simply the nature of competitive evolution over the last few decades. 

What really stood out to me with these shows is that the music really sold the show (yes they all had wonderful visual moments too). However, it was the music and the way the music was delivered that really sold the show to the audience. Much of the applause in these shows was because the audience was moved by what they heard. The music had expression and brilliantly conveyed the emotions in the music to the audience. And quite frankly, the music was just plain enjoyable to listen to and it was all so well balanced.

There were times of individual voices but they were blended well together. There were up tempo moments without the show feeling rushed. A beautiful soloist would play and then the band would come in and match the beauty of that soloist. These are some of my favorite shows for music effect. I chose the period from 2002 to 2015. There were some shows I would have put in but there was no good audio recording on line of those shows. I am not going to say anything about the following 8 shows. Just watch and listen. This is what music effect can do for a performance, even one that may have a few flaws in ensemble here and there. 

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