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Post by boafan14 on Feb 8, 2020 13:47:13 GMT -6
Hey guys! I was watching some shows and it was interesting to see the contrast in bands that chose more technical/more exposed passages for their ensemble moments as opposed to bands that use more simplistic motifs. I specifically remember watching Franklin's 2019 show and I noticed that their hits/ensemble moments were more technically challenging. While they were impressive, I've noticed that these kinds of moments usually don't have as big of an impact on me as shows where there are simpler themes that are composed and performed to an extremely effective level (loud, bold, etc). What are y'alls opinions on this? I personally prefer the simpler motifs since they somehow make a more lasting impact on me.
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Post by verysaxy on Feb 8, 2020 18:00:36 GMT -6
I agree, but even if a difficult moment doesn’t impact me as much, I still give credit where it’s due.
Now when it goes to color guard, I MUCH prefer complicated moments (Avon’s rifle line 😍😍)
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Post by boafan14 on Feb 8, 2020 18:55:46 GMT -6
I agree, but even if a difficult moment doesn’t impact me as much, I still give credit where it’s due. Now when it goes to color guard, I MUCH prefer complicated moments (Avon’s rifle line 😍😍) Don't even get me STARTED on Avon's rifle line!!!! |
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Post by thewho on Feb 10, 2020 12:01:37 GMT -6
Hey guys! I was watching some shows and it was interesting to see the contrast in bands that chose more technical/more exposed passages for their ensemble moments as opposed to bands that use more simplistic motifs. I specifically remember watching Franklin's 2019 show and I noticed that their hits/ensemble moments were more technically challenging. While they were impressive, I've noticed that these kinds of moments usually don't have as big of an impact on me as shows where there are simpler themes that are composed and performed to an extremely effective level (loud, bold, etc). What are y'alls opinions on this? I personally prefer the simpler motifs since they somehow make a more lasting impact on me. There's a philosophy I subscribe to extremely often by the great Walter Murch in Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film along the lines of: " First the movie, then the scene, then the moment". Some further watching I'd recommend is this video by Nerdwriter1. I barely watch him anymore because it's a little too much on the rant-y side of things for me, but he makes several great points about the "Batman vs. Superman" when it came out. Disclaimer on this.... I didn't watch the movie and no plans to do so, so (anyone) please don't argue with me about this movie- take this as a succinct summary of my thoughts on a lot of blockbusters. I see a lot of marching band shows in a very similar vein of that philosophy. 10 minutes of a performance is long enough to allow the development a narrative of some sort and that very much has to be respected somehow. I really don't care if it's a complicated thing (i.e. Ronald Reagan 2019, Broken Arrow 2017, LD Bell trilogy, etc.) or just a very simple theme (Union 2011, Cedar Ridge 2013, Round Rock 2019, etc.) as long as the theme is presented appropriately well. The many subsidiaries of pageantry arts (marching band, color guard, percussion, Winds, etc.)* tend to lack in many respects that the film medium makes for with relative ease, so the innovations in show design also end up being as vital to the film medium as fundamentals. That makes the relevance of that particular though stick out to me. I will say that anyone can make those moments pop out, it's not that hard at all. You've seen it this year with Union and Round Rock this past year- both had gotten a bit amount of flack for a bit of deficiencies in their shows for different reasons, but they hit all the right strides. It wasn't perfect (though I liked Round Rock's La Vie en Rose this year a lot), but the moments I could pick out in those shows were pretty strong. However, when there's some basic context created by the show building up to THAT moment, that's where the magic of "show impactful-ness" happens. Ronald Reagan's swirling flags this past year, Vandegrift's trombonist, Carmel's Who Wants to Live Forever? ballad, hell- even Carmel's 2016 opener from the first 3 minutes (just from the title alone!!!)! Context is absolutely vital in this activity and if you can't communicate your show to the judges, they're not going to reward you in GE. Circling back on your prompt, the context is absolutely the most critical thing for me in any show. I don't really care too much about how the phrases are written per se, simply because there's so much going on from a content standpoint- music, drill, prop management, color guard, the show itself- why choose to ignore those? Back on Franklin's show, I liked those trombones and thought it was a terrific feature... but there's a reason why I had to sit and try to remember what it was for about a minute or so. There's really nothing thematically leading up to that point for me that really supported the feature, so it just came out of the blue for me when it happened. If I didn't have a front-row seat back to that at Louisville, I would have forgotten it completely. *I will also point out WGI guard and percussion have drastically different limitations in show design than marching band, that's an entirely different post. This post is 90%-ish about marching band.
**Go ahead and fight me if you want for lumping them together, idc. |
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