DCI Finals: Thoughts Five Months Later

I finally ordered my finals DVD last week (spurred by the 20% holiday discount) and it arrived a few days ago, so I've been watching it a lot lately. For most of these shows, all I saw of them over the summer was some snippets from the gate, and even for the ones I did see on the second night at Allentown, my seats weren't much better than standing at the gate anyway.

I'll admit up front that I'm not really wearing my critique hat at all while watching these shows; I'm watching to be entertained, and I'm seeing who entertains me and who doesn't. I really don't care much at all about who placed what or whose show was harder or easier, I'm just watching some shows. That all said, here's my thoughts on Disc 1, the top 6 corps. For those of you who don't feel like reading my dissertations, I'll include a tl;dr for each corps.


1. Blue Devils - Through a Glass, Darkly

Alright, I think a lot of my opinions on these shows are going to be controversial, so here's the biggest one first: I like this show and I think the hate for it is extremely overblown. Most of the time, even though it can be dissonant, the dissonance is all handled very musically. It's certainly a challenging show, one that merits multiple viewings, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I find it kind of strange that people will hold up Star 93 as the greatest show ever put on the field, and five minutes later blast BD for "having no melody" or being "atonal".

For one thing, their treatment of "Laura" when they finally play it as a full ensemble is absolutely wonderful. It's lush and beautiful, everything that song should be. Hearing it makes me wish they'd do a more straightforward jazz show - not that I don't enjoy shows like this one, but I would kill for a corps and staff as talented as BD's to do a straight-up jazz show. As a big jazz fan and player myself, it's a breath of fresh air in the drum corps world. A lot of the mirror effects are really cool: the beginning where first the mirrors reflect the guard, and then the corps comes out from behind them still mimicking the guard; a cognitive dissonance moment where a bass drummer is playing with only one hand so you see the reflection playing but the real one is still; the gag at the end with the teleporting drum major. I also liked the visual picture in the opener of the tight battery pod moving through the scattered hornline and pushing them around.

It's not all great, though. Specifically, the treatment of the trumpet solos after "Laura" really bothers me. Both soloists are fantastic, and the drummer is okay, but the pit parts don't swing at all. They're way too busy, and the drum corps-ness of it sticks out like a sore thumb. I know it's drum corps and not a jazz gig, but it would have sounded great if they had parts that sounded like what an actual rhythm section would play. There were also some times when the dissonance and general "weirdness" gets to be a little much, and they lose my interest.

Speaking of losing my interest, BD is guilty of something that a couple of shows had this year: boring drum solos. Specifically, the full battery solo starting at around 8:20. The tenor solo leading up to it was cool, and the little snippet from the snares leading in is nice, but then the actual solo is.... 16th notes. For almost 30 seconds. I'm sure there was plenty of hard stuff in there with accents and different rudiments and whatever, but rhythmically and as a listener, it's boring.


tl;dr A challenging but rewarding show. Haters gonna hate.

2. The Cavaliers - Mad World

See, this is what I don't understand. Most of this show seems just as musically "weird" as BD, if not more, but I don't think I once heard those complaints directed against Mad World. Anyway, this being a Cavies show, it's much what you'd expect: extremely compelling visually, but I'll probably never once put it on my iPod on the way to class. I don't mean to be that negative towards it, though. The music and visual do work nicely as a package, and there were plenty of parts I really liked. The guard's masks during Smile were perfectly creepy, and I loved the "this is my rifle" section. Yes, it was cheesy, and yes, we all made fun of it all summer long, but come on - the entire hornline and guard (minus tubas) spread out over a sizeable portion of the field, doing rifle work together, yelling loud enough to be heard easily, all set against a grooving battery part? That is cool.

Unfortunately, that section had one of the things I hated most about the Cavies show - the synth patches. Seriously? The Cavies are a world class drum corps, and the guitar patch they used leading up to that part makes them sound like a bad high school drumline. The piano they used was good, but there were a few other spots with some really cheesy and cheap sounding patches. It's too bad, because they also had some very well-done effects, but the bad ones just stick out like a sore thumb.

tl;dr Great visual but music that often doesn't stand on its own. Enjoyable but marred by a few cringe moments.

3. Bluecoats - Metropolis: The Future is Now

Now this is a show that will be getting some plays on my iPod. This is probably my favorite music of the top 6 - I don't count our show in that, because I really haven't reached the point yet where I can listen to it objectively instead of rattling off ticks in my head. The only thing that really bothered me throughout was that the hornline often looks so small on the field whenever they're playing. It's a great show and they play it well throughout, but I don't think it ever made me go "wow".

Anyway, on to specifics. The Bluecoats were definitely one of the best when it comes to the use of electronics. There's a great low bass sound that comes right after the trumpet's echo effect and sets up the hit very nicely. That echo effect, by the way, is my absolute favorite five seconds from any of these shows. Super cool. It's super cool musically, and is nicely accentuated visually as well. I thought the singing sample they used was well-done too; it was really "futuristic" sounding somehow, and fit their theme well. Getting back to the electronics, most of the stuff they had sounded very professional, as opposed to the Cavies show. The only thing I took issue with was the strings at the beginning of the ballad, but it's extremely hard to come up with synthesized string that sound authentic. The electronically messed-with bari solo was also really cool.

I don't really have much negative to say about this show, just that I was never really wowed. It's an extremely tight package, but it felt like there were no moments where they took a huge risk and amazed me.

tl;dr Fun show, great music, and one I'll watch a lot, but nothing really made my jaw drop.

4. Carolina Crown - A Second Chance

Okay, so obviously I know this show pretty well. I'm just going to talk about my impressions on seeing it for the first time from this perspective. I'm probably going to seem overly critical, just because I spent all summer with this show and know it inside out, so it's hard to take a step back, look at the big picture and say "yeah, that was cool".

Mahler: I was worried that rehearsing this piece every day had permanently killed my ability to enjoy it, but I'm definitely starting to get it back. This is an awesome piece. Yes, there are some rough ensemble moments, because it's challenging, multi-layered music being played from endzone to endzone. However, that doesn't take much away from how cool it is. It's dark, intense, and awesome.

Khachaturian: The first 45 seconds or so are still by far my favorite part of this piece. The percussion solo is cool and went pretty well, and the first hornline entrance is such a cool bit of music. After that, meh. Khach was always my least favorite part of the show.

Danzon: First off, I never realized what an important part I played in the overall mix (outside of the solos, obviously). I could never tell from within the pit, but I like it; it goes well with the latin feel. Visually, I like the tradeoff from side 1 to side 2. During the snare solo, the trumpets are playing and the side 2 dancers are dancing, and then they all freeze for the tenor solo, the baritones, and the side 1 dancers. Neat effect that I never really knew was going on.

Nimrod: What a gorgeous piece of music, and beautiful visually too. The enormous swoopy X and the guard lift right when the high point hits - wow. Not much to say here.

Mahler Reprise/Promise: Okay, pardon my bias for a minute - this is a cool drum solo. Good old Bear Claw; much as we may have hated rehearsing it, I don't think listening to it will ever get old. I also love how the Crown set hits out of nowhere. I love how big the corps is on the field, too, with the two big company fronts (reprise and the end). I also love whoever chose the camera angles for The Promise of Living, because they nearly exactly mirror the ones on the 09 finals DVD. Nice touch.

5. The Cadets - Toy Souldier

Okay, time for another unpopular opinion: I really like this show. It's undeniably cheesy, but I think it was done in an endearing way. It might not be the most badass show ever, but hey, entertainment doesn't always have to be about being badass, right? Maybe that's heretical, whoops. To me, it was the best of both worlds - a funny, entertaining, and relatable guard soloist and theme, backed by an awesome drum corps.

In particular, I loved the opening with the herald trumpets, while the rest of the corps marches in in a block. That was just awesome. Hearing them play Dance of the Tumblers was fun, too, because we played that as an encore in 09. The little bit where the the guard member was "teaching" Little Jeffrey was downright heartwarming, and it was awesome to see him get the drum major uniform at the end.

There were a couple time when the gags were a little bit much for me, though, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at them. Specifically, the laughing children samples didn't really sit that well with me. The Cadets were also the Prime Transgressor when it comes to boring drum solos, with the part that starts at about 9:10. The first few seconds are kind of cool, where they coordinate some jerky body movements with some sound effects from the pit. After that, though, it's literally 30 seconds of pretty much the same rhythm and some minimal movement. I don't get why everyone seemed to love it.

tl;dr A little cheesy, but almost always in a good way. Endearing and fun.

6. Phantom Regiment - Into the Light

Wow. This is definitely my favorite total package of the top 6. Great music and a great visual concept, this show really feels like a single 13 minute long show to me, and less like a bunch of disparate pieces put together to make a show. I love the way they keep reinforcing the idea of going from corner of the field to the other throughout the show. It's awesome seeing the corps literally run out of the gate, reaching towards the soloist at the other end of the field.

And wow, that drumline deserves all the accolades they got. Absolutely fantastic. Even the bassline got a solo moment on the camera! Everyone knows that no one cares about the bassline, so you've got to be damn good to get a shot like that (I kid guys, I kid). Not only are they great technically, but they have some cool parts to work with, especially the extended percussion solo starting at around 7:10. After the underwhelming solo from the Cadets, this is a delightful breath of fresh air. The pit is great too, and they get a lot of time to shine, because they tend to be the only ones accompanying the soloist.

I really can't think of much negative to say about this show, but not in the same way as with the Bluecoats show. This time, everything wowed me. The theme was woven effectively throughout the whole show. It's subtle but effective, constantly building up to the musical, visual, and thematic climax of the show: the formation of the chevron. The build into it is amazing - the full corps is playing backfield, towards the back right exit. They gradually work their way into the chevron, then they turn around and let the audience have it. A boring show would end there, but that's not it. They gradually pass off the music to the pit as they turn and run to the exit, flanked by lines of flags and even joined by the backfield conductor, while the soloist closes out the show...... until he's joined by one final, ethereal chord coming out from beyond the exit and a lone guard member dressed in gold runs out towards him. It's a true work of art.

tl;dr Brilliant - the whole show is unified and driven by its theme, best ending of the year.