The Bluecoats’ 2014 production, Tilt, shifts the field and puts a whole new spin on what it means to perform a drum corps show on a football field.

There is a video on YouTube of their Finals performance, but due to possible licensing complications, I will not post the link here. I encourage you to watch this video, “Bluecoats – “Tilt” [Finals]”.

Evaluation:

Overall Score: 97.95

General Effect: 40.00

The purpose of this show is to take the typical idea of what a drum corps production is, and “tilt” it. The Bluecoats achieve this in so many ways. The most prevalent way is through the orange border they use to create new boundaries on the field. From above, this new border makes the field appear as though it is tilting down and to the left. The triangle props on the field allow the players to stand on an angle, and at several points in the show, the performers lunge to the side, and “tilt” themselves. The visual forms are created with reference to the orange boundary, and are thus “tilted” with regards to the normal lines of a football field.

The modulation of the introduction, along with the constant modulations in chords played by the corps create an aural “tilt.” There is never really one standard sound, and the corps constantly “tilts” and slides to the next theme. Also, the constant change in tempo, through accelerandos (gradually increases in musical speed) creates this same “tilting” effect.

Visual: 18.70, 19.00, 19.00 – 28.35

Color Guard: The flags, rifles, and costumes of the color guard add necessary bright colors to this show. The corps’ dark blue uniform is contrasted nicely by the orange of the color guard’s costumes and the bright blues and reds of the flags. The guard’s choreography helps add to the “tilt” motif of the show. For example, they begin the show in side planks, and thus are at a “tilt.” Also, their interaction with the hornline and drumline adds to the general effect of the show. For example, during the drum feature, the color guard grabs on the snare drummers, allowing them to “tilt” forward and backward while playing. Despite all of these details, the color guard does not add much emotion to the show. They add a bouncy energy that compliments the music, but do not evoke emotion out of the audience very effectively.

Visual: As mentioned before, the “tilted” forms add a lot to the general effect of the show. Almost all of the forms created use diagonals, which are very difficult to make look good. However, some of the lines that are supposed to be straight in this show are a little curvy, taking away from the visual effect. Along with the forms created, the use of the triangle props adds a lot to this show visually. The “tilting” of these props while performers stand on them helps convey the overall message of the show.

Music: 20.00, 19.50, 19.70 – 29.60

General Music: Overall, all of the parts fit together beautifully. The chords played by the hornline are beautiful and incredibly powerful. The battery and front ensemble parts compliment the hornline’s music amazingly, creating a very unified ensemble sound. The best example of this ensemble togetherness occurs at the very end of the show, where the hornline plays, and then the pitch is picked up, and bent by a synthesizer to the next chord.

Hornline: The hornline does an amazing job throughout this show. The bends in pitch that they play add to the aural “tilt” of the show. The most effective aspect of the hornline’s performance was their dynamic contrast. They played very loudly at times, but played very quietly as well, and varied volumes throughout the entire show. For example, the ballad began with them playing very quietly, peaked at a very loud volume, and then ended in an echo-like phrase. There were some parts, however, that some sections played louder than others, and threw off the balance of the hornline.

Percussion: The music the percussion plays, along with being difficult, adds a lot to the ensemble overall. The accents line up with accents in the hornline, and the parts weave in very well with the music being played by the corps. The parts also add necessary aspects to the music. For instance, in the beginning of the third section of the show, the hornline plays slow, drawn-out phrases. During this time, the front ensemble plays very fast rhythms, filling in the spaces created by the hornline. However, there were some times that I could hear more than one person per instrument.

Before I begin my judging of this performance, I must explain how I will be evaluating the performance. For this blog, I will be evaluating the Semi-Finals Performances of several DCI Corps. These videos are available through a subscription to the DCI Fan Network, and are therefore not publicly accessible through websites such as YouTube. However, I will be posting a link to the video on YouTube that I think is most similar to the Semi-Finals Video.

Each DCI show is judged on three categories, totaling a maximum of 100 points: General Effect (how well the show told its story) is worth 40 points, Visual (how good the show looked) is worth 30 points, and Music (how good the show sounded) is worth 30 points. The visual category is broken up into three parts: two general visual, and one color guard section. The music category is broken into three parts: one general music, one brass, and one percussion. In these multi-section categories, the maximum points for each section is 20, and the points are added together and divided by two.

The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps 2014 production, “Felliniesque,” tells the story of the behind-the-scenes aspect of movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YutfWHOLNE (Not the whole show. Shows them in uniform, and some of the forms).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOad-XSx_T0 (Entire run through. This is at practice on the day of Finals.).

Evaluation:

Overall Score: 95.20

General Effect: 37.50

This show, to me, did not tell the story of the movies at all. It begins with a very circus-like atmosphere through the music being played in the front ensemble. The brass continues this circus theme upon their entrance. Shortly afterward, the brass and battery shift gears into music that sounds more like a movie soundtrack. While this is going on, the color guard seems to be having a low-budget fashion show. The corps uses white platforms in various ways throughout the show, and the color guard’s most exposed moment occurs while these platforms are set up as a runway. Throughout the entirety of the show, the front ensemble continues the circus motif. This difference in central focus really takes away from the planned story of this show. I am going out on a limb here by making this connection, but the only possible way I can see these three separate ideas blending is by the show telling a “rags to riches” story (starting in the circus, working your way up to the big screen).

Visual: 19.00, 19.00, 19.00 – 28.50

Color Guard: Despite the seeming disconnect between the show’s intentions and the actions of the color guard, they do an amazing job telling their story. Each performer brings so much emotion to the show. Their choreography shows the struggles they are going through on their “rags to riches” journey, and helps connect the audience emotionally to the music. However, a lot of the work they are doing is not very difficult, which is the only thing taking away their perfect score.

Visual: Overall, the corps’s forms are very good. I only mean this in that they look like shapes. They do nothing to tell the story, and a lot of the time, I can barely tell what the shapes are. Also, the excessive use of scatter sets (forms that have no definitive shape – if you do not know what I mean, you will after watching this show) shows that this show is not very hard visually. Finally, the use of props as guides for forms (circles, for instance) is smart, but takes away from the difficulty of the drill.

Music:  19.30, 19.50, 19.60 – 29.2

General Music: The selections for the show are all amazing pieces of music. These performers perform them so well on the field. The only problem I have with the music overall, is the disconnect between sections, as mentioned before. Some things performed did not fit well together. For example, after the jazzy, dance movement, the hornline gets soft and smooth in playing style. At the same time, the quad section comes forward and plays and incredibly difficult feature over top of the brass, ruining the effect.

Brass: Again, the music was played beautifully. The only thing keeping the brass from a perfect score was the monotonously loud volume they played at. Very rarely did they play quietly. A shift in volume would have made the show a lot more interesting to listen to.

Percussion: The percussion music was incredibly challenging, and I applaud the performers for playing it as well as they did. However, the percussion’s job is to sound as close to one person per instrument as humanly possible. In this performance, there were instances when I could hear multiple performers per instrument, thus taking away from the overall effect of the percussion.

The activity of drum corps is something that few people know about. However, those that do know about it, can never get enough of it. This activity used to be a lot more popular (World Championships were aired on ESPN up through the 2007 season), but has sadly slid away from the public eye the past couple years. Drum Corps, put simply, is major league marching band, with shows performed on a standard football field. When phrased this way, however, I think people do not appreciate the level of difficulty of this activity.

In 2005, ESPN aired a short “documentary” detailing the athletic abilities of a drum corps member. In this video, a researcher from Indiana State University attached devices to a drummer to measure his heart rate and oxygen intake. The researcher found that the drummer was taking in as much oxygen as a well-trained runner halfway through a marathon, and had a consistent heart rate similar to that of a 400 yard dash runner. This is incredible, and definitely solidifies the qualification of drum corps as a sport.

Like any sport, drum corps has leagues. There are two main leagues, DCI (Drum Corps International, performers 21 years of age and younger), and DCA (Drum Corps Associates, all-age performers). DCI is the more intense of the two, due to the fact that members move in with their corps in mid-May, and practice 12+ hours everyday until mid-August, and DCA members practice only on weekends. In both cases, these are not your typical band practices. These practices are grueling. Performers must practice through rain, intense heat, and incredible physical fatigue. They all strive to be perfect in every single way – musically, visually, emotionally, etc. All of their hard work culminates in their final performance in mid-August and World Championships. Much like any other sport, there are corps that are consistently near the top of the pack. For DCI, these corps are the Blue Devils, the Cadets, Carolina Crown, The Bluecoats, The Cavaliers, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Phantom Regiment. These corps, along with all of the other corps in DCI, are from all over the United States.

So, what makes up a drum corps?

A drum corps consists of four groups: The Horn-line, the Percussion, The Color Guard, and the Drum Majors.

The horn-line consists of trumpets, mellophones, baritones, and tubas. The main role of the horn-line is to provide the lyrical and emotional aspect of the show, as well as a portion of the visual aspect of the show.

The percussion has two sections, the battery and the front ensemble. The battery is made up of snare drums, quad/tenor drums, bass drums, and occasionally cymbals. The front ensemble consists of typical concert percussion instruments – marimbas, vibraphones, tympani, concert bass drum, etc. The main role of the battery is to provide tempo for the corps in a creative way, and contribute to the visual aspect of the show. The front ensemble also provides tempo, but interweaves with the horn-line to add emotion and remains on the front sideline, thus rarely contributing to the visual aspect of the show.

The color guard consists of performers who play no music, but are the main visual contributors. They twirl and throw flags, rifles, sabers, etc., and put color and action to the music. These three groups also march to make shapes on the field.

The final group, the drum majors, directs the corps. These are the conductors of the drum corps, and they are responsible for maintaining tempo, and keeping the corps playing together.

The overall goal of a drum corps as a whole is to tell a story and evoke emotion out of their crowd. The amazing thing about this activity is that a show can move a whole stadium to tears with just music and motion. Almost every corps earns a standing ovation at finals, and they all deserve it. What these young performers do is absolutely incredible.

So, that’s drum corps in a nutshell. Next week, I will begin my analysis of this year’s DCI shows with the Blue Devils championship show, Felliniesque.

Here are links to the aforementioned video from 2005:

The first idea I would like to explore for my Passion Blog is Drum Corps. During the summers of 2012 and 2013 I marched with the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps, and ever since, I have been hooked to the activity. The music, the motion, and its ability to move a stadium full of people to tears is incredibly captivating. So, for this Passion Blog, I will watch a different DCI (Drum Corps International) show every week, and comment on how much I liked it, how effective it was, etc. I will focus my attention on the shows from 2014, as they are the most recent works of Drum Corps, and show the up-to-date characteristics of the activity. By the end of this semester, I will decide whether or not I agree with the results of the 2014 DCI World Championships.

The second idea I would like to explore is orchestral music. I joined the Concert Band at my school in fifth grade, and ever since then, my love for classical music has grown exponentially. Throughout middle school, junior high, and high school, I became more and more involved in music, all culminating in my participation in District, Regional, and State Band and Orchestra Festivals. I have also become incredibly interested in composing, and how difficult it is to create a piece of music from scratch. So, for this Passion Blog, I will listen to at least two separate composers each week, and analyze their work for what I liked, did not like, and some of these ideas that I would like to explore when I compose.

The third idea I would like to explore is what it means to be a student at Penn State. Each and every student here has a different experience of this university, and all of their separate opinions are valuable. So, I would like to ask my peers – freshmen to seniors – what it means to them to be a student at Penn State. With all of the different avenues to explore at Penn State, I am very interested to see if there are any similarities in the answers given to me by students. So, each week I will ask one person what it means to be a student here. By the end of the semester, I will compile a list of similarities, as well as some of the most interesting responses to gain a better understanding of the connection we students share at Penn State.