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.
I was planning on watching these videos later today, but I think you did a very good job analyzing the acts and I could picture the performances without having the video in front of me. I think this blog idea is a very cool choice. I am pleased to tell you that I am learning from your posts. I was able to remember terms you spoke of last week and relate them to your post this week. Very interesting dude. Keep up the good work!
I thought this post was really interesting because it gave me a lot of insight into the world of DCI and how those performances are judged. I’m sure that since I really don’t know much about DCI performances still, I would want to give every performance 100 points – I wouldn’t know the flaws when I saw them! It’s easy to tell that you’re very knowledgeable and passionate about this topic, and it was neat to read your interpretation and analysis of this performance. I look forward to reading more posts like this!
I like that you made the connection between the rags and riches idea. I think that that is demonstrated throughout the performance as the ensemble changes from the life at the circus to life in the big box office of Hollywood. I could feel the emotion in the color guard as well. While not even listening to the music, the emotion of the performers could definitely be felt. Everyone seemed to be doing his or her part to add to the emotion and passion of the show. As far as scoring goes, is this considered a high scoring performance? What does it get like once the performers reach the finals? Thank you for explaining the workings of the Drum Corps and how all of the scoring works. Now that we all know a little bit more about it, it will be very interesting to watch each week as our knowledge grows. Great job!
I like that you made the connection between the rags and riches idea. I think that that is demonstrated throughout the performance as the ensemble changes from the life at the circus to life in the big box office of Hollywood. I could feel the emotion in the color guard as well. While not even listening to the music, the emotion of the performers could definitely be felt. Everyone seemed to be doing his or her part to add to the emotion and passion of the show. As far as scoring goes, is this considered a high scoring performance? What does it get like once the performers reach the finals? Thank you for explaining the workings of the Drum Corps and how all of the scoring works. Now that we all know a little bit more about it, it will be very interesting to watch each week as our knowledge goes. Great job!