Much like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon show, I am totally committed to my hair-brained scheme to draw in more fans to drum corps. I am diabolically attempting to connect the hilarious (if crude) movie The 40 Year Old Virgin if the amazing (if obscure) art of people marching around a field with brass instruments and drums. Perhaps my bizarre hybrid will conquer the entertainment world, or possibly eat me in an ironic but predictable conclusion.
Today's Quote:
He's performing a public colonoscopy. Isn't that sweet? -Paula
What does this have to do with drum corps?:
Last time I wrote about how I find the scale of drum corps an exciting and impressive aspect of the activity. While seeing more than a hundred performers march and play as one is a stunning and powerful experience, it also requires an amazing amount of precision and focus on the part of every person on that field. If ever a member makes a mistake during the performance, the visceral thrill of watching a mob of people move in one direction and play one chord quickly becomes the sad comedy of one person moving in the wrong direction and playing the wrong note. This means that though the power of a drum corps is in its size, its efficacy depends on each individual. If you watch drum corps for any reason you have to appreciate the fact that all the members have to be working together precisely or else one of them could have the most embarrassing moment of their young lives. An example I have witnessed came at a midsummer drum corps show in my home state of Ohio. At this point in the competition season corps are usually pretty set in their shows and are working on perfecting the performance and taking it to that next level. So any mistake is going to be pretty glaring. The Crossmen were on the field and playing Frank Ticheli's wonderful piece "Blue Shades". This music starts with a very difficult section where all the musicians must play a series of syncopated notes with long pauses in between while marching back and forth at high speeds. Bop-bop. PAAAAAAUSE. Bop. PAUSE Be-bop.They we're doing great. Be-bop bop. Until everyone hit one note Bop went into their pause then one player played one note all by him/herself. *beep* You could feel everyone in the stands whince as all the fans said "oooh" as our hearts broke for the poor little guy/gal. So appreciate how difficult drum corps can be. These people have to work hard, because if they don't their every mistake will feel like a public colonoscopy.
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