I don't want familiar music! You can have it.

Well, a little of it is fine, and I enjoy it. Am I the only guy in the stands who feels this way?

I have stacks and stacks of albums, cd's, and 45's. I must have a dozen different versions of most standards, most of the familiar music. I am happy with those. Some of them are played just great and I can listen to them; I don't need more. I WANT to be introduced to the UNFAMILIAR. Almost all of the top placing corps this year gave me that, just what I wanted. I play those particular corps over and over. Their unfamiliar music is now familiar to me, and I feel that my musical library, in my head, has been expanded.

Some of the unfamiliar stuff, at the corps shows, including this year... well, I make sure I keep it unfamiliar because I don't like it. The second half of the Blue Devils show of 2010 is a good example of that.

Now and then, I enjoy one entire show of ole time standard stuff, such as the '10 Madison Scouts. But! But I certainly don't want to sit at Indy on quarterfinals day and listen to 22-24 corps play FAMILIAR music. Give me a break. Madison was enough. Actually, I like some of the Madison Explorer (now Venture) Scouts' Spanish shows music from recent years a lot more than this year's familiar stuff, tho what they did this year they did wonderfuly. A few years ago, Phantom Regiment did a lot of what Madison did this year (same music) and the Scouts seem to be a repeat of that.

After a given corps performs, I like to find myself saying, "What in the heck was that?! That was some weird ****. I like it!!!"

I don't think it's so much familiar music I miss - it's any semblance of a melody! Random chords mixed with fast runs is not music.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

I know, Bob. I agree. There's still a fair amount of that happening too, just banging out disjointed stuff. Yuck! But, unfamiliar music that is truly music, written just for drum corps or obscure stuff, either way? Bring it on! Yes! This year's Bluecoats, Carolina Crown, Cavaliers, etc., had some such music... unfamiliar music that is music. Loved it all!

I'm with Bob - I need a melody - something I can remember and walk out of the stands with in my head. It is the same outside of drum corps - why is a song a hit/classic - you get it in your head and can recall it.

Bill - like you I am always looking for new music - but with that melody.

John said:

" I need a melody - something I can remember and walk out of the stands with in my head. It is the same outside of drum corps - why is a song a hit/classic - you get it in your head and can recall it."

-----------------------------------

I fully agree with John and Bob ... it isn't that a piece is already "familiar" it is whether it is recognizable music that makes it worth performing, and listening to!

----------------------------------------------------------

What did you do in the Corps? Drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

At the end of a dci event, when I'm walking out of the stadium, I cannot hum the music of this or that corps. However, upon hearing the various corps, I know which music I want to hear again and again. So, I buy their music for a cd and I try to go see them, in person, some more. I don't ask a corps to have me be able to hum their music upon first hearing. I ask a corps to make me want to hear their music again and again, including in person, and many corps do that for me. After about a dozen hearings of this new (to me) music, I find myself sometimes humming it. By the time I get to Indy, I can hum a number of the various corps' music. Fun!

If there isn't a recognizable melody it's just a bunch of junk. If the music is from something that has been popular (whether pop, rock or classical) that's all the better and usually a reason to listen to it again.

So "Stardust" was a bunch of junk because nobody recognized it the very first time it was played. It was not familiar to anyone, therefore it was and is a bunch of junk. Makes sense. From now on, I will think of "Stardust" as a bunch of junk.

Maybe it's the terminology that's giving us a problem. I think we mean "recognizable" as in "recognizable as a piece of music", which for most of us means a melody, harmony, bass, and other factors that we can identify with (prior knowledge, to use the educational term). We can then build from there to accept different arrangements, but those basic building blocks need to be there. Even as a music major, I didn't care for "modern" music, because it just seemed like noise to me.

My point is that I don't want to be educated at a drum corps show - I want to be entertained. There's a huge difference.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Thanks for the clarification, Bob. You are correct ..... it isn't "familiar" music (that we have heard before) which is driving this .. it is music that is recognizable as music, with all the elements you noted.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

What did you do in the Corps? Drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

I have never been at a drum corps show in which the corps (plural) have not entertained me with their music and show, some more than others, some much more than others. I always feel that I got my money's worth. I think that I am just as entertained by all the visual stuff as I am by the music. I really enjoy seeing a good corps the second time; it's like seeing a good movie a second time. I catch so much that I missed the first time around. I see some corps (plural) 6 times, live, and on the 6th viewing, I still am seeing things that I missed on the first 5. Now and then there is a corps that, in a particular year, hardly entertains me at all. I guess those would be my funnel cake corps. But, I sit and watch them anyhow. I only get funnel cakes before the show and at intermissions. I also always stand and cheer for every single corps when they are finished with their performance. Yes, I am easily entertained, I guess.