Hi, those are some genuine and personal observations, thank you. Hattie, it's time to come to Jesus.
1) Performing arts are different from art on canvas (museum art). Static museum art is usually created by one person, costs about three bucks, has no responsibility of interpretation, and is wildly "interpretive." Museum art is widely translated, almost comedically so, with varied, almost absurdly different impressions by various audiences. Everybody has a "valid" opinion on paintings. But performing arts, on the other hand, are massively collaborative, really expensive, and developed through an iterative development process to convey a specific, agreed upon thematic argument. Worse, drum corps take money from kids to teach them principles of performing arts. A drum corps show better mean something specific, like all the other professional arts.
2) Professional performing arts are intentional, with a specific subject and theme. Each element is carefully selected by layers of designers and arts specialists to cohesively tie into the intended point of view and observation about the world as we know it or imagine it.
3) There's a difference between critical analysis of a show's intended elements versus your personal ruminations on how it reminds you of your uncle. Critical analysis examines the show's authenticity, universality, cohesion, uniqueness, and engineered emotion. How do the show's elements effectively convey the specific subject and thematic argument for everyone? Not, "the title Change is Everything reminds me of getting my first apartment and other changes in my life."
4) Bluecoats this year are using a lazy man's "catch-all title" on the subject of "change" but with nothing on the field that smacks of change in a big way. The judges can see the bullshit in a catch-all title a mile away. Catch-all titles are generalized mottos, sayings or aphorisms that lack specificity, historical or literary context, and are darlings of last-minute designers. Catch-all titles are meant to allow for wiggle room. A non-specific visual show has no particular commitment to a social, historical or literary context, and flies under the radar. Catch-all titles are what clumsy amateur designers use to create wiggle room for last-minute ad hoc elements that directors may want to add later. You fell for their ruse.
5) There is nothing in Bluecoats show that smacks of originality or "Change". The show breaks no rules, innovates in no way, and offers no new perceptions about the activity. The show doesn't even match or encompass any of SonLux's video elements. So the title really doesn't capture what the show reflects on the field. It's no more about Change than it is "singularity" or "metaphysical language" or "emotional transference." (Make up your own title.) All bullshit subjects that don't really appear on the field.
6) Many dull and lazy show designers are focusing on canvas art and other "museum art" because it has a wide berth of interpretation, it's easy to write, and they can avoid accountability in their design-- "it's interpretive!" (Bullshit) . Madison's "Mosaic" is no more a mosaic than any other show on the field this year. Madison's show neither captures the artistic process of a mosaic, or the depth and power of some of the world's most famous mosaics. Madison's show is filled with props that are identical, geometrical, offer no depth of character or flavor, and the performers are all identical, reducing the typical strength of any moscaic work-- cohesion of disparate elements. Blue Devils' show ends with some Freidrich paintings that nobody in the audience recognizes or understands. That's some esoteric bullshit, all under the cover of the selected subject of static "museum art."
7) Drum corps show designs like the Bluecoats' meaningless "Change is Everything" don't meet professional standards. Even Son Lux's music video "Change is Everything" has more meaning than the Bluecoats' show. The lyrics in the music video, and the recurring elements like the string theory thumbtack string art give it depth, and give it reference to other fields of study and fields of interest, lacking in Bluecoats' show. Last year's Garden of Love dominated the entire history of drum corps shows with a powerful commentary on goverrnent and religious interference on sexual freedoms. What happened to the depth in Bluecoats' show this year? No it's not intentional. Bluecoats show isn't any more about "change" than it is about lazy musicians who have no ability to create meaningful visual context for the music they create.
PS: Watch for responses to this comment from people who use vague words like "loved it" and "doesn't have to mean anything" and "shows don't need a story", all written by musicians who are enthralled with the power of the sound on the field, and haven't a clue about creating visual shows of substance. Watch for them.
Hi, those are some genuine and personal observations, thank you. Hattie, it's time to come to Jesus.
1) Performing arts are different from art on canvas (museum art). Static museum art is usually created by one person, costs about three bucks, has no responsibility of interpretation, and is wildly "interpretive." Museum art is widely translated, almost comedically so, with varied, almost absurdly different impressions by various audiences. Everybody has a "valid" opinion on paintings. But performing arts, on the other hand, are massively collaborative, really expensive, and developed through an iterative development process to convey a specific, agreed upon thematic argument. Worse, drum corps take money from kids to teach them principles of performing arts. A drum corps show better mean something specific, like all the other professional arts.
2) Professional performing arts are intentional, with a specific subject and theme. Each element is carefully selected by layers of designers and arts specialists to cohesively tie into the intended point of view and observation about the world as we know it or imagine it.
3) There's a difference between critical analysis of a show's intended elements versus your personal ruminations on how it reminds you of your uncle. Critical analysis examines the show's authenticity, universality, cohesion, uniqueness, and engineered emotion. How do the show's elements effectively convey the specific subject and thematic argument for everyone? Not, "the title Change is Everything reminds me of getting my first apartment and other changes in my life."
4) Bluecoats this year are using a lazy man's "catch-all title" on the subject of "change" but with nothing on the field that smacks of change in a big way. The judges can see the bullshit in a catch-all title a mile away. Catch-all titles are generalized mottos, sayings or aphorisms that lack specificity, historical or literary context, and are darlings of last-minute designers. Catch-all titles are meant to allow for wiggle room. A non-specific visual show has no particular commitment to a social, historical or literary context, and flies under the radar. Catch-all titles are what clumsy amateur designers use to create wiggle room for last-minute ad hoc elements that directors may want to add later. You fell for their ruse.
5) There is nothing in Bluecoats show that smacks of originality or "Change". The show breaks no rules, innovates in no way, and offers no new perceptions about the activity. The show doesn't even match or encompass any of SonLux's video elements. So the title really doesn't capture what the show reflects on the field. It's no more about Change than it is "singularity" or "metaphysical language" or "emotional transference." (Make up your own title.) All bullshit subjects that don't really appear on the field.
6) Many dull and lazy show designers are focusing on canvas art and other "museum art" because it has a wide berth of interpretation, it's easy to write, and they can avoid accountability in their design-- "it's interpretive!" (Bullshit) . Madison's "Mosaic" is no more a mosaic than any other show on the field this year. Madison's show neither captures the artistic process of a mosaic, or the depth and power of some of the world's most famous mosaics. Madison's show is filled with props that are identical, geometrical, offer no depth of character or flavor, and the performers are all identical, reducing the typical strength of any moscaic work-- cohesion of disparate elements. Blue Devils' show ends with some Freidrich paintings that nobody in the audience recognizes or understands. That's some esoteric bullshit, all under the cover of the selected subject of static "museum art."
7) Drum corps show designs like the Bluecoats' meaningless "Change is Everything" don't meet professional standards. Even Son Lux's music video "Change is Everything" has more meaning than the Bluecoats' show. The lyrics in the music video, and the recurring elements like the string theory thumbtack string art give it depth, and give it reference to other fields of study and fields of interest, lacking in Bluecoats' show. Last year's Garden of Love dominated the entire history of drum corps shows with a powerful commentary on goverrnent and religious interference on sexual freedoms. What happened to the depth in Bluecoats' show this year? No it's not intentional. Bluecoats show isn't any more about "change" than it is about lazy musicians who have no ability to create meaningful visual context for the music they create.
PS: Watch for responses to this comment from people who use vague words like "loved it" and "doesn't have to mean anything" and "shows don't need a story", all written by musicians who are enthralled with the power of the sound on the field, and haven't a clue about creating visual shows of substance. Watch for them.