The Medi-nerd

Show theme:
Through A Glass, Darkly

Show Music (from corpsreps.com):
City of Glass Suite by Graettinger, Bob
Conflict by Rugolo, Pete
Mirage by Rugolo, Pete
Trajectories by Marks, Franklyn
Incident In Jazz by Graettinger, Bob
Laura by Raksin, David
La Suerte de Los Tontos (from Cuban Fire Suite) by Richards, Johnny

There were two announcements in the pre-season which made a lot of drum corps fans very excited for the 2010 Blue Devils season. The first announcement was that the corps was switching from Dynasty instruments to King (for the horns) and Pearl (for the drums). Having heard corps like Phantom Regiment demonstrate how a multi-key horn line could project their sound like the G horn lines of old, a lot of drum corps nuts were jumping up and down, ready for the season to start without even knowing what the show music was going to be. That answer came closer to the start of the season when BD released their show, Through a Glass, Darkly, comprised of the music of Stan Kenton. Just seeing La Suerte de Los Tontos on the set list made even the most staunch traditionalist hope that the Blue Devils were preparing a show looking back at the history of the corps and the music that led them to four of their previous 13 titles.

The Blue Devils did look back, but, as the theme indicates, it was a dark, distorted, and sometimes shattering experience for those who witnessed it.

Fans should have been suspicious the moment they saw Bob Graettinger’s City of Glass Suite topping the list of musical selections. After all, this is a piece which Stan Kenton defended after it’s 1948 premiere, where audience members were so shocked by what they heard that some walked out on the performance, by stating:

“You’re not supposed to understand it. You experience it with your subconscious.”

There were definitely fans which did not understand what they heard when BD performed their show this year. Certainly, the opener, which quoted La Suerte and featured that incredible brass sound we were waiting for all year, excited those in the stands. Then came the ballad, the classic Laura, which showcased various different moods, with discordant stabs interrupting throughout. Once Laura was complete, however, the show really began to move into the progressive jazz which, even today, some jazz afficiandos have difficulty accepting. For some fans, their feelings and response to the show was similar to this:

To be honest, for most of the season, I was one of those fans. How DARE the Blue Devils play such non-melodic music! How DARE they tease us with just a few bars of La Suerte, then play so much unfamiliar music! This is the worst drum corps show EVER!!!

Then I had an epiphany.

Just a few days before DCI Finals, I understood what the Blue Devils were doing. When I finally SAW the show at the DCI Quarterfinals cinecast, I watched it with the theme of the show in mind. Right from the start, with the 8-foot mirrors set up in an arc on the field, the guard in front of them giving the illusion of a guard twice as large, I began to see how the show concept actually WORKED.

Consider this – What does glass do?

1. It reflects

   The mirrors are the most obvious example of this, of course, but, right from the start, BD takes this concept to the next level. When the show starts, the guard runs and dances along the arc of mirrors. As they pass the edge of that arc, the horn line appears, running and dancing in a mirror image of the guard before snapping into marching and playing the opener. It’s a great effect and one I think about often. The first real hit of the show, right after the La Suerte quote, gives an aural example of reflection, turning towards the mirrors and playing directly at them, reflecting their sound back at the stands. Later in the show, during the end of Laura, as the trumpet soloist plays the melody, members of the horn line look at themselves in the mirrors, seeing various personalities reflected in them. As the guard pulls the mirrors towards the back of the field, those horn line members are seemingly pulled along with them, as if their reflection is so tied to themselves that they can’t separate themselves from it.

   There is also reflection in terms of memory and history. Nowhere is this more apparent than during Laura, when, as if looking into a reflection of the corps history, we see Blue Devil moments reenacted – The opening snare lick from Legend of the One Eyed Sailor, the monkey sticking from ’94, the Bela and Bird in B Flat solos from ’91 are just a few examples. Even then, the idea of the reflection of light also comes into play, with the snares playing the Legend lick standing in front of the mirrors, then forming two lines, one facing another, to play reflected versions of the monkey sticking.

2. It refracts/distorts

   The many colors featured in the guard uniforms and equipment are like a refraction of light through a prism, but refraction can occur with more than light. The third movement of the show, between Laura and City of Glass, features the horn line playing a refraction or, more appropriately, a distortion of the same theme, building to the climax of the movement with the horns center stage. At times, reality itself seems distorted, including the very end of the show. With the final chord fading away, a drum major runs across the front of the field. A group of guard members grabs and tosses the DM into one of the mirrors. With the sound of shattering glass, the DM reappears from the next mirror over, almost as if teleported from one point to another.

3. It shatters

   This is where the City of Glass Suite music comes into play, as any sense of melody or, for that matter, normalcy, is shattered for most of the second half of the show. The drill also demonstrates this concept, as, at the most cacophonous moment of the show, the members are scattered all over the field, as if the drill itself is shattered into pieces. What’s really interesting about this moment, though, is how the corps takes the concept of shattered class and puts it into reverse. From that scattered formation, the corps slowly comes together, pulling into small groups of rotating and moving lines until, with a return of the Laura theme, the corps forms an arc, reflected once again by the mirrors behind them. With this reformation, the show moves into completion, reflecting the start of the show with a return to La Suerte before shattering once again with a group of final, powerful chords.

With this interpretation of the show in mind, take some time to “reflect” on it by watching this performance from July 5th. It’s possible that your perceptions of Through a Glass, Darkly may “shatter” with a different take on the show.

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