creativity, INSPIRATION, innovation, and Where Do Ideas Come From Part 4

Looking for Inspiration from within the activity:

Certainly watching performances or even rehearsals of groups involved in the high school activity (local and BOA), DCI, and WGI are great ways to gather inspiration. Raise your hand if you’ve ever spent time trying to transcribe a drum corps move (my hand is raised). It was a Blue Devils block unwrap from sometime in the 80s/early 90s. This is BYT (Before YouTube). I was working with a VHS player. Play….Rewind…..Play….Rewind and trying to chart the move on paper. It was also BP (Before Pyware). You can see a move very similar to the one I was lifting in the last 15 seconds of this rehearsal footage.

Although I don’t do as much out and out transcribing of design as I used to, I consider it an important part of my development just as a jazz musician would transcribing the solos of Parker or Davis. You can learn A LOT in that activity. It’s one thing to appreciate a move as an observer/audience member, but it is a completely different experience to study a visual progression dissecting and studying its every element/feature. One of my mentors once told me, “If you’re going to steal, steal it from the best and steal it right.” We know for certain that great composers from past ages were well aware of each other’s work and would “borrow” ideas and approaches to form.

Where I think this approach can be dangerous is when we take a fantastic move we’ve discovered but we put it out of context. We put it with different music. It just doesn’t seem to have the same energy or life now that it has been lifted and removed from it’s original place. Consider say the Phantom Regiment taking a Blue Devils drill move and putting with Tchaikovsky. Can you visualize that? They just aren’t congruent styles.

I do like studying different approaches to staging and how designers deal with the problems presented by the music and guard books. How they deal with side to side or back to front timing, balance, blend, etc. There are times I definitely draw inspiration from particular sets/forms that I’ve observed in live performance or video form. Percussion and guard staging are items I’m always very interested in observing.

What if instead of literally lifting the design verbatim……We just drew inspiration from the flow of motion the original designer used? The music we’re working with is in a similar style and therefore could use a similar looking design. This may be a much healthier and effective approach to drawing inspiration from within the activity.

Who are some designers involved in the activity whose work you find yourself drawn to time and time again? Here is my short list (I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or offend anyone). Steve Brubaker, Michael Gaines (Cavaliers/Vanguard), Mitch Rogers (Cavaliers), George Zingali, and Marc Sylvester (Cadets). There have been many, many more, but this is a blog and is supposed to be a quick read. Sadly some of these great minds are no longer with us. If you are not familiar with Steve Brubaker’s work, check out 80s Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps. Here is a link to a master class being taught by George Zingali (The 27th Lancers, Cadets, early Blue Knights, and Star of Indiana) in 1986.

Although some of this may seem like ancient history to some younger folks out there…..Just remember that in music theory class, you studied Bach before just about anything else. WATCH, STUDY, & DISSECT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

If you have enjoyed this entry, please leave me a comment containing names of designers who inspire you and/or feedback. I would love to hear from you! Also, please help me spread the word about this blog by referring others. Thanks —DB