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These corps have roughly 11 minutes on the field. Pines reduced to 11 minutes? Yes, they got me to listen to these and many other works I would never have thought to look for, but, I repeat: Pines in 11 minutes?
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...You should hear the version of Russian Christmas Music I had a band do in 4 minutes (it was their closer). Proof that sometimes it IS possible to capture the essence of a piece in a very narrow time frame. It was outstanding.
But I do agree with you -- the problem with much of the music is it's too condensed. You get the melodies, but lose the emotion. Considering how many drum corps already write their own arrangements, I'm sure they COULD write new music if they wanted. The problem is that fans want to hear something familiar, and performers want to do their "favorites". How many of those kids are ever going to get to play Tchaikovsky, Holst, Beethoven, etc., once they're done? This at least gives them a chance to appreciate such music directly.
I think people should be exposed to new music and would appreciate it just as much as the "classics". The problem is, you just can't deny the "OOOH--Phantom is doing Tchaikovsky's 4th" factor. It just gets people interested. They're more likely to shell $15/ticket to see that than "My Nothing Song" by R.J. Zeller.....