DCI’s History of "Medea's Dance of Vengeance"

[@cedricbarnett7647]

Star of Indiana '93 by far... it's no accident that Crown '16's arrangement is similar, given the fact that their brass caption head (Matt Harloff) was Star's drum major in '93.

[@theunknowndrummer1209]

Matt: *get booed off the field in 93* also matt: fine I will come back and take away all of your hearing

[@royrogers4468]

Wow that's awesome I had no idea

[@dciaudio]

@@theunknowndrummer1209 Did Star ‘93 really get boo’d off the field? Why?

[@larrywoolard7965]

Concur with '93 over '16, but my gawd, Crown's opening impact was f'n seismic...

[@Dischingo]

Matt Harloff in 2024 after hearing Cadets folds "My revenge is now complete."

[@thecampingyeen2524]

I feel like the thing that made 93 star of Indiana’s hit special was how slow it was. It made it feel grand and glorious, and then when the brass came in with that last hit it was like reaching the light piercing out of a storm cloud

[@highstimulation2497]

you SAID it! yeah, my best friend, a fellow "obsessee" with this show like me, said essentially that when you aren't kinda exhausted from playing loud kinda all the time, when you ARE playing loud, you're REALLY playing loud:)

[@thecampingyeen2524]

@@highstimulation2497 ive been obsessed with this show for awhile now, my 10th grade show in 2019 had our closer be medea and I've been enamoured and interested with the different iterations of this piece on the field.

[@booker9816]

2005 Cadets actually is a piece inspired by Medea's Dance of Vengeance that was written by their brass arranger I believe. It was a mid-season addition and they didn't want to pay for the rights to Medea's Dance of Vengeance.

[@highstimulation2497]

Not at all surprising. The pit feature just before the end of the show replaced a riff from Medea that was SO obviously by barber. a friend of mine who loves star 93 and loves other things less.... was offended when I pointed out that cadets 2005 "borrowed" star 93.

[@highstimulation2497]

I believe it's called "False Mirrors," if memory serves.

[@highstimulation2497]

mid season, eh? what on earth was there before it?

[@Rich_Larr]

Part 4 is called “False Mirrors” by Jay Bocook. It was not a mid season add in, it just went thru a few rewrites. He was at rehearsal a lot refining it. It’s based off of Medea, yes, and a lot of our parts up front, especially mine, were straight rips from Medea.

[@highstimulation2497]

I thought as much. It's on the pre-season CD, which I used to listen to constantly.

[@b0bfelice]

1993 Star was SO ahead of its time and just, so amazing. Especially the color guard being so exposed with poles, sticks or 2-dimensional angular shapes. Every angle had to be perfect to pull that off. The amount of practice and adjustments had to be maddenning! 2013 Cadets was the next best thing and so so good, but they contanminated it with Adagio for Strings and overlayed the pieces. Had they stuck to Medea only, I think it had a chance to overtake Star's performance.

[@pumpkin462]

I’m not sure Star had quite the blend and balance of Crown, (Star was maybe slightly thinner) but boy do they play those low dynamics just so well - like it’s crazy!

[@johno7564]

It was the freneticism of this piece that the corps dont understand. ‘93 Star took this by the horns and no others shall match it…

[@Hillbilly-mgjwv]

It’s like comparing different performances of Malagueña. Many are great, but there’s only one ‘88. (Scouts, not VK)

[@paulmazierski5945]

Is that a rhetorical question?

[@_blitzreplayz_5880]

The Minor key for crowns was amazing, on and off the field

[@highstimulation2497]

it certainly is, surprising, too.

[@keithcoleman4537]

'93 Star...imitated, but never equaled.

[@brianjungen4059]

We’re gonna play this until someone wins with it......

[@dwaterson21]

And yet still no one has. The song must be cursed. Even Cadets 2005 didn't use it. They made their own version, different song.

[@ordoneright7337]

@@dwaterson21 Star won with it--they just didn't get the score.

[@Sparkle-q5s]

STAR OF INDIANA 93 !!!! Then Cadets 2013..

[@johno7564]

I’m wondering if any corp has performed Cage 4’33”?

[@highstimulation2497]

amusing indeed.

[@BrianLanders]

My biggest problem with most of the interpretations of Medea that aren't Star 93 is that they're simply too slow... Cadets did it right, as did Crown 2016, but the first three examples (Crown 2002, Xmen 2009, and Glassmen 2004) sound like a high school band trying to pull off a DCI show at 2/3 speed. Star 93 was pushing 210bpm in the closer and it just sounds RIGHT.

[@sdssteward]

Have you ever actually heard the orchestral original? Star's tempo is actually the correct one. It actually loses it's musicality and it's life when it's too fast.

[@BrianLanders]

@@sdssteward reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, huh?

[@sdssteward]

@BrianLanders you know what? I realize now I read your post in reverse. My apologies for that. However, now that this has been clarified, I disagree with your observation. First. Star actually did it SLOWER than Cadets and Crown. And that is why I prefer Star's over the other two because the original is actually slower. So, if I may swing back at you a bit, tempo discernment is not your strong suit, is it? 🤪 Get a metronome and see for yourself. The original is NOT as fast as Cadets or Crown (and Star's tempo was on point with the original).

[@Rich_Larr]

Star wins imo. But hey! I’m in this one! CBC ‘05

[@abyss7657]

I think that cadets 13' and star 93' are right next to each other in levels of greatness, while that cadets is often forgotten by most that specific arrangement in that show is (to me) just the more aggressive version of stars arrangement. Which makes sense considering the staff at cadets in 13' but it still doesn't beat stars if you ask my personal opinion

[@highstimulation2497]

Love Cadets, always. but NOTHING beats Star 93.

[@DevinEsleck]

Star deserves credit for making this tune famous in drum corps…but Cadets 13 was really the only one that truly expanded on it and made it fit the show, making a new piece of art instead of just trying to reproduce a work for orchestra on a football field

[@mnguyen313]

The percussion writing is so musical and adds a lot. Inspired from Star ‘93 of course. Love how it resolves back into Adagio for Strings seamlessly

[@rosolanko]

Anyone else feel like this is sped up?

[@jared0111]

nope

[@declan9876]

no

[@highstimulation2497]

nope. Unless they sped it up and kept the pitch the same. nope.

[@highstimulation2497]

not at all.

[@pete6099]

no