Santa Clara Vanguard and the Sublime

"What is the sublime?" one might ask after seeing the title of this post and the video. Longinus has many pages in which he describes the sublime and what it means, but it always seems to leave some room for interpretation. Longinus says: "For by some innate power the true sublime uplifts our soulds; we are filled with a proud exaltation and a sense of vaunting joy, just as though we had ourselves produced what we had heard" (120). This video is exactly that for me.
Many people do not think of marching band as anything but a half-time performance where people are meant to get up and grab some hot dogs instead of watching. Unfortunately, not many people have the opportunity to be truly exposed and immersed into the art that is marching band. This video, the 2004 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of "Scheherezade" is an example of a prime performance. Scheherezade is a symphony written by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. While usually performed in a concert setting, Vanguard chose to take a different approach by a marching and playing the symphony in a non traditional setting. Here is an example of the traditional form of Scheherezade:



While both videos contain the same symphony, one truly speaks the sublime for me. Watching the band move with the music--accentuating the high moments and the low moments-- I feel the exact feeling that Longinus talks about in his paper. Something is much less "sublime" in the second video. Yes, the music is beautiful. But the lack of movement and strong brass notes seems to make a lot less sublimity.
Longinus also says that something that is truly sublime can have several readings or listenings and always keep the same magic each time. Scheherezade is one of those performances for me. 10, 50, or 1000 listenings of this video, and I will always be excited by every moment in it.
However, Longinus also says that the sublime is supposed to be something somewhat universal, which I don't believe that the Scheherezade video is. Most people are not exposed to marching band, nor do they follow the professional marching band competitions. Scheherezade is not universal, unfortunately, but I do believe it represents my sublime.

Works Cited

Longinus, Cassius. “On the Sublime.” Classical Literary Criticism. Ed. Penelope Murray, T.S. Dorsch. London: Penguin, 2004