World Band Competition Becomes Licensed Partners Of Drum Corps Europe

Drum Corps Europe is expanding its borders. DCE is introducing ‘Licensed Partnerships’ for organisations outside of Europe wanting to use the DCE Competition Manual. The World Band Competition from Malaysia will become the first non-European partner.

So far DCE only had Certified Partners within Europe. Organisations from other countries have also expressed their wish to use the expertise of DCE. The World Band Competition from Malaysia was the first to be allowed to make a specific request to use the DCE Competition Manual and to certify their judging panel. This has led to the development of the Licensed Partnership.

DCE Chairman Marcel Matthijsse welcomes the new opportunities for cooperation. "This is a new step in the development of DCE", stated Matthijsse. "Of course our primary focus is on Europe, but we also want to support organisations outside Europe. We were impressed by the first WBC competition event in 2009 and we’re looking forward to working with them."

The World Band Competition from Malaysia organises competitions in Malaysia in which a large number of bands will participate. "We were looking for a judging system which would assess the performance of the bands objectively and independently", says Dato Zulfiki, Chairman of WBC. "We hope the DCE system will result in an increased quality, which will ensure the growth of the competition not only in Malaysia but in a large part of Asia."

In addition to using the manual, the DCE judging panel will also support the (new) judges in Asia. In June, a Judges College will take place in Kuala Lumpur by DCE’s Director of Education Bob Thomas.