What will help DCI become more entertaining

[Fran Haring]

Except they were 1st in both Music Effect and Ensemble Music, and 2nd in percussion, and 2nd in visual performance.

I was the PA announcer at the DCI East show that year, one of the years it was held at Franklin Field in Philly.

Seeing the Cavaliers, at field level, and watching their horn line flat-out running toward the corner of the field closest to me... this was more like sprinting than jazz-running... while playing with a sound that was totally controlled... no "breath sounds"... no fracks... nothing but solid sound. Absolutely amazing.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Fran Haring

[perc2100]

The pathway to doing well in DCI is thru the Visual side, not the Musical side.

"I think you're mistaken"

- signed, Phantom Regiment 2008

[deftguy]

What will make the DCI product a better fit for mass audiences and more attractive to former members and fans. I'll start. Less WGI guard influence. Looking at recaps recently and the listings of those in charge of judging it is way too many WGI guard judges. I attended WGI finals last year and found it to be boring and adventures in designers egos.....sound familiar?

DCI does not have enough groups to fill the stadium with those there to perform. We need to change direction and remeber thse who brought you here.

Boy do I agree with this!!!!! Every since I aged out, I have watch the influence of WGI creep in year after year into corps. Don't get me wrong I don't hate WGI, I performed in the circuit for 6 years. But WGI is WGI, and Drum corps is Drum corps. Mashing them together on the field just bores the life out of me.

[JimF-LowBari]

I must agree with Jeff, I think returning music to at least equal footing with visual is a step in the right direction. Visual is awesome and necessary, but as I've said in the past: we don't buy muted DVDs to watch just the drill, but we do buy CDs to just listen to the shows. I'd like to enjoy today's shows musically as much as I have in past years.

Also thinking that emphasis is too much on "fitting into the show concept" and too little on the opinion of the butts in the stands....

[BRASSO]

"I think you're mistaken"

- signed, Phantom Regiment 2008

It was a VISUAL move added to the 2008 Phantom show as well as a VISUAL rewrite closer that put them over the top ... Not so much a brass line addition change at the end of that great show

[MikeD]

I don't think anyone could put forth a compelling case that a Corps can win a DCI Title if the Guard stood at attention facing away from the audience for a full 3 minutes ( approx. 25 % to a third of the entire on field performance show ), and not move a muscle. You can do this however ( as was done ) with the on field percussion line and win a DCI title. And this is my fundamental point here. Its impossible to do similar non participation with the Guard. And thats because of the influence of the Visual on the score sheets of today, imo.

Personally, I hate it when a drumline goes up to the corner and just stands there; I agree on that.

That is the old timer in me coming out, I guess!

What if half the guard did something similar while the other half continued to perform? That would be an equal comparison, as the front ensemble was playing while the battery just stood in the back.

Actually, since the battery was just standing there, they were providing zero visual support as well as zero music support, so I am not sure this particular point holds, but as I said, I also do not like it when they just park it and stand there for an extended period.

[JamMan]

You do realize that WGI has been influencing guard design for well over 30 years, right? And that WGI and DCI designers are, and have been, the same folks?

Dang! I accidentally downvoted this comment! Sorry! It's right on!

The Drum Corp activity needs 5 things to re-energize the activity:

1. Corps need to be diversified in their style & identity. What happened to Jazz, Spanish, Scottish & British style Corps? These corps were big crowd favorites back in the day. Drum Corps fans are tired of the generic nature of Corps today.

2. Music needs to be more accessible & popular. The music that is currently played by most Corps is generic high brow symphonic gobbledygook.

3. Drum Corps uniforms are an absolute joke today. Other than Madison, Phantom & Cavies, everyone else wears a costume.

4. Drum Corps must return to recruiting local members.

5. There needs to be another Drum Corps circuit besides DCI. DCI killing off DCM & the other Drum Corps circuits has proved to be bad for the activity.

1. BD played jazz last year. BK played British/Scottish two years ago. Latin flavor is the only thing I miss nowadays. Except Madison played "Malaga" last year.

2. LOL WUT. Do you only watch the Top...None? Cadets played Christmas music last year. CHRISTMAS. MUSIC. How much more accessible does it need to be? Dubstep? Oh wait, Cavaliers played that last year. Musicals? SCV and Bluecoats last year. Crossmen played Michael Jackson, for crying out loud! You point is moot.

3. WHAT? Seriously? What costume did Cadets wear last year? All white versions of their same uniform. SCV? Same as always. Blue Knights? Are you seriously just trying to create patterns out of one or two examples? You're not going to be very popular around here if you keep that up.

4. So people from far away are not allowed to march? I think you'll find a majority of kids in each corps is from a reasonable distance away from the corps' home base.

5. DCI World Class, DCI Open Class, DCA and DCE aren't enough? Where are corps supposed to get enough money to compete in multiple circuits?

[jjeffeory]

The Drum Corp activity needs 5 things to re-energize the activity:

1. Corps need to be diversified in their style & identity. What happened to Jazz, Spanish, Scottish & British style Corps? These corps were big crowd favorites back in the day. Drum Corps fans are tired of the generic nature of Corps today.

2. Music needs to be more accessible & popular. The music that is currently played by most Corps is generic high brow symphonic gobbledygook.

3. Drum Corps uniforms are an absolute joke today. Other than Madison, Phantom & Cavies, everyone else wears a costume.

4. Drum Corps must return to recruiting local members.

5. There needs to be another Drum Corps circuit besides DCI. DCI killing off DCM & the other Drum Corps circuits has proved to be bad for the activity.

You had me for all of them except for #3 and #4.

There are other corps with good corps uniforms. I happen to like SCV, Bluecoats, Boston Crusaders, and Cadets uniforms too. I'm not a fan of Cavies "new" uniform design, miss Madison's design from '88 - '99 ( that general one), really disliked BD's uniforms since '94, and think Crown's costume is a little too generic and neutral in color.

It's okay to have members from all over the place. It's the touring model that needs to change.

Edited April 5, 2013 by jjeffeory

[jjeffeory]

I don't think anyone could put forth a compelling case that a Corps can win a DCI Title if the Guard stood at attention facing away from the audience for a full 3 minutes ( approx. 25 % to a third of the entire on field performance show ), and not move a muscle. You can do this however ( as was done ) with the on field percussion line and win a DCI title. And this is my fundamental point here. Its impossible to do similar non participation with the Guard. And that's because of the influence of the Visual on the score sheets of today, imo.

Brasso,

I read your post and initially agreed with you until Slinger posted.

Your comparison to the Guard is off. In your comparison, maybe the rifle line stood at attention facing away from the audience for a full 3 minutes while the rest of the guard picked up a bunch of silks and performed a bunch of work.

In the Cavalier's 2001 case, the battery was tacit, but the pit was not. So the percussion section was performing for those 3 minutes.

[perc2100]

It was a VISUAL move added to the 2008 Phantom show as well as a VISUAL rewrite closer that put them over the top ... Not so much a brass line addition change at the end of that great show

That's questionable wrong (edit: I changed "questionable" because analyzing the recaps there is no logical basis for Brasso's assessment).

Here's is Boo's recap of the 2008 Finals recaps regarding Phantom vs BD (bolded statements mine of course):

]Phantom’s Visual Effect score was 0.35 under that for BD[/b], but Music Effect was 0.30 above, almost a wash in total Effect. But the corps’ total Visual score was 0.65 less than BD’s and Phantom’s Percussion score was 0.85 greater after being 0.55 above in the Semis. The corps won Music Effect, Music Ensemble and Percussion.

The Rockford corps’ Visual Performance score was 1.10/0.55 under BD in Semifinals, but only 0.10/0.05 behind in Finals. Closing the gap of 1.00/0.50 in that caption was a major reason Phantom passed up BD. (Remember that all captions except for Visual Effect and Music Effect are divided in half before being added to the final score.) However, that spread was largely negated by Phantom’s Color Guard score, which was 0.70/0.35 behind the Blue Devils after it was only 0.20/0.10 behind in Semifinals.

Phantom’s Brass caption closed up a 0.30/0.15 gap in Semifinals to 0.10/0.05 in Finals. Their Percussion, strong all season, outscored BD’s line by 0.85/0.425 in the Finals after doing so by 0.45/0.225 in Semifinals. The total Music score, (combining Brass, Music Ensemble and Percussion) was 0.725 above that of Blue Devils. It helped make up for the corps being 0.65 under BD in total Visual, (the combination of Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard).

Saying Phantom was pushed over the top because of visual stuff doesn't jibe with the actual numbers that clearly show that BD was superior visually while Phantom was superior musically. This, of course, ALL jibes with my assessment that a corps needs to be strong balanced: Phantom wasn't as strong as BD visually, but they were close enough to close the overall scoring gap in music.

Edited April 5, 2013 by perc2100