C.Holland

Except the DCI corps work together on everything with a vested interest and shared stakes in the regional shows, finals week, and tour planning. (Unless you’re open class… sorry kids, you get whatever is left) The full time staff of dci then handle marketing & branding, planning operations, business transactions and venue agreements, site visits, show coord, and in season logistics. It’s not left to a half time volunteer skeleton crew.

Well. Yes. That MC should be selling every possible thing they can. That’s the MCs job. Shame that they announced the event that way. Woof. But There’s two sides to this. One is an event that piggybacks on the operations of the flagship event. It’s a bunch of unaffiliated groups with no standards who show up on occasion and expect to play. They have no stake in this beyond their own once a year performance opportunity. They don’t bring much a crowd on their own. Do they send their own organizer or simply expect DCA to make it happen? “We want to do this so you need to make it work”. It feels like they just expect it to happen with no help from them. They don’t often stay for the flagship event everything is centered on, and they need that flagship event to be successful for the continuation of what everything else the weekend is based around to exist. The other is a mom n pop operation that does all the leg work from a part time volunteer office. It’s a circuit that needs at least a few full time staff to generate revenue, handle marketing and operations, but is stuck in a decades old method mindset of “every show and every corps for itself”. And sometimes this worked, until it didn’t. And as organizers retired, as corps operators retired (sometimes with debt, sometimes with legal issues, other times with no one wanting to take over the corps or show) the lack of an actual central full time office wasn’t able to keep these old show relations going. And then everything about the flagship weekend gets put on hold until the very last minute. Which if you haven’t at least worked out time constraints and sequencing of your events in time to market them, why would anyone show up to buy a ticket? At what point does the low bar discourage people from buying tickets? so these two things can’t be successful if everyone isn’t willing to put a real stake in the game. Which for dca it’s felt like no one has had a real stake in the game for a very long time except for a few choice groups. But they only want their success, not anyone else’s.

Last years DCI finals attendance was a little over 20k paid and 6k in comps. (Staff, members, admin, volunteers) if all-age can sell even 3k one year and 6k the next, it’s a win. Heck, as long as it covered staffing costs of the operations for the event (since the stadium is already paid for the week) it’s a win. seeing the marketing, spellchecking, and operations of dci applied to dca groups can only improve the brand. Seeing dca “Info” posted this week for schedules and the amount of errors in names, and haphazardly thrown together presentation and social media posts just looks mom and pop, and this is for the flagship event. Cmon man. Having a full time staff to do this work is only a good thing.

Well. When you get the same (up to) 6 corps at a show in both DCA and a different but same 6 at a show in DCI open class, it then can only be helpful to run the tour near to established operators and venues. There will be new growing pains such as finding housing for DCI groups in places that were DCA only show sites before, and figuring out the shower and practice fields in places that were DCI only before, but you now can give each a few more show operators and performance ops in places they didn’t have before. championships will require everyone to suck it up and play nice, and will require some coordination for fields, housing, and programming that may overlap a bit to get it all in. But again, more fans in one place. More eyes on the corps that aren’t in the north east, and you may even get a few more members out of it. First year is the “figure it out “ phase. Second year will see if it makes headway.

None of the other events are free. Or the same atmosphere. Do you find the festival outside more entertaining, or the 4 corps a class finals inside more entertaining? The current plan is to run them simultaneously. Soundsport isn’t held during any of the other events right now on Saturday morning and afternoon. Because its participating members are very similar to DCA demographics. To move Soundsport to any other day would go against the reason it exists. To be a low cost, low pressure, super efficient performance opportunity for weekenders and part timers. Moving it to a day where people need to take off work, works against the success that the festival has become. It’s also ticket buyers for finals in the participating Soundsport teams. the stadium is already paid for on Saturday. So letting dca piggyback is more revenue for the presenter.

One is a free event, the other is ticketed.

Star United and Rogues Hollow both were soundsport groups. And both know how to program. Each has found their success.

So… by this logic. A sax can be used in a pit, as long as it has a pickup collecting vibrations and not a mic. There’s your IN if you ever wanted to add woodwinds. Troopers opened the door.

Ahhhh the piezo pickup. That thing converts vibration to electrical energy. Except you’re still needing reeds to vibrate, which causes the metal housing the piezo is mounted to, to vibrate. there’s no vibration of anything in an ewi. Air flow is monitored to adjust volume. But you can turn this function off and instead run the EWI through a guitar volume pedal.

I play in a couple bands with harmonica players. Harmonica is a metal box built around a small batch of dual wooden reeds assembled via a main lug. Once the reeds fail the thing is a paperweight. They are all built around one key. So harmonica players often carry a case of 12. One for each key. Sometimes 13 for the chromatic harmonica but it’s got a lot of limits to it. so it’s a woodwind. That if air goes in one way it makes one sound, and air drawn in reverse make another. DCI rules I think count it like the cello or concertina. Gotta run it through the elex to be accepted as part of the ensemble. So put a Shure 520DX on it, and you’re good to go.

We’ve been theatrical for 20 years. Every year this activity resembles my daily life in theatre more. At first it was cool. Now it feels like I’m watching work.

There’s just not enough demand to offset the costs of the copyright.

exactly. There's LOTS of members from texas. and when i say LOTS i mean every corps except for a few Open Class corps has Texans in their ranks. There's lots from Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, and California. Because those are the band hotbeds. So the students (or their parents) pay, and pay and pay and pay and pay and pay ... to send their kids out to groups all over. There is a reason that much of the top 16 corps, and now some open (who are not based in texas) host at least 1 camp in texas.

Tresona is a pain. It's all a pain. my sis n law works in rights and clearances (not for Tresona but for one of those big budget tv show producers who put out a new episode every week based on the national news... she's very overworked) But I asked her one time about this issue and her response was "there's so many layers to dig through when you need an artist's ok to use their stuff that its madness". That email/phone call etc could have gone to them, and then the artist, their lawyer, rep, etc... there's a lot of places it could, and often does, get lost, or ignored. sigh.

i think this all depends on what the member can afford. flights and tour fees are the big items. I have many students who spent a few seasons in DCA, or Open Class, and then went to world class for 1 season, maybe 2. I only know a small handful of students who marched 4 or more years, and even less who marched more than 2 seasons in world class. Most opting to march 1 WC corps for 1 season, then move to another for their ageout. $5000-6000 plus flights to/from camps is problematic when you can only work so much being a student.

due to mechanical licensing, and costs to merge sounds with video i'm actually not sure how long its been since you could buy those. later years had large gaps of silence if costs to secure rights outweighed the projected sales.

My $0.02. And its not an easy yay or nay. I'd like to know what the plan for next season's show is. Good designers generally have ideas ready to go, that way you can plan in Sept and Oct for November's roll out. They also can assess the concerns, and have plans to remedy problematic situations. I think the performers can play, however I have concerns at the rate to which they are coached. What we saw the last few days, is where I had hoped for this corps to start. And had it been this way, none of these conversations we would be having right now. So let's revisit the past seasons shows. Between The Lines. - so well done I wish this would have been last or this years' shows. Well assembled, well staged, well coached. Installation 85 - The idea is super different, and had promise. But the execution just wasn't there. the full integration where we could see the development of the ensemble merging with the gallery/museum just never hit. Good charts, interesting idea, and well performed by the end of the season. But it always felt 6 weeks behind schedule. Sound Garden - An idea... or at least a name. But I'm not sure of the idea. Which as person who spends way too much time in a dark theatre designing, bothers me. I'm still not sure of the narrative. The performers, again, are executing at a level we hoped to see out of the gate. But this show feels like it's missing concept, as well as 8 weeks behind schedule. So this was year 3 of the artistic staff. 2.5 if you don't count the exhibition season as a real season. I would say "what's next years idea, and what's your thoughts to improve the artistry on the field?". I think that would give me my answer. While I dont believe all success is what's shown on the field, I do think that an incohesive product two season's in a row means (to quote NFL Today) coaches being put onto a hot seat. I also think this is hard to answer until students get quizzed about their summer experience, their ideas for what needs to be better, and what they liked. They're the one's paying for the experience, they're the best recruiting tool, and they're the ones who'll leave you working to fill either 30 open spots or 130 open spots. Short answer. do I think a full purge is necessary? no. Do i think that there needs to be a very short leash and some significant plans laid out for artistic success? absolutely.

Kentucky and indiana had camps already full steam ahead. We usually took the students to Friday of DCI finals week. which is also the reason finding fields and gyms is hard in indiana this week as schools are having sports and band camps, or in some cases already in classes.

they'll cave and just let em back in. oversight is often an oversight depending on which group it is.

SCV was unhealthy for decades and no one knew the difference though. soooooo yeah.

discussion implies that participants have already done their homework, and bring thoughtful insight to the conversation.

Bad ### performers are all gender. Watch Cirque, Broadway, Blue Man Group (there's no gender requirements under the makeup), Nita Strauss, Candy Dulfer... the list is endless. Bad assery doesnt have a gender, its a performance style. Show concepts and execution on the other hand... Installation 84 was missing full integration of the narrative. it was a 75% show. We never truly saw the corps and gallery merge. Good charts, out of the box idea, not fully immersed. Between the lines was a pretty spot on show that is truly unfortunate it didn't put a score to it. Should have used that in place of Installation or Sound Garden. This show... again a novel idea... without much supportive narrative. I call this a 50% show. Its got a fun name, its got some killer charts. Its missing a catalyst and narrative string that drives everything else on the field.

You dont pay attention if this is what you take away. but hey... cherry pick what you want. seams to be your talent. Yes. I like CK. he's a good numbers guy and a revenue finder. He's dug this corps out of the pits of extinction. But i am still scrutinous of show design and education. Always have been. One part of the org is for operations and funding. The other part is what you all continue to complain about on the field. And I like J Rob... however this isn't the first time I've been scrutinous of a show. They start promising... first season was a step in the right direction, then the next looked better, and then we now have an artistic component that's missing communication. Which I too have stated many times, over many seasons.. when there's concern, and how they handle it. But i still believe you give a team a few seasons to see what they can do and if it doesnt work, then replace them. To me its a 3 year process. First year is putting in all the systems and bring a new look. second year is recruiting talent and pushing the envelope. third year should be profit of the previous two. But it does go back to one part funds the machine and operates it, and the other creates the artistic show on the field. (same as we do in professional theatre... one side brings money, the other brings arts and neither the two should influence the other) If the corps has money coming in and students well traveled, well fed, and well cared for, then admin has done their job correctly. If the retention rate is above 50%, then admin has done their job correctly. Competitive/artistic success is dependent on the design team and education staff. This is a design driven era. Read the sheets, there's more about what a performer is given to do than an actual assessment of performance. And one score either holds the maximum number which can be achieved, or elevates then beyond what they're performing. In fact the wording on sheets is so dependent on design that the student's "education" is superfluous in this era. You dont want students that you have to teach fundamentals to, you want students ready to go out of the box, so that you can do nothing but teach the show (like we do on broadway). The less time you spend teaching performance techniques and instead teaching show concepts the more success you have.

Make sure they get their TCO permits. Unlike some of the other building issues they’ve had.

Can we all please raise a glass or two, or at least a six pack to Ray and Edith? Who ran this show (and Lake Erie regiment and the indoor group) for decades. Theyre wonderful humans, huge hearts, Erie locals, and deserve a sweet retirement.