Tenoris4Jazz Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Michael, thank you. Thank you for caring enough to be adored, despised, tolerated, and embraced. Thank you for being the voice of reason AND the voice of adventure. Thank you for pushing the envelope and pulling it back in. Thank you for giving a #### all these years. I remember the 1986 Phantom Regiment and what almost could have been their swan song... which turned into Swan Lake and a rebirth of Phantom's elegance, passion and performance under your guidance and care. We may debate whether your impact was good or bad on any given day, but there's no debate you had an impact felt all throughout drum corps. DCI's history cannot be written without the name Michael Cesario, and neither can its future. Thank you, and Godspeed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 2 hours ago, MikeN said: Can the next guy (or gal) please have something to do with the actual music side of things? I like this idea. The position of Artistic Director in DCI helped establish best practices among the corps. In my opinion, it worked ... the majority of corps have a better understanding of the essential visual elements. A Music Director can help establish best practices with arrangements, instrumentation, and electronic sound design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 2 hours ago, Eleran said: This! I was writing a post myself about this but didn't finish. I mean, isn't MUSIC an art form? Isn't it, in fact, the most important art form to a band? The main section of a corps for me is brass. Without the brass there's no DCI CD's, DVD's, DCI shows, and eventually DCI itself. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 1 hour ago, GUARDLING said: Interesting to say the least. Why not just say thank you to a person ( agree with views or not ) for decades of service to our activity rather than debate what one contributed or not. Even the lunch lady, semi driver, person who lines the field, etc etc contributed in a major way, whether we agreed how they did their jobs or not. The guy retires and now there is more debate then there was a few days ago on his policies. I've always said we are one of the few activities that eat their own. Over the years I have been at odds with some icons in the activity but when they choose to move on you thank them for their service find something nice to say and move forward.This is all JMO and no need to debate. We all shape lives in our activity and most often do things within the activity the we believe is in the best interest of the activity. With that will always be opposition and those who do not agree but again i will say , after decades we thank those who dedicated to all of us. " There's always something good one can find , after decades with what another has done " AGAIN...jmo From my perspective, it doesn't have anything to do with Michael, the man. It's more questioning the necessity of the position to begin with. I have loads of respect for Michael's contributions to the activity; I don't have much for the notion of an activity "Artistic Director". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfirwin3 Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Just now, Ghost said: The main section of a corps for me is brass. Without the brass there's no DCI CD's, DVD's, DCI shows, and eventually DCI itself. Yeah, but without the rest of it you don't have any of that stuff either... because then there is no DCI (no drumcorps). It's a false dichotomy/trichotomy and a misunderstanding of the role of this position. The brass isn't ignored any more than the uniforms are a focus of this "director". The director is a spokesperson and a cheerleader on DCI's behalf to the creative teams (all of them and every member of every section) of the drumcorps. The person in this position doesn't do show design and tweaking (as far as I can tell). They offer commentary on general themes and make challenges to organizations to be the best, most audience appreciated version of themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 5 minutes ago, garfield said: From my perspective, it doesn't have anything to do with Michael, the man. It's more questioning the necessity of the position to begin with. I have loads of respect for Michael's contributions to the activity; I don't have much for the notion of an activity "Artistic Director". Well I guess I can agree in part and argue both sides of that for sure. To your perspective, there have been many positions merely created to give an individual ongoing purpose in the activity. lol...#### , look at WGI when something or someone becomes obsolete a new position keeps the person relevant. There they feed their own( eat who they don't want around or who challenge them)...lol into a lifetime position for some....lol. So ok I do get what you are saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 3 hours ago, cfirwin3 said: I don't think that the directive nature of that position is so exclusive and specific so as to matter. The general directives are about giving guidance on the philosophy of whole program design... not necessarily (although I am sure that the person will get involved with specifics if asked) about what uniforms should look like... what equipment should be tossed... what props should be made... and what music should be played, and how it should be arranged. I think it's more about saying... these kinds of approaches (thematically) seem pretentious to the audience, whereas these kinds (affecting all aspects of the program) seem to relate to people. Or, these risks seem to violate a corps identity... when people really like for groups to maintain and push forward the cliche' and "shtick" (you're welcome, garfield) that is associated with them. I don't think that this position has the means or capacity to say/do much more than provide general guidance (which is much more important than many may think). Cesario said in the cast in the OP "...not very schticky..." My point is made with authority. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfirwin3 Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Just now, ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar said: I like this idea. The position of Artistic Director in DCI helped establish best practices among the corps. In my opinion, it worked ... the majority of corps have a better understanding of the essential visual elements. A Music Director can help establish best practices with arrangements, instrumentation, and electronic sound design. Again... I REALLY don't think that the position has anything exclusively to do with visual design... or really the specifics of design at all. The position is DCI's representative to all of the corps with very general respect to their thematic presentations. Does/can the person get involved in some decision making?... I don't see why not. But the Artistic Director is concerned with a DCI show (A DCI show is an event... not a performance)... as it relates to a mix-mash of drumcorps shows. This isn't like a federal government secretary that doles out regulation to sub-departments in the various states. For another analogy... it's like the shopping mall manager, making sure that every anchor store is doing what they do best (without directly involving themselves in those stores doing what they do). They want people coming to the mall. They want people having a good time at the mall. They want the stores that are at the mall to know that they are important. They want to help them be successful, because it is in everyone's benefit. I don't have many more ways to explain it. Other than that if DCI has no such position, then you are more likely to get less enjoyable DCI shows (again, a DCI show is an event... not a performance)... with respect to the way in which corps compliment the event, each other, and the activity in general. Did they have this position through the 1990's? If not... I suggest that it was noticeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 4 minutes ago, cfirwin3 said: Again... I REALLY don't think that the position has anything exclusively to do with visual design... or really the specifics of design at all. The position is DCI's representative to all of the corps with very general respect to their thematic presentations. Does/can the person get involved in some decision making?... I don't see why not. But the Artistic Director is concerned with a DCI show (A DCI show is an event... not a performance)... as it relates to a mix-mash of drumcorps shows. This isn't like a federal government secretary that doles out regulation to sub-departments in the various states. For another analogy... it's like the shopping mall manager, making sure that every anchor store is doing what they do best (without directly involving themselves in those stores doing what they do). They want people coming to the mall. They want people having a good time at the mall. They want the stores that are at the mall to know that they are important. They want to help them be successful, because it is in everyone's benefit. I don't have many more ways to explain it. Other than that if DCI has no such position, then you are more likely to get less enjoyable DCI shows (again, a DCI show is an event... not a performance)... with respect to the way in which corps compliment the event, each other, and the activity in general. Did they have this position through the 1990's? If not... I suggest that it was noticeable. I'd rather suggest the position is, in fact, the mall manager telling the anchor stores that green shoes don't sell, and green shoes are keeping people away from the mall, so stop selling green shoes. BD loves green shoes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 6 minutes ago, cfirwin3 said: I don't have many more ways to explain it. Other than that if DCI has no such position, then you are more likely to get less enjoyable DCI shows (again, a DCI show is an event... not a performance)... with respect to the way in which corps compliment the event, each other, and the activity in general. Did they have this position through the 1990's? If not... I suggest that it was noticeable. So, instead of me getting to see what BD can do with green shoes - even if it's uncomfortable for me - DCI's AD says stop showing green shoes because they're making fans uncomfortable and keeping them away from shows. Where's the creativity in following the rules? Where are those voices (I'm looking at you MikeD :-) who say that drum corps should be "anything goes"? Who agrees that, when the revenue stops coming in because of green shoes, green shoes will no longer be displayed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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