MB

[Florida Sun]

Best wishs to Minn.Brass on rebuilding thier corps.Will be greatly missed this season 

 

[Ron H]

With all due respect to the terrific eastern corps. You are tone deaf.

The last several pages of this thread had everything to do with the eastern corps and nothing to do with MBI, which is the subject of this very thread.

I'm sorry, but so many of you have good intentions but are completely deaf to what is really happening in the "All-Age" world. The All-Age drum corps are very, very much a localized circuit. And it has little or no influence in the larger drum corps community. And it has virtually NO influence in the marching band world. (From which ALL of our future members come from.)

I've said it a couple of times and I'll say it again. While I believe that DCI is severely shortsighted in focusing on exclusively being a "youth" activity and blindly ignoring the adult "continuing education" aspect of drum corps , DCI right now is the only viable model of a national drum corps circuit.

DCA ain't it.

So what happens next?

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by Ron H

[BigW]

4 hours ago, Ron H said:

With all due respect to the terrific eastern corps. You are tone deaf.

The last several pages of this thread had everything to do with the eastern corps and nothing to do with MBI, which is the subject of this very thread.

I'm sorry, but so many of you have good intentions but are completely deaf to what is really happening in the "All-Age" world. The All-Age drum corps are very, very much a localized circuit. And it has little or no influence in the larger drum corps community. And it has virtually NO influence in the marching band world. (From which ALL of our future members come from.)

I've said it a couple of times and I'll say it again. While I believe that DCI is severely shortsighted in focusing on exclusively being a "youth" activity and blindly ignoring the adult "continuing education" aspect of drum corps , DCI right now is the only viable model of a national drum corps circuit.

DCA ain't it.

So what happens next?

 

 

Well, you can try and force a "national touring model" on the tone deaf Eastern corps. Go ahead. See how many can really afford it, then watch it all disintegrate. Been beaten to death. In a perfect world, it would be nice for some corps to help flesh out some of the outlier shows with 2 corps in them right now.

 

Need I remind folks that the demise of the regional junior circuits forced the hands of quite a few groups who went under as a result?

 

Forcing the NE corps to travel West or South, sure. Can you guarantee the same crowds? Any compensation for the lack of a head to head read against certain groups they may want that weekend? Can the show sponsor afford it? Are there enough days in a week? Can enough people get off work for the extra day or days of travel time? I know the outliers all have dealt with it. If you don't have to deal with it, why stick your face in the blender and hit the switch? For the 'good of the activity' so everyone else has the same issues and can feel the pain? That's what these kinds of comments and threads insinuate as the only solution.

 

Frankly, it is what it is. Unless you want to be Daddy Warbucks and pour a lot of money into the pit to ensure everyone can afford to do it and accept the potential of losing their financial you know whats in the process. It's why there's a fear of it. What happened in Winston-Salem usually comes up at about this time in most other responses. A great contest no one came to and a lot of money went down the drain.

 

From what I've read, MBI's issue is not money. It's finding (ironically) enough brass players to fill the ranks. Evidently, that's also a problem the 'tone deaf' corps in the NE also happen to have. That problem is disconnected from the others.

 

Should there be revenue sharing to force hands? Good luck on that one. There's always been that struggle between certain 'in crowd' elements and the outliers in DCA. This happens in other kinds of competition. F1 comes to mind.

Edited June 10, 2018 by BigW

[Fred Windish]

DCA is "Stuck on Weekends."

Always has been, always will be. Unless, of course, it re-invents its performance ensemble model into something smaller and less expensive to manage, move, and accommodate.

[Florida Sun]

10 hours ago, Ron H said:

With all due respect to the terrific eastern corps. You are tone deaf.

The last several pages of this thread had everything to do with the eastern corps and nothing to do with MBI, which is the subject of this very thread.

I'm sorry, but so many of you have good intentions but are completely deaf to what is really happening in the "All-Age" world. The All-Age drum corps are very, very much a localized circuit. And it has little or no influence in the larger drum corps community. And it has virtually NO influence in the marching band world. (From which ALL of our future members come from.)

I've said it a couple of times and I'll say it again. While I believe that DCI is severely shortsighted in focusing on exclusively being a "youth" activity and blindly ignoring the adult "continuing education" aspect of drum corps , DCI right now is the only viable model of a national drum corps circuit.

DCA ain't it.

So what happens next?

 

 

With thw loss of the Cali. corps and the 3 from Texas not to mention Florida ,DCA is a regional north eastern.

[Jim Schehr]

2 hours ago, Florida Sun said:

With thw loss of the Cali. corps and the 3 from Texas not to mention Florida ,DCA is a regional north eastern.

It’s important to understand what your organization is and what it provides to the members and staff. I’m not convinced that an organization needs to compete solely in DCA shows for scores or performance opportunities. 

I also believe that the DCA administration understands the logistics of organizations outside of the core region with respect to the incurred cost to compete within the core region. 

For example; CT will perform at three DCI shows less than 30 minutes from their rehearsal site. All three shows will be sold out with fans from the local geographic region. Not only will the CT members be able to perform on the same field as both DCI World and Open Class corps, many have friends who are members within those corps. It’s a win-win for both show sponsors and CT. 

Not competing every weekend with DCA corps should not be a prerequisite for any All-Age corps to be a viable, sustainable or successful organization. Any performance  venue - DCI and/or DCA should be considered with financial responsibility as priority. 

[BigW]

6 hours ago, Fred Windish said:

DCA is "Stuck on Weekends."

Always has been, always will be. Unless, of course, it re-invents its performance ensemble model into something smaller and less expensive to manage, move, and accommodate.

DCA is 'stuck on weekends' because one of the attractions is supposed to be that you can have a real job and also perform.

[BigW]

1 hour ago, Jim Schehr said:

It’s important to understand what your organization is and what it provides to the members and staff. I’m not convinced that an organization needs to compete solely in DCA shows for scores or performance opportunities. 

I also believe that the DCA administration understands the logistics of organizations outside of the core region with respect to the incurred cost to compete within the core region. 

For example; CT will perform at three DCI shows less than 30 minutes from their rehearsal site. All three shows will be sold out with fans from the local geographic region. Not only will the CT members be able to perform on the same field as both DCI World and Open Class corps, many have friends who are members within those corps. It’s a win-win for both show sponsors and CT. 

Not competing every weekend with DCA corps should not be a prerequisite for any All-Age corps to be a viable, sustainable or successful organization. Any performance  venue - DCI and/or DCA should be considered with financial responsibility as priority. 

I think it's a good thing that corps that are close to DCI venues do compete and get input and scores. It certainly hasn't hurt any of those who have.

 

Here's the irony of it- the DCI tour and the NE DCA kernel really don't have a ton of overlap. June 30, Allentown. 21-22 July, arguably Glens Falls/Gloversville, NY. A-Town August 4.... Unless you count the middle of the week. Not exactly easy to see DCI in that neck of the woods except for the Eastern Classic, especially if one works evenings during the week.

[hairbear]

To return the thread to the topic at hand:  With a history of sound business decisions and wise planning that they're known for, I think Minnesota Brass can get past this hurdle in fine form.

[gregory11]

I don't get it.  What's wrong with MBI coming out as a class A corps then rebuilding the corps back up to the open class level within time.  Are they to a shame to be class A?  Or is open class the only way to go in DCA.  All of the excuses for MBI not coming out seems overrated.  I rather see MBI come out with 17-22 horns competing rather then no corps at all.  Hope to see them back in 2019.  Now watch,  here comes all the excuses from everyone on DCP why they can't come back as class A.