bluehull Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Each year DCI seems to minimize the ageout ceremony to the point where it is becoming like an afterthought,or an obligatory nuisance. holding the ceremony while the crowd is filing out is hardly any way to honor these corps members that have spent years in their corps. It is time to either dignify the age out ceremony,or leave it to the individual corps to honor their members where there will be some honest recognition, and not depend on DCI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWonka Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Go back to a full retreat. Leave the shoes, etc. on the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgoth Bauglir Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I must say, as an age out, it did seem rather anti climatic. Like we got there. They did the speech. But none of us really knew what was going on. We were just kind of standing there on the front while Brandt was giving announcements about the end of the show. Then these guys just showed up and handed us some pins, and the we were told to get off the field. There really was no "ceremony". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apoch003 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Okay. Let me get this straight. Kids paid to be in a drum corps, so that they could spend their summer vacations working their butts off trying to entertain auduences and sell tickets to DCI shows. They continued to do this until their youth is gone and DCI gets rich. As the performers pay with time and money, the audiences pay for tickets, and sponsors pay and in turn sell more equipment to other kids. Then DCI gives these kids a tacky "oh thanks for making us money...see ya" send off WHILE THE AUDIENCE IS LEAVING? How lame is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapRegBari Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 like i said..... they wouldn't even let us leave anything there. no shoes, no letters, no nothing. and a handful did anyway, but they snatched it up as soon as we put it down. isn't the whole point of it to kind of leave something there as a "goodbye"? thanks, stadium security! the video was pretty cool, but yeah.... no one knew what was going on, and standing at the gate for over an hour while they did the I&E stuff was VERY anti-climactic. although it did give us ample time to mingle with other corps (since we didn't get the chance this year to do it before retreat) and ##### about the situation. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 A few thoughts from the 'been there, done that' department: 1. I liked what they did in '92 when my wife aged-out. ALL of the age-outs from all divisions got to be on the field for finals retreat. The age-outs who weren't in a finalist corps got to at least be on the field. It didn't take any extra time (i.e. they did their own thing for the most part before scores were announced), DCI gave them an age-out patch (DCI Class of 1992), and it was pretty cool from what I've heard. upside: all age-outs on field at finals retreat. Short but sweet time-wise DCI wouldn't have to do too much extra. More people would go to finals to see their kids honored. downside: I imagine some finalist corps members would feel like being on field for finals should be a 'pay your dues' typ of thing, and not appreciate non-finalists taking their glory. It would be a lot of members (but a lot of them would already be on the field with their corps in finals retreat), and it might still seem like an after thought to some. More people would go to finals to see their kids honored. 2. I really liked what they did when I aged out in '98. We all went on the field after Semi's, DCI cut the lights, gave us all light pens to shine, had age-out's "reading" some of their final thoughs (via previously taped recording). We all left whatever we wanted to, and it felt pretty cool to me (my corps was not a finalist corps), and we got our age-out patch. upside: Gets the members back on the field, many of them already done for the season so it would be a 'one last time' type of thing. Not too much extra work. It would be a sort of 'happy medium' of ideas downside: really late evening for all. Might not be enough for some. Still extra work during the busiest weekend for DCI staffers. Is the equivalent of mass chaos on the field. My memories of the age-out ceremony were great, but they would've been almost no matter what. It was the last time I had on my uniform and got to stand with 15 ot 20 brothers and sisters. We left our shoes in formation of the initials of our corps (Kiwanis Kavaliers), and I left a bunch of other stuff. I honestly couldn't tell you what was going on on the scoreboard, what anyone was saying on the speakers, or what the audience was doing. I saw as my last time on the field in uniform with my corps family, and we cherished that moment together. It felt more of a 'private' thing (though we mingled with other corps) than anything else. I honestly liked the laid back feel of the event (go out and stand around, you don't have to do anything, and leave when you want to), and I almost think that anything 'grand' would've just been annoying. But that's me. I always thought finals week for an age-out isn't really about that fairly cheesy ceremony, but more about taking everything in (performance, rehearsals, etc). Just my thoughts... -- doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4181jay Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 we didn't have a ceremony in dcuk back in the day but there were a lot of shoes handed in at lost property in football stadiums around the midlands day after finals! We had our own private moment when leaving them and then a special moment with the corps. I always found leaving shoes was the most symbollic way of saying goodbye to the field. It seems very sad that staff moved your stuff as soon as you put it down. Nothing beats remembering that one last look at the shoes as you leave the stadium for the last time. Cue manly emotions, yes, I have got something in my eye! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluehull Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 DCI has become sterile,which was part of my point. The emotion and dedication is, and always has been the heart of this activity. I do not have any children marching, but the ceremony and pomp of drum corp has always been part of the appeal,and this includes all of the corps,not just the top two corps which are loaded with free agents and ring chasers who have jumped from the corps that trained them!. Good for them, but do not start taking away from the rest of the activity just to accomodate these guys Brandt Crocker is beginning to sound like someone announcing a sale at K-Mart, and perhaps falsely gives the impression that he would rather be on his way home than at the venue. Aparently drum corps means much more to the kids marching than to the people running the show... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kas Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I also spoke to a 4 year age-out who said..."I waited 4 years for that and it was such a letdown"..."I was really disappointed". Please, DCI, do something about this. This should really be about the kids and what they would like it to be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jami Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Even the differences between my ageout ceremony last year and this year's ageout ceremony were vast. It was quite a shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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