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We went to DCI finals 2010 and 2013, had fun; the performances were wonderful. Thank you! I post what I can on DCP to celebrate our experiences. Drum Corps was a great ride with pride. To those marching today, enjoy the experience of hard work, long hours, travel, friends and memories. I've grown to have known many in drum corps and reacquainting with drum corps folks these past few years. I find threads like this depressing while I'm trying to enjoy Drum Corps, past and present IMO The fact lies in a unique product, in a niche, that needs to loudly shout 'It's A Good Thing!'

1972 DCI Championships....How many corps are still in existence in DCI? 7 out of 39. 1976 DCI Championships....How many? 11 out of 82. All A class corps and all-girls are gone. The lowest scoring Open corps was Pioneer and right above them was Colts. The top 4 corps are still in top 12 1981/82 Saw the same amount of corps 98 and what is left? 14

This is an accurate assessment of this 2 division format that Massachusetts once had. The Drum Corps division was self explanatory in terms of instrumentation, whereas the Band division was pretty much an anything goes division where the marching competing Bands in competition utilized saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and all manner of woodwinds and so forth. Since many of these Bands had Drum Corps instructors, the Bands were all Drum Corps style marching Bands ( ie, no high stepping Ohio State style bands, for example ). The 2 divisions competed at the same show, and with the same set of judges. They came together at retreat when scores were announced in each division.One ticket price allowed entry by fans to watch both divisions perform on the same field. While its true that on the whole the musicianship was better with these Bands in terms of musician talent ( this circuit's Bands had the best non college marching bands in N.E, by far at the time), it was unmistakably clear that it was the Drum Corps division that was the biggest draw for the eastern Massachusetts area public. Average attendance was approx. 5-6,000 for each of the circuit's dozen or so local area shows., a healthy turnout at each. Once a year this circuit brought in other national Drum Corps ( and called the show " The CYO Nationals" ) to supplement the local circuit Drum Corps competitors. ( they did not utilize their circuit's Bands for this 1 show), and this show, usually at Boston College's Alumni Stadium, typically averaged between 16,000- 22, 000 for this local Drum Corps competition show each year in this circuit...... So yes, I do believe that its possible to have a separate division for Drum Corps and another one for an anything goes performance Band division that can utilize the flutes, saxophones, clarinets, guitars, etc and any other instrumentatiion for that matter that any musical group in competition wants to utilize. Its not an impossibility at all. Its already been done in a 2 division format successfuly, and in which others on here are suggesting we bring back. This 2 division format should have been properly promoted, marketed, financed, etc decades ago by DCI in my opinion. I have no idea if it makes practical, doable sense anymore however, But I would support such initiation efforts if it was ever proposed by DCI.

I hear dead people! New voice-cloning technology could give new life to silenced greats Companies like this need case studies and demos. DCI could be a fantastic example... and this exploration could be done on their dime.

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On Spirit of Atlanta's December Update (the first video on the fan network homepage) Patrick Stewart is clearly giving the voice "Ready when you are" and (sounds like) "To all the world be silent, and know that this is Spirit. You will believe." Which makes me think that if you were to use canned intros for each corps you might as well go with him or James Earl Jones or whoever. Problem is, A. It's super creepy, and B. A different voice has to announce the score, unless you want it sounding like a tech support call. "Nine ... Dee-Seven ... Point ... Two." Anyway, I don't care who it is as long as they can yell "PHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM REJMA!"

Don't make the mistake of equating placement with cost. I'm sure this is waaaaaaay to simplistic, but for the sake of argument.... The corps management sits down and calculates all of the costs to operate their corps for the upcoming season, from start to finish. Unis, Instruments, staff, housing, food, busses, trucks, insurance...more stuff I'm probably missing. It comes to $X. Then they look at where the revenue will come from so that $X cost is offset by $X revenue. What type of fundraisers do they have? How much will the receive from DCI performance fees? From parades and other non-competition performances? What are the other sources of revenue, if any. They add all that up and come up with $Y. The cost of operations is $X; the non-tuition expected revenue is $Y. Now they need to figure out how much the members will have to provide...this is the tuition. So...they subtract revenue from cost, and that remaining balance is how much they need to charge the members...call it $Z. $X - $Y = $Z. Divide $Z by the total membership (M), and that becomes the indivudual tuition cost ($OUCH!). $Z/M = $OUCH! it really has almost nothing to do with placement. Again, that is waaaaay to simplistic, but at least it gives you an idea of how a tuition can be calculated.

I don't know...these slides seem pretty flexible...

Suncoast 85 was awesome (when the baris come in in that 3/4 tune (Midnight in Miami?) after the sops do their thing, just before the solo bari/bass drum line duel -- YOW!), but I remember thinking when I heard it live, and still believe, that '86 Blue Devils were the cleanest, loudest, most kick-### horn line I've ever heard.

All these arguments are moot because the poll is invalid. Where's Suncoast?