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http://bluecoats.com/shop/scholarship-funds/hbcu-scholarship/ I hope that we can get some support for this on here. I had the idea to reach out to the HBCU community after seeing a lot of screaming trumpets and similar raw talent on HBCU YouTube videos. To me, this could be a win-win-win situation. 1. Drum corps is getting more and more expensive and therefore less diverse. This (as well as other scholarship fund opportunities on the link) helps combat this. 2. There are many talented musicians at these schools that I would like to encourage to audition for the Bluecoats by partially offsetting the costs. I think of it as "widening the net" to attract the most talent. 3. I think there needs to be more cooperation, outreach, and appreciation between show style marching arts and corps style marching arts. So if you, are anyone you know, feel passionate about exposing and encouraging drum corps participation to a culture of band students who may not be familiar with our style, please contribute to the fund. Thanks. Derek Gipson Bluecoats brass caption head

I've listened to and seen all kinds of things over 40 years in this stupid activity and, you know what?, I've learned not to care. You want to act like an idiot on the sidelines so that, 40 years later, I can still see you acting like an idiot on the sidelines? Fine. You wanna come up in the stands and sit next to me to watch? Fine. Sit down and shut up. You've seen the show. I haven't. Great show.

Now more to the point, the point of anti-trust regulation is impact on the consumer as in how does the merger of non-profit hospitals affect prospective patients in a given geography. The question in the case of drum corps would be: Are drum corps fans harmed by TOC shows. And the answer clearly is "no." It's not about the corps. It's about the people in the stands. And anyone who witnessed the huge audience for TOC in places like Nashville and Charlotte last year would know consumers were very happy. You'd be hard-pressed to make the case otherwise. HH

That might be true, to an extent (I don't recall their show 100% and don't remember if they staged small musical ensemble on the stage). I think it was an interesting, fairly unique idea that worked in some ways and didn't in others. I at least give the designers credit for trying something different, even if it might've (arguably) fallen short. Like Crown and their trampolines (another admirable, interesting "failure"), you can't be innovative doing the same old stuff and I'd rather have corps do something different and have it not work out, than recycle the same ideas over and over again.

staff can do what they want on the track. but (IMHO) if they're in the stands next to paying spectators -- they should shut up and let fans enjoy the show without their running commentary (which quite often has nothing at all to do with the performance that's going on) . it's rude for anyone (fan or staff ) to be disruptive during a corps' performance.

First, anti-trust typically refers to restraints against fair trade that might harm consumers. That second part (might harm consumers) is important because those laws typically aren't (and shouldn't) be used to promote equal competition. A capitalist system recognizes that some competitors are more able than others. It's not against the law therefore to promote a product that consumers demand just because it might disadvantage a weaker supplier. That's the case in the Coke/Pepsi example where those firms pay retailers for optimal shelf space. Their deeper pockets explain why it's easier to find Coke and Pepsi than it is to find RC or C&C Cola. It's also true in the case of concert promoters who bring us the same acts over and over while new ones who haven't found a ready market have to wait. And it's true in the case of DCI where the activity has created a venue for its highest grossing product - the seven y'all resent so much. Which brings me to the second point. I don't think it's true that the seven keep all the TOC money. On the contrary, I think DCI keeps a large share of the proceeds, enough to be decisive in its fiscal health. Or to put it another way, a lot of corps not performing are earning via DCI from TOC. HH

I never understood the point of the size of the stage. Everyone who used it could have fit on a couple of podiums. Why block the view? I really think he was actually viewing the height and width spectrum so he'd be ready when, in 2019, guard are elevated by wires dangling from the LOS roof, raised and lowered onto the field "stage". In his groundbreaking show in 2020, "Angels and Demons Part Deux - The Angels Fly!", his guard are swept above the field using the most complicated suspension system ever designed. For the first time in recorded history, he stood motionless during the entire finals performance as his angels danced above the demons and, on the final resolve and push, each guard angel came crashing down on it's respective demon, ending with victorious foot on the back and a finger pointing to the heavens. His amps recorded the highest decibels ever recorded in Lucas and two of the glass end-panel windows cracked. After receiving the highest score ever awarded, 107.2 out of 100, he retired the following day, saying "I've done all I can do. My place in heaven is assured." In 2021 LOS first allowed DCI drum corps to install live rigging above the field during finals week. On his death bed, Hopkins' last words were, "Finally, Cirque..." Hopkins is credited with initiating the Age of Enli-HEIGHTEN-ment and the eventual development of guard levitation.

It's November! That means its time to start thinking about drum corps season! Yes, the time is already upon us once again. I am here to extend an invitation to everyone that reads this to come and join us at Cincinnati Tradition for the 2015 season! 2014 was a very successful season for the corps, making our first ever appearance at DCA finals! Just who is Cincinnati Tradition? Cincinnati Tradition is an all age drum & bugle corps that competes in the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) circuit as well as performs at DCI and SoundSport events throughout the summer. The corps was founded in 1984 and up until 2009 was a parade and exhibition corps. In 2009 the corps competed in DCA's Mini Corps division and in 2010 moved to the Class A division and have competed there ever since achieving finalist status in the 2014 season. We consist of members that travel from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Come on out to our winter camps to audition and join us to be a part of the ONLY drum & bugle corps left in the tri-state area. Audition info can be found on our website www.cincinnatitradition.org as well as on our Facebook page. You can also message me directly and I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Winter Schedule: November 23 - 9:00am-5:00pm December 21 - 9:00am-5:00pm January 4 - 9:00am-5:00pm Location: Silverton Paideia Academy 7451 Montgomery Rd Silverton, OH 45236 Also, check out this high quality audio of Cincinnati Tradition at our warmup for finals. Done by hornlinefanatic https://www.youtube....h?v=NZfNeMVJPeQ

The Sunrisers are excited to announce that we will be hosting our open house on Saturday, November 29th, 2014! Do you play a horn, drum, or spin a flag? – We want you to come check us out! Location: Brentwood High School, 2 – 6th Avenue, Brentwood, NY 11717 Hours: 9am Registration – End 6pm Fee: Open House fee is $20.00 The fee will cover your lunch and we will also apply $20.00 against tuition What to expect? This is where you will meet the corps staff, administration and membership. You will also learn about what we have in store for the 2015 production. Being new to any organization can be stressful. Relax… The Sunrisers are a friendly group of people who work very hard to be excellent. But, we have a great time while doing so. Be part of a Long Island tradition – Join the Sunrisers today! Make sure you register today to receive all up to date information from the Corps. Register here as an applicant: 2015 Applicant Registration

And I'm wondering just how much input the Directors have in the final schedule -- other than "I think we'd like to start out West"? I may have the mistaken perception that DCI handles most of the scheduling, but I could be totally wrong. Anyone "in the know" want to chime in to my and Jast45's questions?

The debatable immensity of the stage (compared to the whole size of the field and the vertical space in LOS as well) and its decoration was probably meant to over-dramatize the sense of being at the White House, the sense of the grandeur of the Office, and the larger than life character/egos of those who have held that position. The ole Cesario standard was always "Exaggerate, exaggerate, exaggerate" in order to communicate with the (judging) box in such a sized arena where spatial relationships are important and must be relative to the hole in all dimensions: up, down, across, side to side, back to front. Unfortunately, many of the viewers/posters saw the performance in smaller venues, sat in the cheap seats perhaps with a bias toward watching the percussionists' hands, or just had old knees like mine and find the climb up and down stairs arduous. From that perspective, the stage probably seemed large. Not so from the viewing in the judge's box, the view which tends to count in competition.

You have just laid out the premise of a best-seller on the basic maleficence of the corporate culture which I propose you title "Wall Street and the Death of the Social Contract" - how the soul-sucking ba$tards won - You will, of course need to form a company to distribute and market the book. Then there are the lecture tour, talk show circuit appearances, (Charlie Rose, Kimmel, Maher...etc.), and the readings (from an I-Pad, natch, since it's pointless to print anything anymore which is why the "book" will exist only in digital form). It will be downloaded direct from Amazon...whose shares are up again now that they made that tax deal with the Feds. Their shareholders will be happy, you will get your cut and "voila!", you have been co-opted and swallowed by the self-same villians you skewered, thereby exquisitely proving the point your sub-title so succinctly makes. Resistance is futile. Stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. Ka-Boom! (Antidote for the above: a daily dose of Kurt Vonnegut with a side of Arban's Carnival of Venice Variations.) Aside to Nancy: We really do need a new photo here before we slip down any more of these rabbit holes. I'll see what's lurking in my files.

And always have been. The part that drives me crazy - without making myself sound like an airline or business genius, because I'm not, but I've accumulated some skills in both. But say you ran a drum corps or band or studio that was doing so well it decided to have an IPO and let the general public in on the ownership. By law you're now obligated to produce for those owners. OK, so you continue to do it your way and get good results, profits every year, a decent outlook on the future. Not enough to make your investors rich, but they are part owners of something well run with a great product. Some 28 year old Wharton School grad (more likely NYU) with an MBA comes along and says "you could get a bigger return to your investors if you raised the dues/fees to belong. The XYZ Lancers' tour fee is $4000 a year and yours is $2200. You need to raise that fee" You think, "well this isn't really how I designed that, but I get his point" and you raise the fee to $3000. You expect a positive reaction, but this young person, who by the way has never run a business, just done "case studies" of businesses guided by a professor who has likewise never run a business, is miffed that you didn't heed his (or lately her) words and advises investors to "SELL" (most dreaded words a publicly held company can read). Furthermore, the next quarter you report that you've had a modest increase in profits but your stock is trading lower and said analysts says, "You refuse to listen and we can't recommend your business to investors." You point out that you did listen and you had a better return and he says "But XYZ Lancers started charging their members for meals on tour, a la carte style and their income went up 25% this quarter" This goes on for 5 years - you have a great product, you're winning awards (10 consecutive JD Power Awards for customer service - like the Blue Devils' DCI Championship record) but your stock is still lagging your competition. What happens is that the board sees your contract expiring in 6 months and decides to promote the guy that goes along with the Wall Street guys to CEO. Boom... magically your stock goes up and you're now charging for meals on tour, on top of a $4000 tour fee. Are you still the ABC Cadets? That's what the name says, but you're now more like the XYZ Lancers LITE. Makes me nuts, as one of the folks that championed our "bring humanity back" culture. Only time will tell about tour fees and meal charges, but they've certainly shaken the bedrock we were built on.

Ahh, yes. Wall Street Boys and their minions. Some of them are actually ok, but as for the rest... From the Folks (heartless ba$tards) Who Gave You -The Great Depression - The Mortgage Crisis - The Robber Barons - Super PACs Riddle me this: If a corporation is a person, shouldn't it get just one vote? And pay it's taxes? Oh well, we all work for the Coke Brothers now whether we realize it or not, except on the weekends when we play horns, drums, flags, sabres and rifles.

WGI spells wedgie wanted to hit a Home Run his or hers first post on DCP. It was a Bunt Foul.

With Open Houses starting this weekend for DCA corps, you may still be on the fence about which ones to visit. So..."Why March Centurions?" Here are just a few answers... *Low tuition cost - less than $150 for the season (not including ancillary items - i.e. meals, hotel for championships etc). *Conservative rehearsal schedule - you can participate and still have time for other summer activities. *Top notch staff - the combined experience of the instructional staff is well over 100 years. *Conveniently located along the CT and MA border. *We are a 501©3 non-profit - your participation counts towards Community Service on your resume. *Despite the hard work, emotional roller coasters, ache and pains...you will grow as a person, build character, and gain lifelong friends...at the end of the day, we are a family! Join us for our 2015 Open House coming up next weekend and find out for yourself! When: Saturday, Novemeber 29, 2014, 1:00-5:00 pm Where: Sacred Heart Parish Center, 1061 Springfield Street, Feeding Hills, MA 01030 Open House Event Page 2015 Interest Group

It might be said that the stage was the Cadets' gift to the Bluecoats.

The staging was dictated by the fact that there was an actual stage blocking the front sideline and audience lines of sight. So you could argue that the narration directly led to the bad staging.

I would have loved to be in Phantom and go to California regardless of the reason. They have some of the best fans in the activity.

This sounds... Different. Which is a good thing.

Phantom 2010! White on white on white on white.

Face it, DCI's been dead ever since 2035. I would know, I'm fully prepared right now to issue a blistering critique of every show between now and then.

At the risk of seeming tiresome for explaining a joke for those who don't know Keeping Up Appearances: it's about a middle-class housewife of great pretensions. Her name is Hyacinth Bucket, but she insists on pronouncing the latter as "bouquet".

so? even ESPn knows skin to win LOL

This part I can agree with. Take the Re-write of Spring show as just one example. The way they incorporated historically accurate dance elements into the brass choreography was something I never would have picked out on my own, but once I read an explanation of how they had incorporated it I sought out Youtube videos of some of those classic performances and was amazed at how much that added to my appreciation of their show. There is layer after layer of musical and visual reference, homage, and interpretation.That level of depth in design, year after year, is inspiring and is one (of many) things that keeps me interested in Drum Corps, and the Devils do it better than anyone. To be clear, that's not the only approach to show design that I can get behind. Others have mentioned that this year's Bluecoats show was based on an abstract theme and was wildly succesful. i think it's unfair to call out the Cadets or any other corps for wanting to take that approach, making an assumption that it will not be succesful. Let's see what they put on the field and then voice an informed opinion. Who's to say they can't do both an inspirational presentation of the material and layer it with a cerebral concept at the same time. Crown has been pulling that off at the highest level for a few years now, including their first championship. BAC this past year as well. Please please please though, no narration. YMMV but that's the one thing that really turns me off. Variety is the spice of life I guess.

On the Cavaliers FB 2015 audition page the staff posted sheet music for "Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare" It also says 2015 Cavaliers soooo...

Haha. Thanks for prompting me to increase my donation from $25 to $50!

I've heard the pros and con debates regarding WGI influence on DCI. In the early years the complaint was the opposite, then WGI developed it's own identity, now it's viewed at least by some as more dominant. I am going to use one designer as an example of my theory on the matter: Ed Devlin. I've seen what he has done with Crossmen, I've also seen his color guard work with Blessed Sacrament, and the amazing job he has done with King Philip High School's band, as much as I hate to admit it since KP was the Thanksgiving football rival of my hometown. His work is very distinct with each organization, but there are things that pop out that are clearly Ed Devlin trademarks. So what's my theory? There are a limited number of top designers and they work with drum corps in the spring and summer, bands in late summer and fall, and color guards or percussion ensembles in winter. Some may do the same thing in all three areas, most do not, but we do see their trademarks. So I do not see a huge WGI influence or BOA influence for that matter, as much as many of the same people design for DCI, WGI, and BOA.

These two posts annoy me the MOST. If your attention span is too short that you're paying more attention to the staff going bonkers than paying attention to the actual show, then maybe you should go watch the Opera instead. It's a DRUM CORPS SHOW. It's not meant to be an uptight example of keeping the crowd quiet. People are meant to go crazy, the staff included. I enjoy when the staff goes nuts during a show. It gives me goosebumps knowing they appreciate what they're MMs are doing. When I marched, the hornline struggled to try to get that reaction from Gino Cipriani and the very first time he did it, we were even more motivated to have even better shows.

I think they just said "screw it" and put it down as an exhibition. Pretty cool performance to see on video. Talking to members, they did mostly go with muscle memory, and their eyes did adjust a bit. But there were a bunch of collisions the video doesn't pick up. Amazing a big accident didn't happen. But drum corps members could probably perform their shows blindfolded if you put them in the first set.

1999 Cadets. Drums along the rockies. Rotating box. All I can say is domino effect. That is all.

Fair criticism of my drum corps career. However, all of my changes have been for moving forward or taking a break from drum corps. I've never been fired. I can tell you that I'm very happy where I am now and plan to stay there as long as they'll have me. I still would rather have the life that I have now which is not making much money to a life that may be more secure but not as satisfying. I still believe if you love it, practice it so you are great at it, and then do it no matter what it is. I think about Jeff Prosperie as an example. He plays snare drum for a living!! Would he be happier if he sold insurance? I can't speak for him but I couldn't imagine. Nothing wrong with selling insurance but if someone with great musical talent is not using it to be more secure financially then I think they are making a mistake. We would all be missing out if Properie would have taken the road more travelled. And that's just one example. 1000's of examples of people who have followed their dream and 1000's more of people who wished they had. Don't let fear hold you back is my advice. Sure some band programs are dying. And also some band programs still spend a whole lot of money if not more than ever. As you know, many people's careers involve just writing for drum corps, marching band and winter programs. And they do just fine. Get to stay at home with the kids. Anyway, I could go on forever but I think my point is made.

Even if you don't make it, you'll learn a lot. We also help kids who just miss the cut get into other brasslines. There really is nothing to lose when auditioning for the Bluecoats. Best of luck!