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Seems to me, you aren't getting a lot of meaningful help here. Full disclosure first....I am an alumni of Blue Devils back around the time the dinosaurs went extinct so my experience with auditioning for them is irrelevent. However, my son auditioned for them this year so I can tell you a little of his experience. First, I'm not going to lie, it's an intimdating environment. Probably no more so than any top drum corps but intimidating none the less. You're going to be nervous so telling you not to be is just dumb. Try to remember though that everyone else there is just as nervous as you. Your best weapon against nerves...be prepared. You have to go in knowing the audition packet cold, knowing your etudes cold. You are competing against the best of the best, usually for very limited spots so you have to give them no excuse to not take you seriously. Don't be too concerned with a specific marching style but you need to be very comfortable with movement. They stressed staying relaxed a lot at my son's audition. Also, if it is at all possible get some formal dance training. It will help you with your balance, control, strength and confidence. They spent a huge amount of time (maybe 3/4?) in the movement segment of the camp doing ballet and dance basics. Most important, don't let anyone tell you you're crazy or that you don't have a prayer...you do. You just have to remember that the Blue Devils are going to attract the very best of the best, and usually a lot of them! If that's where you want to be then do your homework, go in prepared and give it your best shot. Good luck! Dan

No rules congress = thank goodness. DCI the org could use a little less drama. Mike

While all the coverage is on signing day for those who bow to the oblong gods, I was wondering what channel was having coverage of those auditioning for music scholarships? Signing scholarship papers to Michigan State, Indiana, North Texas, Eastman, Julliard, Oberlin, and the like, or coverage of contract signing for drum corps, would seem to be of equal importance, and more students involved as well. Anyway, just a snarky rhetorical question in response to all this ridiculous signing day coverage for football.

normally Ray Upstate NY wins... we won't beat Buffalo this year... but got more than our share... oh and it's about 90 out just off the Virgin Islands today headed for a day in St. Maarten tomorrow... I must apologize to Freddie but his place was with his father...

There are exceptions but the overall sense is arranging to the sheets at the expense of the music which means most shows share the same pacing and become monotonous, uninspired and boring Innovation today would be allowing a corps to fully develop a 12 minute piece as the entire show, ignoring the conventions of the sheets and letting the music dictate the visual. It would challenge the audience, maintain the intellectual intent of the composer and push the brass to play the bulk of the show. It would generate GE in a much different way….doubt it’d be successful or well received so we wont see it anytime soon Perhaps soon, everything old will be new again? For an activity that pretends to value and strive for innovation, they really don’t, they just push trends and reward gimmicks

I honestly can't pick one over the other. They are just so completely different shows that both stand on their own and are both shows I could watch over and over.

I like pizza, I also like steak. Food is more interesting when there is a variety of quality stuff to eat.

Don't know how I missed it in 2010, but I'm certainly making up for lost time. It kind of went like this: Saturday: bored, search for shows on the site that must not be named. Found a clip of the ending to Into the Light. Watched about five times in a row. Sunday night: got the audio and video on the Fan Network, put on my iPod Monday: Lose track of how many times I listened to it at work. I'm still not sold on the middle part of the show--some ideas that just didn't quite coalesce (but some really sick drill moves). But sweet mother of God, the opening and closing are glorious. THAT'S the Regiment I want to hear! Today: Ordered Kamen's original piece on Amazon.

because I dig it

I'm also an BD alum (marched with Dan Dertweiler in 84, in fact)...I had ZERO drum corps experience and still made the brass line...although, as Dan said it's a LOT different now than it was 30 years ago. That being said...remember that they may not want you at August skill level...if they see someone with the work ethic and the basic skills they can work with over the seasoin, that'll make you stand out. Don't go in with a 'tude...trust m, they've seen it before. Let your skills, attentivness, work ethic, and willingness tio take their instruction aboard speak for you, And if you DON'T make it...f'Pete's sake, march SOMEWHERE. Don't give SCV, Cavies Cadets, Regiment, Lousisiana Stars, BDB, etc a miss just because you didn't make BDA the first time around...you'll only cheat yourself out of the drum corps experience...and that's not somethingh exclusive to BD,.

If you're holding out until the last second for one of these screenings, remember that you're not charged until the screening goes through. It's a zero risk proposition to you! (and it will also help lower the blood pressure of the screening organizer).

C'mon St. Louis! There are only 15 reservations thus far...we need 79 more. For all of you fans from St. Louis and the surrounding area...please do what you can to encourage friends to reserve tickets.

My method for breaking puppies is related to my method for breaking kittens. For cats I use a catapult - check wind speed and direction - do the math - aim it for the neighbor's pool. Puppies you have to use a dogapult, but same general principle. Make fewer allowances for wind direction, but more for drag.

Backing up Bob Costas on Super Bowl pre-game show.

There is no need to elevate Pete Carroll as the paragon of virtue in order to make someone"s ego get overly inflated here. Carroll is a very good coach a decent guy and it's unfair the treatment he getting in the media and out in Seattle . That said, for balance while he was at USC the school did get heavy NCAA sanctions for violations of NCAA rules. He"s as imperfect as most coaches and like all us us, have warts here and there.

OK which commercial as I saw it too but can't remember. Weird part is the only part of the game I really saw was the last few minutes and a few times I tuned in for the score. Just up for something funny so watched one of our Jeff Dunham DVDs for the umpteenth time. Did catch the Dodge commercial with the 90+ crowd. Thought it was a "deep thought" ad until the guy said "Don't B####". Had to rewind the DVR so Kris could catch it and I could hear what I missed after that line (laughing too hard). LOL no Cruise for us and found out the hard way why house breaking a puppy (avatar) over Winter is a bad idea. You can just see her thinking "Dang, I know the spot is here somewhere but can't smell it. Oh well I can smell it better inside so I'll wait until dad ain't looking." Good news is going out for dinner tonight with the in laws for Kris birthday a day early. After the mess last year it's kind of a victory celebration too.

I'm sure George Hopkins complained...sorry someone was going to say it.

http://espn.go.com/ncaa/revenue from this, it seems that most football operate on at least a slight profit. the deficit in Athletic Departments comes from funding any sport that isn't Football or Basketball. also, Football has other benefits to the school: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/03/report-finds-alumni-giving-among-other-areas-correlated-football-success yes, the coverage of "amateur" sports is frequently overbearing and much sound/fury signifying youknowhat. And certainly the celebration of a prodigy violinist should merit more public celebration than he is likely to get. football is a moneymaking engine that also happens to give many the opportunity to perform marching music in front of an enormous audience. I won't begrudge athletes the attention that they get, rather lament the Lack of attention given to those who deserve accolades but don't get them.

Only seven athletics programs at public universities broke even or had net operating income on athletics each year from 2005-2009, according to data provided by USA Today to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. And I don't know how many bands are funded by the Athletic Dept (whether or not they are operating at a loss). As of July 2013, Ohio State's marching band is funded 35% from the College of Arts and Sciences, 35% from the Athletic Department, and 30% from the Development Office of the President.

Thank you for taking the time to do the research, N.E., and for sharing it with us. Nice job. I'm certainly not going to speak for Agogo, for it is not my place to do so, and he (or she...don't want to be accidentally discriminatory) has already proven to be able to speak quite well for himself (or herself). However, my "take" on the original posting has less to do with simple numbers of selections utilized (a point which you recognized as well), and more to do with the craft of the arranging. One may choose a given musical selection which is lengthy in it's original form (let's say 20-30 minutes for arguments sake), yet treat it several different ways. It could be shortened into a three-minute presentation, citing 3, 4, 5...or even 6 of the assorted high moments found in the original (the "chop and bop", if you will), with 20-30 seconds of transition material between each high point. Or, one could take the grandest idea found in the original piece, and create a series of builds throughout the three minutes, finally culminating in the single climactic idea as created by the original composer. To me, this takes far more craft on the part of the arranger...and, at the same time, also asks more of the observer (as well as instructor, designer, and performer). This past summer, I commented as to my respect and enjoyment of the two separate statements of the Russian folk tune Polyushka Polye as they were arranged for and performed by BAC. I found the tranformation of a primarily simple, minor-mode melody into both multi-tonic and discordant renderings to be not only fresh, but original and inspired as well...and totally appropriate as musical representations which served the larger picture and/or message. In other words...I respected the "craft." Sorry, Agogo, if my interpretation of your words is errant. I hope that someone like ArrangerX can reply and take me to task if I'm talking out my hat on this one.

You can't go wrong with either one, but I voted for Star '93, partly because I saw it live. I remember sitting there watching (with my mouth agape) and thinking holy $#!+, this is ridiculous, and could completely change the world of drum corps!!! Just watching that group in the lot was ridiculous.

Crispy on the outside gooey on the inside.

The St Louis screening is quickly approaching and we are almost out of time to hit our tipping point. Now is the moment to rally your friends & encourage everyone to buy tickets. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Gatekeepers Soundsport Team, but only if the ticket quota is met. The event will be cancelled if there aren't enough tickets sold. No tickets will be available at the door. Buy them here (http://gathr.us/screening/9955), and spread the word! Thursday, February 19 7:30pm Wehrenberg St. Clair 10 Cine, 50 Ludwig Drive, Fairview Heights, IL 62208 For more details on the St Louis viewing you can visit here:https://www.facebook.com/events/1034693433213137/ Buy your tickets HERE: http://gathr.us/screening/9955

I heard lots of vets in all sections.

I wondered about a couple things: (1) Does the format of "best of" edited Youtube collections such as you were watching, by JeremysBugles or others, exacerbate the impression of disunity? (2) Was 2012 a year in which the trend you describe was particularly prominent? I thought so at first memory, but apparently not among recent years, at least based on the number of songs played. From Corpsreps listings, I count 63 different songs played in DCI Finals for 2012 (treating all of Phantom's Turandot selections as just one work) and 62 for 2014--so no real difference at all, although it's a little more prominent if you just consider the top six (32 in 2012 vs. 27 in 2014). However, certainly there were far fewer works used in at least some past years: in 1988, a year others have mentioned in this thread, five Finalist corps each played selections from just one long musical work: Cadets with Copland's Symphony No. 3, Cavaliers with Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, Phantom Regiment with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Spirit of Atlanta with Stravinsky's Petrouchka, and Suncoast Sound with the drum-corps original Symphonic Dances for the Contemporary Child by Robert W. Smith. The songs played by another three corps were unified in being selections from just one musical or opera: Santa Clara Vanguard with Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, Star of Indiana with Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and Sky Ryders with Rodgers' The Sound of Music. As has been noted, Madison Scouts played but two pieces that year. Bluecoats played only three. And Blue Devils played four. That leaves just Velvet Knights playing a musically unconnected show of eight different tunes--and they were deliberately going for a comic effect. (The number of different tunes is only part of the story, of course, and I don't mean to imply that you indicate that.)

I think the past two years have produced beautifully executed and substantive musical arrangements, requiring a high level of musicianship, technical control and individual stamina. It can be more challenging to play sustained notes than a blizzard of machine gun phrases (although the latter hypes the excitement for sure). Something cool for this year is that, among other things, half of last year's snare line is back this season along with excellent new kids, so it is no surprise that they are well positioned to crank again this year.

I think it's too early for speculation. SoA has history and tradition...and I don't think you can take 1 transitional year as a sign of things to come. Cavies went down when they had an over haul on their staff...I think JW has the experience to know what to do and how to do it. If last year showed us anything (showed me rather) that is just how important show design actually is.

I'm fairly certain this is a bit mistaken. Often a "show coordinator," music arrangers, and visual designers have pre-season meetings to map out a show. It is VERY common for visual phrases to take precedent of music phrases, and I know with certainty there have been times when a visual designer trumps music arrangers when it comes to shortening or lengthening a piece because of visual design. What you describe may be the case in some corps, but I know this is not accurate with at least some of the most successful corps. Meaning, music designers don't pick what they think would make a cool show and then after everything is written the the visual designer gets to work: that hasn't been the case in quite some time, and this is very evident when you see how integrated visual design is with music design. It is very common for arrangers & vis. designers to "storyboard" their show, even before the downbeat of any music is written, in order to design the most cohesive marriage of visual & music. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming WGI or visual designers or whatever (I actually quite like DCI show designs now-a-days). While music is not chosen by a visual designer, corps' musical arrangements are curated in part by the visual designer to fit a specific visual design they have in mind. Of course, it depends on what a corps' strength is. I would suspect with a corps like Crown, where music is their obvious strength, the music arranger might have more pull than the visual designer. When Cavaliers were at their peak in the last decade, I suspect their visual designs took precedent over their music design

I dunno, 04 seems to have achieved a very mythic status to where many felt 14 fell short

Me too (well I liked 2013 Musically, A LOT actually, but not much else about it). I'm just interested to see how they will tie it together cohesively as a production musically, visually, and thematically. Do that, and they'll hit a home run. Miss, and it'll be another show like 2013 that I just listen to. Listen to a lot and love, but not watch, not remember for it's outstanding presentation of the theme. And it could be a very good show. My question is how will they portray "The Power of 10" in a refreshing way besides using multiples of 10 in the drill and section numbers, some 10ish themed props, and a 10th Symphony from a composer? With the creative team they have, I'm more optimistic than cautious, there's a plethora of things they could do. Just trying not to get too carried away on the unholy level of awesomeness I'm getting from this music program already. Don't want to set myself up to be dissapointed, but I'm allowing myself to be excited a little bit. They have my attention and sense of wonder in a good way, I'll say that. Just weighing the potential downsides as well as the upside they're giving us little teasers of.

They look like they are having a lot of fun, too! Great exposure for The Academy and the drum corps activity!

So looking forward to the 2015 DCI season. Just like every season. Sending a nice check in support of our great corps. As little as it might be, I sure hope it helps. The excitement is building here in Madison, can't wait to see the next level. Go Madison Scouts!

I always have applauded/admired the Casets for their transparency - they help fill the void for most if not all of DCI between the middle of August and the middle of June. Some of the reasoning presented here for not releasing show info pertains to releasing info to the general public. How do we then explain actions such as those from a corps last season (not sure who it was or IF the name was actually mentioned) where the members themselves did not know what the show was until April/May-ish? Is that level of paranoia necessary? Is it even possible? I still am not sure how a staff can do that with members and have effective rehearsals without the members being able to absorb the concept by then.

Technically we won't really know until this season is done. For all we know it could be radically different than last year. Elephants. Laser lights. Trapeze artists. I would like to see a short football game during intermission. Give it time; you'll get it.

My apologies Dan, I should have said seasoned ;-)

Only thing we're missing are some jet packs, Segways, ESPN, Saxophones and Capital Regiment

This show has a special place in my heart. I'm Native and we are the direct ancestors of the Anasazi. That same year in March my father passed away just three months after I got married. He was my biggest fan and always came to as many shows as he could when I marched back in the day. Watching and listening to the show that Finals night in the stands was surreal, almost like my father was there in the stadium. I cried after that performance and all the memories I had with my father during my marching career from the fundraisers, to performances, to the sacrifices he made to ensure I could march, were just so clear and real again. It wasn't the cleanest show that night, but it was the show I remember and cherish most from that season. Thank you PR and to the OP, I'm glad you found this great show!

I know several corps who would love to be "irrelevant" in 4th place! (Crossmen, Blue Knights, Pioneer, Jersey, Surf, Madarins, Blue Stars, Boston, etc, etc, etc,)

They are? Drums is one thing but they need to go outside the box to something new. They have the talent and now have the instructional staff to do this. Phantom of the Opera is not that musically exceptional.