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In other words, the OP is correct!

The problem is that correlation does not imply causation. To blame DCA's woes on Reading is absurd, unless you're going to also present hard evidence that ties one to the other. So far, you haven't done anything more than speculate. You've absolutely started a much-needed discussion, and for that I thank you. I'm not as ready to dismiss your ideas as other are, and I do agree that DCA needs to take action to solve the attendance problem. I think marketing and location are the two biggest issues, and I hope that both are discussed further.

It's not hated enough to be loved in 20 years.

After a great deal of reflection - I have to say... We had a show this past summer that will define and influence shows for at least a decade to come The design was like a Drum Corps Mona Lisa. The more you stare at it - the better it gets I honestly believe it was severely underscored in GE by the DCI judging community And as evidence I offer an indoor run of the 2015 Bluecoats just prior to finals night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQtuAyiPI98 An amazing and layered program, fresh and creative in so many ways So well done and original - Bravo! George.

says you,............

an army of one!

I am beginning to sound like a homer, but Bluecoats 2014 Hymn of Acxiom and 2015 Woods.

This is true, however I would agree with you in a sense about how innovative Bluecoats 2014 & 2015 are as far as electronic + music sound design and how seamless designers weaved acoustic & electronic. Right now, at least to me, Bluecoats the last few seasons seems just as revolutionary and innovative as Star 1993's stark color pallet & music arranging plus all of the body sculpting seemed in 1993. More than almost any corps (with the exceptions of Crown and Blue Devils), I'm more interested to see where Bluecoats go next couple of years design-wise, and they feel more innovative & fresh design-wise than nearly every other DCI corps. It's exciting that they have the talent as well: the last couple of years it seems like almost every one is trying to catch Bluecoats. I'm not sure what they would have to do to seriously contend for a Championship: it looks like score-wise perhaps their brass section was deficient relative to Crown, Blue Devils and Crown

If that was the case, I'd say the board did the fiscally responsible thing in picking a director and assistant director who are local, and looking for staffers from the talented local pool of instructors. The costs of flying staff in and out of all of the camps, all-days, etc., adds up very fast.

Let the conspiracy theories commence....

Well, like I said before. We were thrilled with his work this year. If he stopped caring then he can "not care" about our show and our corps any day of the week! Dan

I caught it somewhere along the way that practice doesn't make perfect, but that perfect practice makes perfect.

You read my mind! I was thinking the exact same thing!

27th Lancers 71/72 75/76/77 79/80/81/82/83 Of course, it was the SAME tune each year!

Jim, that's a great point. No offense to the Lancers when they were an RCA/DCA corps... but they never made the "musical memories" that corps such as Caballeros, Skyliners, Reilly Raiders, etc. made back in the day. Thus, the Lancers are a blank slate when it comes to the repertoire for their current corps. They can play anything they want, and not risk the "wrath" (for lack of a better term) of someone saying, "Man... I miss them playing (X or Y tune from back in the day). Why aren't they playing it anymore???" Certainly, it also doesn't hurt that the current Lancers have a great horn line... and their drum line isn't too shabby, either.

This was one of 2 incredibly great news posts I saw today after not being on DCP for 2 weeks! (Along with Don Hill being replaced). Phantom hasn't truly sounded like Phantom (Quality of brass sound) since they went away from the King instruments starting in 2009 and moved to Jupiter. Perhaps instruction is a factor, but this is great news and I can't wait to hear more of Phantom's classic lush sound return this coming year!!! Harvey

omg it's only september and the negativity is starting already lol.. Cripes stop already and at least wait till their first show.

Well, a down year for Crown's brass is an up year for just about everyone else. Still, at the start of the year, four 1st trumpets were used in the opening statement. They almost always fracked. By the end of the season, it was cut to only one first trumpet. He was pretty solid, but I heard him frack once too.As for the guard, they were truly magnificent. I couldn't agree with you more on that point. I think percussion is on their way up. 2016 could be very kind to Crown. I remember someone suggesting a Hindemith show ... How about Mathis der Maler?

at best I have heard I&E judges get $50 for the night and often share a room with someone else.

maybe it's time for #####es brew, the crazy side of Miles Davies

regiment 93/94/95/96

I echo that sediment, that show was well done beginning to end. cant wait to see 2016

Whatever planet you live on, I'll be sure to come by and visit someday.

If i were king of the forest ($1 to Burt Lahr), I would move into more modern costuming of the corps proper so they look as innovative as they sound.

...annnnd the travel issue raises it's ugly head once again. It is what it is and we move forward. It's a given down here. Is it fair...no. Does it put an unfair financial burden on those outside of the Northeast...yes. Is it going to change...no. We all have our burdens to bear. I just want to keep getting better. Dan

If I didn't jump to conclusions, I'd get no exercise at all.

but you need a bid. now who runs a corps in Allentown that uses the stadium for lots of other events.....

Whose opinion of each corps best?

Sometimes we post funny things don't we ?LOL

I was going to go back and fix it...but I kind of like all the speculation! "Crouching drum corps...hidden Marvin" Dan

It very well might be the first show ever about Chinese cuisine.

Let me know when you are sure Mike and I'll check my schedule so we can meet.... Road Trip!!!!! And LucyGuy... how about Cabs some Alumni and some others who did other corps some where else (think you have to have corps experience to be in the corps...

well, I wouldn't be surprised if Bucs have already started mapping out next year's show. and have been

I think by what I have read, Jay is the PROGRAM Designer which to me would be different from Visual Designer (Brian Murphy and what he brings to the table) or Visual Coordinator (not sure if this is Adam's area) in that his input would extend to or include visual, music, guard & overall drill presentation, via storytelling & staging, the look of the corps on the field etc., etc. The Visual Designer and Coordinator would work very closely together, to implement the Design direction and framework. Jay as the Program Designer would work closely with the Brass, Percussion and Guards heads to develop the program with them. I think this is Jay's strength given what we see each year from BD. I believe this is another strong step forward to building something that will sustain a high level of performance. IMO.

Don't know about anybody else, but CV is a weekend only corps. Our age range this year was 15 - 60 with an average age of about 23. Dan

So I'm late to this conversation, but... A couple of pages back some folks talked about reaching the youth market - and I agree. Reach them by including them - I think DCA needs to consider a weekend only junior age division.

glad it is still there... We put it together to mark the first anniversary - had Stefanie helping us - she secured the rights to use Scouts' recording and music. Quest graphics did the rest and I secured the images. http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/911tribute/

cant believe this is actually a conversation.

I am cautiously VERY optomistic about this. I think this has the potential to be very very good. I think a change from hill is severely needed. I think he is a FANTASTIC arranger, just not quite right at Phantom.

BREAKING: Will Pitts named new brass arranger at Phantom Regiment. http://regiment.org/phantom-regiment-names-pitts-as-brass-arranger/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

"... I've always felt that pit instrumentation is meant to enhance the music, not take over from the horns..." ...or the battery percussion, I might add. You have put your finger on the primary issues: Balance and Clarity. In live sound applications as well as in mastering recordings, it's called having "transparency" in the mix, the quality of being able to hear everything that is being played without one sound masking the others. After all, if something is inaudible, there is no musical reason for it to exist. If there is something in the mix you can't hear, don't make it louder, just strip away the things that mask it. If you don't wish to do that, it was unnecessary in the first place and didn't belong there. These are some of the standards for professional sound reinforcement. Drum corps and the best marching bands aspire to these levels in movement and instrument mastery, but even the best are a long way from "professional" at the mixing console.

Top tier: 05, 06 Second tier: 07, 12

I'm only tangentally a fan of DCA, and that's really only because of working for DCP for a while, but I *really* miss the Renegades. Mike

I'm going to be honest with you. People don't know how to attend drum corps shows anymore. Its doesn't matter if its DCA or DCI. They just don't know how to put the phone down, shut the eff up, and watch the darned shows. They seem to be too self absorbed to care whats going on in front of them. I've had people talk through every show I attended this year be it DCA or DCI. I've had a lady make a phone call during a corps' performance, to see if a restaurant will be open tomorrow, and i've had people taking pics of themselves and playing around on FB and BSing about it. This is my old man "GET OFF MY LAWN" post of the week. you paid for a show, shut up and watch. I paid for a show. shut up and watch! its not even the staff anymore. though they get a shut up and watch from me as well.

We could just ask Lee why he's killing DCA... Mike

Awesome news. Can't wait to see God's Hornline get back to being God's Hornline again. Now, if only they brought in JD Shaw...

Madison's full staff is listed. So glad Van Mathews and Bill Zeier are coming home! Van was instrumental in the brass sound from 1990-1999 and worked with BD from 2000-2009.

In the 1950s in England, there was a cartoonist and comic monologist named Gerard Hoffnung who was a fairly popular radio personality. He was also a musician, being quite proficient on the tuba. He produced a pair of well-attended orchestral concerts with some very serious musicians doing very silly things. Malcolm Arnold, for instance, composed an overture for orchestra and vacuum cleaners. Apropos of your experience, in one of the concerts, William Walton conducted an excerpt from Belshazzar's Feast. He came out, raised his baton, led the chorus in just the world "Slain!", put down his baton, took his bow, and left. That was the whole excerpt.

Correct, Andy. And every show was a theme show, with a new theme every two minutes.

There was a kind of "Great American Songbook" for drum corps in an earlier era. Sometimes current "popular" tunes would overwhelm these standards (see "Dolly", above, and others like "More" and "Downtown"). This reached it's peak in the late '70s with the Mangione tsunami. Before the advent of "Everybody Must Tour and Go to the Same Big Show" phenomena, arrangers commonly sold the very same charts to several corps, on the theory that they were unlikely to actually meet. (And I'm talkin' big-name writers here.) WARNING: Side-Bar Rant to follow: Today this is still fairly common at the smaller HS band shows, for a different reason. Many directors buy "Off the Rack" charts from publishers for budgetary reasons, primarily. Ironically, these seem to be either watered-down versions of "Drum Corps Greatest Hits" like "Dindi", "Echano" and "Georgia", or fairly pedestrian "originals" from writers who call their shows something like "The Enchanted Cave" but produce things that would be better named "My Acid Reflux Nightmare in Bb". These cats all think they are Stravinsky on roller skates. Since almost all of the current drum corps players are re-cycled band kids (and instructors) this kind of repertoire is now the rule. One of the finest DCI corps is performing a piece that could best be described as "Sixteenth-note Exercise with Flags". (They render it exquisitely well.) In further irony, all these unique and original musical selections begin to sound identical. That said, today's folks get to do it their way. God knows, we did. We both earned that right.