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This might be the most douchey post I've ever read. Good lord are you making a *lot* of assumptions.

I hope they do On the Waterfront.

Meanwhile in Casper, the Troopers have announced that their caption heads will all be returning in 2018. http://troopersdrumcorps.org/aboutus/educational-team/caption-heads

This is why we can't have nice things. Oh well. Let the multi-page "Stu vs. DCP" commence...

Someone has entirely too much time on their hands waiting for the first show announcement.

This is worth the watch. Even some Cavaliers drill moves mixed in. Some neat playing and body movements

I work with, and have worked with, many highly competitive hs bands all across the nation as an independent contractor. The programs that are the most successful in competion, and also receive the most support/respect from their school administrations, athletic departments, and overall community, are the ones that sperate thier artistic-competitive goals from their halftime support entertainment responsibilities. One school band even receives a very healthy amount of donation capital each year from the alumni athletic associatiin for band competition expenses because they keep all the halftimes, except the last home game after the last band contest, fun and spirited and not a dress-rehearsal for the artistic competition. At that one halftime the band presents it's 'award winning' special performance and most everyone in the stands stays put for that performance then goes rather ballistic in their applause! It is all in the priorities and responsibilities.

You hit the nail on the head. Back in my school teaching days, having an active and passionate parent organization was essential. The years when I had the most hands-on parents were our best years in every aspect. I saw parents get things done with the administration that teachers couldn't get done. I think a wise music department cultivates and shows appreciation for their boosters.

FTFY

I'm not sure what you mean by "football crowds" but at my school more people came to watch the band than the football team, and we had a good team.

Honestly, depends on where you live. They're a mostly accepted fact of life in Texas, and the DCI style has been pretty much integrated into "school spirit" without bloodshed. Mike

Is your school to be reviewed soon for renewing State Education re-accreditation or regional accreditation such as Middle States, New England States, Atlantic, Gulf Coast or a number of subsets whose standards mean a lot to colleges accepting future students? http://www.msche.org/ I've sat on some of the reviewing boards from each side of the table and know that when a criticism of failure to communicate between departments or between school admin and departments is raised, the echoes of such criticisms are heard fff by such accreditors. Reminding the ad min and school boards that the co-curricular co-operative interplay among departments scores highly with such accreditors who do look at the number of students involved in each program and the faculty rankings for those same programs becomes quite influential. Unfortunately, techs and noobie teachers don't get to be heard as loudly as program directors and department heads. But here even the fly gets noticed. Now I admit that my Dad was a school district athletic director for 40 years who coached several students who made the professional leagues. But besides Dad playing in the very first NCAA basketball Final Four (for Villanova) and professional baseball for the then NY Giants until WWII broke out, he also played the violin and got his Ph.D. at NYU. My Dad always gave great positive attention to the local band, the local drum corps, and the winter guard. Not all coaches are like that. (He did raise another son who did become a football coach in Texas and who never understood his brother who majored in half time.) Good luck.

Sean Phelan and Mark Trulson to be Co-Brass Caption Heads with Scott Carr as Assistant Caption Head for Madison Scouts

Live attendance has been trending upwards for years. Whatever they're doing seems to be working. Corps have openly stated they prioritize live performance over the recordings (See Scouts, Madison 2011). Nobody wants audio glitches, but my feeling is that there is not much sentiment amongst the instructors caucus or the BOD to effect much change to the rules. Mike

Paul was a man of great generosity who freely shared his talent and efforts in the cause of the activity he so cherished. We are all the beneficiaries of those efforts.

They are excited to pull Chris away from Mandarins.

I hear ya... the drum majors in particular. 'Nuff said. LOL.

I wore my Blue Knights shirt to the doctors office today for my checkup, and as I sit down in the little room with the scales and stuff, the doctor was like "Blue Knights? You're into DCI?" And we had like a 15 minute conversation drum corps and percussion stuff and it quite made my day.

I keep dropping my pencils like gangbusters

The older alums should be ecstatic about this hire . . . http://www.madisonscoutslive.com/mainsite/2017/09/chris-tomsa-lead-scouts-brass-program/

Chris Tomsa as Madison Scouts Brass Program Director

Per Facebook. The Madison Scouts are pleased to announce Chris Tomsa as our Brass Program Director. Welcome home Chris!

Haha! So you KNOW, for 'fact".....hahahaaaa... I can't stop laughing....excuse me. That soloists at BD, mind you......Hahahaha....still laughing,..... have a conversation, in which he/she discusses the....oh, I can HARDLY type this..."manipulation" of a solo. By goodness! You do have connections on the "inside".............even to witness a "Rare" event which you describe...... BTW who disallowed it? Which Brass arrangers are leary of it? Again, stop with the "wing it" terminology. Improvisation involves decisions. I suggest you listen to some Kilties & Bridgeman as verification! Look, I have NO doubt that today's talent in DCI, with their, as you say "threat to timing issues" can handle those scenarios involving an improvised soloist. Gee, hard to believe, but yes, They ARE that good........ c'mon man. Remember, in your description....they are "creatures of precision habit". It is my opinion that you have never been on a jazz stage when I consider this slam to the abilities of fellow performers.

BD's soloists did improvise this year. They were given a framework for the solos and then allowed to improvise within that. I don't think they deviated tremendously from what they had come up with as the season progressed, mainly because the versions they had "set" worked so well.

Nah, I 'm too unmotivated to do it for you. Accept what I said, or don't accept what I said..... or look it up yourself to be SELF educated on it.

Stu, we love ya... we really do... But I'm convinced that if I came on here and said something very simple, completely innocuous, as "It's a nice sunny day here in Baltimore".... you'd consider replying with, "But you're not downtown, right??? How can you say it's sunny in Baltimore if it might be cloudy downtown??? What about all those folks who might have put on sunscreen to visit the Inner Harbor, and now don't need as much sun protection??? Which is it.... is it sunny or cloudy, and why would you say it's sunny if if it's not necessarily true???" Geez Louise.

I want corps to explore movie soundtracks more. I loved Boston's take on How to Train Your Dragon, would really like to see some of James Newton Howard's works get played on the field. And I'm not sure how many Game of Thrones fans there are on here, but Ramon Djawadi has just been getting better and better every season, the 7th season soundtrack is phenomenal, plenty of music that could support a full show with a wide range of musical and stylistic variety