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Having been a DCI brass caption head (Cadets, Crown and Glassmen) and also a conductor of a professional level British Brass Band (Imperial Brass). I am sure the training could be done for either side of the pond to learn the ins and outs of judging for the opposite circuit. The fundamental difference in judging brass bands is that timbres are conceptualized differently than we do here with outdoor pageantry. It is not about the pyramid of sound as much as it is about each section having their own distinct timbre and blends as a whole. Also the whole use of vibrato is always a conversation to be had among judges. For British brass judges coming over to DCI; I believe the challenge would be teaching them how to ##### and reward simultaneous demands that are inherent in the visual design and how that plays into overall. The one thing both circuits have in common is excellence and technical proficiency. Both cultures revere and reward displays of these skills and I would consider it to be universal. *Last thing to keep in mind is the idea of "test pieces". I would love for the idea of DCI to have compulsory competition...maybe at Allentown in the park or on Wednesday of finals week. Imagine is there was a figure 8 basics block or "move & play" circle drill competition. Or some sort of color guard 1-2 minute choregraphed piece that everyone had to perform? Drum lines kind of have their parking lot thing...imagine if it moved into a competition format? Sorry to pontificating as I rarely go on this forum...but this was an interesting post. Just some food for thought. Anyway...I am happily retired from the activity.....and just enjoy watching my past students teach, design and march. Sincerely, Larry

Ah, but will the guard also play cymbals?

Claiming to be boxed in by being "forced" to use classical music has always been a cop out. It is some of the most powerful and effective music ever written, with a huge range of intensity, speed, emotion and nuance to choose from. There is no reason you can't present an entirely modern theme, set to a score from 1910. Lack of imagination and creativity is the problem, not an insufficient genre. Most artists will tell you that the best ideas come from working within parameters. It provokes you to come up with unusual solutions. So let's see more of those and less bellyaching about not enough tools in the toolkit.

Random posting - but I am at work listening to headphones. My library is on shuffle - here comes "Happy Days are Here Again" et al... Man I loved that show. I have my toes tapping and trying not to lean too much into the good parts. Nothing else here - just grinning at work and needed to share with someone, anyone that would get why! Carry on off-season...

As an experiment, it would be interesting if some of the people who judge the British Brass Band Championships were allowed to judge brass at a DCI show. Would their rankings mirror those of the current DCI judges, or would the approach they are used to yield different results? Not that this would happen, but just to see what a group of competent evaluators with minimal preconceptions would do.

This...right here...is why I feel both proud of my son being a Cavalier and blessed enough that he has the talent and work ethic to be there. I tend to get caught "scoreboard watching" way more than he ever has. His attitude is "be our best...let the chips fall...and move on". As he enters his third audition season with the Cavaliers, I've repeatedly reiterated to my wife that while it's expensive, it's every bit as worthwhile as the education process he receives in college. I count those fees as tuition at this point.

Good question.. guess we'll never know. Likewise, if the DCI Brass judges. judged the Brittish Brass Band Championships, would their rankings mirror the Brittish Brass Band rankings there at their Championships, or would their approach yield different results ? I'm not really up on whether or not the Brittish Brass Line evaluation system is identical or not with the DCI Brass Caption judging system. if its not the same evaluative process and yardstick utilized, then naturally one would assume a degree of variance in the results. On the other hand, if the brass evaluation criteria is the same, the results might be close to the same. It might be worth noting too however, that DCI Brass judges don't always agree on DCI Corps Brass rankings/ scores among even themselves sometimes either.

I would rather not go off topic, but there are so many issues with this statement. Switching to any-key brass helped some corps continue to exist financially. Any Key brass has turned into a profit center for drum corps. After the initial investment, corps have been able to resell to schools and other organizations to MAKE money each year while also putting better instruments in the hands of the members. They were not getting that resell value with G Horns.

Who won both Brass & Percussion: 1972: Kingsmen 1976: BD 1977: BD 1984: BD 1985: BD 1987: Garfield 1991: Star 1993: Star 1994: BD 1997: BD 2005: Cadets 2007: BD 2018: SCV <--- First outright Brass win in corps' history.

Colts hire Robert W. Smith as their 2019 season Brass Arranger.. on their website.

so... like a small colorguard? *ducks*

Forget the kids who wanted to play cymbals or the guys in the guard. The designers ego is the #1 priority. Welcome to today's DCI.

Can someone help me find a dead horse, I think it needs to be beaten again. Do something to assist the corps/organization or turn the record off.

I could of sworn that started with some drum corps drill instructor tying exactly 22 and one half inches between right and left feet of each marcher and rolled up and out from my bus to measure the yardlines, hashmarks, and outer boundaries before we had these GPS phones and laser lights the modern field crews use. Another drum corps urban legend bites the dust.

Yup, there are also the comments on here. It’s evident anytime someone uses the word “prancing”. Of course they’ll deny it but most of us know that’s a code word.

Unless I am going there for vacation but there's the catch. If there is only Mt Rushmore it is hard to choose going there. Now if there is the world's largest ball of string there, then that makes it worthwhile. LOL

Duuude! Buddy! Brotein Shake! :-)

Seeing Cavies start on the west coast has me like Duuuuuuuude BROOOOOO PROTEIN SHAKE!

Sadly missed Cadet's in Clovis this year...Sending early greetings to Cavies, can't wait to see you in '19!

you can't just fire them without someone capable and ready to take over. For all you or I know the board has been looking and hasn't found anyone qualified or even interested. But just firing them without a new hire waiting in the wings is lunacy

Out of curiosity, should every other corps who didn't make Finals this year be firing their leadership too? Is that the only metric of success? The ED doesn't choose the program design, the program design team does, and all of those people from 2018 ARE gone, replaced by a bunch of 1970s/80s drum corps people (that should make the alums happy...until it doesn't) and a few promising 20-somethings joining the team. It's an unusual approach, but not a predictable one, and for that, the ED and CD probably deserve at least a little leeway in order for their hiring decisions to play out.

When Phantom went co-ed, then back, and then switched to being open to all again, I heard many comments that, at best, were ill-informed and bad humor and, at worst, hate-filled and homophobic.

Hey, don't you remember the Bridgemen Alumni schtick when they did the Allentown gig on walkers? They were musical, funny and brought down the house.

I definitely wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you.

Please explain why you hope that this is the beginning of a trend?

Oh, a costume designer! On the Home Shopping Network and the NYC runways, the commentator always mentions "the ensemble which is being worn was designed by so-and-so and features a dazzling and sleek look..."

Oh, this one is easy. An Ensemble Specialist is a person who specializes in the ensemble. You're welcome. 😎

Lugo's Logo on this is pretty snazzy or whatever the current Cali hipster board talk is. "Cavies 2019 Explore Gnarly" seems a natural theme for them after their macho shows of late. Now will Rosemont be offering the Crossmen guardsters a group flight discount for auditions?

In its inaugural year competing in DCI’s World Class, Music City increased its tour schedule and fan base. Thanks to our volunteers, we were able to have a merchandise presence at more shows in 2018 than the previous year. Unfortunately, we heard from many disappointed fans because we did not have a booth at all […] View the full article

..... even if they do all this, none of it will matter much if their Guard is an 11th place Guard in abilities & execution, imo. In Phantom's best seasons, they were always 2/3/ 4 in Guard. As recently as 2012., Phantom Regiment had a medals worthy ( 3rd place ) Guard. Phantom Regiment was 11th in Guard at Championships last month . Music can't make Phantom Regiment soar in placements no matter the Visuals/ Theme, if the Phantom Regiment's Guard remains so subpar compared to the Top 8..

Perhaps this is the core of the Regiment's difficulties these past 6 years : they have succumbed to the temptation that the musical folks should defer to the visual addicts and allow the latter to control the program ( I am thinking here of "17's Phantasm)...without restraint. It is time for our Program Director to take control again and to have the visual people create the visuals in accordance with the theme/story and music. As for a theme, it seems that has been a mystery wrapped in a penumbra wrapped in an enigma wrapped in tinfoil these past few years. Knock off these abstruse abstract "idea" themes; curtail the temptations to get cute; if at all possible, do not employ "designers" who constantly recycle old high school themes and drills; choose a program that we can explain in one short phrase or paragraph and to which the audience can say " We get it". Look first among the thousands of classical or modern operas, ballets, and other historical music presentations for an idea (e.g., Rhapsody in "05", Faust in "06", Spartacus in "08", Into the Light in "10", Juliet in "11" and Turandot in "12"} and then build upon its music and story theme with sustained music passages that allow visual development.

Prune juice ?

I'm more in an "I don't care, why are people making such a big deal" camp

No, Depending upon the Corps section, Boston actually provides auditioneers several national sites for winter auditions now, including Calif, Texas, Indiana, Florida and Massachusetts. Boston will still have a Florida camp in December & January this winter ( and also another in April ). its advantageous to hear/ see prospective applicants out of doors in the audition evaluation process, as well as conduct rehearsals ensembles with staff/ marchers in favorable winter environments.

this. Even in more recent shows with success, Phantom had that rare trait....musical lines you could follow and not just snippets that fit the visual designers vision.

I completely agree with this take. However, is "Picture Studies" by Adam Schoenberg considered to be "great music"? Is "A Child's Garden of Dreams" great music when only a snippet is used (to feature trombones)? I just don't want to see "we're forced to play classical music" used to excuse ineffective arranging.

As directors, we've all used a little spit and glue from time to time to get the corps down the street. That means driving a truck if you're a little short to pay a driver. That means floating a few kids' fees on your own credit card because they promised to pay by Friday but showed up without the check. That means, sometimes, trying like hell to look at the big picture of 100 people and doing what you darn well hope is the right thing so you don't let people down and throwing up a Hail Mary that things will get sorted out on the fly. Is that always super-prudent? You know what? Probably not. And one's heart in the right place sometimes runs counter to what's available on the balance sheet. If you've run a group, you've been there. There is no doubt about it. "We can get caught up with Thursday-Saturday Bingo" is a familiar phrase. It is what it is. They got there. They did pretty well. They looked the part. They got past some real drama to get there (and the expectation of payments due that did not come in left them in a tough spot). We go on. It isnt the first time we've seen it. It won't be the last. Understanding it means to do something positive (like we did with Bushwackers), make it right with the Corporate people (I'm sure Allen is on top of it and the Williamsport people are pros and will go to bat for the event), and let the new people at Sun build on the momentum that it looks like they created in short order.

Rarely in orchestras are cymbals used as they are in drum corps and marching bands. However, by that logic, corps would eliminate their batteries entirely, since there's nothing like that in most orchestral writing either.

I don't agree with the above rationale. I'm sure they could write if they wanted to...they just don't believe it fits with what they are trying to achieve musically. When they cut the line, it doesn't automatically move the players to the pit for the next year...it adds X number of openings overall to the corps total makeup. It isn't one-to-one move to the pit.

total lack of understanding of the instrument. but thanks for speaking your mind

Not sure if it’s arranger or design choices, but agree. Hoping for less mash-ups next season, although I definitely appreciated the Bolero theme throughout this year.

Wouldn’t mind seeing them do a non gender specific show like SCV has done the last two years. Think they would have done well with a show design like Babylon or Ouroboros.

The Reefer Madness Marijuana Misinformation Propaganda Campaign in the 1930’s - what a hoot, right up the Cavies Alley Dear Evan Hansen The Musical - the overwhelming feeling of the need to belong, Dear Evan Hansen has become a bridge of communication between parents and children. Great Social Issue showcases an all-male corps in a positive light like you always do..

A limit on the number of seconds a show can use pre-recorded singing as part of the musical score. If singing is key to an arrangement, it should be done live, just like any other soloist.

At a minimum, it's about time they separate Percussion into separate judges for Battery and Pit, since it's ridiculous for them to be running back and forth between the two, especially when they have to go all the way around the huge pits of today and avoid all the speakers and mics, etc.