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a. Loss of a single sponsor at some point in time is inevitable. It is not a "problem" unless DCI is doing something wrong that is alienating otherwise happy, generous sponsors. b. DCI should not "attempt to replace" VF/Z... they should have a continuous effort to attract and maintain sponsors (I assume they already do). I consider that effort to be part of "running the tour". And by the way, someone I would solicit as a DCI sponsor... Tresona.

Nah... "Drum major so- and-so...is your corps ready?" "Where, where are you tonight? Why did you leave me here all alone? I've searched the world over and I thought I found true love. You met another and (*raspberry*) you were gone!"

Honestly I view this new escalating prop war as designers admitting they're willing to substitute giant props for creativity. They can't express their ideas using time, space and performers on a flat field so they say "wow isn't this 'innovative' to have our performers climb and stand/sit still on these props" instead of actively moving to create an effect with their bodies, instruments, and space. I mean if the drill truly was 3 dimensional that would be amazing. But of course it's NOT 3d; It's just climb up and stand/sit on the prop. Then climb down (or maybe slide). They're trying to be Blast! when you just can't do Blast! on a field no matter how many props and how many mics/iems/speakers you put on the field. Blast! was a Broadway stage production and inherently requires a real stage. A football field is not a stage. The logical conclusion of current design trend is to literally build a real stage on a football field. Is that REALLY where the activity should be headed? Better to simply reduce the performer count and move entirely indoors to a real stage. I know there's a fine line between evolving the activity and fundamentally changing it. IMHO pushing around props and requiring IEMS fundamentally changes the nature of drum corps to something else. Drum corps has always been a unique activity in that all the performers PERFORM. No one was a stage hand and (for the most part) there's no going behind the curtain. Everyone is actively contributing visually and musically.. Now you may have 50 performers whose job it is to push around a prop for part of the show. And handful of performers carry the virtuosic load via IEMS and mics. When performers become stagehands and acoustic becomes entirely electronic is it still marching music? The absurdity of this entire shift is that these same designers already have a venue for these sorts of productions. It's called WGI. Let's respect the fact those two venues are fundamentally very different. Can ideas still cross-pollinate? Absolutely. But some definitely should not simply because the venues are so radically different.

Pretty much the same here. The corps member who was our equipment manager was nothing short of a miracle worker. LOL. She kept our Frenchies together for a year or two longer than any of us could hope for. Sometimes with chewing gum and a prayer.

Youre mixing up the fact that these HS people are one in the same as Drum Corps people. With that said there's nothing worse than some corps/ band even putting up a cheap grandma made crooked PVC screen. Like with anything IF you can't do it right, don't do it. If you can't do it safely ( drill included ) don't do it. If you think you are going to do something because the big boys are doing it and do it cheaply or poorly just for credit. FORGET IT! IF you want to copy cat anyone then do it as well if not better.

Reminds me of people freaking out at the sport of fencing being introduced to middle or high schools. They're stabbing/slashing each other with a 3 foot length of steel...DANGEROUS!! Actually...the sport is far FAR safer than football if proper gear is worn and you don't do something stupid. I fence and instruct sabre -- the most aggressive of the three weapons -- and frankly, I've taken more injuries in 2 decades of armory than in 2 decades of fencing.

It would be hilarious and ironic to see members of BD dressed in country garb singing: "Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me."

Many have no real clue as to how accomplished Roy Clark really was at guitar:

In 2017, Bluecoats had an 8’ high prop known as the Jagged Line. When it was delivered at Spring Training, it had no rails up top. The admin and board overruled the design team and had safety rails installed within a week. Good corps have checks and balances.

Blue. Devils : Reinvent themselves (as only they can do) for the Gold SCV : Almost! BAC : Another year and yet another step closer to the ultimate goal (destiny) Bluecoats : Great show but the competition was just so strong Crown : Class and more class Anticipating a fantastic year of drum corps. Can't wait!

Lol I am known to be a bit of a rebel

This mostly refers to judging the completed product. where visual (esp. guard) seems to be weighted more heavily. In the design process we're at the opposite end of the spectrum where it's just ideas and mp3s. The visual ideas need to be very concrete before moving forward. That doesn't mean dots on papers (although it can mean drill ideas). It just means we know precisely how these concepts can successfully be brought to life by the performers. Doing your homework early is key. Hand-waving in the design room has killed many a great show. Honestly even if you do it all correctly it still might not work when you get it all out on the field under the lights. A lot of BDs success comes from their ability organically build a production during the season. But you need designers who can literally finish each other's sentences and performers who are talented and mature enough to handle themselves in that kind of environment. Anyway getting back to Crown, have faith brother. It's all been just a tiny bump in the road; magic is happening there.

Haven't thought about it much until now, but I realize since I started following DCI in the early 80's the Cavaliers have been for me the most consistently enjoyable corps from year to year. I don't think there's a single show of theirs that I DISlike (2009 might be the closest). With all that being said, here is a personal top 12...biased towards the years I have seen them live: 1. 2000 Niagara Falls - still blows me away in terms of music and visual working so well together 2. 1992 Revolution - always remember the hypnotic effect of the backfield guard staging during the ballad portion of Peterloo 3. 1986 - very first live finals...this was a favorite for many years; Canzona was a very underrated opener and the first appearance of the collapsing snake drill IIRC 4. 2003 Spin Cycle - this one spoke to me so much more than the previous 2 championship shows 5. 1995 The Planets - cannot imagine this being interpreted any better, that double helix move had everyone's jaw on the floor 6. 2018 On Madness - favorite modern show from them, just crazy and so much to take in 7. 1989 Gloria - IMO the pinnacle of all the Brubaker drills 8. 1998 Traditions For A New Era - Unexpectedly brilliant...introduced the concept of corps past to corps future 20 years before Metamorph 9. 2004 007 - Yeah, you can't argue with Bondness 10. 1990 Cavalier Anthems - Tough call between this one and 1991, just loved the opener so much this year 11. 1991 Cavalier Advent Anthems - A little safe musically but you could sense their visual possibilities just starting to open up, plus windsocks! 12. 2008 Samurai - Maybe if they had a little more blood on the field they could have topped PR! (hah, jk!)

thats a larger portion of HS programs than you think.

You have now exceeded your allowed BUMPS.

Knowing BD, it will be used well. It's interesting to speculate, and I would love to see Tommy again, but there's a lot of jazz music that it would be great with as well. Madison used Paul Hart's Concerto for Guitar and jazz Orchestra in '88 before Malaguena, could be fun to hear that Concerto again, but with guitar.

I loved when Crown did Rach Star. Blue Devils might be seeking the next Jimi Hendrix to do another rock inspired show. Rock, in its many forms, is a genre that is ripe for another top notch drum corps treatment. It's a risk, and has huge potential to be a spectacularly memorable show for the ages.

Props come and props go. I get what you're saying about things that are "newly legalized" but I don't think props fall into that category. We've seen prop-heavy shows in the past and then they went away and now they're back. Fully expect them to go away again and see a return to the "bare canvas". As for mics and IEMs, they're probably here to stay but I think we'll see their use become more restrained. Hearing an ensemble out your right ear when they're clearly standing down on the left 10 yard like is just bad design. Everyone will get it soon enough.

ok so now we can see we are talking about something different..just for the record young and old alike do care and love what's being done today. Todays members do move well, play well spin like no others have in the activity as well as produce unbelievable productions. So now that we have got this down. We can just agree to disagree. AS far as fad. I remember hearing that in the 70s...time to move on🙂

Lol and you're showing your drum corps roots by focusing exclusively on whether or not these props should get credit (ie score well). I don't think anyone in this thread has talked about props scoring Instead they were discussing about whether the props and their usage would be done in a safe manner. But since you bring it up 🙂 I have no issue with static props. Create your set -- whatever; it's just money right? I do think asking 19/20yr old musicians to spend 30% of a show pushing a prop around a field ( never mind the countless hours OFF the field they spend assembling, disassembling, and moving those props) instead of actually playing their instrument is a BAD THING. I also think talking about props creating a "3rd dimension" is a bunch of malarkey. It's still a two dimensional stage; performers aren't actively moving on the Z axis except to climb up and stand on the prop. There's no Z axis development to the design itself (and there won't be until DCI moves into space or someone invents antigravity belts). The best 3d i saw this year was BD. They took a flat image and truly made it three dimensional giving it depth. I also think designers are deluding themselves if they think they can create a "Blast!"-like experience on a football field. It takes a real stage, real sound design, real lighting, and real sets (with all the real behind-the-scenes technical staff that any broadway production requires) to pull it off. You can't do it on a football field and pretending that you can is just stupid. It's a hollow imitation. This fascination with tens of speakers all over the field and many performers needing IEMs just to play in time or mics just to be heard is also stupid. Putting performers in the right place at the right time to be heard is called GOOD STAGING and playing in time despite your location on the field is called overcoming ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES -- both skills very unique to this activity that used to be rewarded. Anyway ... Like you said -- if you can't do it BETTER than the original then don't try to copy it. Anyway giant props are "in" and they're here to stay until someone comes along and wins WITHOUT them. Then the cycle will reverse and props will be passé.

I apologize if you feel as though they're attacks, but I am giving my thoughts on your opinions, as is customary on message boards. That said, you are calling me pathetic and a troll for giving my opinions and thoughts on things going on with PR as well as comments by posters. At no point did I attack your posts, simply posted my thoughts on them, at which time you called me pathetic and a troll, which is odd. As for stating you never ridiculed, you did. By calling me pathetic and a troll. Maybe before posting as though you've taken some high road, consider your responses to my opinions. Just a thought.

The 2019 season can't come fast enough for me! https://www.dropbox.com/s/9bqiu84n09ou05t/Snowy Cadets.jpg?dl=0 G

And that's the big "IF". Middle schools are not known for having the financial wherewithal to buy all the necessary and appropriate equipment. Middle school teachers are not known for understand everything they should with respect to the sports they teach for 2 weeks a year before moving to something else. And middle school students are not known for avoiding doing something stupid. I had to take a fellow fencer to the hospital while fencing at Penn State, because he hadn't put on the appropriate gear and took a foil in the armpit that went on through to his chest cavity (not from me, thankfully). And Penn State produces national champions in the sport, so it's not like they don't know how to protect people. And ultimately, that's a lot of the problem with corps: it's a bunch of musicians, who put themselves in the position of doing a lot of things they're not trained for and not even particularly well-suited to do. Thus you see corps with financial problems, logistical problems, HR problems, etc. But we suddenly think that these same artists running corps/DCI will have the knowledge to provide all the necessary safety precautions? Edit: and what's worse - maybe the top corps can pull it off in a safe manner. But then all the copycats try and do it because that's what the judges are rewarding ... right on down to the high school level, where the average school clearly won't have the financial capacity or knowledge to do it safely.

Very jealous that you will see them before I will lol

It just occurred to me that the marketing gurus of DCI, amid their own zeal to answer this question, have directed the focus of all things toward high school band kids. After 20 years of such focus, we are now told that the typical duration of fan interest (allegedly 3.5 years) is shorter than the typical high school enrollment. If that is true, then your "typical fan" target demographic must be the same HS/college age group that our current participants represent. (Personally, I disagree with both the chosen pigeonhole and the data that suggests we double down on such pigeonholing, but I do not have a seat at the marketing table.)

If sufficient effect is demonstrated and achieved given the various challenges and issues... why not? Simple instance which I've seen and heard. Soloist A is too sick. Soloist B is called in that plays a different instrument and still wows the listener and is also superb, but not the choice intent of the music staff. I wouldn't have known that until I was told by the director. Top end groups always have plans and alternates/alternatives for various situations that may happen.

doesn't even have to be weather. overshoot a move or a jump ( thinking Vanguard performer last year), and boom.....not good.

They want to present those elements as their show of choice. To them it is worth the money/time/logistics. "Plan B" so to speak is just that...their second choice.

It should be a given that in a marching music ensemble you may get injured on a sudden direction change, a flag or other tossed implement hit; or something from a repetitive instrument performance. It should also be a given that in a modern DCI BOA acrobatic circus type show you may get injured while spinning in a gyroscope after bouncing on a highwire then rolling down a ramp into a box made to break apart upon impact which in turn releases simulated dry-ice fog.

do people feel the same of high speed, faster faster hairpin drill? Many have gone down over the years. I would think much more injured than from props. I do know of many hurt in drill. Seems there are many who love this

Honestly, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. We’ve seen some gruesome injuries occur on the field before these contraptions and acrobatics started. I’ve seen the most safety conscious companies have accidents. It’s not a matter of “if”; it’s a matter of “when.”

I’ll probably go see them sometime during ST. Adrian isn’t too far for me.

Did not check the VFW results, but with Tony S. in charge of the VFW Nationals, they might have had a hard time winning that "contest" as well.

field judges is just a small part of the potential safety concerns out there. the quest for more and bigger and higher props is IMO the bigger issue.

Safety is important, and so is context. Gymnastics and (to a lesser extent) cheerleading are very much about such tricks and acrobatics. SCV's acrobat was not the meat of their visual/GE, but rather a flourish... a well-placed cherry on top of an expertly frosted cake. It would not have been effective if the moment were not already awesome. It did not send the message that everyone needs to have acrobats to win, which would have been concerning.

I recall sitting next to parents of a Bluecoats member who marched in 2016. It was at East Coast Classic which was held at Boston College and they had yet to see the show live. Their son slid down the slide a few times and their hearts were in their stomachs. I don't follow cheerleading, but a high school I was associated with in the past had a championship cheerleading squad and used to host a huge competition each year, and I was always involved in some behind the scenes activity. The only reason I was asked to be doing some behind the scenes activity that had nothing to do with cheerleading was because people were needed to step in and keep the peace. In the case of this school it was the principal, vice principal, athletic director, chaplain, an off duty police officer. We were all incognito until tensions between squads flared. DCI is very competitive and some will say at times cut throat. To put it mildly, WGI has been known to have some dramatic moments. All of this combined is nothing compared to cheerleading, at least for me. DCI and WGI drama is like settling a dispute among small children playing with Legos who all want the same brick. Dealing with minor issues in cheerleading among highly competitive squads is like solving a dispute in the Middle East. Cheerleading is competitive, and perhaps because most of the competitions I have seen are in smaller venues where you are privy to not only what happens on the gym floor but also in the background, I find cheering tense and the temptation to do something dangerous in a competitive setting could be greater. To be fair to cheerleading, the young people still need to prove they are athletes. When people see drum corps or some of the better marching bands, they are impressed at what they do. I am sure that anyone who sees a guard at WGI quickly realizes it is more than the Hampton Inn "Flag Dancing" commercial. For many who go to cheering events, it is still big smiles and pom-poms. Cheering has more to prove which ups the ante. Also with DCI and WGI, there are more ways to earn high GE scores than the physical aspect alone. This could point out why it is a great thing DCI is taking member safety more seriously.

Congratulations to Claire and Samuel on the engaging news they made public this morning. Great people, great corps, many blessings for their future together.😂 You may enjoy reading this about one of their mutual ventures already proving effective. https://www.musicandmarching.com/blog/2018/1/18/marching-arts-spotlight-silent-command