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CrownPit snap reveals show music!

Not the good circus either LOL. More like the ones that pop up at the mall parking lot. All I can think of now is the whole "Carnies smell like cabbage" thing LOL.

What's the purpose of turning drum corps into marching band? There is hiigh school marching band and there is college marching band. So then what is the need for DCI band. And a huge amount of money could be put to other and better use. But oh wait.........that would mean a lot of people would have to find a job elsewhere and a whole lot of people would not be able to supplement their income at the expense of students.

It would make no difference to the sustainability of the activity (if anything, it'd put more financial strain on corps). The biggest threats are licensing, changes in consumer spending on hard media (Video and CD sales are a fraction of what they were ten years ago), and continued difficulty in finding housing for corps at the big shows. Adding saxophones fixes none of those problems, but changing the tour model and putting rules in place that put a little more reward in execution (the members) and less in design (the individuals making $15 to 25k for designing shows) could. No one is proposing anything that would fix that.

Can hear it now! Crowns flutes just killed it. BD bass saxophone section is amazing. SCV oboe soloist is the best in bandcorps. Bluecoats use of the Roland AE-10G Digital Wind really fits their production.

I keep sayin’.

Imma having nightmares tonight.

I'm from the south. We got 12 inches of snow in Chattanooga once and it shut the city down for literally 4 days. I try to avoid places that get like 4 feet of snow on average a year. I did go for my college visit to University of Indiana Bloomington in the middle of January in a brilliant master plan by my parents to keep me as close to home (Chattanooga) as possible. My body didn't realize that temperatures could go into negative numbers until that trip. I quickly decided that UA was a better fit for me.

I agree with the general tenor of your comments in full EXCEPT for the sentence you have in brackets; it denies the history of competitive drum corps since WWII. For many of us whose schools did not have instrumental music programs (or marching bands if at all, and that includes public schools especially in urban areas or schools without football programs or otherwise) drum corps was the beginning of instrumental music not the end zenith after a stint in BOA or College marching bands. That is a major difference in drum corps today; read the histories of Boston (Most Precious Blood) Crusaders, Casper Troopers, (Holy Name, Garfield) Cadets, The Cavaliers, that is, the founding corps of DCI. Even BD started as a glockenspiel ("bell") and drums corps when the SCVs were the Sunnyvale Sparks (associated with a volunteer FD weren't they?) The history of the mms who became DCI and the history of the movement has changed. Unfortunately, those "deprived" kids in neighborhood, Div. 3 or lower corps, are now deprived of much chance in DCI (current or as "Woodwind corps") unless they are self-taught. Carry on (but not carrion.)

Well said...…. Getting close to that point also...… Next it will be wheeled harps and pianos in the pit

Once the camel gets its nose in the tent it’s all over. A “small number” of woodwinds wouldn’t satisfy anyone. On the positive side once it becomes full-on summer band, they can eliminate the DCI headquarters and staff and merge with BOA. That should cut some cost.

Maybe the sign should read “He’s on trial for rape”. With an arrow..For clarity.

When we had some really cold nights back in the 50's, Dad had a coffee can he attached a light bulb inside and placed it near the oil pan. Of course, his best attachment to the 49 Ford was a thin chain above the drivers door that ran to the air horn set up he had. Boy did people pick up some speed when that thing turned on.

As we enter the home stretch of ‘19, just a week or so left to commemorate Crown’s 30th anniversary. And for those that are concerned about the CrownSTORE, above item arrived at my door 96 hours after I clicked “place order.” Happy holidays to DCP denizens one and all⛄️🎄

Yep ever get the idea DCI only worries about what is on the field until it hits them in the face (eg Pioneer, Cadets)

She probably only drives an electric car.

No ####. It looks like the circus has pulled into town.

The daughter of a friend of mine is going to the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks next fal.. I told her about the plugs hanging out of car hoods. She seemed unfazed. 😝😳

I found this for ya buddy. I think I can pretty much guess that this book is one page long and the answer what the first sound is would be "SQUEEEEKKKKKKKK"

Not necessarily. No one is marching a string section this year, and several corps have used violins in their show - but as featured soloists, which is how it would make sense if a corps wanted to feature a woodwind in the pit. Just not the oboe. Please God, no oboes....😎

They won't, nor should they. DCI is their brand. It belongs to them, whether anyone likes it or not.

My sincere hope is that any corps who decides to go the route of woodwinds would do so with good judgement and not go too over the top. That being said, we've all seen what happens when props don't have limitations.

The Fargodome. It’s an ok city. Has a mall.

I would love to get there someday. Brenda and I met some folks whose daughter went to school there... they said it was an awesome game-day experience.

Very much sums up my standing at this point as well. Drum Corps is a different animal. I go to a DCI/DCA show to watch a drum corps, not a marching band. In my opinion, it would be like going to the zoo to see a lion and being presented with a house cat and being told that it's "basically the same thing....only smaller." Yes, technically, it's all a music ensemble that's moving...but it's not the same thing. I have a lot of respect for marching band (I'm pretty sure any of us who went on to march DCI or DCA can accept that marching band is where it all started for us.) But I can also see where the tradition makes it so very different. I would be fine with a small number of woodwinds attached to the front ensemble. That's where they would work best IMHO. They could be mic'd there and would fall into an "effect instrument." Why do we need it? That I just don't know. I cannot think of a single example of any show in the past where I thought to myself, "You know...I've got a fever...and the only prescription...is more piccolo." As many have said, the added expense of moving around a bunch more members would seem to be contrary to the member corps (and MM's themselves) financial stability. As Slingerland said, you just aren't going to get that extra 10K a#$@# in seats...period. And even if you DID get 10,000 extra "bando's" as we tend to call them, they would probably be sacrificed on the alter which will be erected just outside of the souvie booths as an appeasement to the gods (I know my urge to choke out several of them at the only band show I went to this year was VERY strong when they screamed and talked through the entire show and then disrespected show's in which their children were not involved.) I too would like to know more about what the actual proposal is and then what the actual INTENTION is of the member corps themselves.

Be careful of the wood chippers!

I’ve been to ND State in Fargo.

DCIBands is a great name! But I thought the activity all but renamed itself -- correctly -- a few years ago. They just didn't go all-in on marketing it: Marching Music's Major League All encompassing.

The virus infected the host long ago and death now seems imminent. The autopsy report will read cause of death due to lack of creativity and narcissistic ego-thirsty “show designers” leading to flamboyant over-decoration and over-produced shows that take ten years to “appreciate.” A funeral would be appropriate, and it would give closure. Maybe show up at Lucas in our old uniforms (mine still fits) with black armbands, NATIONAL SQUADS, and play New Orleans jazz funeral dirges around a casket with “Drum and Bugle Corps” written on it. I’m teary-eyed already.

1. I have no access to indoor facilities other than my small room(auditorium, music labs lol. what are those). 2. I get no janitors to clean anything outside of sweeping my room once a day. Anything that occurs after school or weekend I am responsible for cleaning and taking care. 3. I get no budget for instrument repairs or maintenance. If something breaks I either fix it or booster club pays to fix it. My school has not purchased a new instrument in at least ten years. 4. I receive no supplements for anything thing I do after school. We also aren't allowed to charge our students fees to participate. All monies have to come from fundraising and donations. This is the same for the strings and chorus that I teach. As far as salary goes, As I stated this is in reference to marching band. So "super-sleuth" all you want, buddy.

The financial aspects of the concept haven't been explored in any meaningful way to address the central issue of sustainability. Bands with 200-250 performers have most of the infrastructural expenses of operations covered by their school districts. The band directors are paid for through tax dollars, their rehearsal facilities, etc, etc, are also covered by their school districts. If the average BOA program had to be self-sustaining, they'd never hit the field. Drum corps have to eat all of the expense of putting the product out there, and adding more members actually makes it more expensive to run their operations, not cheaper. As far as the central 'product' element of the discussion, I'd like to see the study that shows that DCI would sell another 10,000 seats on Finals night because BD all of sudden had a flute section.

The woodwinds proposal this year doesn't take into account any of the myriad of changes that going full marching band in the traditional sense would cause. If and when the DCI members are ready to go there, you'd hope they'd do it knowing full well that it will lose them a significant chunk of their legacy fan base (probably including myself) and create a raft of problems in terms of budgets and sustainability for the member corps, since adding 50 new woodwinds players would only jack up the costs of the summer tour (each member on the field is a money-losing proposition for the corps as it is - throwing another tour bus and another 10 to 20 techs and staffers into the equation will only make it worse), and cutting 30 horn spots (if they decided to keep the 154 member limit) to put out a few flutes or saxophones on the field would dilute the sound that people like now. The most likely proposal that could pass would be to treat woodwinds the way they do string instruments now; as soloists or small ensembles attached to the pit. If someone really wants an oboe solo in their show, fine, whatever, give them that and then tell them to feel proud of their "inclusion." 😎

Seems like deja vu all over again.

There is an all-instrument proposal on the list. It's not very well-thought out, to be blunt, and stands little chance of getting more than a few minutes worth of consideration in committee before being shelved. Hearing there's also a proposal to get all judges off the field and limit the mic'ing of horn players to soloists only, rather than doing what SCV did a few years back with a mic'd 'super ensemble" within the line.

There are thousands of competitive marching bands. It is not like we have never seen that end product. Sorry, but for me, I am all in for the brass/percussion-centric ensemble. Change it to band, and DCI will not see another dime from me. I am just not interested in paying to see that. The only possible compromise that would interest me is if DCI committed to preserving the brass/percussion-centric ensemble. That would take a pretty strong statement on their part, as well as defining the role of woodwinds as only an accessory instrument, maintaining the brass caption, and so forth. (And I know that would only last for so long, like their "permanent opposition" to three-valve brass announced in 1976... but I am not in charge.)

Ream??? Dead!!! Neidermeyer??? Dead!!!

Yeah read on FB they got the 4 min opener from Bocook prior to this weekend. Excited to hear those mello runs next summer!

Just returned from Cadets camp. Percussion...OMG! The talent level is simply off the charts. They made a few great additions to an already great staff. They should be something special. The brass staff is establishing a strong program that should be something special once it matures. Not a brass player but word is the talent level is stepped up from last year. Brass and percussion learned about a minute of show music over the weekend. Great to hear the Cadets playing Jay Bocook arrangements again. Cadets fans can relax. The corps is in good shape and they are on a very good trajectory.

I'm sure $$$ has something to do with the quality of props. But I'd say the bigger determinant is who is designing them and trying to integrate them into the show. I'd argue that prop design has been more lagging than prop budget.

This simply isn’t true.