Leaderboard

I am a woodwind player. I was a woodwind player in 1989 also, when I decided to audition for a brand new drum and bugle corps based in Charlotte. Some time prior to my audition, I took the time to learn how to play a brass instrument so that I would be able to seamlessly integrate into a marching brass ensemble. I did not demand that the ensemble conform to my chosen woodwind instrument, nor was I offended that the ensemble did not offer me an opportunity to play a woodwind. I wanted a new experience, and because I chose to learn instead of trying to change an established performance format by force, I was ultimately rewarded. Any kid who plays a woodwind and feels "left out" by an all brass ensemble should simply pick up a brass instrument and learn it. It isn't rocket science, nor has it ever been. When I say "learn it," I mean learn to play it with good tone quality and proper articulation. These are choices. If one is hypothetically as "talented" a musician as your premise states, there will be no real problems in doing this. If, after taking the time to learn said brass instrument, one is still "cut" by drum corps B, then it just wasn't meant to be. Do you believe that every talented brass player who marched Americanos could make it into the Blue Devils, or the Cavaliers, or Carolina Crown? Of course not! This ridiculous argument that "everyone" should get to enjoy what we all enjoyed (by marching) is headed down the road of participation trophies and the like. There are absolutely no guarantees that every talented musician will be able to march in a drum corps and there never have been. And there never should be.

I would agree with that. We just need to remember that every era is different from the one before it. Some incorporate more of something and some actually incorporate less. All it takes is for someone to do it and be successful. If any corps were to go heavy into drill and win I guarantee you would see more and more corps doing it. It is definitely the Cadet in me talking... you are right about that. But when a corps does really cool drill people notice. Blue Stars had some really cool visual moments this year with drill. It's just a shame that it happens less than it used to.

and to make it worser, the tables were pink.

They’re like super talented stage hands.

Not many anymore but they were basically driven away when DCI started making all the groups travel much further distances and couldn’t afford the additional costs involved. When I marched in the 90’s there were more than 30 corps in Div III prelims. Now there aren’t 30 corps total. The “haves” drove out the “have nots” by making decisions that increased participation costs. There for there are probably over 1,000 kids today who don’t have an opportunity to participate due to various cost prohibitive reasons. Many of those smaller corps also used to teach people to play brass instruments as well. To decide bringing in woodwinds for more participation opportunities Now would be a reactive CYA solution to cover for 20 years worth of decisions made that helped drive participation levels lower.

Well, then, nothing has been learned from the G7 episode. NOTHING. They still want to haggle over how to slice the pie, instead of how to make the whole pie bigger.

All I hope for is a show that the members enjoy to perform.

How many are bandos who want to get away from the band vibe by doing drum corps?

Woodwinds voted down in the Januals.

Wouldn’t it bring more excitement and drama to the summer if the top 6 (or so) didn’t meet many times prior to finals? Yes. With regional focus with the corps being all brought together only at finals week, the building tension and anticipation would be wonderful. Under the present model, we all know how the final order will end up, within a max of one placement or so for any particular corps. Yawn.

In addition, how would it be to have ONLY corps in your region at every show the entire summer? Here on the east coast, we'd never see BD, SCV, Madison, Coats, Phantom Regiment, Blue Knights, Mandarins, etc.....those in the mid-west would never see Crown, BAC, Cadets, Surf, Spirit of Atlanta...and so on. Would enough people want to attend shows that will always contain the exact same set of corps?

Saw Cadets years back at an exhibition show and they were using what looking like picnic tables as props. Horn players had to walk in with horn in one hand and corner of picnic table in the other. Could just picture a mom saying “there’s Johnny, front right corner of 3rd table coming in”. And dad thinking “how much are we paying for this?” Lol

Less synth and more contra.

Reward good music and clean shows. See though BS and filler and reward doing. More crutches should = less score. Better staging/better playing/better marching = better score. Do NOT base this year scores on last years performance. (big one here)

Not to mention being absolved from having to push all that crap around all summer. Sounds VERY appealing to me!

I can guarantee you that we all gave a rats-azz what the people in the stands thought about what we were doing. I became a Lancer because I wanted to pull the fans out of their seats. We all did. I cared more about that than what the judges thought.

DA should have been fired many years ago. Completely incompetent leadership.

I have consistently loved Blue Stars’ drill and visual program for this last decade.

Blue Stars marched their a**es off this summer.

As much as I would love to see Marching and Maneuvering become part of drum corps shows again, The juice isn't worth the squeeze. (The difficulty won't get rewarded) the trend is focused on staging. I think the best we can hope for is a Mix like Bluecoats and Crown, to name a few. Drum corps are focused on setting up and creating moments. Teaching a couple hundred pages of drill just doesn't get judged like it used to. So, If you're looking for early 2000's Cadets or Cavaliers go watch a DVD.

If you build it, they will come. They have 20 years of wrong doing to undo so the start would be to schedule and plan for the remaining corps to tour regionally for the 1st half of the summer. Re=establish the regional circuit and then by default this would help new groups get started and save on expenses to get off the ground.

For Phantom Regiment to return to being a title contender. SUTA!

DCE used to consist of the east coast corps. DCM has all the Midwest. DCW was basically the west coast. Anyone notice how the small corps still thrive on the west coast more than any other region by not leaving California for the 1st half of tour? the small shows went away because there weren’t enough corps to fill them. Columbus used to have 2 shows a year. (1 DCM and one DCI) There hasn’t been one here for 3 years now. We never left the Midwest until mid July and had much shorter drives between shows. 2-3 hours instead of 6+ like what seems to be common now.

I know! It’s a special piece and I think it would be perfect for the field.

Mylar.

For the “Terri Schehr Live Tour”. Sign me up!

Ummm. No. You know why? Because DCI eliminated the regional touring model. Bring that back and more regional shows come back.

If you finished your thought, you would have answered your own questions. And those on the west coast would...

Ok now work “major league” into that... (rip off of Musics Major League or whatever the hades the catch phrase was...)

I was trying to figure out how many DCM corps are gone now. Cap Sound and Americanos for starters. Joliet Kingsmen. I loved those little kids. That was noble work the staff was doing there. 💕

Well, to be fair it would be good resume experience for Superbowl Shows or Two Men and a Truck?

Gotta say, that’s a really interesting piece of music. Sure hope it finds its way to the field by some corps or elite HS band at some point in time👍

I think this is the Cadet in us talking. I have been saying pretty much the same thing for years. I believe there is a way to incorporate Cadet-style drill AND combine it with the staging that is so present in today's drum corps. If any corps can do it, it's the Cadets (and Crown imo). I've accepted the fact that the drum corps I've grown up with is gone, but I believe we can still have some of what we had in addition to what we have now.

...and not just able, but WILLING to schedule a show that doesn't have 7 WC corps in it while, at the same time, trying to increase the competitive quality of shows by making the club more exclusive by requiring minimum MM's and minimum placement for a minimum number of years. Most corps perform in 25 to 30 shows per season now. Could there be 30 shows per time zone in the US for all corps in that region to participate? That's 120 shows, or thereabouts, for the whole year or just 20 more than now. Or, produce 20 shows per time zone and cut the season to 80 shows in the region plus 4 regionals and one finals week. (I'm only looking at the number of shows and the potential participants per region, not the logistic nor the lineups of those shows).

Really wish Crown would do this piece- an original written by Seth E. Brown and performed by Cristopher Bill. It’s AMAZING. https://youtu.be/3A9m2wvFSMU

Funny you should say this. I got flamed, we’ll sorta, when I said how do you reward musical proficiency when horn players are pushing props around the field? Donning flame retardant gear now.

Oh, is this the DCI marketplace?

It amazes me how selective your presentation (bastardizing DCI with WW) and rationalizing it by quoting aspects of DCI's Mission Statement while overlooking a key component of those same descriptions and ignoring it. But then again ideologues are like that. That is, the term "marching" musical, etc. DCI is currently failing its own mission statement by removing the importance of drill because Gaines, Chandler and the judges have gotten bored, may have to work at it to keep the dynamics alive, and struggle to be creative rather than repeating what they've done during MARCHING band and winter group seasons.

Woodwinds being permanently banned. I plan on taking 6 new people this year( I take new people every year), but I seriously can't bring myself to do so if woodwinds are allowed.

I can get rid of this troublesome itch before tour starts. J/K The women in Madison have a smooth transition into the corps. The Cadets take a big step forward The battle for top 12 is as exciting as it was last year. The battle for the top spot is as exciting as it was last year. No shinny tarps. Safe travels for all corps this summer. No rain in Allentown

I have a different name for “female drum major”. It’s “drum major”.

One of the “fathers” of MB drill design in the 50s/60s was A R Casavant. Had his son Charles as director in college and Charlie tried to keep up with dad in complex drill. He kept the band around 150 members because “too many people get in the way of my drill”. 42 years ago and still remember the quote

No nasty surprises off field....

I always hated elbows...until I left the corps, and realized how much I missed them. Things seem to be moving in the right direction for a change. I am having a lot more confidence in the corps given the staff they have this year. Here's to hoping I'm not let down. Happy Holidays!

Enjoyed the Cadets update video - so nice to hear positivity and about basic topics us drum corps fans are interested in vs last years off season mumbo jumbo “updates” - the confidence I have in this set of folks is sky high and... a personal favorite- I’m so excited to hear they are bringing back the “blinkers” - aggressive elbows is my EVERYTHING merry Christmas everyone!

Wow. Simply wow. You could learn a lot of lessons from your "elders". You could learn class, diplomacy, tact, and history of the activity, that has been brought to YOU by the "elders". What is your "elder" starting point? Take a look around at a show and really see who is there supporting the activity. The "elders". They support the activity with their children, their experiences, their education and their $$$. Look back at your favorite orgs and see where they'd be without the "elders". I don't want "dino's" to go away anymore than I want young MM's to not like DC. I do want people with crappy attitudes to go away if they can't generate a more positive outlook on the activity. I like the activity to be very much like it is. I'm not a fan of woodwinds because IMO it would require more amplification and I think we have a sufficient amount of amplification. I like some things to be what they are; I like coffee flavored coffee. Be what you are and be what you are good at and leave it at that. Here is an idea, stop in to Gate 10 in Indy this year and explain to that "elder" crowd what you think of them. I am sure you would find a number of elders who would challenge your position. And here is a thought for this upcoming year: "In a world where you can be anything...be kind". I'm giving it a try.

I keep sayin’.

There is that word again. If "relevance" is really such a concern, why do we call it "drum corps"? We have made dozens of tangible changes in the name of "relevance", yet the name has not evolved at all.

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.

Back in the late 80's into the 90's such a circuit existed, it was called Summer Band International. It was made up of youth bands. SBI would have their own shows and also competed at drum corps shows (at least this was the case out west) utilizing DCI West judges for the competition. I remember being told SBI was looking to usurp DCI as it started to hit hard times in the mid 90's. I don't know why, but youth bands started to fold left and right. At the same time in Southern California in the late 90's, a bunch of Div III and II corps popped up. Corps like Earthquake, Impulse, Esperanza, Pacific Crest, West Coast Sound, and Alliance. I have to assume these corps basically filled the void back then.