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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/21/2023 in all areas

  1. Hello Quinn, Thanks for the opportunity to talk about drum corps in Canada. There is so many aspect we could talk of. This email could be 3000 pages!! Lets start with a few observations. There might be many ways to grow the activity but the one who will succeed are the ones people believe in and are ready to invest time, energy, talent et money. We have those people at Stentors, pushing for a yearly DCI tour. Those people will not invest their time for a parade corps, a local marching band or a local whatever. The day DCI tell the Stentors we have to go "soundsport" it will be our last day. No one here want to invest 5 minutes in something less than competing drum corps. We will die as no one will take over for this new "orientation". We have 2 parades corps in Quebec. Both led by passionnate people ready to invest time, energy, talent and money for that purpose. They could never do a DCI tour. Their kids don't want that. Their parents don't want that. Their staff don't wanna do that too. Stentors could never go back to parade and local shows. Everybody here would leave. Staff, members, volunteers. Everybody. That said... In order to help ourself, we try to put a feeder corps in action most years (not coming out this year). They stay local. They come without prior music knowledge. Last year we invest roughly 30 000$ US to promote music at daycare in 26 city. We met almost 2000 kids during the summer, making them play brass, drums, danse or spinning a flag. You see, music is dying in school and it is a small org like the Stentors who try to reverse the situation for an entire province. What we do is a drop in an ocean. Can't do it alone. Drum corps is dying not because it is not worth it but because the society has changed. I don't know in Ontario or USA but here, people start working at McDonald when they are 12-13 years old now. School bring them in South America and Europe as end-of-the-year travel. You're better offer something worth it if you want to catch their interest. Back to your questions! While I may agress with Daniel Buteau and yourself, Stentors is a different bird. This is why we are still here 20 years after everyone else's gone. We don't do things that we can't deliver. We had our share of staff earning 20$/day on tour as recently as 2015. Travelling on school bus, cooking our own food to save a few dollars, etc. The sacrifice the people made to make this corps grow financially solid is astonishing. We made so many sacrifice which wouldn't have been done for something else than DCI drum corps. This is our passion. (2022) We did not finish lower or higher than year past financialy (2017-2022). We raised our tuition from 1050$ US to 1600$ US to cover both plane tickets needed (Montreal-LA / San Francisco-Chicago). Everything else was just the same as usual for us (1 month tour + housing + food, ect.). Tuition is about 14% of our yearly budget. It cover about only transportation expenses. No more no less. We don't coun't on tuition to pay our bills. From 2007-2019, tuition was only 8% of the budget. Yes by raising the tuition it became a little bigger percentage of it all. We are still VERY low. Can I add that many members take advantage of discountswe offer (for volunterring and more). 50% don't pay the total 1600$ in tuition. One year we offered every camp for 0$ to all. To our surprise we didn't gain one more kid. In fact we lost a few more at the beginning of the summer. Now that is it more expensive, people pay way more on time. Go figure! How much did our California tour did cost? 34 000$ US - Plane ticket 12 000$ US - Extra on housing 20 000$ US - Bus rental Food = as usual Gaz = as usual (more to bring the trucks in, less during the 2 weeks as we did not move much) If we hadn't been in California I'd fear we would not have comeback. If brought kid, staff, volunteers back. It brought more people in every aspect of the org. It help raised more money than ever. It stimulate people to give more time and efforts. All the gains we had with California last year are still paying off today as we will bring our second biggest corps since 1999 (60) next summer. Along with a bigger staff and more volunteers. We run a tight ship here. There is not many dollar spent without a good reason (we drop a dollar to much here and there of course...but not often). Dare I say "we eat better than everyone else"? Yes I do. 😉 We are not repeating the same mistake Quebec and Ontario have made since DCI hosted finals in Montreal, 1981. We never been. We never "cut" members who were too young or not talented enough. We have started all over again as many time as needed when a large chunk of older members would leave at the end of a season. We are adapting yearly at the multiple challenges trow at us by events, society changes and rising cost. Until 2022, we still played on our old G bugle. Our drumline usually last at least 20 years, so does our uniform. We are not chasing the American glory and that doesn't steals an opportunity to inspire a young Canadian to take up music. In fact we still take kids with no music background and inspire our members to go further in music, nourrishing their passion for it. School with Stentors alum teaching are doing better than the other music program because of grit, passion, dedication they show at work. I believe, learn in part with us. We will not set up for less and will never look at group with a different goal, objective and caliber with disdain. We need a vibrant music scene in order for all of us to do well. And we try hard to show the path forward.
    3 points
  2. Stipulated: DCI membership in any given corps is more national today than ever. But California is the single largest "back yard" of talent in the USA. There is no other state with a potential membership pool within such close proximity as it is to any corps anywhere in Cali, let alone the uber-populated region from the Central Valley to the Bay Area. Why farm Texas when you're sitting smack in the middle of the world's 5th-largest economy? Why sweat the Midwest when your own state has as many people as multiple Midwestern states put together? There's something fundamentally broken about the idea that a 150-member ensemble situated amid one of the richest pools of human talent on the planet would, as a matter of survival, need to set up a recruiting booth two time zones away, at the Iowa Music Educators Assocation conference.
    3 points
  3. The coolest creative energy to come out of Canada. That dude was a blast.
    3 points
  4. I would bet on that too. I have a gut feeling that there will be cuts in other areas. What they could do is cut amps and electronics and add at least 20 contras lol!!!!
    3 points
  5. 3 points
  6. I’ve read your passionate posts throughout this mess and wondered if my corny joke might offend. Appreciate your good attitude and funny response.
    2 points
  7. Isn't it bliss? Don't you approve? 🤷🏽‍♀️
    2 points
  8. This is cool; "Mobile Music Lab" https://jerseysurf.org/news/jersey-surf-unveils-mobile-music-lab-project/?fbclid=IwAR1yAUclwqLxhEz8NXduMjPuwUSs1BSxlPZLR6gYmhA9_gQ-bCNgKzr8Q1g
    2 points
  9. Let's just hope this works out for the best for Surf. The last thing the activity needs is another corps on the sidelines.
    2 points
  10. Here's the thing. If these "small appearance fees" really did not matter, then there would be no objection to DCI sharing them equally across all participating corps, members and non-members.
    2 points
  11. This is the video. Now imagine an app that lets you noodle around with samples and make loops that use brass and percussion riffs to make tunes. I think the reach into younger generations with a sense "see what cool things this instrumentation can do" might widen the reach of the appeal of Drum Corps.
    1 point
  12. Oh that mobile lab is a very cool idea. After Crown's "show app" i keep waiting for some corps to work with an app developer and make one of those sampling/noodling apps only with tracks using brass and percussion bits. Throw that out there to the digitial generation on phones and let them create loops and stuff that explore the range of brass and percussion ensemble sounds like some of the digital music things do for electronic music. Surf may be the one to jump for such an innvoation actually. This lab is a super cool thing and they were on board for that drumcorps take of a pop song awhile back too.
    1 point
  13. Thanks for the link. Very cool idea. This, and the announcement of the tour change, leaves me with a good impression of JS leadership.
    1 point
  14. I'm gaga over this. It's exactly the kind of inventiveness that's needed. And it's much easier to get seed funding for something like this than drum corps directly. Best wishes to Surf with this project.
    1 point
  15. Very cool especially if it can create revenue as well as awareness
    1 point
  16. I love watching Corps where the members are confident enough performers that they don’t need 100 more members to back them up. Looking forward to seeing them in Richmond VA in July.
    1 point
  17. The Canadian groups always brought creative energy to the filed. Les Etoiles and the spinning snare drummers, for instance. Les Chatelaine. L"Offensive Lions, Connexion Quebec, Ventures, Dutch Boy ... the list could go on and on.
    1 point
  18. YEP! No doubt about it. I said the same thing in Tomball. Putting my extreme fanself to the side, they rocked! I hope they can build on that powerful contra line.
    1 point
  19. But I’ll bet staff salaries have not gone up proportionately. Not every staff member is being paid either. I would expect salaries and wages for corp staff; designers, techs, admin., etc. can be found in their tax filings.
    1 point
  20. I’ll frame my argument from another perspective. Blue Stars published how they spent their funding for 2022. About 1/3 of their budget was spent on show production which includes staff salary, so I’ll assume that’s roughly the same percentage for all corps. Take that 1/3 in spending for “show production” in 2022 and cut it by 50% for 2023. Everything else falls into place accordingly. Accountants exist for a reason and Drum Corps should listen to them more and the design people less. Much less.
    1 point
  21. The OP presents some very cogent arguments for adapting the model to suit regional reality. I say "go for it". Having had some personal contact with the management of Les Stentors, I am impressed with their philosophy and family/community style of operation, as well as their creative programming. (Full disclosure: I have the T shirt.) In a conversation about them with Hall of Famer Michel Boulanger, I suggested that this and similar Canadian corps go with their strengths, i.e., maximize uniqueness by changing the ratio of musicians to guard, for example. Consider: Electronics provide opportunities like utilizing a small number of musicians and featured vocalists who might be essentially stationary, accompanied by a massive color guard/dance ensemble for movement, color and field coverage. Emphasize the effect caption, a traditional strength of groups north of the 39th Parallel. When I first marched, Scout House looked and sounded very different from US corps. Their arranging and marching styles were refreshingly unique. They celebrated these things (the Bb bugles and glocks helped) and were not particularly concerned about out-doing the state-side corps at their game. They brought their own. But they consistently "won the crowd", a very gratifying thing for any performer and a great incentive to keep the act together. Many Canadian corps followed this route, Les Diplomates being a prime example. Sitting in the stands at DCI Canada in 1986, my mother (a very hip drum corps fan) witnessed the performance of the 10th place unit, Les Eclipses. During their closer, La Vie En Rose, she turned to me and said, "Now there's a group that knows how to reach an audience". It's notable that she held her opinion even after watching powerhouses like Madison, Cadets, Star, and Spirit in that same show. (Quick, what ear-worm do you have at this moment?) I think there's a lesson in there.
    1 point
  22. for several years some West Coast WC corps did a limited touring schedule and no one complained. PC and Mandarins if i recall correctly
    1 point
  23. no. people have careers that don't give 11 weeks of vacation.
    1 point
  24. Star 93 Phantom 06 SCV 17 BD 04
    1 point
  25. Cavies 2003, 2010, 1990, 1991. And I have to give a shout out to Crown 2009. I admit that I haven't been a fan of Carolina Crown shows as of late, but 2009 Crown was an awesome show.
    1 point
  26. I “care” in as much as I’d like to see the activity survive long-term and exist for more than just a handful or elite corps. Give kids that can’t afford $5,000 or more the same opportunity to march as we did. Drum Corps is dying before our eyes and for a chance to survive it needs to find a way to do business differently and cut expenses. There’s probably not much opportunity to cut expenses in housing, food, and transportation, but the size of staff…….? Plenty of opportunity in my opinion and the product won’t suffer, nor will the audience.
    1 point
  27. Then might as well do away with appearance fees across the board. And there should be no objection if DCI takes that $1.5 million they will save in 2023 and splits it 50-50 with me for proposing the idea.
    1 point
  28. its a wasteland fighting for gasoline. And yes. appearance fees are $%&^# compared to the costs of operations. They barely fill one diesel tank, let along pay for tomorrows school. The idea was there's no reason to give that to a group that can't raise their own cash to even match that $500-1500 appearance fee. And i tend to agree. Many of the Div 2/3 never bothered to fundraise, or understand operating within means. and thus directors came back from a tour having to cash in their 401K to get the members home. They couldn't create a budget, or operate within it, or worse, ignored the math and said "we'll figure it out". Its the same issue with SCV. They can't seam to help themselves, so why should anyone else throw money or time at it when all these other groups seam to have figured out how to maintain funding?
    1 point
  29. As a former member of a Corps that would now be Open Class, I will point out that we liked being on same sheets as World Class; we wanted to know how we measured up. And there was one time a judge called it as he saw it and had us 0.5 behind Phantom in percussion. Critique was raucous that night but he stood his ground.
    1 point
  30. No corps is going to willingly give up their DCI membership and tour appearance fees. It's *never* happened. Pioneer, despite the grumbling behind the scenes from literally everyone in drum corps, kept their WC status until health and safety scandals hit, and the corps was expelled before they ever got to OC. DCI is accommodating to a fault to it's member corps. They can rearrange tour schedules, assist with logistics, even help corps get loans if the org so chooses, in order to help build for future success. Open Class and SoundSport... well, if your director makes a social media post that offends, you lose your access. (See: Arsenal) But that's a whole other story. Mike
    1 point
  31. A and A-60 (eventually div 2/3) got paid a small sum for performances. Many up the food chain thought that was a drain on the rest of the collective organization (DCI) and now open class only shows pay $0. Mixed bill shows they do get a small sum. Technically even BD gets a "small sum" based on what it costs to get a bus down the road these days or the several 1000s a night it costs to use a school. here's the thing. as a nonprofit it really doesnt matter if you collect an small appearance fee or not. (in regional theatre we don't count tickets sales into operational revenue for the season... that's spare money we MIGHT get to use next season) you still need to have a development team that's good at grant writing, finding major donors, running funding campaigns, and in general funding the machine.
    1 point
  32. It did not break the bank. What it did however, was generating more membership interest than years past. That result in a typical 30-35 members corps growing to 50 kids in 2022. A 61% growth from 2019 coming back from a pandemic. It may look like small numbers but in a land where there is no marching band and where school music program are melting as fast the ice on top of the kilimandjaro, this was a remarkable achievement. The corps finished the season in the black...as always. Wish we would be base in a more music friendly zone. At least we have winterguard and a beginning of a drumline scene getting started.
    1 point
  33. i think the staff is key.....to retention. I'm not talking big names, i am talking people who are good yes, but have deep ties in the region. Surf used to have kids that stayed a while. Why not now? Well....placement. with Cadets moving to Erie, Surf has a huge upside in the I-95 corridor, even out to Harrisburg/DC. But you need the staff people that can draw the kids from their band programs....then keep them.
    1 point
  34. the key is doing both...which means both corps. I love SCVC, but that alone won't drive the bus in bringing in $$. Getting stable leadership, not living and dying on bingo, reconnecting locally AND nationally.....thats the win win.
    1 point
  35. Here is my complete Jukebox Friday article on Pioneer, specifically the years of 1994-2000. Enjoy! #DrumCorps #MarchingArts #StPatricksDay #JukeboxFriday https://medi-nerd.com/2023/03/17/jukebox-friday-pioneer-edition/
    1 point
  36. oh you are so right...on both accounts 😁
    1 point
  37. I think the lot thing as opposed to sitting in the stands to watch and support the smaller corps is more about being seen, than seeing. Lot's of preening and look at my corps jacket. I would do it too, honestly, but my corps jacket doesn't.......fit.
    1 point
  38. Projecting strength only works if you actually have strength to project (vs. appearance of strength). As Lincoln supposedly said - you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time. But you can’t fool all the people all of the time.
    1 point
  39. One of the most discussed topics in the drum & bugle corps activity is related to organizational funding. Where does the money come from and where does it go? It’s no secret that a modern drum & bugle corps takes a significant amount of resources to operate in an efficient, productive, and safe manner. Below […]View the full article
    1 point
  40. Ok, gonna take a stab... BAC: They are well set up for a great year, I think they have a good shot at the title BD: I can't see them placing lower than this. Bloo: I'm a fan, don't judge Cadets: I think they have a good chance this year with SCV gone to shoot up a bit. This place might go to Crown, I feel like the two corps are in about the same place going into next season Carolina Crown: see above Phantom Regiment/Blue Stars: They both had a strong year. We'll see ' The Cavaliers Mandarins Troopers: Don't question it, just accept it as the truth Blue Knights Colts
    1 point
  41. Agree 100%. I fear what will happen is SCV tying its 2024 finances together with duct tape & baling wire, while underneath the financial foundation erodes even further. And they will never recover from the next collapse.
    0 points
  42. Sadly the amount of ego to be swallowed to do this probably kills it
    0 points
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