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The Madison Scouts are clearly in a transition stage. It took a lot of " you know whats " to go from a Male Identified Drum Corps for 80 years to a Co- ed inclusive Drum Corps in 2018. It divided the Alum base at a time when they were already struggling a bit on the competition field. It could have folded the Corps. But it didnt. Their transition from a Male ID'd Drum Corps to a Co-ed inclusive Drum Corps took place just a short time before Covid too its toll on Corps too. They came through that stage and at a time when DCI was also losing, either temporarily, or permanently, 2 Founding Member, Charter Drum Corps in DCI. But the Madison Scouts are still with us. They still produce entertaining shows for many in the audience as they go forth in their rebranding. I applaud the organization for the boldness and courage it took to do what they did knowing it would not be greeted with universal acceptance when announced. But has its fundamental mission it has had for over 80 years changed ? I don't think so. It still serves youth well to help make them strong, self confident individuals. The placement improvements might take some time. They can figure that out in 2024 and in the coming years. They'll get there. It would be helpful if some of the older Madison Scouts alums would love their current Corps as much as many of the current Madison Scouts love them. But thats up to them I suppose. In any event, I wish the Madison Scouts the very best this summer and beyond.

People throw the word "talent" around too much. With the amount of practice for the length of shows today should not be a big ticket issue. It's called show design and being able to AND willing to teach. Madison should be looking at being Madison again. Kind of reminds my of the movie "Moneyball". If you are trying to win by trying to be the Blue Devils you have already lost. Be Madison.

Carolina Crown is most notable for their stellar brass lines, having won the Jim Ott Award 8 Times in the past 14 seasons. In fact, the corps has won every caption in DCI World Class…except one. That may change soon. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/02/19/carolina-crown-2023-dci-finals-week-rehearsal-full-production/

I made it to the 1:32 mark. Yep, Hee Haw is as annoying as I remember.

Indeed, sir. I reflected on my Rookie season with Jim F. in 1979, and there were three instances of questionable things going on that would have raised absolute Cain nowadays and for good reasons. Things also like that went on with a lot of HS Band programs in period, and instead of jail time, it was usually a quiet resignation and moving on to another school or in some cases I remember, something more lucrative. (Then again- that wasn't hard if one was a public school teacher) It was more or less shrugged off. What the heck did I know? I was a 16 year old kid. Jim will tell you, I was pretty naive about stuff in general except for playing Bugle. I got un-naived (made up a word, sorry) quickly in DCA.

Bluecoats and Blue Stars programmers have gotten a lot of product from Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. I would look there. "Ka" is my favorite (it even features a "wand spinner" that probably honed her skills with a rifle as a teenager. I would like to see a DCI version of "Ka".

Here's my suggestion for source material: William Grant Still composed this in 1930, four years before the Greshwin boys put pen to paper for Porgy and Bess. It may very well be in the Public Domain by now.

"Talent" v "Teachable" has always been part of youth/college activities though. Right down to college sports. Do you pick the players who already have the skills that exhibit greatness or do you want players who can learn grow to achieve greatness? And it's often not an either/or choice.

This time last year, if I told you the Mandarins would finish the 2023 season in 6th place, challenge Cadets for 5th all the way to finals night, and go unbeaten vs Phantom Regiment and Cavaliers, you probably would have laughed yourself to death, and any credibility I might have had with you would've been blown to bits. There was nothing predictable about the Mandarins historic rise in 2023. There is still plenty of shock and awe in DCI.

On February 20, 2024, in Member News, News We are proud to introduce our three drum majors who will be leading the corps in 2024! Please welcome Wes Booker, Joe Zishka, and Marielle Chrupcala to the podium. Read the rest of the article here.View the full article

Tough crowd

Well it is a compettive activity. I mean, competitive success feels good. Madison is a feeder corps now. Top talent just doesn't go there. They go there to learn the basics and then move on to a more successful corps. You can have fun, get fed, and win. I would never march Madison if I was marching today. I didn't care so much about winning when I was in Madison (really just beating Star, Cavies and Regiment) were what mattered, but in 1989 it basically just felt like we lost. We finished the worst we could possibly finish. It wasn't a good feeling. It's not going to get better until Madison starts designing shows better. It's that simple. If the come out in 2023 with a wonderful design and finish 16th I will be happy and consider the season a success, because they'll be able to build on that. I"m not opitmistic though. If you failed at your job like CK has, you would have been fired years ago.

Played Kevin Gamin's link about the 22 Mandarins. The male singer is another one who was very good.

Came across this posted on youtube a couple of weeks back...

Drum corps YouTube is just dropping gifts for me left and right so far this week. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/02/20/mandarins-2022-the-otherside-official-release/

40 years ago is a long time, yes. But DFTK was still a thing back then. We shall see how this turns out.

I agree....this will be a very strong "Team Hands". The two boys are BAC vets and Marielle is a UMASS DM. Lots of experience here. Can't wait for Castleton!!

https://bostoncrusaders.org/2024/02/2024-drum-majors/ The 2024 drum major team! This looks like one of the first all MUED teams in a while for Boston. Haha. And year two of a Mass drum major. Last year with Sean and this year with Marielle at UMass. I have had the fortunate pleasure of meeting them, either this year for Marielle or last year for Wes and Joe, and they are going to be fantastic drum majors and leaders for this organization. The corps is in such good hands.

What's worse, ending up in 11th or being the topic of a discussion and not being mentioned once in the last two pages of this now three page thread?

I've experienced that first hand. '96 Glassmen placed 13th with a popular but very flawed show. We placed 8th in '95 and '97, so the skill level was pretty consistent on the field throughout.

It is all about the show design. The talent level this year is high enough to take them 4-5 places higher than last year. I’m looking forward to a significant rebound in 2024.

Crown nailed it in 15

Hell. err Indy