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I am going to respectfully say no to "forums" and think its because of the different demographics. Younger audiences interacting on forums for marching band and winter guard just won't catch on like DCP. This is because of DCP's older demographic (which is definitely older). It seems younger folks just interact online differently these days unlike years ago. They tend to hang out on Instagram, TikTok, and Discord, where everything is fast-paced and visually engaging. Forums might feel a bit outdated to them... too text-heavy and slow compared to the instant gratification they're used to. DCI tries to hit a good balance by being active on various platforms, connecting with both older and younger fans. Maybe forums aren't as popular with the younger crowd also because they're not the "in" thing online anymore...

I'm glad I'm not the only one with that feeling. Reminds me of what I've heard about how a certain program coordinator runs the show at another organization. It's wise to lean on one section when they are quite good, but having them call the shots is like when a singer of a great band goes solo and loses some of the magic from collaboration.

Expect spring training on east coast along with all Boston area early events including concert in the park and celebration of 85th. Early season will continue to be a commitment to our roots in New England. I like the symmetry of flying the Blue Devils to Boston in 2015 (yes we paid and they were great to have at Gillette and tanglewood), we announced Building A Champion, and now 10 years later heading out to the west coast competing for a championship.

Posted on the Crusaders Facebook page. We're California Dreaming in 2025 💭☀ BAC is making moves for our 85th Anniversary, and our first stop is out west! After completing spring training, our fleet will turn towards California for the first time since 2012! While our exact summer schedule won't be available until later this fall, we will participate in a slew of shows across California, as well as many other western stops along the way. Stay tuned for the official DCI Summer Tour announcement later this fall! There will be plenty of ways for our alumni and friends to celebrate our 85th Anniversary with the corps here on the East Coast. Keep your eyes peeled for new events and tickets announced later this winter. If you haven't already, update your subscription preferences to be sure you are the first to know about everything BAC25: https://share.hsforms.com/1ZE9HXIIrQAOqWDCwTc_49A2xfyg Better yet, join us on the field by registering for your audition: https://bostoncrusaders.org/audition

I mean DCP has been a bit of a tough crowd since at least '04 when I joined. But I also came from a different world. There are some cats on here who are very direct, exceedingly opinionated and quick to judge any word that's typed on the forum. The majority of the frequent posters are reasonable and well informed. But as with all social media, the "loud minority" tends to drive away people with different thoughts and opinions. And the whole "suck it up buttercup" mentality is not shared by the younger crowd. Just my opinion. People can flame me if they want. I'm old and couldn't care less lol.

Texas marching bands has a semi active one for Texas marching band comps. txbands.com/forums The moderators also do a live blog on show days to give high level positive insight into each show.

As a former percussion judge for many years, I don't think so. They have had top level demand, but for whatever reason have been inconsistent in terms of reaching the top performance level necessary to contend in the caption...If that problem can be solved, it will be to their advantage.....

I have gotten the sense that brass leads at Crown. Other captions seemingly acquiesce to brass performance, probably because of an exceptionally high performance record over the years. Perc and visual (design) take a back seat to ensure brass has a dominant presence in their productions. This seemed even more evident last year with the Mackie promotion of his direct involvement and writing the closer. Sometimes a reset or rethink is in order, and that may be what is happening this year with the significant staff changes. Just my “from-a-distance” pov.

Maybe the Crown/Perc issue has less to do with talent in staff or performers but a design issue where the percussion is given a more supportive role and that leads to less visibility and demand, thus a lower score? Just a thought.

It is strange to be certain......there has been no lack of instructional/arranging talent at Crown, and they seem to have the talent playing-wise to contend in the caption......all I can say is that many a time they seem to come up a bit short in regards to being able to consistently execute/perform at the top levels of achievement.....Even stranger is that Rennick was there in Crown's earlier days......however, his sections at Phantom, and now at SCV, have won.......SCV would be wise to keep him happy....lol....what also is strange is this....Crown's brass has been more dominant in that important caption than any other corps, yet it has only translated into one championship for the corps. I do question margins there....there have been years where they won the caption by a tenth, and frankly nobody should have been close IMO (at least the placement in the caption was correct)....time will tell if they can get it done in percussion.....even there, the music performance captions are downplayed......in 2015 the Cadets won brass and percussion in semifinals, and not only lost, but came in 4th. Once the highly subjective GE caption wiped out the separation between Music GE and Visual GE was eliminated, you have what you have......I see the day coming where a corps will be fourth or even fifth in music, yet win the title.........

There’s HornRank that’s active for bands and WGI. They have a drum corps section that is largely not used though. I’ve seen some of the usernames here over there

I am so happy! I have really missed having corps coming out for the CA swing though it is understandable why that stopped. Boston will get a very warm welcome at Stanford from me and everyone else, and doubtless from all the western venues.

There used to be Marching Band Planet, also run by John Donovan and using a similar backend website design to here, but there just wasn't enough traffic to justify keeping the site online. Maybe that's changed since then, but there has to be enough interest in running the site as well as interacting with it for it to happen.

One of the bands I write drill for asked to make the closer a tribute to Cadets... we put a Z-pull, slide elbow pop, stop-and-go, and turn-stop-down-stop-set into the ending. So yeah... imitation! Woo!

Sounds like they will do the Mt. SAC show. Can’t wait.

That's a really good move... going to be a distinct season in 2025.

This is great news, thank you Boston!

yoooo! this is fantastic news. I love seeing when one of the Midwest or Eastern corps opts to do the California tour. This will be worth staying up way too late for to catch the last of the California shows. (I'll still complain about it though)

Good for BAC!