marshamello

And we thought it was difficult to get noticed and/or grow the audiences in the stands for drum corps shows! Even Joshua Bell can't get busy people to stop and listen when he plays (with no fanfare) in a subway station in Washington DC. Thanks to Hoppy for posting a link to this on his blog. The article is very long but scan it and you'll be amazed by how blindly we can walk through our everyday lives. Washington Post Article I'd say this concept of being too busy to stop and listen (smell the roses) is a large contributing factor to the reduced size of drum corps audiences and performers. Too many options and too much to do results in fewer people with the time for drum corps. Sad but true.

This forum really disgusts me at times. Monday's posting by Boston's brass caption head about their March camp has fallen to page 3 of this forum, only got 2 responses and was only read 341 times. As of now, this thread remains on page 1, has had 68 responses and was read 2632 times. It's like we can't waste our time with the good news or thoughtful reports but can't wait to dive in on the next controversy or kick someone in the gonads! Let's class it up a bit folks!!!

A very touching story - thanks for sharing. Really shows that so much of the tradition and spirit of a corps truly reside in the people involved in the group and not in where the group is located.

BUMP! Interesting how when there's no joke or controversy to the posting that it falls to the second page so quickly. Thanks Wayne for taking the time to write this up and thanks Boston for the series of ongoing updates that you've been posting here this year. I wish more corps would follow suit and give simple information about what happened at the camps without going the other extreme by giving the details of what the corps ate for snacks, what time they woke up, etc. I also like the different caption heads doing the write-ups - makes it a little more "in the moment" and less like just a bunch of marketing or promotional fluff. Good luck Boston!

I like the American Tradition one. The CA one is OK but I can envision better ways to depict the concept of The Cadets in CA by references either to the Rose Bowl or the CA beach scene. Also, I like the surveying of fans for what they like and don't like. It's smart business to get the pulse of the consumer before printing a zillion t-shirts.

I have a friend, who is also a big drum corps fan, who works at the corporate offices for Business Depot. I checked things out with him and got the following reply, "It is a radio commercial that has started airing recently and it is for Copy & Print. The situation is that some letterhead was produced with a typo so that Drum Corp was Dum Corp and the message was that with 39 cent colour copies, it doesn't cost much to redo the letterhead. I did not find it derogatory to drum corps but rather making fun of a mistake and recognizing that it would not cost much to fix it at Staples, Business Depot. It is intended to be light hearted and humourous and from my perspective the use of dum in place of drum was just being used for humour purposes." So, lighten up folks. Sometimes we look for controversy when there's simply humor.

Did ECJ actually fold? I thought they were just taking a year off.

I don't think it would affect things much. It's still the same designers working for the same corps. While even the best designer might not do her/his best work with a concept forced upon them by some outside entity, they are still the best for a reason. And it could have a detrimental affect on the corps that have less talented or less experienced designers or corps/designers who don't do concept based shows. What would be more interesting is if all designers worked for DCI and switched the corps they worked for from year to year. Then it would be much more about the kids in the corps and their ability to execute. It would also result in kids being less driven to join a specific corps because of the design staff that corps was able to afford and/or attract and more about the kids that corps was able to attract. Then you might end up with less of the same corps at the top every year.

George Hopkins’ blog on the YEA! site is supposed to return at the beginning of April. Have you missed it? Are you anxious for its return?

From DCI's site: "2007 Schedule of Student Educational Workshops Drum Corps International corps will present several educational workshops for students in conjunction with select events on the 2007 Summer Music Games Tour. Corps will present these approximately 90 minute overview sessions as educational and motivational opportunities for students to enrich their marching musical skills." Those of you who helped fill 18 pages of another thread on the use of the words "school", "Student" and "faculty" by certain drum corps can now attack DCI as well. Oh my, on top of that they use the nasty words "marching musical skills" instead of "drum corps skills". It muct be yet another move toward the demise of drum corps!!!

Try Bad A** Crusaders!!! :o

The Sims: Drum Corps Expansion Pack

BUMP Pretty sad that this has only been viewed less than 250 times with only two responses. But, as the original poster mentioned, I guess many on DCP are only interested if there is a controversy or if they can start some controversy over a corps or individual they don't like. Only we, the members of DCP, can change that.

Since this isn't likely to get much attention as a comment under the discussion on the new Cascades website, I thought I'd repost it here. From the Cascades website: The Cascades are proud to present their 2007 program... THREE Music selections include: Postcard by Frank Ticheli Sleep by Eric Whitacre V2 Schneider by Philip Glass

YEA! comes to the rescue again! From the YEA! Site: Texas band calls on YEA! for help It seemed like Gallagher had barely closed his eyes when the call from Cory Black came Saturday morning. The former assistant director of the Odessa High School Marching Band from Odessa, Texas, was traveling with the band on their dream spring trip to Washington, D.C. and New York when the storm hit. Directed by Bill Hardin, the band had performed at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., then spent several days touring in New York. What had been a spectacular week of weather came to an end the day the USSBA member band was planning to return to Texas. "All our flights were cancelled," said Black. The change in schedule left the band without transportation to and from their hotel in Hasbrouk Heights, N.J., to the airport. Added to a normal six-month reservation time for charter buses, the weather and traffic wasn't helping matters. But a call to YEA! and Gallagher's (YEA! Transportation Director) subsequent call to connections in the charter bus industry, and the Odessa band was on the road. Saddle River Tours answered the cry for help on Saturday, taking sections of the band to the airport. Then on Sunday and Monday a loyal, 12-year driver for the Cadets offered to assist. As of Monday, Black was still in New York waiting for a flight with the last group of band members. "Everyone has been absolutely great," Black said. "The Hilton hotel, Air Tran who actually chartered a flight for one group and several other airlines have helped out. But, we were calling so many charter bus companies and nothing. I had the idea to call Tim. I knew they had a camp nearby and they had buses. In 20 minutes, we had buses. It was an incredible turnaround and we are so thankful to them."

While I like it and agree that it's nice to have some options that make subtler use of corps' logos and names, I'm wondering if this would be a bit vague for the average drum corps show attendee. I get the butterfly as the metamorphosis/reincarnation/new start for the Crossmen but wonder if enough show attendees will to the point of wanting to part with $20 to buy it. It might need a tagline like "Metamorphosis", "A New Beginning" or "Rebirth". Even then, I think it might be a better seller to women with very little interest from men. I'm also wondering if there is a way to incorporate the Maltese cross into the butterfly design. Maybe the red dots on the lower wings could be small crosses. Otherwise, any refernce to the Crossmen is eliminated everytime someone tucks this shirt into their pants. None of this is meant to take away from your beautiful design and thought put into your efforts. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to "test the dogfood".

Since this will likely be the next thing for the usual suspects to complain about, I may as well get it out there now and get it over and done with. YEA! has made some graphical changes to their site. They're pretty cool but three words will drive many on DCP to foaming at the mouth. They list two member groups of the YEA! organization as "The Cadet Marching Music Ensemble" and "The Crossmen Marching Music Ensemble". [satire on] What do you mean "marching music ensembles"? They're freaking drum corps!!! [satire off] And a rose would still smell as sweet if it were simply referred to as a flower for the better understanding of a broader audience. If the "school" references topic resulted in 18 pages, I can't imagine the length this thread could go to!! Ready... Set... Complain!

At Drum Corps East Championships at Boston University in 1991, The Cadets lost to the Crossmen due to a one point penalty. I'm pretty sure this was an overtime penalty for having added a change to the show without having the time before this competition to remove the parts being cut. Anyone remember this in more detail?

It's too bad that the many great acts like this that YEA!, The Cadets and George Hopkins perform are too often lost in the plethura of trash talk that flows through this board about them. Hoppy, while I don't agree with all your ideas for the future of drum corps, you are still a shining example of the best of what drum corps is all about! Now let's all take this good feeling and pass it on through an act of kindness to someone or some group in our own lives. Pay it forward!

Before this continues to degrade into some sideline discussion on the value of camps versus move-in (good topic, but start a different thread please), I'd like to say THANKS for sharing your opinion and insights into the Crossmen's recent camp.

I agree TSRTS13. I think this poll needed a third response option: "This is a dumb question and not worth discussing." I'd be willing to bet that this response would get the most votes!!

I also think it is different when a corps sees some unrelated band do something and then "steals" the concept/idea. But when the same designer has an idea, writes a band show around that concept, and then takes the concept (or a portion thereof, ala Cavies' fight scene) to the drum corps they work with, then its a variation or expansion on that same designer's ideas. With so many corps designers doing band shows these days, this happens to some degree to all corps.

1986 Cadets - huge hormline, very small guard, unique guard equipment (like the streamers connected to four poles that they used to box the corps in) 1991 Cadets - opened with all marching percussion on multis, strange s-shaped guard equipment, this was yet another juxtaperformance for them, add to all that Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (now that's a risk) 1996 Magic - a risk musicwise but people loved it, loved their use of ladders, very clever and edgy show

This sounds like it will make for a very exciting closer - very Cadets/syncopated kind of feel. Not sure of the confusion some have expressed on the "original source music" statement. Sounds pretty clear to me that Jay will be using this as source material to write original music, much like he's done in that past two years (Liquid, Madea). With the variations on the theme in both of these pieces, I don't think it will be too difficult for him to cut this down to two minutes of great music. Go Cadets!

I've seen the DVDs many times and saw them live six times. Still has the same "not much demand" impact on me throughout this transition and during the entire ballad.