nguyenbr

i'm surprised no one's mentioned BD's gold medalist show from 2003. "chaaaaaa"

Mandarins.

Drum corps has always been one of the best deals, financially, despite rising tour fees. Housing and meals are taken care of, and let's not forget top-notch instruction on your chosen instrument. You can also view it as a sort-of vacation if you consider that one free day you get in some distant touristy location :-). I would say it's comparable to a summer semester spent in college paying for tuition and books, although I will concede that finding scholarships for drum corps isn't as streamlined as it is for school. But as people have said, the money is out there. In fact, I know that some corps offer need-based scholarships to march. Along those lines, I think it's overdue for some rich corps alum to set up a scholarship foundation to help out kids who can't march due to finances. I call BS on whoever thinks that delaying an internship by a year or two will cripple their future finances. You have your entire life to work, and it's not like while you march you will mysteriously forget everything, making you a less-qualified candidate for your future career. Financially, maybe you'll retire at age 66 rather than age 64. You can't seriously argue that you'd trade those memories of aging out for an extra year of the rest of your life.

Looks like the scv drumline is heavily promoting their annual jonz dvd, moreso than previous years. No, I'm not being paid to post this, i just thought i'd share some of the hilarious videos that they have on their website... one of them is a collection of people saying "this is going on the jonz dvd" and another has a fun little impromptu freestyle session courtesy of the snareline. warning, it had me cracking up at work... http://jonz07.scvanguard.org/

All right, I just read/skimmed through this entire topic and this post I quoted above resonated with me the most. Yes, I feel the narration is cheesy, but I couldn't really put my finger on what exactly was cheesy about it. This post pretty much sums it up nicely. For the record, my friends who are less of drum corps geeks than I am didnt like the show, mainly for the cheesiness factor. My beef isn't with narration itself. Its the script. I hate hearing them say lines that insult my intelligence. I hate when they speak as though we are some kind of elitist club of musicians who would like to remind others of how hard we work. I hate that they paint drum corps as an activity for kids who don't fit in with the rest of their peers, because I don't really see myself as a socially awkward musician whose only haven as a teenager was to do drum corps. And as an atheist, I can do without references to God. From the outside, it would appear that the Cadets' narrators are speaking on behalf of all drum corps members when they say "WE believe in this and that" and that sets a pretty pretentious tone from the start. But like I said, I am not against hearing the human voice during a show. I am waiting for a corps to come out with a show that includes narration that is as intelligent as the music is complex. I want to hear witty lines that makes me laugh, emotional lines that make me cry. My other gripe -- in the vast world concepts that are possible to perform in a drum corps show, why do corps do shows about drum corps? BK did it a few years ago, and now we have a show on the field reminding us about what it's like to reset and hearing instructors give comments. When you turn on the TV, you can be transported to any place imaginable. When was the last time you said "I am really looking forward to watching this TV show about making TV shows!" as opposed to the other kajillion possibilities for tv shows out there?

personally, I care about placement because 7th place doesn't get all the bonus features on the DVDs. This is a very important factor in my decision whether or not to actually buy the dvd's...

I don't post very much here but I thought I'd add my thoughts to the mix. People will bootleg stuff for as long as there is a demand for the bootleg material. Bottom line is, the source material wants to spread because people want to listen to it, and people want to share it with others. If DCI produced copyrighted material that people didn't want to listen to, they wouldn't have any issues with bootlegging. That being said, DCI is losing real dollars when one of the primary avenues through which their material spreads is digital piracy. What they should be doing to mitigate it is giving people what they want, at a cost that the consumer is willing to pay. For example, I like that it's only $3 to get an APD -- this gives me a economically feasible, morally superior alternative to asking "a guy I know" for a copy. Much like how I could get the latest 50 Cent album illegally from the internet, but since I only want one or two songs I can easily just get them from iTunes. Or, I can watch a low-quality version of the music video on demand at Yahoo Music Videos. My point with all of this is, it is better for DCI when there are low-cost alternatives to bootlegging that DCI has control over and makes some kind of money from. $80 for a finals dvd, and $40 for div 2-3 is an absurd price to pay for any kind of media. Why not stream the shows for free, but have them be supported by ads? I know a ton of people who got hooked on the TV show "Heroes" because they stream episodes for free on their website. Completely legal, and arguably more accessible than bootleg versions on bittorrent. And to top that off, these are the probably same people who are going to buy the box set when it comes out because of the higher quality and the extra features.

I think part of the problem with DCI is that they don't reach out enough. DCI's status as a 'niche' activity might be self-fulfilling -- It may just be that we consider drum corps a 'niche' activity because DCI treats it like one. Case in point - Who knows how many people would buy those CD's and DVD's if they were browsing the music section at their local Borders store. I see people buying other performance recordings all the time, like Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soleil, etc. Instead, we are all forced to visit a website and purchase them for 98 bucks (!). Or, what if DCI made their apd recordings available on iTunes and not just through their own proprietary website? It's a risk given how much money would probably end up going to Apple, but the potential benefit of all the random people finding out about DCI could be enormous. I like what the BD/Cadets organization is doing with BDE, in which they get a small ensemble to perform at corporate events, sporting events, etc. Why is it only them who is doing this? It can't be that BD and Cadets have sucked all the talent away from other all the drum corps, can it?

On a personal blog or on Myspace I think it's fine for someone to declare their affiliation to their corps and also show their own personality that may or may not be acceptable within corps guidelines. The reason I say this is because the medium is a personal page. When you read it as an outsider, you should be taking it as a reflection of the person, and not of the corps that they happen to march/have marched with. Even though the words you are reading are posted by a corps member, it is wrong to believe that this person's entire online presence exists on behalf of his corps. If it was an official corps blog or myspace page or whatever, I guarantee you won't find anything that doesn't fly in a corps handbook. Of course, I agree that there are also gray areas. For example, I wouldn't advocate publicly dissing another corps ever like someone above me mentioned. It's actually a good thought exercise to think of how someone else might think of your online content in the context of your corps affiliation. But I still think it's wayyy too idealistic to think that everyone should adhere to their 'drum corps' personality whenever they do anything online.

drum corps is a very classy activity compared to most mainstream sports. Generally speaking, people associated with the activity will root for their favorite corps, but still show tremendous respect and appreciation for other corps. It helps, as people above me have said, that the Cavaliers conduct themselves with tremendous class.

regiment hands down, but if the scouts were playing Boston 2001's arrangement of Gabriel's Oboe, that would be a pretty solid runner up.

3-way tie for 4th, you heard it here first

ditto on the multi-camera negatives. they zoomed in way too much on Blue Knights' whirpool drill move... my favorite part of their show! Capital Regiment had pretty smart drill and a smart show... thought they should have been ahead of Blue Stars. Wasn't really sold on the Blue Stars' "freedom" concept. I was very impressed with the Glassmen dissonant - silent part towards the end. Yeah, the xylophone in SCV's show overpowered the whole corps towards the beginning. Wonder if it was the mic placement or if it really was turned up too high. I liked seeing that Rosander drill in the Scouts' show. the Crossmen's radio section drew a lot of laughs! And I had to laugh at that mildly offensive "taco" comment. I was reserving my judgment of the Cadets' show all season until I could actually see it... and I must say that I think its very well done. People who dislike the Cadets are just drinking too much haterade. Nobody likes a hater. Cavaliers, wow. what a genius concept. At the same time, Phantom's show was my favorite musically. Makes me wonder, would a show like phantom's ever beat a show like Cavaliers', everything else being equal? is it even possible to implement genius visual concepts while retaining the emotional power of Phantom's music? Whats up with the announcers being so critical of each corps? I don't remember them saying stuff like that before this year. My friend suggested that maybe it's part of DCI trying to legitimize drum corps as a sport.

it might happen. but here's something to think about: SCV has a tendency to score worse on finals night than on semis. Last year was the first time since 2000 that they actually improved their score on finals night. Let's hope that trend doesnt rear its ugly head again...

good for DCI, but my dream of ever attending DCI finals in northern california just went down the drain. Hopefully there will be a regional up here next year to make up for this.

i am not happy to see Mandarins get screwed over like this. July 30 to August 5 eh? How could DCI forget about the competition on August 6, the day Mandarins earned a score that would have put them in 17th? I don't feel sorry for the corps, since they are in a pretty decent position to take that last semi-finals spot. It just sucks for us fans who wanted to see them in the theaters. *sigh*

Its hard to objectively say whether one ballad is better than another, but SCV 2000 holds a special place in my heart.

I definitely feel these same sentiments. For the first time ever, I'm planning to shell out $98 for the DVD when it comes out...

I hate this new fad where corps go inactive or fold due to lack of interest, financial problems, or improper management... hopefully it'll pass soon enough

i'd venture that most of the people who bag on drumline the movie have never seen a show style marching band, nor are they familiar with its role in the college football gameday atmosphere. So I just kind of shrug when people make comments like they're so much better than the drummers in drumline, because that's completely missing the point.

sleeping, drumming, more drumming, and quoting the movie "Anchorman" ... oh wait, I do that regardless of where I am.

I feel you man. I have at least two friends who had chances to march, but somehow logistics or the 'real world' got in the way of actually doing it. Whenever I talk to them and drum corps gets mentioned, you can just feel the *sigh* as they think about the opportunity they passed up for some reason or another. I was fortunate to march for two summers, and even then I feel like i wish I had more opportunities. It's kind of a sad part of the world we live in that this experience is only available until you're 21. It's not entirely DCI's fault for making that rule, because society as a whole expects us to do something else with our lives when we approach that age. Yes, it's true that the world outside of drum corps is so vast and complex that it might be good for people to explore it. But having marched, I've found that there is absolutely nothing in this world can compare to the experience of marching a DCI season.

I think 10 and maybe even 34 is a little too pessimistic. I've thought about this long before seeing this thread. Here are some of my thoughts: - Gas prices won't kill drum corps because one of these days someone will build a bus that uses less gas or an alternative fuel source. You think it won't happen in the next few years? think again. - Declining interest in Bingo won't kill drum corps because there are plenty of other creative ways that corps can raise money. You think drum corps will die before someone thinks of a few effective fundraising ideas to supplement Bingo income? Before DCI comes up with more forms of revenue? - Attrition won't kill drum corps because there are new corps to replace old ones. As long as there are people passionate about the activity, there will be people willing to start up new drum corps. And I know there are many people out there who are passionate about drum corps; that part is inherent in this activity. I guess my viewpoint is one of optimism, one that has hope that the strength and determination of the people who are passionate about this activity will take us through whatever hardships and challenges face us year after year. I think we'll be fine.

I as well as many others will disagree with your statement that it "did nothing for SCV". I don't really have time to dive into merits of tilting the snares, but it was arguably a fundamental characteristic of the SCV approach and style. In 02 & 03 the percussion took 2nd, and we all know what happened in 04. Not saying that it's directly a result of tilted snares, but I am pointing out that they definitely did find success in those 'tilted' years.

i've never heard of fximpax, and google isn't turning up any results. Are they still being made? are they louder than the pads that have beads in them?