i heard from someone

DCI lists both Jersey Surf and Spartans as Open Class on the pull down list with the schedule, so I think for now it is safe to assume they will stay where they are.

But think of it this way...the Instructors' Caucus is made up of....instructors, those who actually have to teach this stuff. There should be a way for them to express their views before a vote that could have a major impact on how to approach the education. Reading through the rules proposals, some seem to ignore the obvious education issues that arise because you have to take a different approach if your second sarrusophone is out of tune with your poetry reader and the harpsichord being slammed by hammers is not in time with your bubble bath.

Since the rule proposals dealing with amplification, and even the one about percussion judge #2 seem to discuss confusion/inability/ignoring how to judge the inclusion of amplification and electronics...shouldn't the sheets be re-worded to include language about it? Now I'm all for hoping the ban on amplification passes, I also know it doesn't have much of a snow ball's chance of passing. That said, why not attack the issue from another perspective than? More than one proposal states that if the equpiment fails, there is no impact on the scores...so make it so! Having just finished an intro to music education class where we spent an entire unit on the validity and reliability of rubrics and judges sheets, it is clear to me that the wording has to be included on the sheets. This would have to be on the G.E. and ensemble sheets, but it has to be put on there. There are so many things a judge has to evaluate during the course of a performance that if they don't see anything on the sheet about that, they might be inclined to pass over it to make sure they cover the other things that are on the current sheets. - Man I feel like I'm writing my own proposal here - by including language on the judges sheet that specifically deals with the issues inherent with amplication and electronics, the burden to deal with any problems during the performance become more on the judges to deal with and evaluate. My $.02...thank you for reading, sorry for taking up all of your time.

does anyone else read this as Hopkins calling out the effect judges? ballsy i must say...and i know there was an investigation into the judges during last season over comments and scores

didn't know there was another age-out proposal on the slate? the last time it was up was just after 2003, my age-out year, to push the cut off date to Dec. 31, which would have still missed me by 3 days so i didn't care, but it was voted down.

plus 3 more for those corps making finals.

it looks like DCI posted the schedule...good stuff

from dci.org: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 Open Class Quarterfinals Ames Field Michigan City, IN Friday, August 8, 2008 Open Class Semifinals Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday, August 9, 2008 Open Class Finals Lucas Oil Stadium the format itself will be exactly like World Class...all corps that are competing will be in quarters in Michigan City, top 17 advance to semis, top 12 to finals

i heard from someone who was at the september meetings that DCI wanted to have the preliminary schedule done at that meetings but a couple of the top 6 corps (no, not Hopkins) were dragging their feet on it, thus it's delayed ...that's what i heard

it's all about marketing...it's hard to market yourself as "Marching Music's Major League" when some corps are not pushing to better themselves...now this is across the board, not a shot at any group. However what this is doing is combining the "minor league" if you will, into one group and they are hoping to weed out the ones that skirt by and never make any attempts at improvement.

looks like an avatar needs updating

well i'm not going to give a name or corps, but let's just say they are on the II/III advisory committee

does coming from a corps directors mouth during the week immediately following finals count?

don't let the cookie cutter way this was presented have any affect on your taking in the knowledge...this was mandated by DCI during finals week and the II/III board was told to make it happen in September. The article is just reporting on what happened...it's all about marketing marketing marketing

i would assume they could add one extra performance, we'll have to wait and see

all i'm going to say about yamaha horns is when you hear a judge commenting on how bad they are, that's saying something

just as long as they can field a big enough corps to make it now

well I know for a fact that they and Jersey have applied for Div I so maybe my source is more knowledgable than your source? remember there is a huge difference between applying for Div I and actually making the jump...Academy applied every year to see where they stood as an organization (although when it all came down to things, they were pretty much begged to join Div I)

don't worry...pretty soon none of this will matter anyways

from the news I just heard, don't expect any div III corps to come back

whether done on purpose or not...at least an ammends was attempted...unlike a Div 1 corps that actually does this on purpose every time they are about to go on

I heard from someone that DCI didn't know Legends would be in attendance in Oswego and there was a scramble amongst some of the other corps to find out if the step-off times were going to be affected by their appearance.

well that's how it's supposed to go...usually doesn't fit that nice little explanation though

I don't know about Phantom, but I know SCV ran into this wall head-on in 2005. Myron vs BOD...Myron 1, BOD nothing

Great Job to Revolution...they have figured out how to play the DCI game. I'm just saying that when you're watching their show with a whole bunch of folks and everyone (yourself included) either spaces out or start drooling on themselves during the show, it makes you wonder, doesn't it?