KGTech

Preserve the legacy and traditions that made them a great corps. Start a new group which integrates those legacies and traditions into their program. While not fully the same as having the Cadets around, this keeps some portion of their DNA, which is part of DCI's DNA, integrated into the Drum Corps activity.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204470288583 Hoping my old VHS tapes can find a good home. See ebay link above for details. Willing to negotiate.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204470288583 Hoping my old VHS tapes can find a good home. See ebay link above for details. Willing to negotiate.

I do not know anything about Word Entertainment so in this example I will replace them with a generic "Christian based organization named OrgX with whom I have no fundamental disagreements in philosophy or tactics". If I were to provide services to OrgX it would most likely be pro-bono. Why? Because I am of the personal belief that I do not want to make money doing God's work. He has blessed me with the talents I posses and it is my honor and privilege to give back to Him That is the choice I make for myself and I do not find fault in others for taking a salary or payment from the church for the services they provide. If my sole job was to work for OrgX I would of course need to draw some sort of salary. I would expect that salary to be less than I would make in the private sector. Getting to the crux of the matter. Do I think all involved in a Christian based drum corps would volunteer their time? No. Would many? Yes. Therefore I disagree with Kamarag's assumption that it would take more money than usual to attract design and teaching talent to such an endevour. I contend it would take less money because many would be willing to discount or give away their services if they believe doing so meets the objective of "Go and make disciples" or any other objective their personal beliefs about Christianity make as their calling. -kg

My point wasn't about weekly church goes either. In fact I did not mention them. I only mentioned the professionals that provide their services to the church. Services for which they are normally handsomely paid (ok, probably not teachers). If you are thinking the relative experience in their profession that these these volunteers posses is not "top tier" you would be wrong. The big issue in attracting quality people, whether a Christian organization or not, is how serious that organization is about the product they are going to put on the field. If they put the appropriate resources in to equipment, infrastructure and logistics they will attract top talent. In short, it must be a well run organization with more than a shoe string budget.

At my church the professional TV production director does not laugh in our face, he volunteers and produces our in house and TV broadcasts. At my church several professional educators do not laugh in our face, they volunteer to put together youth teaching curriculum and teach hundreds of kids per week. At my church several professional musicians do not laugh in our face, they volunteer to perform at 4 service per week plus two evenings of rehearsal. At my church I, a professional owner of an IT services company, do not laugh in their face, instead I volunteer my time to run a computer network and phone system with a hundred or so computers spread out at 4 locations. I believe many would be shocked at the number, quality and enthusiasm of volunteers that a Christian based group would be able to garner. -kg

Interesting idea. I would imaging that if it was done well it would be accepted and well received. The church I attend would most likely produce a corps along the lines of Velvet Knights or Bridgemen, albeit with more of an edge. In fact, thinking of the type of weekly church services we normally put on the drum corps idiom may be too boring of a platform to be an effective medium for spreading the word in the manner we like to do. For those that think a Christian based drum corps would follow a typical Christian stereotype think again. With the vast array of Christian churches that range from ultra conservative to ultra modern you might wind up with a wider range of programming than the current corps' tend to exhibit. -kg

Simple reason why........ in the current design/judging system anything strange is greatly rewarded, anything more traditional is not. -kg

Top5member, The problem is that you only see the activity as being only about your experience and that the product (music, drill, uniforms) does not matter. The product does matter to those who pay to watch and listen to you as you go about achieving excellence. What you have done, probably unintentionally, is come on here and say forget you to all of the fans that support the activity by attending shows and buying audio-video products, t-shirts, etc.. What you fail to realize is that while it is about your experience and achieving excellence it is also about the music, the drill, the uniform, the traditions and everything else that the fans of your group identify with. It is a total package and all aspects must fire on all cylinders in order to sustain the whole. For several years now those who make the design decisions and those who determine the judging criteria have set out on a course that tends to alienate the fan base that provides the income stream to the activity. Worse is that it often appears as if the fan alienation is sometimes the desired result sought as part of some artistic vision. While you do see a lot of griping about the current state of the activity it is hardly ever directed at the members themselves. Instead it tends to go after the design and management leaders that make the decisions. Given your current position in your drum corps journey it is hard to fault you for seeing yourself (a marching member) and the the management/design staff of your group as a single entity being attacked from the outside. One thing that may help you understand why this is occurring is to realize that the majority of those offering criticism only do so because they see that the activity they love is failing to put out a product that will allow it to have enough fans to sustain itself in the future. -kg

With school being mandatory in these here United States it would be assumed that almost 100% of the membership comes from the scholastic world, home schoolers excluded of course. Thank you captain obvious DCI attracts the audience it is designed to attract, scholastic elite who enjoy listening to French monologues over laying chopped up musical segments performed by a jazz running herd of youth. You could also add in the parents and families of those in the herd who are contractually obligated to be there as well. If instead DCI decided to reward show design that actually engaged a wider audience they would attract a larger fan base. At some point DCI decided that the basic laws of supply and demand did not apply to them. They could move forward without supplying a product that many would want to see. To them DCI exists to provide a desired member experience of performers pleasing a specific panel of judges in an effort to achieve a desired ranking. Meanwhile the actual business of DCI is to sell enough tickets, and audio video products in order to keep themselves and the entire circuit afloat. There is a huge disconnect between these two sides of DCI. Case in point is the use of voice over samples in some productions that are not allowed to be in the video recordings that DCI is trying to sell. By catering to the creative side of DCI you have done harm to the business side of DCI. Clearly this is not a sustainable dynamic. Bottom line is DCI needs to stop catering to scholastics and start putting out a product that more people will find entertaining. A new DCI without the G7 would be free to do that. -kg

If drum corps is just supposed to be like marching band and WGI why do we even need it at all? While most people can not tell you what a clarinet is if you played the same piece of music performed with just brass and percussion and then again with a mix of woodwinds, brass, percussion and electronics I venture to say most people will be able to tell you their is a distinct difference in sound. Couple that distinct sound with the level of detail that drum corps is able to achieve because of the shear volume of rehearsal time and you have something that is unique and worthy of standing on its own. Embracing the difference is what will save drum corps. Becoming one with the WGI/marching band borg just destroys it. -kg

Your logic makes more sense now that I know that you are coming at this from a marching band point of view. You are correct, if marching bands and drum corps are similar you don't need both. The old canard of "change or die" does not always hold true. Look at the the most popular sports. How much have baseball, football, basketball fundamentally changed over the years? Very little. The core rules still apply and the basic tenants of the game have not changed. Each has excelled by extracting excellence from within their core framework, not by changing the framework. Drum corps should embrace the difference between itself and marching band by sticking to that which makes it unique. The core tenants of drum corps should be brass, drums and traditional guard equipment. Those are paints which should cover the canvass, nothing more. -kg

Would DCI be dead instantly? Probably not. Would they need to quickly adapt to a new reality? Yep. A DCI free from catering to the G7 could wind up thriving in the long run with a few changes. If I were in charge of DCI I would take a few steps back, ban electronics, schedule the first half of the season as regional touring model, book venues where we fully pack the stands, change the judging rules to encourage audience engagement and require all participating groups to perform a minimum number of free public events in the communities they call home. By getting smaller and more approachable you generate excitement in a growing fan base and lower the barrier to entry for new corps to come online. The only reason DCI would fail when the G7 leaves is the if the remaining groups fail to radically change the system. Make no mistake this would mean the end of a status quo approach. There would no longer be millions of dollars in revenue from tickets and audio/visual sales. This also means the days of a full time staff for the DCI office are over. However with bold steps and a clear vision a path forward can be found. In the end both the G7 and DCI can thrive on their own. There is no reason this needs to be an either/or scenario. -kg

For the record I never demanded that DCA apologize. I was only using your reasoning and taking it to its logical( albeit absurd) conclusion. -kg

Yep. You are correct. -kg