Jump to content

cixelsyd

Members
  • Posts

    4,812
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    29

Everything posted by cixelsyd

  1. I thought it was self-evident that if there were no rules limiting richer schools from luring athletes away from poorer schools, college competition would soon be decided in advance of the event, by dollars spent. Not only is that bad for education, it is also bad for business.
  2. Because that would require them to plot secretly among themselves, in conflict of interest with the overall DCI membership. That is unethical.
  3. For starters, there is often "recruiting" going on, as many other posts have pointed out. But besides that, I would also "blame" the 40+ year long systematic drive toward a stagnated competitive hierarchy. That is the only reason the prospective member can identify the higher ranked corps in advance of their audition. No one knew in November 1971 whether Kingsmen, Cavaliers, Garfield or Blessed Sac would place 1st, 9th or 13th the following year (or even make it to championships). The list of corps with actual hope of making finals BITD was more like 30 instead of 13. Given how many fouls, penalties, and imperfectly-refereed decisions take place en route to a "score" in those games, I think nothing would meet your definition of a "sport".
  4. I have no idea whether to take your post seriously or not. First, you say you "have been to" those seeding shows and the stands are empty. Evidently, you were not there this year - certainly not in Avon Lake. Then you say DCI "gives" venues to open class. Sorry, but those venues have to be paid for. Open class runs their separate tour on their separate budget. They do not get their venues "given" to them. As for the Michigan City show the Cavaliers run, that show is held on a Saturday night. You probably realize that Saturday night events draw better than, say, a Monday or Tuesday night. Then again, if you missed Avon Lake, you missed a tangible reminder of that fact.
  5. Then I guess you missed a few posts in other threads. That could be an interesting analogy. First, I presume that when you say "front ensemble" in this context, you have the keyboards specifically in mind. Front ensembles, unlike mellophones, have the luxury of selecting from among an assortment of different instruments to play at different times. Some of those instruments, such as the ride cymbal or jumbo concert bass, are undeniably audible in the ensemble without amplification. Now, if we are talking marimbas or vibraphones, you have the question of whether they should be audible in the same way as mellophones. As drumcat was asking, should an instrument that has limited dynamic range be audible to most ears over 100 field musicians at fortissimo, when even in a symphonic setting, that instrument is rendered inaudible to most ears at an orchestral fortissimo? Another issue I see from other posters is the desire to have each mallet musician playing unique parts. The mellophones, like any other voice in that 80-horn line we are envisioning, are typically grouped eight to a part. No corps has each players in any brass section playing unique parts, and no one (that I know of) would expect each of the unique parts to be heard in that scenario. It would be even more difficult to make that possible for a lower-volume instrument like the marimba. You also have the question of technique. A common thread among advocates of amplified pit is the desire to play with softer mallets and/or lower arm movement, more like concert techniques. Evidently, this is something that is desired to be audible at ensemble fortissimo. Again, that desire deviates from the natural reality, where even the symphonic setting would render softer mallets and lower strokes inaudible to most ears when the orchestra is loud. The analogy applies to the brass, where fortissimo comes with a different tone characteristic than softer playing. Yes, but they are not quite as "mello" at fortissimo. Sorry, but my observations differ greatly from yours. For many years, we had pits with no amplification where even instruments of limited sound output like the marimbas, vibes, etc., were used effectively when the brass was playing; could play with dynamics, not just at the top of their range; and could even employ softer mallets and/or lower arms when the rest of the corps was not loud.
  6. Regarding Bb horns, or A&E, it is not that no one else was willing to put their name out there. The proposal for any-key brass was authored by Dave Gibbs, and Mark Arnold was the author of at least one of the earlier A&E proposals. But amplification took many, many tries to get passed, and it was Hopkins who became the author of its repeated resubmission until it passed on the 14th try.
  7. What success? We are talking about open class here. Corps are folding left and right. We had half the number of competitors at DCI as compared to just 7 years ago. That is not success. Explain to me the significance of what "percentage of total income" DCI payouts represent for a corps. I do not see what you are trying to say there.
  8. That is one thing I was thinking of as I formulated the polite description "less money to OC".
  9. Expanding on this: Back in the day, the senior corps were held in higher esteem than the juniors. Because both junior and senior corps had similar levels of time commitment, they were similar in performance quality, with the seniors having a slight advantage due to experience and physical development. This began to change in the late 1960s, when the top juniors began following the example of the Troopers and taking tours. The additional rehearsals, performances and focused time together enabled touring junior corps to reach higher performance levels than their senior counterparts.
  10. Responses to several diverse subtopics: There was an opening, slow tempo song before El Cumbanchero, probably the "dirge" ( ) you were referring to earlier. I do not know the name; evidently, the repertoire they originally announced was changed (La Suerte de los Tontos was dropped). Sensing some venom in your response, too... I could do without the venom myself. However, some frank discussion on how G7 changes affect the overall financial climate for corps at different levels is germane, and timely, if we can have it without the venom drowning it out. And I acknowledge that the Music City decision might be the result of completely unrelated issues specific to them that trump all else - but nevertheless, it goes down as another entry on a long list of cases where the open class financial model was not sustained long term. Our sustainability "batting average" is way, way lower in OC than in WC, which is odd considering that WC is higher cost. I think that deserves some examination. Since Music City made the DCI top 25 and competed in the world class semifinals, they do have relevance to this forum. I see no problem with creating a separate thread and moving the non-Music-City-specific discourse there. Motion seconded.
  11. You seem to forget that "the proposal" was not just a piece of paper, but also presentations given in person to instructor/judge caucuses and the BOD. What is said in those rooms is as much a part of "the proposal" as the written portion.
  12. But it is, to an extent. Obviously, G7 directors did not meet in a smoke filled room to discuss the threat Music City posed to them, and plot out their demise. However, the bottom line of the G7 debate is about how to allocate DCI revenue between G7 corps, other WC corps, and OC corps. G7 have proposed allocating more money to themselves, less to other WC, and less to OC. Some of their proposals have been enacted over the past three seasons. In that time, OC corps have been spontaneously combusting like fireworks shortly after sunset on July 4th. Even a couple of WC corps have gone down. No G7 corps have been sidelined by finances in or anywhere near that time frame. How is that working out so far?
  13. 100 matching band/corps uniforms, good condition, used only one season. Distinctive appearance when viewed up close. Free delivery to locations in the Dubuque, IA, area.
  14. Academy was just at DATR last month. Technically, the Texas-based Crossmen did a Western swing in 2007, but not since then. That was also their most recent of 7 DATR appearances.
  15. Lot of 128 medallions, silver with red/white/blue neck straps. Engraved "Drum Corps International - 1999".
  16. What an excellent post. I keep saying we need more adults to run corps. When I read the sentence I underlined in your post, it dawned on me that we have a lot of recent college graduates with time on their hands (i.e. no job). Hope some get involved via internships, mentoring, or just by getting a copy of the DCI "how to start a drum corps" manual.
  17. Bear in mind that some of those recordings sound very different because of microphone selection and position. In particular, mics close to the sideline had more of a tendency to pick out individuals, such that the recording is nowhere near the balance and blend you would have heard in the bleachers. The stickouts you hear on 1978 or 1984 recordings are not accurate renditions of the performances.
  18. A long time, I think. Just going to 0.05 granularity ought to ease the situation. Full-fledged hundredths (0.01) would provide five times the precision we need. But your question does point out the possibility that if we had many more corps in the future - or if the box system changed such that all corps are crammed into the 90s - it is still possible to create a number management challenge even with more numbers to choose from.
  19. Yes - DCI. (No, really. One reason DCI was formed was to administer the selection and training of judges. There were several judging organizations pre-DCI, but the corps were not completely happy with any one of them, and even less happy having to deal with several of them instead of one "standard".)
  20. If everybody else is there, yes. But again, I invite you to look at other shows, like those at the end of June: Crown BD Pacific Crest Mandarins Here, for one caption in the Crown-BD battle to receive any greater weight than the others, it has to rise to the severity of a title contender losing the caption to a non-finalist.
  21. Why would you want to "replicate audience perspective"? I look forward to recordings so that I can hear the details I missed due to screaming fans, crying babies, talking neighbors and mid-show ovations.
  22. Not true. The departure of the 2008 guard designer is also often cited as a factor.
  23. As I understand it, those were arguments mentioned in the caucuses and boardrooms where the proposal was debated and ultimately ratified. (And yes, they were also mentioned on DCP and RAMD in discussions of similar context.)
  24. First, can I see a recap with the height numbers the last judge came up with?
×
×
  • Create New...