atlvalet

I saw this show at the Rose Bowl. The drumline is ridiculous. Pure and simple. Tenors, basses and snares. However, I don't understand modern show design. WIth some of the synth and narration parts, you can't hear the drumline very well because they're happening at the same time. Why call it a drum feature (or featurette) if it's hard to hear one over the other. Horn line is loud, in a good way. However, it's a very busy show (as are most BD shows, I think). Many modern shows, both BD and others, are over-designed. Maybe I'm an old-fogey, but I want to hear the music without many of the distractions that are being piped onto the field. Have nothing but great things to say about the drumline, though. They're superior in every way.

Wow. Holy crap. Those uniforms are BAAAAAAADDDD. Like a steaming pile bad. Whoever is working at these uniform design companies is stealing money for charging money for horrific outfits like this. The worst part is someone at the Troopers said, "Yup. This is EXACTLY what we're looking for." SMH.

I saw a clip of this Indonesian marching band which gave me more "drum corps" moments than the BD show did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cNMSVzeMSo Haven't seen Cadets show. Maybe I don't want to. I'm just glad SCV's show is good.

I think I may have seen it in NYC a long time ago, but regardless of whatever happens in Into the Woods, I felt like the K-Pop section was completely distracting. Should someone have to remember all the parts of Into the Woods to get a drum corps show? Do you have to know what a Tesla COil is to enjoy the SCV show?

Or, it's the absolute worst part of the show and doesn't go with anything else. It's like someone said, "Hey! Let's do K-Pop!" And someone else said, "Ok, sure!" without thinking about how much it was going to suck (at least in a DCI show). I literally sat there in the stands with a WTF?!?! expression on my face. I was seriously confused. And I think K-Pop is cool. This was the worst thing I've seen on a football field for a drum corps show since the 2007 Cadets narration that was worse than Box 1. It's a good thing SCV played after them so I could at least feel like I paid money for something worthwhile. On the plus side, watching BD, SCV and BK warm up in the lot was the best part about the night (in Pasadena on the 27th).

Ok. My comments have no basis lol. I think you should go look through a few Communication Arts., Archive, maybe some One Show Design Annuals. You know, brush up on what good design is. It's not like I am going to put a link to my design portfolio to try and prove some kind of design credentials in DCP. But sufice it to say, you produce work like that in an ad agency and you won't be employeed for long. I think the design bar for uniform companies is much, much lower.

Well, put a portfolio together, apply to an ad agency as an art director, and you'll learn real quick like. I swear to God, Cappybara, that you probably have no design background in your resume. If I presented that rainbow bar design at work for some kind of background, I'd be fired on the spot. And deservedly so.

It's not against new ideas, it's against poor execution. If I presented this design at work, I'd be freakin' fired. A good designer knows when to stop, and well, there was no stopping this designer. You can aid the theme of the show without going overboard on the uniform. Plain and simple, this is bad and amateur design. I'm not going to go into all the ins and outs of why, but if you showed this to any designer worth their salt, they would not give you a very positive opinion of things. I swear to God, this new crop of DCI costume design is so bad, I'm tempted to start a new company. I'm only half kidding.

I hear you can get photographs of this now, if you're into that sorta thing.

I have a new theory. It's called the MikeD PAC theory. GH, Yamaha and Yea! are funneling a large amount of money to MikeD, in exchange for MikeD lobbying DCP to change opinions. P.S. The above was written with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

I will go out on a limb and say this puts you in the EXTREME minority. False premise. Drum Corps is not band, at least it didn't used to be. Now it's more of a gray area thanks to the people in DCI who allowed things to go the way they have. And I like Crunchy Tenor's Yamaha Theory. It goes along the lines of the "Follow the Money" corollary, which is how life often works.

THere is actually some cool video game music out there that is pretty #### good. An ad agency friend is about to marry a guy who composes for some of the bigger titles.

Hell, I'm not talking 40 years ago. I'm talking 20 years ago. How old do you think I am? :) What makes you assume that things would be good at any point after adding woodwinds? Is there some hidden, pent up demand for woodwinds? Is there a large block of woodwind players who have been craving to march DCI, if alas, they only had woodwinds? I'm guessing no...

Well, you know, the lack of DCI attendance might indicate others feel similarly too ;) (Among other issues).

I have stated before that DCI has a demand problem (the audience) and not a supply problem (the performers, or as some people refer to them, "the children"). Opening up DCI to more people is not going to solve the problem of some corps choosing to perform garbage, non-engaging shows. Here's a nice little formula for DCI: Face-bleeding brass + ridiculous percussion + cool guard moves + crazy drill + good show design = butts in seats Notice that formula does not include George Hopkins brilliantly written narration, a boy named Jeffery, synths, or any of the other crappy things that have been added in the past 10 years.

Drum Corps used to be unique until people started #$%&ing with it. Regardless of what you think, adding WW to DCI would fundamentally change things. Period. End of story. If you can't see that, well, it looks like MikeD has managed to clone himself :) No. Drum corps is not band without woodwinds. It's much deeper than that. Drum Corps attracts the hard core. Drum corps only attracts those who are die hards. There were 128 people in my high school band, and only 2 of us ever marched corps. I marched 'Coats and the other guy marched Magic of Orlando and then Cadets. And it's not just about practice time. It's dedication. Practicing 3-4 hours a day. Most people who march band will never do this. They don't have the mental discipline or the work ethic. And DCI has managed to fumble this core audience away, and tried to cover up said mistake by going after "band people." People who aren't dedicated to the activity. DCI seems to have forgotten about the 80/20 rule.

DCI's core audience are not high school band WW players. DCI's core audience are former marching members who bring their family and friends. That has been DCI's primary mistake. And going after some phantom demographic, which would utterly change what DCI is, is not a core audience. It is entirely a gamble, and would eliminate whatever Unique Selling Proposition DCI has left. As a marketing/advertising guy, I love USP's. It makes it easier to sell and recruit. I, however, DO NOT like homogenized parity products. Like toothpaste. And deodorant. And DCI once you let WW's in. And, you know, some on here are WW players who learned how to play brass because they wanted to be in a DCI corps.

You continue to show your marketing ignorance IMHO. I pray you don't work for DCI.

I'm guessing you have never heard of a USP. I'm also guessing this is GH's pseudonym. /sarcasm BTW, so when are all these fans coming back? DCI is waiting. Personally, I feel a lot of the bras impact has gone away with the Bb horns. Maybe Crown finally figured how to do it, I don't know. I do know that when I listen to recordings from the 90's, my brain goes "Ahhhhhhhhhh....this is nice."

From a supply side perspective: possibly. From a demand side perspective: irrevocably and potentially fatally. You're muddying the waters. I like to view drum corps more as a meritocracy. Some people in band (in my many experiences) don't have a problem with being bad. People in drum corps abhor it. Simple as that. The elitism comes from an executional point of view, not from a "I think I am a better human being than you" point of view. No one likes people who think they are better than others on a human level.

I've said this before, but I get paid everyday to create branding and advertising for large companies. And, as I've said before, it is my professional opinion that DCI has not done itself any favors in the way the activity has evolved in recent years. Or been marketed. Or changed. I don't think people mind evolving. In the NFL, they have rules changes all the time. But adding baseballs to football would make a lot of people angry. Taking what's unique about drum corps (brass and percussion) and changing it is akin, to many, to adding baseballs to football.

I became a fanatic specifically because drum corps wasn't marching band. Only drums and percussion? Really? Cool. Where do I sign up. Wannabes and bandos need not sign up. Does that sound elitist? Who cares. This is marching music's major league, right. We only want the best of the best. That by definition is elitist. And if DCI knew what the heck they were doing, they could create NEW drum corps die hards instead of just watching the old ones die off.

Well, I think the skill level is irrelevant in regards to WW. It doesn't matter the skill level, adding WW to drum corps = FAIL. And, they wouldn't be as good, because DCI with WW = no good.

That's the thing Mike. Who cares about the skill level. WW in DC = DC dead. Drum Corps becomes marching band at that point. I know you think it already is, but you know, some of us here would like to preserve the activity we love and not kill any last interesting thing about it.

Mike, honestly, you're probably the only guy here who can't see that the comparison is valid.