euphononium

Typically, the ED’s primary responsibility is to make sure the organization runs well. and they answer to the BOD. You would have to read their specific by-laws as far as how they designate specific jobs. How a drum corps does financially and competitively are two different things (though they typically correlate). It sounds like control programming and design control was given to Will, likely because he wanted to do it, and from the sounds of it, nobody else really did? From an outside perspective, you could see small attempts to fix the problems over the past few years; new caption heads, educational staff, additional consultants, but nothing really worked out right. It seems as though someone called for a drastic change - whether that was RV, the BOD, or Will himself, we will never know - and that is why Regiment is in the position it finds itself today.

I hadn’t seen this yet. I think that’s great news!

Couple things... RV is the Executive Director. I have said this before, I just don’t really understand why people are “calling for his head” because of their competitive success (or lack of it). He is ultimately responsible but not the person running that side of things. His job as ED is to find the right people to run the competitive portion of the drum corps. I suppose we could argue that changes were necessary several years prior to now, but, he gave Will a chance to grow into his role when no one else would step up to the plate. I think that Will brought a lot of value to Regiment, and the fact that he is presumably not involved for 2020 saddens me. I do not think he belonged in the role he was in, but I do wholeheartedly believe he belongs at Regiment. I am so glad to see Ferguson is still on the design team, and I would imagine that most of his team will stay on because he is named as the caption head in the design announcement. Which brings me to my final point: Shaw was not named as caption head, so those wondering about who he will bring in on brass staff... I suppose the answer would be: nobody. Regiment has yet to indicate who will be on the educational staff, and it seems that SCV will retain a majority of their brass staff apart from Chip.

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One thing to keep in mind: this was a brand new stadium. I do know this has been an issue for some corps at all venues, but this could be the reason it was so rampant last night. The established venues have several known wireless frequencies with little interference.

See... I don’t buy that. They manage to hit the road with a drum corps and complete a world class tour year after year, they’ve never cut their season short and just told kids to find a way home, they have uniforms, equipment, their own building, vehicles, etc.; so many things that make up the guts of a drum corps. Someone else just needs to take over.

Someone commandeered an old thread and has been discussing the matter for a few days, pretty widely known.

OC I really like this show. Lots of detail went into this overall show design. The MMs seem like they are really buying into the concept and are performing really well. They’ve cleaned up a bit but still have quite a ways to go, especially basic visual elements (cover downs, jazz runs, etc). Brass is sounding much stronger. Percussion has always been great for OC. What a great ending!!

I agree with you, just falls a little flat compared to others in their range.

Genesis sounds great and they move so well. What an enjoyable show!

Let’s arrange a coup?

Well said. Nowadays, with social media and forums like this, people are so quick to carry a torch and demand change, but I don’t see the same amount of people lining up to volunteer on tour or donate any amount of money to these lower tier (for lack of a better word) groups. I’m not trying to excuse or am even saying this is the cause of this specific case, but similar situations arise because of a lack of support, monetary and otherwise. As far as this specific incident, all of these allegations are serious and require action. Stopping tour and calling in reporters isn’t exactly what I would consider a good option, but admittedly, I don’t know what is. I know what ultimately needs to happen, just not how. I just hope for the MMs that their remaining summer can be a rewarding, enjoying, and healthy one. I want to see them on the field in 12 days, ending the season on their terms.

Cascades have some great colors - I love the ingenuity of the guard costumes, and the combination of colors on the field. Beautiful!

Cascades: featuring their subwoofer. i really like this show and have seen it live a few times. they might have one of the loudest subs of the night outside of the top 6. the corps gets stronger every day and i just love what they’re doing (but could stand to balance their sound system a little better IMO)

I certainly hope not, because that isn’t the answer to their problem. Not fair to these kids at all. I agree, great run for them and this is my favorite show from Pioneer in a long time.

Call it anyways. He is obviously the root of all Pioneer Problems, and something needs to change. So many people are quick to say “it doesn’t matter, he won’t listen anyways”, “it’ll never change”, etc... he might not listen, but at least you’ll feel like you did something, and if enough people call it’ll at least annoy him into doing something about it. Call him, call DCI, or better yet, volunteer for a few days to help them these last 2 weeks (you could give him an earful yourself, while helping MMs have a better experience). I just hope for the MMs that packing it up and going home isn’t the solution to this, that won’t solve the problem. Only one thing will.

This argument is tired and old. I heard it when I marched many years ago and ended up beating all the west coast corps at Finals. The answer is simple: the ceiling in Ogden was different than the ceiling in [insert any city here] on July 11th, 2018. I’m willing to bet if the Cadets had made the trip, they probably would have performed after PC, and SCV would have an even higher number. YES - they are THAT GOOD. But. IT DOES NOT MATTER. This happens EVERY YEAR and everyone makes the joke “BD will score 114 at finals”. Yet somehow, year after year, the scores sort themselves out after they all meet up. The TOC format won’t change the end result, and neither does the current format. What you’re proposing would just take top corps out of shows from all over the country, forcing them to spend more money, and concentrate them in specific areas, which I don’t think is fair to fans or MM. Wondering what will happen after 3 weeks of 8 corps not meeting head to head and scoring nearly the same numbers is dramatic and builds excitement for a months long season. Imagine if the NBA or MLB did this? It wouldn’t work, it would immediately alienate and cut off 75% of the fan base (see: $$$$$) and it would be (even more) boring.

YES! Even seeing this show in July was so powerful. The message, the energy were so intense and it grew every single night... they peaked Friday night while Phantom had one more left in them for Saturday (as is tradition). I have never sat in the stands and felt what I did at semis this year. It was just incredible. I really hope 2015 builds on that and they leave their dark past behind.

I'd agree with this. It's a blip on the radar for CBS. It was shared on Facebook by almost everyone I know, but I wonder if most of them actually even read what they were signing. It is a poorly written proposal with little to no facts. Even if 5 million people sign it, CBS (Sports) will just think it's cute. It was a knee jerk reaction by someone probably barely out of high school to a poorly thought out tweet by a mediocre sports-caster. The whole idea is bad for DCI, even worse for CBS, and I just don't get it... I think the reactions were hilarious, but I also think anyone seriously offended isn't being very honest with themselves. We are all band "dorks", nerds, geeks, whatever your preference may be. Not only are we those "dorks" Jim Rome poked fun at, we are an even more elite group of band "dorks" who follow other elite band "dorks". Drum corps isn't just some pedestrian activity like marching band - it is what those of us with the obsession, desire, and financial ability, do when marching band just isn't enough. Embrace it! It's a great thing and it's made me and all of my closest friends the amazing people we are today. And remember, when you're at your local marching band show, sitting through hours of performances, not all of those bands are Broken Arrow, Carmel, Flower Mound, etc. There are some really below average marching bands in the world that I know you've cringed and poked fun at with other band "dorks". So.. anyways. Settle down. Read things before you sign them. Think about what you're doing. Jim Rome has gotten more attention than he deserves. If you want to change anything, get off your couch. Go see a show close to you, in the theaters, sponsor a kid, drive to Indy, volunteer on a food truck, whatever. Go support some other band "dorks".

I did overlook 2010, my bad. I am just a little tired of the rehashing of programs from 20 years ago, and this is coming from a serious homer.

They haven't done anything "new" since 2007. Kind of kidding. They do like to reuse from their own history but have been better at throwing in newer source material lately.

Battery will be fine as long as they're competent and can play together. I'd hope that many would return. Having Brett Kuhn around is exciting and a draw for some, but I'm still not sure that's what the corps really needed. I am sure Matt Jordan leaving will have some impact. One thing I can get on board with is Rob Ferguson. I don't really know what it'll mean in the long run (if anything). Who knows if he'll be around more than a year or so... but I like what he's done for many years and he's a great addition. I hope he will eventually be more than FE arranger. Also - I know we'll find out in a few hours, but some ideas on show concept that have been tossed around on social media sites have turned out pretty interesting. Camelot and Carmen by Bizet. They don't exactly fit the clues, but I do enjoy the City of Light idea in this thread.

I was short, fat, lazy, and had little to no upper body strength when I auditioned for an all euph corps. You will be fine. Camps suck, but they're only 2 days, how bad can that really be? You'll hate yourself for the majority of spring training. You'll roll your eyes and possibly lash out violently when a mellophone whines about how heavy their horn is, but in August you'll be able to say "I did that" and that's a pretty ###### feeling. It's a really gratifying thing. And we all have stories of when so and so got mad and made us hold our horns up for 42 minutes...fortunately I was on baritone that year

I have been reserving my judgement for this show because I know it will be something completely different in 2 weeks. I can't help but notice how much is lost in translation when watching this show online. It really loses its "fairy-tale"-ness (for lack of a better word) compared to what I saw live. The hornline will get louder, the drum line will probably be cleaner. I think the guard is pretty great. I am a great fan of Jamey Thompson and I think that not having him would be a huge loss (as huge as Shaw and Rennick). We already did that once, remember? That being said...two things I can't get over. 1) The puppet. I mean seriously, that thing is horrible. 2) All the nods to shows from the past two decades. I am all for tradition, I love me some Regiment, but all the kickbacks this year are kind of overkill for me...

This is a great review for a great event. I was going to attempt one of my own, but I can second most of what you've said after seeing 3 different shows with most of these corps this week. I can second your comment about the brass. Everyone around us shared the same sentiment. Thunder's hornline filled that large stadium MUCH better! Cascades drum line really was doing a good job, I hope that their horns and guard can catch up at some point in the season. Troopers really were WOW! So glad they made it out west for a couple days. Academy, very surprisingly dirty. I know it was their first show, but it was so disappointing after the last 2-3 years. I really dislike their show...seems out of place and they aren't performing it well enough yet to sell it. Vanguard.. I can't even put into words how truly beautiful this show is. You need to see it live. They have a lot of cleaning to do on the visual side of things, but the guard is stellar - they really make this show sparkle. I can't say enough about the sound and the composition of the horn line. The Rennick/Shaw team has really hit a home run this year. Kudos to you, SCV. Some great points. I especially dislike the show this year...it seems at times they said to all 150 members "Do whatever you want for the next 40 seconds of the show". I CANNOT disagree with you more on the guard or the props. The guard had more drops than I have ever noticed (I know there are a lot of "organized chaos" moments where they quite obviously drop/throw their equipment on purpose, but even outside of those moments the guard had an awful night). The props... Distracting. Ineffective. I saw them 2 nights this week and both crowds seemed unsure of what to do until the end of the show. I mean, almost no crowd reaction at all until about 10 seconds after the show was over. The worst part for me? I am not even sold on the fact that they are actually that clean anymore. I have been told for years now "Whether or not you like the show, you can't deny the fact that they're cleaner than everyone else." Well, sure, I can get on board with that, especially the last 2 years. But on Saturday, feet were all over the place, guard had an "off" night, and horn line had people popping out all over the place. The drum line... really pretty rough at times. Overall, they were not the Blue Devils I have come to expect. So very disappointed. Crown was quite refreshing after the Blue Devils. Not in love with the show, yet, but wow, what a horn line. My second viewing had me liking it more than the first, so I am hopeful. Guard was great, drum line playing very well. I did think they were better than the Blue Devils. The orange line that runs down from the plume to the L foot is very interesting, and they do some cool things with it. I had awful seats for this show, which meant I heard less of the singing and talking. I really quite liked the show with it barely audible - and not because I am against that sort of thing, but because it was a texture in the sound rather than being forced over top of the corps' sound. I personally like their drum sound aside from the bass drum tuning...at this point, I think they're sacrificing cleanliness for sound quality. Front ensemble design seems to be over the group's ability, at least at this point in the season. I like the show quite a bit, but I agree that it felt flat. I have heard that they are working on a different ending (or maybe an actual ending, it seems the show wasn't really done). Some of their staff alluded to the fact that the show we saw was incomplete, and it seems pretty obvious to me. The horn line was good, but the show is designed to never stop which means they really run out of steam for the last 90 seconds or so. I am sure that will get better as the season progresses. Overall, I loved DATR and Denver! I am disappointed that I have never been there before. Great review, it isn't often that I can mostly agree with someone!