Callawyn

Don't give up, bari spots are the easiest to come by. Even if there aren't any spots open now, there usually are some later in the spring. Your friend might not get the corps they want, but if you're persistent you'll find a spot somewhere before tour starts.

Crown and Bluecoats might disagree.

The NFL also has salary caps and profit sharing. In DCI, the top corps want more money from the activity and don't care if this hurts or destroys other corps. If you really want to shake up the standings in DCI, here's how: multi-year contracts for members. Currently, all of the members are free agents. After a year or two in a corps, many go to a corps that consistently makes finals or, if they're really good, go to a corps that consistently contends for a championship. The corps that trained these people get nothing in exhange for training them. With multi-year contracts, members trained by a corps would either have to stay there or else have the corps they want to move to buy out their contracts (potentially allowing the corps that trained them to be able to afford better staff).

The book seriously rocks! Its going to be a great year. We're still accepting members - come claim a spot!! The hornline could use a few more baritones (we're approaching 70 horns this year), the drum line really needs 2 bass drummers, and the guard is always looking to be bigger. But, we're accepting members for all sections up until the drill gets written. Here's the schedule: http://www.bridgemen.com/CorpsSchedule.html 6 field shows, 5 parades, 3 standstills

Its not that people are opposed to change, just that we're opposed to some of the changes that made the activity much worse. I've never met a single person that thought grounding the pit was a bad idea. Marching timpani, marimba, xylo's etc vs grounding full size versions of the same instrument, there's no comparison. But then you have amplified voice ("Yowza, yowza, yowza!!"). Interesting thing about voice, spoken or sung, on the field in drum corps: I've never heard a single performance where it was used and not amplified that it wasn't really cool (Cadets' "Amen", which drew penalties, all the way to Bluecoats whole hornline singing in "The Fighter", and everything in between). 100% cool. Amplify it, and it sucks every time. The only BD show that is completely unbearable to listen to is that "yowza, yowza, yowza" show. Crown's 'Triple Crown' show, with the horse race, you'd have to be in a coma to watch that show and not get that they were doing a horse race, so why amp a pit person to narrate? Killed it. The pre-recorded ones are the worst. Changing from valve/slide to valve/rotor to two-valve bugles? Again, never met anyone that didn't think it was a good idea or didn't improve the activity. I'm playing on 3-valve G bugle now with the Bridgemen and wouldn't ever want to go back to 2-valve. But the Bb instruments, while economically a good move for the corps, and while they make it easier for bad hornlines to play in tune, just don't have the power G bugles did. Particularly, the main problem seems to be with trumpets vs sopranos. Its not just a different sound, the trumpets just don't carry in a stadium the way sopranos did. Listen to Madison Scouts last year when they played Malaguena, when they get to the hit and the hornline plays full out, the trumpet voice gets buried and the melody disappears. No one misses the high mark time. Occassionally it gets used, briefly, for effect, but it was a bear to play while doing it and it was visually exposed and needed constant practice to look clean. Good riddance. But, do we really need synthesizers doubling the bass line for the entire show when corps are marching 16-20 tubas? You've got that glorious low brass sound from solid players on quality instruments, plenty of them to fill a stadium with sound, and you completely bury it under electronic crap from a synthesizer (often with cheap speakers making it even worse). Please, spare me. The last time I saw Teal Sound perform live was 2 years ago at Allentown. I spent half the show looking back and forth between a speaker on the sideline and the kid on bass guitar that was feeding it. ###### me off the entire show. That one kid on bass guitar was burying the sound of the entire corps from start to finish. So, yeah, a great many things have improved. Some of the innovations have really sucked. I don't mind that they keep trying new things, but how about trying them provisionally and if they suck ditch them? That Cadets show with Sara and her beau on a platform, narrating a teenage girls wetdream, in between brief clips of music from the corps (which, granted, were awesome) completely unrelated to the narration should have, but did not, killed the whole idea of amplified voice in DCI permanently. Lets keep the changes that worked, repeal the rules changes that are getting in the way of the performances. One last thing: I don't think any of these changes had much effect on audience attendance or corps dying off. Rather, it was the change to full summer tours in the early 80's that profoundly changed the activity. Only corps that could afford the full tour survived, everyone else went belly up. The attendance at shows declined as a result of the decline of the number of corps: most attendees are people that have been involved in the activity, along with whoever they bring to the show. Fewer members in the 80's = fewer fans in the stands in the 90's, same thing for the next decade.

Yes, 30' x 30' is too small, as is the 12 yard x 12 yard for the percussion, especially if you consider the max group size of 50. Unless you're expecting the performances to be standstills, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For comparison: DCA minicorps is on a 60' x 60' (20 yards square) space, with max of 21 performing (plus conductor). 60' x 60' is slightly larger than the stage size in many school auditoriums (about 50' wide, 40' deep). If this activity takes off though, I suspect the performance space might soon change to 'basketball court'.

27th Lancers used a Trombonium (G bugle, 2 valve trombone (no slide)). The rules have always been specific that the brass instruments must be bell forward (no concert french horns or baritones) with x number of valves. Its my understanding that its the slide that makes trombones illegal under DCI rules. Surf's drum major did play a pbone last year, early season, as a gag. They had to stop doing this because of a rules violation, but it was because he was playing it from the podium.

Don't let the naysayers discourage you. People that don't want to do it won't, that doesn't mean there isn't enough interest to get a circuit going for indoor winter corps. These events don't need to be HS band related at all. Or, if you do like WGI and have a mix of independent and school related groups, there's a huge number of schools out there. What you're doing might be perfect for some of them. First, check out that link Stu posted to the SDCA. There's a link on their page to the shows they have had over the past three years, click the shows and it lists which groups appeared there. There's a base for you right there: there's a bunch of groups already in existence that would be interested in competing in some form of Arena corps activity. Check out the Bugler's Hall of Fame series, http://www.buglershalloffame.com/ Its basically a series of I&E competitions that include various types of brass ensembles and mini-corps. Some of the groups that appear at these events might also be interested in competing in Arena Corps. There are similar competitions at DCA labor day weekend: mini-corps, brass ensembles, etc. Some of the groups appear at SDCA events and Buglers Hall of Fame events, others could really use more perfermance opportunities closer to their home base. If you're thinking about independent groups competing in Arena Corps, you might want to contact the mini-corps that compete in DCA. Find out what they'd be interested in, keep their needs in mind when planning your events. If you can design your events to attract groups that are already in existence, filling a need for performance venues, at times and places that will attract the performers needed to fill your shows, then you're already halfway there. Groups will form from scratch to compete in existing circuits, but you'd be hard pressed to get start ups to form for a circuit that doesn't have any shows or competitors yet. So, find out who's out there now, with existing organizations that can be invited to your shows. If there's a bunch of groups in the same geographic region, get each to commit to hosting a show... Also, I've heard rumors that there's a movement afoot to create an Arena Corps circuit, based loosely on the Japanese model, still in the planning stages. Al Chez, possibly The Edge, involved in the planning. Haven't been able to find much info on this... Finally, the SDCA is only a few years old but it really hasn't taken off. The Buglers Hall of Fame events are also struggling. If you're serious about starting an Arena Corps circuit: put some effort into finding out why what's already been attempted isn't working. Learn from their mistakes. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here. This has been tried - talk to people that have already learned hard lessons from their efforts...

Suncoast Sound doesn't get mentioned here too often, their hornlines in the mid-80's were fantastic.

Exactly. There's a possible response that the non-G7 can use here: multi-year contracts for members. If a G7 corps wants that performer that got trained at another corps, they could offer $ to buy their contract. As an added bonus, this would go a long way toward alleviating the competitive inertia in DCI.

Its a done deal. Welcome, Oregon Crusaders, to World Class!!

Still have a flugel for sale? What condition?

Zildjian gloves for drummers last about a year for me. They are leather on the palm side, including the fingers, and a stretchy cloth with ventilation on the back so your hands don't get hot. The first pair I got the leather eventually broke down due to drying out - it gets soaked from sweat during practice then baked by heat in your case. If you oil the leather though, and let oil soak in, they'll last much longer - the leather doesn't dry out and so it doesn't start to crack and tear. Pricey though, cost about $30, but every other glove I've tried my fingers poke through within a month and are in direct contact with the silver on my horn.

This has been happening since the beginning of time...

Devils playing Anakin's Theme in the lot is one of my all time favorite drum corps moments. There's a you-know-what posted you-know-where that will simply slay you