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

Live animals. Yes, its been done (live birds were released at the end of a show at nationals, unfortunately the birds used didn't fly at night and just strutted around the field). Is there a rule against it today?

Thanks, G. That '88 Devils hornline was phenomenal. I'm surprised it isn't mentioned more often. I'm glad they came up with a tiebreak system. Not that the announcer remembers there's a tiebreak system, even though he read a description of it before presenting the caption awards (Visual this year was NOT a tie, as announced, Crown won it).

That SCV uni change was awesome. Its legendary. If you want to make a point about props in the 80's, take a look at Star '87. Singing: Here's the thing about singing on the field - If its not amplified, its pretty much always awesome. I can't recall a single show, from the 80's through to this year, where I did not like a corps singing on the field when it was not mic'd. Amplified voice, on the other hand, spoken or sung, in DCI history has a near 100% rate of suckage. Remember BD's "Yowza, Yowza, Yowza" show? Unbearable. Of course, I'll still take live singing over pre-recorded singing. I'm always saddened to see a corps press a button to play anything that's pre-recorded when the same thing could be performed live by their members. Cadets used to accept a penalty every show for "Amen". Avoided the penalty at nationals by holding up signs with "Amen" written on them. LOL. Crowd went nuts.

Or they just weren't born yet... These poll results always skew towards the most recent performances. Lots of people voting that never saw the older shows. For loudest corps, there shouldn't be a single vote for any corps after the G era. No one has come close. Those horns projected so much better, particularly the sopranos vs trumpets, that you really can't compare them.

There are currently 9 mini-corps for the competition - a couple that had been registered pulled out.

They've got plenty of their own original gags in there as well. Love the duck & scream during a rifle toss. The funniest thing they have though, IMO, is having one of the dancers (cymbal line) in Party Rock Anthem dressed as a judge.

They did the faint at the end of the show in Allentown. Also: Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, and the Unknown Comic made appearances.

Polish it up and then clean the polish off with water rather than a cloth (easiest to shower with it, sinks aren't big enough). Use a non-abrasive towel just to dab the water droplets off (don't rub it with a cloth).

Given that Alumni Corps performances at DCI Semi's and Allentown are the last performance in the show, there is no full retreat afterwards, and scores are available almost immediately online, there's really no reason why anyone in the audience would stay to watch the Alumni performance unless they wanted to. As you saw from the picture posted above, nearly everyone stays - and the crowd reaction speaks for itself. At DCI Semi's, when there isn't an Alumni corps, there is either dead time while waiting on the last couple of scores or there is a performance by an I&E ensemble. Without getting into the quality of these performances, they are designed for a small stage in a hotel conference room. They simply don't project in a stadium. Since you can barely hear them, most of the audience spends the time talking, which makes it even more difficult to hear the performance. All of the Alumni performances at DCI have been infinitely more entertaining than any of the I&E groups. As for Bridgemen at Semi's, if we are going to do it: the sooner the better - while original members are still capable of marching a field show. Personally, I'm more than happy (and very grateful) for the opportunity to perform annually at Allentown.

There are a lot of people that would be interested in performing at Semi's 'one and done' with the Bridgemen that are not interested in our current schedule. We also have a number of people that perform with us some years but not others. I'm sure nearly all of our current members would be exited to have the opportunity to perform at Semi's. So, our current corps would serve as the base upon which we would build a bigger corps for a Semi's performance. If we had that opportunity, the first thing we'd do is contact everyone that's been involved with the corps that we can - both the junior corps and the alumni corps. Given that the current hornline is in the mid-60's (hopefully 70 for next summer) and the drumline is nearly full (last year we marched 8 snare, 4 quad, 5 bass, plus cymbals plus a bunch in the bit, though we could still use more mallet players), I have no doubt that we could field above 100 brass (possibly well above) and a big drum line (at least full, oversized if we wanted to). The guard, as mentioned above, has indeed been shrinking but we're taking steps to reverse that. We have a new staff this year, most of last years members have returned, we have a bunch of new members and we're really pushing to recruit more. There's a big issue that never gets mentioned when it comes to alumni corps at semi's: time since the corps folded as a junior corps, and number of years the corps was active before it folded. 27th fielded a 13th place corps in its final year, 1986, and the alumni show was in '94, the corps had existed from '67 to '86. So, there was a large pool of alumni to draw from, many of whom could still play and could march and play at the same time. Star of Indiana existed for only 9 seasons as a junior corps, '85-'93, and the reunion was in 2010. Much smaller pool of alumni, much longer period inactive before the reunion. Fortunately, we had a lot of people that had never stopped playing (and the Star United crew provided a solid base to build on), so musically we were in good shape from the start. Marching, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. Worse, we had a significant number of alumni actively touring as instructors for junior corps - they learned their parts but missed much of the finals week rehearsal time. It quickly became apparent that marching a full field show was not an option - at least not at the level we would have considered acceptable (and many alumni, particularly in the hornline, couldn't commit to the rehearsal time necessary). The Cavaliers and Madison Scouts, of course, still have active junior corps and a huge base of alumni going back decades - having a base of recent age-outs helps enormously. For the Bridgemen, the time between going inactive and a potential semi's performance would be even longer than for Star ('84 being the last full corps, with smaller corps in '85 and '87). Also, most of the original members were street kids from Bayonne (where Star had a lot of college music majors, especially from Indiana University), so there's a much lower percentage of original members that still play, and an average age about a decade older. We have a huge advantage though: we already have an active alumni corps and have had several years to figure out how to march and play at the same time again. I can't imagine NOT doing a full field show at Semi's were we to be invited. Colorguard will be a challenge, though. I was amazed at the work our guard was doing at Star. A few of the members taught guards either in WGI or at High Schools, but most hadn't spun anything for 20+ years. Nearly all were bandaged at every rehearsal. Most were married, with kids, in many cases several kids. The level of fitness required for a 40+ or 50+ brass player to do an easy drill is entirely different from what is required from the guard. For those of you still marching a junior corps: think what'd be like for your Mom, or even your Grandmother, to try to do DCI style guardwork in her 50's, 30+ years after aging out. Again, having an active alumni corps will provide the base we build on, but for women that aged out in the 70's or early 80's and haven't spun since, coming back in 201? to do a full field show in the guard would be very difficult.