BoyWonder1911

I happened to come.upon this disagreement we had a few months ago. I do understand that you would like to see those who play woodwinds have an opportunity for some kind of involvement in a summer marching activity. I remember our band director had been a part of some kind of college-aged independent marching band activity here in Michigan. It was pure marching band with woodwinds and wasn't directly part of University. I wonder if anything like that exists today? I think if a woodwind wanted to march, learning to play a brass instrument can be done and there are multiple open class corps that might teach younger students to play at a basic level. I'm not sure how the music education is at smaller open class corps. Obviously for world class you have to be at least competent at a high School level to play in most corps, but open class? I would imagine that education is more a priority than competition at that stage. I would hope so anyway. Not trying to beat a dead horse but the idea of students learning to play a marching brass instrument while in an extra curiccular marching setting for some reason came into my mind.

See Plymouth-Canton 1999 if you're unfamiliar.

If this hammer was just laying on the ground by itself, with nobody around it, that's fair game. That's considered abandoned. Just saying. Of course the prudent thing to do would be to return it, but not without some friendly jesting first. I think this is way overblown.

How about a show titled "Zombie" that explores how humanity is turning ourselves into mental and emotional zombies with our wars, technology and drugs (prescription or otherwise). I for one would love to hear a good, powerful arrangement of The Cranberries' "Zombie" as a ballade. I'd also like to see an impact set in the shape of a pill, skull & crossbones, and a phone, computer or some other electronic device. Color scheme in black, white and either pink or red.

Forgive me for not reading through all 25 pages of this. I happened upon a couple of news stories on my Google news recommendations and saw this whole thing hit the fan. What exactly is suspension? I'm guessing Pioneer can't partake in any events while suspended. I imagine they can still rehearse and have camps. I'm also guessing that when Blenski and Acheson meet, there will be list of policy demands that will have to be met, including direct oversight of operations, that will satisfy the rule book. I doubt very much Acheson is gunning for Pioneer to fold. It's more of a "do this, or else" ultimatum. Whether or not Pioneer fields a corps next season will probably mostly depend on being able to attract enough members, staff and volunteers, granted Acheson is satisfied with improvement in policy. Although, the last thing anyone wants is for Pio to field a corps and then end operations in the middle of tour. Given what I've read about this Blenski guy, I'd personally rather the corps didn't operate any longer. There are plenty other places kids can march anyhow. Auschwitz survivor. If your dad beat you, you wouldn't tell anyone. NyQuil and ibuprofen and suck it up. Gee whiz this guy is a piece of work.

Not to mention some states have different laws, thus making any guidelines set by DCI pretty much impossible, having to accommodate the laws of every state at the same time. How about, the DCI BoD decide to create a regulatory oversight committee, that has no power to do anything but report on things and give recommendations. And when something like this comes up, they can vote with a 2/3rd majority to enact the recommendations suggested by the committee. Within the guidelines of state laws of course. The great things about this idea is 1) it doesn't transfer power away from the corps and into a separate DCI committee, and 2) the 2/3 majority can decide to force a corps to do anything it wants to within the law. The 2/3rd majority of the member corps can choose to remove a director from the activity. No longer allowed to attend or be a part of any DCI function. Sure that director could stay director of whatever corps they're with but it would be pointless. They wouldn't have a spot on the DCI board any longer and couldn't attend competitions or be at housing sites that are provided by DCI. And a 2/3rd majority is high enough to where kneejerk reactions won't happen and small offenses aren't severely punished by DCI.

You sound as if people have a right and entitlement to march drum corps. If a woodwind wants to do DCI, they can learn to do something that will get them into one. But turning DCI into glorified marching band would ruin the activity. So I have really no idea why anyone would even propose woodwinds to be allowed to march. I certainly wouldn't watch it. If someone had enough talent to march a corps, they certainly have enough talent to learn a mellophone. It isn't that difficult when you're learning to play the same 5 minutes of material over and over and over again. Turning 80 brass into 40 brass and 40 woodwinds. Lol. I've never even really heard a marching band where I can hear the woodwinds over the brass anyways. DCI is unique because of its sound. And its loudness. That's the very essence of what sets drum corps apart from other similar activities. Loud brass. Take that away and it's no longer what it was. If you want a competitive marching band activity during the summer, nothing is stopping you and others from "band"ing together and starting Marching Band International.

There is nothing stopping a woodwind player from picking up a horn or a flag or rifle. I'm also willing to bet that there are quite a few who do this. It doesn't take much to learn to play a trumpet or mellophone if you can already play something else. Fingerings are much easier. Embouchure is the only thing really. And the music most corps play isn't all that difficult by itself. Not so difficult that it can't be learned in a month or two. The difference in talent level and difficulty in music played only becomes apparent when you get up into the top 3 to 5. Then you might need to have as many members as possible be already competent in double or triple tonguing and already demonstrating a nice tone and ample range. But aside from that, the music itself in almost every other corps can easily be learned by a talented woodwind marcher. DCI is a distinct activity from marching band. It's not the top of the marching band world. We also seem to have a good steady supply of marchers coming in to DCI and that's become apparent with the rising talent level we've seen this season. Madison Scouts provided us with a very, very good 16th place show. And with the advent of Soundsport, there really does seem to be ample opportunity for anyone in a marching band to partake in something great. There are plenty of opportunities. Soundsport is one of the best and successful ideas in the activity in a long, long time.

I was under the impression that non profits have to follow strict laws regarding the people on the BoD as well as the executives and what role they have. I'm willing to bet that the current scenario is in violation of something or other. There has to be accountability and right now it seems there is none.

The solo that came soon after the raindrop impact set in Cadets 2005.

Of course, this would start the pre show, with the impact hit to the beginning of that 2nd part right after Brandt says "...PROUD TO PRESENT..." Starts at 2:30 And who could say "More than a Feeling" wouldn't make for a great ballad?? The part at 3:24-3:31, those double tonguing, I'd stage them as a ripple effect from one side of the field to the other. Each of the 4 notes would be played by a different section of trumpets. Maybe over the space of 30-35 yards as to not be too out of sync with sound waves bouncing all over and can't hear each other play. Would be difficult to pull that off, though, and there's also a very similar phrase in Peace of Mind, which would be the closer. When you're a long haul truck driver like I am, you have a lot.of time to listen to all sorts of music as you drive and imagine it being played by brass on a football field.

I'm a big fan of SP. Not sure how it would work out though. 33 is a good one. So is Mayonaise. Maybe as a standstill performance. I really like the idea or BAC doing Boston's music as a show.

The director of a non profit may or may not have legal voting rights in the BoD. If they can't remove the people causing the problems, then I guess the whole org needs to go *poof*. Or should I say *puff*. Like a magic dragon.

There is nothing stopping the members or parents of members from filing a class action suit against Pio. There are legal ways to force the situation to come to a head. Suing for all or even part of tour fees to be refunded to their customers, and that's what they are, would put the corps under. Using that as a bargaining chip to force the board to remove this Roman guy from the org permanently and also create new policies regarding treatment of membership, would probably work. The board of Pio would have to either accept the terms or go out of existence. And the latter might just be chosen. Who knows. But either way, it does sound like there is just reason to sue. I'm sure contracts and promises to their paying customers have been broken. Doing this would sound an alarm to other corps to keep up high quality standards, and would also help to mitigate a problem without having the corps forced to give up more power and control to DCI, which I'm sure nobody in their right mind would want. There is a good reason DCI was founded, after all.

Hell, Boston wore hardly anything at all this season. Might as well just go all the way next year. Or one corps can do some comedy show and all dress up as court jesters. Or omg Starfleet uniforms. DMs in red for command, brass in science dept blue, battery in engineer yellow, and guard can be KLINGONS! QA'PLA! Or how about a show based off the theme songs of 80s/90s children's programs? What I wouldn't give to hear the theme song to David the Gnome in brass. We can have all sorts of characters in this scenario. Dressing up as Big Bird, Miss Piggy and Kermit, and if you used to watch Muppet Babies, we can have a giant pair legs in light/dark green striped hosiery and purple shoes and that was all we ever seen of Nanny. Kinda like Wilson from Home Improvement where we only ever saw half his face. Fraggles, Gnomes, Ren and Stimpy, the people from the Land of Make Believe, just no Telletubbies. Or Caillou.

As long as they play Howard Hanson symphony 2 movt 2 then I'm good with that.

I can appreciate how they are all trying new things. I get the concept and importance of pushing new ideas. I would like to see everyone go back to traditional uniforms and colors next year. A throwback year. You know something, these new uniforms,.or costumes, or whatever, every year something new, that's expensive. Right now with the economy humming along and donations up, corps can afford to try out new expensive ideas when they really couldn't do that 8 years ago. When the economy inevitably enters the next down cycle, we will see corps start to make do with what they can afford. They might want to think about putting away some money for some down years. It will.come sooner or later.

And it's no wonder they made Finals. And this season only 26. I'd say they're the odds on favorites to make Finals again, against anyone else below them. We'll see if they can use this momentum to retain veteran membership. Something I was hoping Academy could have done. Lots of momentum going from this season to next. Mandarins, Boston jumping higher than ever before, SCV looking capable of winning it again, Cadets standing their ground despite, Blue Stars back in 8th, and Spirit knocking on the door. Pun intended. I wonder if anyone has ever made finals for the first time better than 10th. Or better than 88.15. Probably back in the 70s when DCI was new and much less precedent to set.

The purpose of the show as it was written was to win a gold medal. It wasn't to move the audience or communicate a life lesson or a story or anything of the sort. They won because they were darn good at performing it, and they were better than anyone else at performing their show. Their GE even came from execution. Which should not be the case IMO but it was obvious that's how it was scored, because tbh this was a pretty dismally created show for those purposes as far as story telling and getting a point across. This show even could have been called anything else besides what it was called and it still would have won. It didn't communicate the story of Babylon at all. Or the tower of Babel or whatever they were trying to communicate. All they did was run around and run on top of scaffolding so they can show off the fact that they graduated elementary school recess. The show meant absolutely nothing to me. But they executed the living crap out of it. They designed this show to win the gold by out doing BD at their own game. Now, it would be nice for next season to get back to real drum corps shows. I think this era of experimentation has run its course.

How was this particular show an epic musical success? Do you have any evidence to back up your claim? What do you consider "successful"? How do you define that? And how does that success compare with other shows off the past that were musically successful? What is it you liked about it? Is there a possibility you are incorrect?

Yes I get it now, as per my most recent replies to this thread. I maintain that a.corps must make finals before they are allowed to win

The author of this theory theorizes that human nature has precluded judges from giving a seemingly breaking-through corps, the benefit of the doubt. And that because of this, they have not and may never choose a corps to win unless that corps has at least taken 2nd or 3rd in the recent past. It explicitly describes a situation where CI is because of judges. Written in 2007, we've seen since 2008, Crown with a 4th, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 2nd, then 1st. Then 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th. We've also seen Bluecoats with 6,6,3,7,6,5,2,3,1. I will conclude that a corps needs to make Finals before they can win. Otherwise the judges are biased against them.

No.im not sure, but I'm also not sure what you're implying either. Obviously the technology isn't there for a computer to design a competitive show...yet.

Why does Pioneer have to move to a lesser class to make people happy? That won't solve any issues. If you don't want to watch them, don't. As long as the money is there to tour WC, they should tour WC. Any issues with staff or directors are unrelated to what class they compete in. I think Pioneer should do something other than Irish stuff. Maybe take some risks. Put out something different. They don't really have much to lose at this point by trying something different. They're probably already on the cusp of folding.

I'm waiting for the day a corps decides to use a computer program to design a show. Solely a computer program. As in, the computer itself designs the show. It will happen. Maybe 20 years from now, but it will happen. On an unrelated note, I can't wait for the day computers are added to the justing panel.