mikehawk93

Mike, Fair enough. I'm glad to see the color guard has grown, and you have filled all the holes that you had advertised on DCI. The size does/does not matter was a typo. Sorry about that. Please don't disrespect Mr. P and call yourself the visual caption head for the past three years. You write the drill. Mikey

You never know. Sometimes they come out and have a good show, some times they come out and the opposite happens. Considering that they have a new guard staff, a new (old) percussion staff, new design team of like 12 people, no visual caption head, and they advertised that they still had 20 something open spots. It seems like people may have a valid reason for thinking lower in the division, especially with corps like Music City making a huge membership jump and SCVC coming back out to Finals. Numbers do count for everything, but the corps consistently has a smaller corps in the division. I would have thought after 2009's show and them claiming 2010 was their best year ever, that they would have been able to attract more students. Plus, Facebook has not been too kind to them lately with their own postings about various drama in their drum corps community. We should wish all the corps well, after all it is about the students and their education. Mikey

I would disagree with the add/drop just because the money is still going to the same organization, and with most undergrad programs schools charge a flat fee for a full-time student with between 12-18 credits a semester. I do understand your point though. Maybe we both have bad examples :) Regardless of our examples: is it right for a corps to charge a member for leaving on March 2 because he does not feel he is getting his money's worth out of the organization?

I've seen a contract that says you have to pay the corps money if you leave after March 1 for another corps. Could a college get away with charging a student money for transferring to a better college during the second semester if they were unhappy with the education they received during the first semester? Many people were turning their noses at Hopkin's article on CNN and his quote, "The problems of drum corps "shows up as lack of finances, but it's actually about management ... the ability to comprehend and react to all the demands of running a $1 to $3 million non-profit organization," Hopkins said. "Most (corps directors) were teachers; there is no training ground for this, really." (link to CNN) Some corps have figured out that by consistently producing a high-quality product, you will retain/gain talented members/staff/volunteers. If a corps needs to charge a member for leaving, they should take a look what type of education they are providing their members. Not what they think they are providing, but what they actually are providing. The activity has evolved into an educational activity with college professors and talented performers, it is not the "drum corps" of past, yet some organizations continue to rely on that model to "educate" their students under the guise of the older version of "drum corps". Does this help the activity?

Have a great first camp. When can we expect a show announcement?

And what about open class corps that have folded? According to your numbers, in 2000 DCI has 19-20 corps including Troopers and Seattle that did not tour. In 2008 DCI has 20 world class corps. In 2010, DCI had 23 world class corps.

I'm just quoting the post so I can directly address some points, not to argue. I think it is great, regardless of class or corps, to give the members a great experience. However, I personally know of a few corps that claim to provide a true drum corps experience, that struggle to pay bills and feed kids. To me, that is not an educational experience. Out of my own ignorance to these facts: Can anyone provide numbers and compare the number of world class corps that have folded in (hypothetically) the last 10 years, versus the number of open class corps that folded during that same time frame? No debate, just some facts, will help to clear this up. Are you suggesting that the experience of having a bond between two (or more) open class corps competing together over the summer is more valuable than creating an organization that can provide the highest level of educational experiences for its members? I fail to see how having an open class corps with proper management/membership/long-term financial independence would hurt the activity as a whole. If anything, creating and growing an organization would only help grow the activity by setting another positive example. How are the Blue Devils, Cadets, or Glassmen effected by the less competitively successful open class corps? Would you rather see 20 corps that are FI and pay for the best possible education of its membership or 10 corps that provide that experience and 15 corps that struggle to pay for buses and food while on tour? Two points to ponder: 1) I argue members leave open class for a world class corps if: a) they feel that they are not receiving a great education and being treated like professionals (which often includes them attending a world class corps' camp to check it out and see the other side of the fence), b) their current corps does not meet the competitive standard that the member thought it would. 2) Is it a true management level decision for an open class corps to not become a world class corps? Or is it because the organization is not setup to handle the structural burden of fielding a WC corps? Tom, I'm not trying to argue. I love what the kids in your corps are putting out (especially the Immigrant Show), and I'm not blowing smoke, because you've had the organization going for a while and have been successful. At what point does it become about making the individual corps stronger and not doing what is best for the general good of the cause?

Doesn't this just start the cycle of what the purpose of Open Class is? Should Open Class Corps view themselves as a training ground for World Class Corps or should Open Class Corps find a way to manage themselves to attain the WC status, like Surf and Teal, most recently. A closer look should be taken at the open class corps and their function in the activity. If they would like to grow and gain world class status, which would make them more sustainable, they need to look at management. If they would like to stay with a week-end only format and do a tour to finals, that's great and a huge help to generate local interest in the activity. It seems groups get caught up in wanting to be a World Class corps without the management to provide the organizational growth and stability needed for such a financial leap. Proper management should lead to a growing membership and long term financial independence. Just my two thoughts though....

opinions are like starting your own drum corps, anyone can try to have one.

DCI and the corps have no obligation to respond to emails that are subsequently publicly posted in an attempt to make them look bad. If people have problems with what DCI and/or the corps are doing, do not attend DCI shows and send money directly to the corps you want to support, atleast you will get a tax write-off. OR start your own drum corps and run it the way you think it should be ran and try to forge the activity into the "correct" direction. Good luck. This thread is like a rocking chair....

Isn't there a lawsuit with that mess?

gotta love people who start funny threads :)

These should be classic.

Are there any guards near Miss St?

...unless you get someone to call in a favor...