sagnasty

Gimmicky? I still listen to the Village People with reverence and awe.

BD 2016 show is out. It's called, "Santa meet Clara".

Star of Indiana did not worry about scores or fate and had a Blast.

Would a soloist in the color guard with good body "tone" qualify in this thread.

What was the last corps song you ever performed. War Suite was mine.

Curt Cowdy? I know Curt Gowdy from American Sportsman and Boston Red Sox announcer was from Wyoming. He also co-hosted DCI with Reliable Rondo.

I'm sorry but you did not answer in the form of a question.

Negativity for $100.00 Alex. Who coined the phrase: "nattering nabobs of negativism".

77 Oakland drum line was great. Don't hear drum solos like that anymore.

If we as fans believe the inevitability of placements would not judges have the same predictability? Thus scoring towards the inevitable outcome. For competition sake this makes the activity vanilla.

Shapiro writes HARD guard work. If they can clean, it can be an awesome thing to behold. Remember Houdini?

Troopers 3rd in color guard. Nicely done.

Permanently deleted IRS e-mails, erroneous scores? Stuff happens.

I have no allegiance to any particular corps. When my kids were in it I had a bias to the corps' they marched in but any parent would. I marched in the 70's and corps' went back and forth from show to show. Tremendous amount of flip flopping show to show. As life happened was away from the activity for many years. When I got back into the activity I noticed very little back in forth in placements. I inquired from an old drum corps friend who is well respected judge in state circuit and WGI. He indicated to me that there is a term called slotting that frequently occurs in DCI. Which is why he does not judge for DCI by the way. How is it that if there is a significant bump in a score for corps A that corps B,C,D see that bump as well. Whether at same show or across the country on the same day. This does not just happen. The aforementioned judge friend asked this very question at a DCI judges symposium and they could not give him a valid reason. You may call me cry baby, believe that it's a conspiracy or whatever you wish but from my vantage point on balance slotting or whatever term you call it happens. The activity in my opinion would strengthen and attract/bring back fans if it had an any given night scenario at the shows. That was my intent in this thread. Nothing more nothing less.

That which has been is that which will be, that which has been done is that which will be done. Nothing new under the sun.

Great topic for discussion. Thinking about the transfer policy and spinning this in another direction. Reward the members monetarily for loyalty to stay with a corps through their age out. Example: You have a member that has four years of eligibility to march in drum corps. Deduct a percentage per year of corps fees or a stipend for each year they stay with the original corps. Would this convince someone not to transfer? Depending on the amount saved per year maybe. Corps run on tight budgets and this may not be a viable option but worth discussion none the less. The emphasis with many kids is getting a medal and not about loyalty. It can be very difficult for the "lower tier" corps to have a semblance of stability and potential to grow when they continually feed into the higher echelon corps. To me another byproduct of loyalty is leadership. If a member stays with a corps through out their tenure, a familiarity with that program/culture lends itself to members being good leaders within the organization. Bouncing from corps to corps limits the opportunities for a leadership role in the corps. Personal experience, my daughter had numerous opportunities to "jump ship" but decided to stay her four years. Did not make finals her age out but told me she would not change her decision if she had to do it all over again. Medals fade but character, loyalty and leadership lasts a lifetime.

The folding of all these corps listed and many that are not listed speaks of the activities eventual demise.

Put away the Thai Sticks and pickup the drum sticks. That's how you win percussion caption and the championship.

If this is true then whoa to DCI. You have parents shelling out thousands of dollars for their kid to march and fans paying big ticket prices for shows. Hell hath no fury like a fan scourned. Sounds like Washington DC with special interests and lobbyists back room dealing.

If this is true then whoa to DCI. You have parents shelling out thousands of dollars for their kid to march and fans paying big ticket prices for shows. Hell hath no fury like a fan scourned. Sounds like Washington DC with special interests and lobbyists back room dealing.

I posted on this thread earlier how during my corps experievce I did not thimk it was abuse. Here is a story that happened with my daughter. Five years ago she is marching with a world class corps to remain nameless. She would text my wife and complain about how hard rehersals were and the treatment she was getting from instructors. I would tell my wife that is part of the corps culture and our daughter would eventually get used to it. The texting went on for weeks about how much she hated it. I would reassure her it will get better. We went to our first show to see her perform in early July. When we saw her after the show she begged to come home with us. She never had a I want to quit attitude before so I was somewhat concerned but told her to get on the bus. Couple weeks later while she is 1500 miles away, my wife and I are enjoying our date night and get a text that she messed up in the show and she was dreading what was going to happen to her afterwards. Later that same evening she calls me hysterical and I can barely understand her. Come to find out the staff had been making her wear an item around her neck that I will not identify but singled her out as a weak person. The staff would making her rep while everyone else got breaks, food/water breaks and other "punishments". Had no idea that this was happening to her so I left a message with the director to call me with an explanation. I got the phone call and asked him about the things my daughter had told me. He claims he new nothing about the incidents. To this day I find that hard to beleive. But after my discussion with the director they backed off. So then I go to DCI finals with some old corps buddys to watch my daughter perform. Told them what had happened and they thought this was rather excessive punishment. I told them it's too bad that she had to go through this and told them my daughter said she is never going to march again. Come October my daughtr asks if she could go to auditions. I was shocked! So she went back 3 more years. Marched with broken ribs, broken nose, broken fingers and was captain her final two years. So was this abuse? As a father who loves his kid it was. As an outsider it would be abuse. Was the final outcome positive? You be the judge. She is not emotionally or physically damaged from the experience. She is much more confident in herself and lifes challenges. Not all kids may have had the same outcome. It worked out for my kid but what about other stories similar that broke a kids spirit and suffer still. There is a fine line and when you cross that line you never know what may come of it. It has the potential for long term effects. These are human beings with feelings and emotions. People put in charge to instruct, teach, mentor and motivate must do so with great wisdom.

Let's expound on the dumb question. Should there be random drug testing for speed and other illegal drugs? Drum Corps is big business. It's not just a 70's issue. Are kids performing high?

What about weapons in the guard. I have seen at WGI some extremly high tosses. Some getting awfully close to hitting the rafters in Dayton Arena.

In baseball in theory it can generate quicker bat speed and power. Do you think faster speed in drumming? What I mean is can a drummer play faster on the drum head. I know tempo determines a lot in music so may not apply as a whole for the corps but what about for I&E. Could a drummer have an excessive amount of speed playing individually.

Got to thinking about baseball and other sports that have used performance enhancing drugs. Has this ever been an issue or discussed in the Drum Corps activity? What would be the benefit? Obvious the negative impact it would create. Should there be random drug testing? Is this a non-issue?