Spinastick

Not to be contrary, but literally everything you listed already exist in multiple corps as a source of revenue. The majority of corps in DCI are decades old, and if you can name it they have tried it as a way to generate funds. Non-profit organizations are somewhat limited in their ability to bring in cash, and there exist a maximum amount that is unlikely to be surpassed for revenue. Market cost for the essential supplies and services needed to operate a drum corp, have surpassed the feasible max revenue a corp can realistically generate each year. Individual corps and the activity as a whole needs to find a way to mitigate cost to survive.

Because "variety" is one of many markers towards achieving a decent G. E. music score, and although jazz is BDs hallmark, they always work in a wide range of styles,moods, and textures into their musical programming. I feel like trying to cram various jazz styles into the show as to adhere to a thematic concept would actually limit their ability to present the same scope of contrasting sounds that they are usually able to achieve.

Most of the top marching bands in the country share the same talent pool for design and instructional staff with drum corps. Often staff members recruit their high school students to eventually march the corp they teacher during the summer. Which is extremely beneficial to have new members joining with a familiarity of technique, and fundamental exercises before the summer even begins. My highschool had around 2500 students, but well over 200 in band and guard. Those numbers definitely made us the most dominant group on campus. Band and guard was the "it" thing to do. We had a great band director (who actually was the founder of a drum corp from back in the 80s), and a ton of really supportive and dedicated parents. Our design and caption heads were paid staff members funded by our parent booster organization, and the techs were volunteers.

Would love to hear Blue Devils perform Pat Metheny's "Have You Heard". It has the rhythmic intrigue and variett their music scores are known, stays true to their jazz roots. See an awesome live performance of this tune at the link below. https://youtu.be/tUfi1zSUkKY?si=vVCveJs9SK0pSwjV

I'll be able to give an opinion later in the summer. Too early to tell.

Really rooting for these guys and it looks like they are off to a GREAT start!!! I don't feel like the program needs huge rewrites. Just clean, clean, clean!

"Don't like it? Figure out what's next."...sums it up perfectly! Innovation is rewarded.

You need to write some type of blog for DCI! What a great analysis. I love that you didn't use it as a soapbox to completely bash someones style choices either. Just good balanced opinion.

I love it too! I couldn't even tell you exactly why it works so well, but that's the genius of the BD design staff. It would be kinda neat to know exactly is being said. Pretty awesome though that it's that effective without even knowing the translation.

Am I the only person, who it's more than apparent to, that their is no "narration" in BD's show? It's simply sound effect. It helps to create mood, and color, texture. Your not supposed to focus in on the words. It's like a movie playing in the background. I will say their were certain parts where the "narration" becomes more important than other times. And the soundboard adjust to those moments. I'm sure that will be even further refined as the season goes on.

Excited to see SCV live and also Logan. I hope I can hear the narrator for SCV's show when I see them live. It's hard to make out his words on Fan Network.

I enjoyed Light Brigade, they have some excellent points in their show.

Well the sad part is that people did die tragically in the Holocaust. I've seen much more graphic pictures in high school history class as we learned about the Holocaust. Please come back to reality and stop pretending that children are being protected from some XXX movie. There is nothing that is distasteful about the show. Not every winterguard performance needs to be a Disney song. Variety in subject matter is what can make going to a show interesting. If you can't handle that maybe the marching arts is the wrong place for you.

I've seen the show, and the only purpose that this "controversy" serves is to hype a mediocre show. I think most people will be quite let down after seeing it. It's all rifle, that is poorly executed and choreography that seems more appropriate for open class than world class. Fantasia is building off the success of their rifle toss/exchange sequence, which is probably the only exciting part of the show. The dancing/movement is nonexistent. I do enjoy the staging though. As far as they way they create the story of the show, it comes off a bit cheesy when I'm sure their intent was to be a bit artsy. There is nothing offensive about the show. It is all done in good taste. There is no reason why it shouldn't be viewed on the Fan Network. It almost seems like Fantasia might be thinking their show is a lot more than what it is, which is a show that I see not in the top 5 but probably somewhere between 7th to 10th place at WGI. I'm totally rubbed the wrong way with this stunt regarding the Fans Network. Don't take yourself so seriously Fantasia.

Something that I feel a lot of drum corp fans might fail to understand is that BD abandoned a "drill" based visual book some years ago. I would venture to say back in the early 90s. Their visual approach is much more about staging. Just because someone is not doing drill doesn't mean that they don't have a superb visual book. The lack of "drill" is one of the things that sets BD apart from other corps. It's became part of their corp identity. I like for corps to use a good mixture of both drill and staging options to come up with a visual package. Some years BD can be a little lite when it comes to drill, but once again it sets them apart.