Kaleb Birdsong

Obviously after 08, the Blue Devils had a certain.....angst, ill call it, towards Phantom. But after marching with the Blue Devils for the 2010 season, I wouldn't say we had any "rivalries" with other corps. All the other corps are usually really chill. On the field at finals retreat, some of the guys from the Cavaliers were giving us jolly ranchers! I can say for myself that there aren't any drum corps I dislike. We're all out there doing what we love!

A random thought that popped in my head that I thought I'd post about....... What do you think about DCI giving immediate family members of drumcorps kids a discount price on tickets for shows?

I love these two statements youve made. First. I want 2014 finals (the only finals not going to be in lucas oil until 2019 or something and my age out) to be at Camp Randal. Its my dream stadium to march in. Second. I totaly can relate to you on marching not feeling like you had imagined. When I saw 06,07,08 finals videos......those are what made me want to do drumcorps. I know neither of us can put into words how strongly we feel about this but Im with you 100%. I dont particularly care for marching in Lucas Oil.

lol well then there are plenty of people affiliated with BD that have TONS of rings. My buddys dad has a chain of rings that his dad and mom won while marching, all the rings from his dad being on the board of directors , and the ones my friend won while in B and A corps. i think they have around 8-10 rings ;) There is a booster I know who has a whole box of rings from forever ago......To answer your question i think we're talking about rings won by a single person marching haha

Here we go. My first ever DCP reply/comment...what have you haha 1. What do you think about the music being played? I love the music being played.Its that simple. Yes, some of it can be "boring" but who am I? Its all a matter of opinion and there a million different biases on why this music is good and that music is bad. 2. What do you about visuals? (Edit: I'll presume this refers to props, yes?) I think that props work for some shows and for others they dont.I think a prop should be an interactive (moving?) object (non-mechanical) with the performers. Again weather or not it adds* is the opinion of the fans. On the subject of "should props be included in the scoring" i believe they should. If anything, it would go under the overall GE of the show right? If the prop is something cool and innovative and works with the show it will make it better and receive a high score and if it is distracting, has no purpose and takes away from the show it will get a lower score. again this is all subject to opinion and with a 327347547 different biases on why and why not. 3. How can we grow the activity? Ill be honest, I'm just a kid that doesn't know much about economics and having the activity publicized on tv or internet or what ever media. I do know from experience that not many young people know about the activity. When I was in middle school starting in band, I never knew what drum corps was. Im sure I would have thought it was just as cool as I did when I discovered it in high school if I had just been exposed to it. Another thing I think would be cool is if there were more local shows. at places such as middle school and "obscure" places never though to have drum corps. Start up street teams in these small towns and communities a couple of days in advance (tell them months and weeks in advance and they will have forgotten by then ( they dont even know what drum corps is remember)) to get the word out. Just some thoughts of mine. 4. What is the purpose of drum corps? I think the purpose of drum corps is to provide entertainment to an audience with levels of performance excellence not often seen in your everyday "staged act". Its purpose is also to provide youth with a medium of some of the best music,leadership, and performance education in the world. 5. What do you think about electronics? I think electrons (like props) sometimes work and sometimes dont. Some of my personal pet-peeves about electronics is when they are used to back up bass and used to replace instruments that can just as easily be used such as chimes. They just need to be used tastefully. Some examples of tasteful electronic use (IMO) are the blue devils drum break in 09. The synthesizer produced this ambient deep noise for the background for the drum solo. Another instance was the 2010 cavaliers use during the "This Is My Rifle" bit. there was an electronic drum that was used to make the guitar wah-wah effect. Both very cool uses of electronics. One of my biases if want to call it that (i marched bd '10) was the glass breaking sound effects in the show. cant really take a mirror out on the field and break it can you? also totally relevant to the show concept. 6. Should we / how can we make drum corps more inclusive to the impoverished? *I wont include minorities/race in my discussion.* Should we? I think so. How can we? There has to be a grant/scholarship/waiver/ect... of some sort. Where this money will come from I dont know. Fundraisers,donors??? 7. How do you feel about the "G7" proposal? (Edit: For perspective, consider mentioning if you are an alum of or otherwise connected to a "G7" corps.) My connection: I'm a member of the Blue Devils who are included in the G7 list of corps. My thoughts: I think it would shrink drum corps as an activity. You need the smaller corps/feeder corps to give, not less capable, but less skilled performers as places to learn and getter better so they can have a chance at shooting for a higher more elite corps. I guarantee I would never have been able to make blue devils without marching open class with Memphis Sound first. It was there I learned what tour,marching.......what drum corps was all about! Its like minor league baseball or arena football. You gotta start somewhere. These smaller corps need to be treated equally as the top tier corps of DCI.