glory

I don't know. Doesn't the dam break when the water first flows through? Seems to me, if they're calling her a member, there's no going back. Either the dam has broken. Or someone picked the wrong word in a press release.

Here's my question. If she's a member as the announcement seems to indicate, why just one?

Madison apparently will be have a female flugel this summer. Their announcement even uses the term "member." What do you know?

Makes sense. And let's face it, this is a mobile world. Drum corps, college, jobs, fans, we're less local and less loyal. No judgment in that. Just reality. Doesn't mean we must be mobile. Ironically might mean staying steady requires more sophistication than ever.

Wasn't moi.

You're right. Not everyone moving to a top six corps is doing it for prestige alone. I didn't mean to suggest that. My generalization was meant to be about society in general and not about drum corps or its members in particular.

Have they had enough? They cheered for Cavies and SCV to move up in the standings while both brass lines were taking it easy. The fans and the judges both aren't discerning enough in this category.

It's only a matter of time before someone accuses me of wanting to give everyone a trophy. No. That's not how I think. Everyone doesn't deserve a trophy. And many kids benefit from the travel team coaching and competition. Ivy Leagues colleges and their peers can be an outstanding place to learn and grow. Top drum corps are great places to develop. All the same, these truths aren't absolute. The benefits of the elite experience don't apply equally across the spectrum of ability, desire and investment. Also, we have to remember that those benefits are not exclusive to the elite class. It is possible, even easy, to garner the same benefits via platforms less prestigious. And finally, the elite benefit is not eternal. Having attained that status doesn't change your destiny of itself.

First, and for the record, transfers to the elite colleges measure in the single digit percentages. It's just not analogous to drum corps. What are the right lessons? The answer clearly isn't simple because it varies by individual. That said, the answer can be expressed by understanding what aren't the right lessons. Consider, for instance, the undeniable truth that every corps, even the best corps, last year had its worst player, its worst marcher and its worst spinner. Fact. Ask yourself did each of them max out his or her summer? I'm not talking about medals or even fun. I'm talking best possible development and best possible impact on those around him. Now it's possible the answer is "yes," that the push he got made him better and made him an example for all. But even if that's true, it doesn't hold necessarily that his development and impact would have been diminished as a top-half talent and leader at another corps. And if the answer is no, well ... you get it. And the second worst? The third? There is a diminishing return somewhere. That's one of the great fallacies in this discussion. Being on the "travel team" doesn't make anyone better. Not being on the travel team doesn't make you less good. We've all seen the Wizard of Oz. Intellect, empathy and courage are the objective. The diploma, the beat and the medal are just credentials. The problem is we reverse it. Greatness isn't defined by the roster alone. And by the way in my town, none of the kids who made the travel baseball team in my son's era made the high school roster. Don't get me wrong. I know the virtues of an elite experience. I also know there are other routes to the same destination. I work today with some of the most brilliant minds I can imagine. They didn't all come via Columbia. Likewise, some of the best minds in the marching arts aren't the product of top drum corps programs. Some never marched at all. That says a lot about this discussion. The top six are just the top six. They're not the burning bush or Mt. Sinai. For some, they're not even the bomb.

Sports are an even tinier fraction of college transfers, and at that an even more egregious example of misguided intentions.

Can't agree. Of course the higher-placing corps feed off (your term) the lower ones. But how does that kid get to camp? It's not the corps driving them. It's the kids. The top corps accept them when they apply. The top corps aren't recruiting them out of the ranks. This is not like college sports at all. Speaking of college, your transfer reference is off. First, college transfers are a fraction of the student body. They are far more prevalent in drum corps. Second, college transfers reflect a wide range of reasons with seeking out an elite experience again a fraction. Many of the reasons for transfer are structural such as community/commuter college to the more traditional campus (which might be akin to Open/World class but not to the elite "transfer"). Some are financial. Some for love. Some are driven by changes in course of study. College transfers are often lateral and only a few are motivated by elite status (which is confirmed by the tiny percentages of transfer students at elite campuses). What this is really about is a societal quest for credentials. It starts with travel sports. It includes honors classes. And it's on full display in drum corps. With parents driving the mania, kids think they're being deprived if they're not distinct from those who are just average or even above average. We rationalize it by saying we're getting superior instruction and pushing ourselves to be even better. The truth is most kids (and their parents) take the wrong lessons from that experience. It's a shame for all concerned.

Gotta wonder how often that helmet was needed! Does it come in an Aussie?

Reminded myself of a long time ago when I played in the pit band of a second-rate Miss Virginia pageant (I say "second rate" because if I was in the band it couldn't have been first rate.) Anyway, we were supposed to play "Impossible Dream" when the winner was crowned (it was the 70s). The emcee, who'd sung a solo earlier, was NOT supposed to sing Impossible Dream. But he did, or he tried, coming in several counts off our otherwise seamless rendition. Everyone of us recognized immediately the problem and the solution. And without a word being spoken, we all shifted automatically to his (mistaken) count. That was synergy - and one of the greatest musical moments of my life.

Agree there is nothing to see here. In fact, I started this discussion only because there is nothing to see on DCP these days. But seriously, isn't "synergy" a precondition for good music from any band? I mean precondition versus objective (as in "creating synergy"). Can you have good music if you don't have synergy?

Get punished around here no matter what!

Now you're splitting hairs! How is creating musical synergy different than making music? I'm asking for real. Because I don't know how they are different.

See the new thread I created on this topic

...

Look at what I just did. There was a tidbit (a teeny one - hardly worth discussing at all) in a Boston Crusader update. I could have thrown my two cents into the Boston thread where it would have been lost to all those who aren't following Boston. Instead I wasted the time of nearly everyone else by creating a new thread to complain about. Isn't that better? Posted this here for illustrative purposes only. No comment required. Definitely no complaints.

In a recent update on its February "production" camp, Boston Crusaders told us their focus included "creating musical synergy when all the performers assemble." Here's my question. Is "creating musical synergy" different from making music? Isn't it just a fancy-pants way of saying the corps is putting the pieces together? Is it yet another examples of corps over-complicating this marching band thing we love? (Some of us.) You're not creating musical synergy. Synergy isn't the objective. It's music. It's simple. I know I'm totally splitting hairs. Don't hate me for it. The bar has to be lower in February. And what's a "production" camp? Do they have non-production camps? What are they called?

Musical synergy. Good thing? Or bad? Discuss...

You could make a fair case our year-long threads are discussions about nothing

It's not the the Corps 2018 titles either. Discuss it all!

Correction. You can't go off topic in a thread that's about everything. That's the problem.

Yeah. I'm pretty negative about last year (which is unusual for me). Didn't want to go first and set negative tone. Anyway ... Direction to follow. Jazzy - BD and Bloo have been jazzier lately, including 2017. That's good thing. Love the swing. Love that you can score without making it seem as if good music is an intellectual challenge. A big brassy ballad - BD gave us one for the ages. (See "ballads not brassy" below for the other side of this discussion.) Direction to Abandon (a partial list lest y'all think I'm a hater) Dark themes and dull uniforms - Burning witches, a huge black slash, deconstruction, primordial man forms, snakes chasing their tales ... Not only did the 2017 themes lean heavily on darker notions, the uniforms they wore were mostly colorless. Too much grey (and of course black). Even when some corps used green for contrast, that contrast got lost in the turf. Lighten up ... Ballad that's not brassy - I'm good with mic'ed singing. I just think too many corps are using the ballad as the spot to showcase female vocals. More brass please. Brass taking the easy way out - I'm talking about you SCV and Cavies. Watch the tape. Note how the brass seldom play anything remotely challenging on the move. It's whole and half notes on the march. Anything difficult is stationary. Even Boston with a drill that was decades ago slow. Uncovered - Someone needs to pass a rule. Corps look better in shakos, aussies and whatever that is that Crown has been wearing. Keep covered. HH