Geno55441
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Posts posted by Geno55441
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On 12/9/2019 at 11:26 AM, Jeff Ream said:
I dug this out because a respected DCA director posted on social media saying those worried about the future of DCA need not be, but no details or anything was posted, and the DCA website has no PR giving details...so does anyone know anything about the 13 remaining corps or any that may be trying to join ( or leave)?
It might have already been posted but up here in Minnesota, MN Brass and Chops will be again going to Sound Sport and the Govies planning to return to DCA. The two major factors with Brass and Chops again going to Sound Sport is simply membership availability on Labor Day and Travel Costs. There are other factors involved but these two sealed the DCA fate for Chops and Brass.
Speaking for Chops only right now, I can personally tell you it is demoralizing to a young corps to travel 20 hours to do one prelim show to a few judges, more instructors than fans, and a few people setting up their souvie booth only to be told that you failed and did not make finals -- plus you have to pay to watch the event the next day plus being excluded for the retreat. Being excluded in the retreat is not a positive experience to the membership and gives the members a feeling that they failed. Do you call the guy who finished 14th in the Olympic marathon a failure because he didn’t get a medal? He got to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies. I’ve heard comments that people don’t like to come and hear 35 member corps play – if that’s the case, don’t come to the show until you find a corps suitable to your liking.
About small corps; yes, we work hard all summer like everybody else. We practice in the hot sun, the pouring rain, rehearsals in the middle of a winter blizzard. We get called out for missing dots, entrances, and step-offs. To me, that’s okay because Chops is a teaching corps. I don’t measure success with placement and awards – I measure success on how well my students progress, how much they enjoyed the summer, and how much they grow as musicians and students. Quoting Tom Cruise, “You don’t have to have stripes to have honor”. Just because we struggled with membership counts, a host of rookies who were just learning to play an instrument or never tossed a rifle, we can’t compete with the larger corps with 100+ members. We know we can’t and we don’t bother trying to. So what do we get for our teaching efforts is a penalty from DCA to be a spectator for finals and a bitter reminder that we are not good enough to play with the big boys.
With Sound Sport, a corps of 40 members can again be competitive, relevant, and provide the same positive experience to the members that DCA did without punishing young and struggling corps. MN Brass and Chops finished 2nd and 4th last year in Sound Sport and both of our kids had a fantastic experience pus we saved both corps a ton of money on travel. Last summer, we performed to a packed arena with standing ovations and was competitive once again. My kids saw that there was a positive reward for their effort instead of being told they were too small, irrelevant, and basically to go home.
My answer to the original question was if DCA will be around in 5 years is “probably”. As a drum corps who places our emphasis in music education to all skill set levels, DCA is simply not the right platform for us and I’m guessing the Brass would say the same thing too. I wish DCA well but I’m fairly confident that Brass and Chops will be headed down another path for the next several years since last year was a huge success story for us both.
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Speaking of age, the average age of the Govies trumpet section this year was over 50 -- yes 50. We figured that the 5 of us we had over 70 years of competitive drum corps marching experience. We called our section "Team Tapioca" since we heard that some people eat tapioca when they get old. We don't think of ourselves as old, just seasoned veterans. And yes, all of us we marched the entire show asking for no special accommodations. If "Team Tapioca" can still stay relevant and active at our age, any reason you give for not marching any longer is simply lame. If you love the sport, keep playing. We do and are looking forward to next year.
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26 minutes ago, totaleefree said:
Much of the frustation for out of the NorthEast Corps is the other corps and not so much DCA admin. It is very difficult to get a Northeastern Corps to travel out of that area for a show. Why pay 10k to bus your corps to Minn and lose a whole weekend of practice while riding the bus, when you can do a local show at very little cost. The same idea applies to Finals. If you can save 20k by having finals near your home you can save your members dues money and help your corps finances. The corps bank account that year takes precidence on the location vote. Having it near saves money for the corps but does not expand exposure for DCA. moving finals out of the region could expand exposure for DCA and help out of market corps, but the NorthEast Corps might have to add $200 to their dues, and many members would rather save $200 than expand DCA's presence and exposure. The Corps vote and the majority of corps is still in the NorthEast, I think they vote looking out for their members, but it makes if more expensive and difficult for corps out of the NorthEast. The added travel time for distant Corpd makes the Labot day thing an even bigger issue since marcher need to miss an extra day of school or work to travel. I think a lot of folks in the NE don't realize the added costs in money and time that out of region corps face
Excellent point. For Minnesota corps, it costs us about $9K per charter bus (yes, per bus -- not total) to transport the corps members plus additional expenses of getting the trailer and equipment moved. Because it's more than a 10 hour drive, we end up requiring multiple bus drivers and multiple CDL drivers for the equipment. For finals, the members had to get on the bus on Wednesday evening, travel for 18-20 hours so that we can have one day to rest and prepare for finals. Also add into the mix for about $7K per bus for hotels and you can quickly eat up your budget for the entire year for just one trip. We were enduring the cost of this every year to attend finals because the high cost was still worth the member experience even though there was no guarantee that you might get to play both days. However, High Schools and Colleges are now starting earlier and earlier each year which meant that college kids usually missed the last two weeks of rehearsals plus we had to make special transportation arrangements just to get them to finals from their college as well as take them out of class. We then had to ask parents to allow their kids to miss at least two days at the beginning of the school year. To complicate the matter even more, high school band programs are now starting in August (or sooner). Band directors are somewhat willing to "share" their kids during the summer but asking for them over labor day conflicts with football and marching band and is a total deal breaker. By losing high school and college members, both corps had membership literally cut in half. When your corps is half the size it needs to be, it degrades your ability to seriously compete, entertain, recruit and made it less enjoyable for the members who actually stayed. I would say that when you factor in the transportation cost for finals is now cut in half, you again can recruit in high schools and colleges, you don't have to yank kids out of school, your show is now about 6 minutes which means that you can better incorporate members with medical issues, you can put a show together with 1/3 less rehearsals (which cuts rehearsal costs), and still give the members the same positive experience, why wouldn't you? I'm an alumni of both MN corps but not an official spokesman so this is my own personal $.02. With the current DCA arrangement, Sound Sport is the only path to guarantee Chops and MN Brass financial and academic survival as a drum corps. Sadly, I do not foresee either corps ever returning to DCA without some major scheduling changes. Maybe Sound Sport isn't as glamorous as regular drum corps but I can personally tell you that the members from both corps had a very positive experience in Indianapolis taking 2nd and 4th place and feeling that they satisfied their own personal goals. Most of our kids went to prelims to see the "real" DCI corps or they spent the evening "lotting" and had the experience of their lifetime. Yes, we also worked hard this summer, sweated in the hot sun, got sunburned, twisted ankles, got called out for missing a dot, told that we were too loud, and everything that came with being a regular drum corps but it was still fun and well worth the time as a performer and a music educator. Some people in the east coast wonder why Chops and MN Brass opted for Sound Sport, this is why.
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Chops "did" ask DCI for the score to be posted for the Rochester show but not the Minneapolis show. My guess is that it was simply missed. According to what I was told, DCI will "not" release the score to you if you choose not to make it public -- even if you ask. At least that is what I was told. Both the Govies and Chops both opted "not" to publish the scores for the Minneapolis show.
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DCI forgot to post it on their website but Chops got a 65.2 (DCI Scoring) at Rochester, MN back on 8/8. It's posted in DCX only.
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Chops: Skyscraper
- Concerto in F: George Gershwin
- Awayday: Adam Gorb
- Skyscraper: Demi Lovato
- Sing, Sing, Sing: Louie Prima
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Original Music: Matt Kettlehut and Joel Matuzak
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Regarding membership recruiting… One of the problems I see with the current DCA model is that we’ve built a program that requires our members to be more like gymnasts and less of a musician. I tell the younger kids that back in the early 80’s, drum corps was a musical organization that marched. Today, we are more like a theatrical production that plays a few notes during a 40-yard dash. What that change has done is effectively weeded out many of the middle age players who are 40 and older who are no longer physically able to handle the physical requirements of the show. I have so many friends who would love to go back and march but with the new gold tempo standard of 160 beats per minute instead of 140 twenty years, they tell me their body simply cannot handle the physical punishment the new drum corps standard now dishes out. What’s the solution to keeping membership strong and active and more age representative of the general populace? Not sure, but I’ll let others debate that topic for now.
Like every other corps in DCA, Chops is also having our challenges with membership but we’ve been lucky enough through our aggressive recruiting efforts in the school system and word-of-mouth from members that has helped to nearly filling out our horn line – and no, we have zero new members that came over from MBI, it’s all grassroots. We also pride ourselves foremost as a musical education group. We accept members who have zero experience in drum corps and limited musical experience. My section is not unique – but half my trumpet section is made up of high school woodwind players. They are wonderful kids to work with, enthusiastic, and have a true desire to learn to play the horn as well as get on the field and enjoy the rewards of drum corps -- and they are improving very fast. Would they get a DCI contract? Not even close. But we allow them the opportunity to train and develop under our professional staff and our seasoned veterans who really enjoy teaching the marching arts. We all have a true desire to provide the best show we can with the members we have at all skill levels.
I’m not an official spokesman for my corps but I do take pride that in that I measure success in how well my kids progress, how much they contribute to the team, how much they advance musically, how much drum corps make them grow personally, and how much enjoyment they get back out of the program. Will we make Class “A” finals, we hope so – but if my kids work hard, improve with each practice, respect their corps brethren, grow musically, mature as a person, and hold their head high as they march off the field knowing that they’ve put on the best show for the paying audience they can, finals isn’t that important to me as we’ve already won something worth more valuable than any participation medal around our neck.
How does this all tie back to recruiting? It all depends what you are recruiting for and what your goals are for success.
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Will DCA be around in 5 years?
in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions
Posted
Chops will consider WGI Winds .... perhaps in 2021. At this time, our focus is growing the existing performing groups that we already have. Once we have the organization membership back to where we would like it to be, we will definitely look at expansion. Many of our students are already involved with WGI Winds at their own high school so we continue to support and encourage their own performing groups. Our goal is to promote and support music education through the performing arts, even if it's not performing with us.