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drpepper

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  1. I have to respectfully disagree with this. I think it's become like it is because the judges are rewarding it. If the judges didn't reward a show where the hornline plays less than four minutes, then designers wouldn't design those shows. The activity will go wherever it goes, but I'm having a hard time remembering many shows in recent years where the audience was on its feet after the opening hit like Crown's Rach Star show, or ones where the standing ovation starts with 30 seconds left in the show. Bluecoats this year was the first time I can remember seeing that in a while. I feel like most standing ovations today are out of politeness. I'm sure this is not a new idea but I would like to see an effect judge involved whose back is to the field and they simply judge how apes**t the crowd goes. If corps were rewarded for effect based on that I think you'd have a lot more entertainment value. Have all the props you want, but get rewarded based on doing something cool with them rather than just them being there.
  2. This. Leon May for instance was once a relative unknown, at least in DCI. He came to Crossmen in 1999 and did some great things that never saw the light of day because they were squashed by more senior staff. Look at him now. Might be a great time for some groups to mine the BOA/bigger high school circuits to find the next generation.
  3. I would suggest that perhaps it's because some of them are of the opinion that an activity that's been very important to them for many years is headed in the wrong direction. The best way I can think of to differentiate then vs. now is that unless I'm mistaken, I believe a lot of the things being mentioned that were complained about over the past 50 years were rule changes. The evolution of horns from one to two to three valves and on to Bb were because of rule changes. The removal of requirements for starting lines and symmetrical drill, and the tick system. The onset of electronics and voice. The The inclusion of trombones, french horns, etc. These were all rule changes that were made with the intent of improving and progressing the activity. I personally have had no problem with any of these things. The changes that I've seen in the last two years that I think are taking drum corps in the wrong direction have not been driven by rule changes, but rather in design philosophies and trends. There hasn't been any rule requiring corps to change their uniforms, or drag massive structures onto the field, or have a vocalist sing an entire piece, or only use brass players that can dance as well as the guard can. Those are choices that have been made by the design teams. And myself and others merely don't like where those design trends are going. It seems that DCI is becoming WGI, and many people don't care for that. (The ironic thing there is 2018 Blue Devils was the best playing-and-marching show that corps has ever had.) I also find it rather disappointing that I'll likely never see the traditional Cadets or SCV or Cavaliers uniforms on a field ever again. I'm honestly a bit surprised that there aren't more people who feel the same way. Unfortunately those of us who voice opinions like that tend to be lumped into 1) old out-of-touch "get off my lawn" people, or 2) people who don't support the kids. Neither, in the long run, are true. But I guess I'd add that to Jeff's constants - 1) change, 2) people complaining about the change, 3) people criticizing the people who complain about the change. In the long run, the activity will go where it goes. None of us on here or on Reddit chirping back and forth about what we think will have any effect on anything. Personally I just hope it trends back towards something I find entertaining, even if it's supposedly "selfish" for me to do so.
  4. I couldn't possibly support this evaluation enough. I'm just stumped by how fast it happened. It wasn't much more than three or four years ago I was watching DCI hornlines in awe and noting to others that there's no way 21-year-old me would have been skilled enough to make a modern-day hornline. Now it seems to just be eight minutes of noise. Run around doing something, then 16 bars of dissonance meant to create whatever, I don't know. Hold a sustain for 40 counts. And forget ballads. Now the hornlines are just backing tracks for some vocalist singing through a mediocre sound system. Then you add in the onset of "costumes," to make it easier to do "body." As a result just about every corps tosses decades of brand awareness to the curb... walk into a show or a theatre now and you most likely have no idea who you're looking at, and whereas so many people over the years had a "welcome to DCI" moment of first putting on the uniform of the corps they hoped to make, now it's nothing more than trying on whatever costume their group is wearing that year. Stories of brass players who are more than proficient enough to play a DCI book but they get cut because of their lack of dancing ability. It was either that story, or SCV ditching the Aussies, or Crown's 2017 ballad that did me in. I have trouble deciding. The thing is, I was marching when the buzz was starting about switching to B-flat horns. All the "old" people were all bent out of shape over it... I had no idea what the big deal was, couldn't understand the objection to it, etc. I still have no problem with B-flat horns. Now I sit here feeling like I'm one of those "old" people and I should just deal with it. Should I? I don't know. I just know that I can't see why anyone would consider a late-90s show to be less entertaining than a 1970s show. But here I am unable to enjoy almost anything in the last two years. At the same time the current members openly declare my corps' 1997 show, which got one of the best audience reactions of the year, to be "old-time" drum corps. So I'm not going to be one to tell other people what to do... I just know personally I will not spend money to go watch these "summer guard" shows as I don't find them entertaining at all. I'll continue to support individual members as I hear of them needing support, or whatever. But I do lament what I perceive to be the loss of the activity, because the one I grew up admiring, then participating in, and then supporting, is gone right now.
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