Fiedler

84skyrydr, Let's do the math.....I think you might be surprised, I know I was. At the January BOD meeting in Atlanta - just for snicks - Dan Acheson ran down the list of every DCI Division 1 corps and asked them how many members they had in 2006. With - I believe - three exceptions, they all answered 135. We all sat there in amazement. I'm not sure everyone knew that nearly all the Div I corps had 135 members (I personally thought, from reading DCP and casual conversation that no one except maybe the top 6-8 corps were full...all of our eyes were opened wide). If all corps gave their audition numbers to DCI (19-20 corps did hand them over this year and the number was about 6800 students), more than 7500 kids would have auditioned for corps. Let's say 2000 of those kids were repeats, that's still 5500 kids. 22 FULL Div 1 corps at 135 is 2970 kids.....make it 150 in each, that's 330 MORE kids......that still creates 2200 kids "left over" as it were. 5500 - 2970 = 2530, 2530 - 330 = 2200 Why aren't all the Div I corps at 135? Not sure, perhaps multiple reasons, maybe: a lack of resources, comfort level at current number, can't draw any more, poor experience - it could be anything..... Why don't more kids go to Div 2/3 corps, not sure, could be some of the same reasons that they don't fill all the Div I corps - some being the corps decision to stay at whatever number they have chosen, some being the student's decision. Not all experiences are the same or are what the students are looking for OR - more importantly - what the corps want to achieve. Perhaps - JUST PERHAPS - not every 2/3 corps wants to be at their allowable max number, perhaps they can't handle the economics those capacities represent. Many of the Div I corps encourage students to attempt to audition for other corps. What the kids wind up doing is their decision. You can't force them. And sometimes, it's the corps' decision, not the students. Thanks for indulging me.... jeff

25% rookouts? we had 10 guys "rook-out" in 2006. That is the most "rook-outs" we've had in a few years. 12 guys with two years, 17 guys with three years, 2 guys with four years, 3 guys with five years, 1 guy with six years. 45 graduates from 2006, about six to eight more than 2005. jeff

Our records from the past five-six years show that we draw dramatically more corps members from outside of the drum corps activity than we do from other drum corps. I would say that 60-70% of the corps has past experience ONLY in The Cavaliers, and not with other drum corps. jeff

"Let he who is without sin, cast the first Jolly Rancher..." I've had a couple of alumni from my organization send me an e-mail in the last day or two, to "get on DCP and defend the corps!" Nope, we make our own bed and we shall lay in it, taking the good with the bad. However, being in drum corps for almost 35 years, I have developed a pretty good memory and can - almost to the contest - recall those things we may have done wrong to others and those things which have been done wrong to us - and those where we and the other group were both in the wrong. I'm not about to name names, as I am aware of the once-nightly Jolly Ranchers escapades (from past years I might add, since I don't recall doing too many retreats recently), a nocturnal activity we slowly adopted from two other fine organizations mentioned here in fifteen-plus pages on the topic (third time it's been brought up in the past two years?). When I became director in the fall of 1990 I told the guys we would be putting a little less energy and concern into things like blocking people from breaking ranks (we almost slugged a guy once and drum corps was starting to attract more people who were unaware of those "rules")..."ask them to 'please go around,".......as well as standing military-still and silent at retreat. Of course, when we loosened up, we couldn't develop our own set of traditions, we pretty much just took from what others were doing. Jolly Rancher 'sharing' and 'Tenor games' (where tenors from one corps would ram their drums up against tenors from another corps, etc)....and the like.....sometimes we would whip ourselves into a frenzy and take things to an extreme (we could never be moderate - it must be the all-guy thing) and that's when I had to pull the reins in and - occassionally - rip someone a new one (and I can rip someone a new one like it is nobody's business)...never wanting to pull the reins in and choke them too hard. I'm surprised - with all the nefarious activity we've been accused of during retreats in this thread - which no longer exist except at DCI finals - that no director of another corps had ever come up to me to complain or - in one case - even ask for me to pay for the repair to the 1996 tenor drum that cracked. I know most of these directors and staff TOO WELL, and yet, no one has ever approached me. Which surprises me because I certainly approach their directors when I think one of their kids has done wrong to one of mine or my organization, like the year one corps had a tuba stay behind at the back of the field during retreat (his corps had left the stadium) to literally block us, with a verbal threat of violence - his only intention, which he stated: so our guys couldn't get to the front to play the victory concert......or our trumpet who got his face scraped when he got shoved into the wall (being the outside corps in the finale on the way into the stadium) by another corps coming onto the field for finale...or the five other corps kids in a row who decided - after a new "shared retreat" - to elbow the last guy in our line as they left the stadium. Once, at a regional in 2002 we had a member from another top corps approach one of our asst. drum majors right after we had won the show and were about to perform the encore. He asked him in no uncertain terms, "Hey, why don't you stick that championship ring up your.....?" (Our DM was slightly caught off guard as we don't wear any rings - personal, corps or DCI - during rehearsal or shows). Our drum major then asked him if he was referring to the ring from 2000 or 2001, and then wished him a good rest of the evening. Yes, to my chagrin, we've shared Jolly Ranchers within our corps, as well as with other corps - whether they wanted them or not. Sometimes the sharing has taken place and non-sharing corps have been in between it and have unfortunately been the recipient of numerous "tings"...for that I apologize and can only respond that when I am told about something like that I've asked them to refrain or settle down. One year (around 2002) half-way through the season I banned Jolly Ranchers for the summer - not because we were sharing them, but because we were eating so many they were gumming up the brass instruments. As for the guantlet incident, I heard something in that vein, but not exactly the same story, and I never knew what corps it happened with. All I can tell you was that the incident "was handled internally," as are any of our infractions. You are correct that we didn't necessarily have (and still wouldn't) what I call a military-still posture in finales. And now, when the season is over at DCI Finals I will allow them a posture similar to what Olympic athletes have during the opening and closing ceremonies - relax, take it in, enjoy the evening, take pictures, etc. Don't do anything you'll regret, or embarrass yourself or the corps. As for the light-heartedness of the jokes (you're right, the muffin joke HAS to go), the Mario Brothers theme as the DM enters the stands and the light sabre sound if and when our drum major gets to conduct the finale, yes, I don't mind, in fact, I think it's funny. Some of you do too and some of you don't. When it comes to this aspect, please don't insert your values and principles on our organization. We don't share those perhaps, but we should be respecting yours and I'll make it an even stronger point to remind our corps of that this summer. The Cavalier boys - for as structured and square as our organization is, and for as tight of a leash that we have on them through the summer - are expected to put their energy into things that we value, or matter most to us and to make their own decisions when they're given that space. They have a lot of freedom in some ways, and when they take their liberties too far and go beyond the parameters set, they usually get pulled back - pretty hard and pretty fast - ask them. With all due respect to all the corps that have solid traditions which we all should respect and honor, (and I believe - for the most part - we do), our admittedly-differing view of this multi-faceted activity is that WE ALL (The Cavaliers included) take ourselves a little too seriously at times and that - perhaps - Christopher Guest needs to come and spend the summer with drum corps and make a movie about it. I respect the fact that there are many of you who will not be satisfied by or even disagree with my stance on some of these issues, and I apologize again to those who feel they have been wronged by a member or group of members from The Cavaliers at some point since I joined the organization in 1973. I remember seeing and hearing about a lot worse things many corps have done (and not too long ago) from the beer and pot on the field, stick tossing (aiming and throwing), elbow throwing, beating other corps staff up for breaking ranks and the like. None of it is pretty and all of it is regretable for those organizations. The activity is very competitive at all times, and one thing I've tried to teach them is that the competitive dialect is set up by the nature and marketing of the activity and NOT to get caught up in it, and to try to relieve some of the tension where possible. Perhaps at times they've taken me a little too literally, I'll examine that with them before we get to the summer. Sometimes, the Cavaliers are considered a bunch of arrogant smart #####, (some of us are), but most of them are just really confident. That's something else we teach them, to be confident and not back away from presenting confidence (as sometimes it IS confused as arrogance). It's not intended to be that way, and we certainly do our part to teach them to be humble, something else we'll continue to teach as well. Those are both character/personality traits they'll need in the real world, and what better time to teach that to them than when they're our captives for 85 days a summer. Am I dismissing a small part of this post as boys will be boys? Yes, I am. Am I dismissing a small part of this as stones being cast from other individuals who would like to take us down? Of course I am. Am I going to make sure that every member of The 2007 Cavaliers reads this thread so they can consider all the aspects of it as a tool to learn many things about people, differing perspectives and human nature this summer? You bet I am. My cliche' to them has always been that "it takes five years to build a good reputation and five seconds to ruin it." I'll stay on the positive side of the cliche'. jeff

The Cavaliers Board of Directors have decided to forgo the corps' June competitive tour through Europe. The Cavaliers are extremely disappointed that they will not be able to perform with the European corps who had expressed interest. We believe this experience would have developed life-long memories for all involved. The corps is, however, hopeful that such a venture can be accomplished in the future. Please visit www.cavaliers.org for more information.

Actually... ...that may have been my proposal (running for their lives...DUH!). I just reviewed the proposals that are posted and can only tell you that I KNOW these are rewritten a bit by office staff after submission (not casting blame), and for some reason, punctuation gets taken out in the weirdest places (perhaps it allows for space?). Unfortunately, when some of us get on a roll, we don't let such things get in our way... flog away! jeff

You're right, I made it all up! :) jeff

Sorry, I made the reference to 21st century, etc.....out of context with the subject. The ordinal proposal really has nothing to do with the comment, my post simply offered an opportunity to say what I've was thinking at that moment. And Stef, yes, fine-tooth comb was the reference....sorry, it was late. jeff

I'm not sure how many of you have been around for awhile, but the short history lesson is that the corps instructors and the DCI task force had worked in the background for almost two years in the late 90s developing a system that A.) included a color guard sheet, B.) was acknowledged to be a 50/50 split visual/music and C.) put more weight on effect, which everyone thought was necessary because shows were considered to be too technical and boring. This new system was debated fairly vigorously (I remember the ground work for this system being laid in 1994 in Boston when color guard having it's own sheet was beginning to be discussed with some vigor!) and eventually passed - unanimously - in 2000. (I remember The Cavaliers were one of the hold-outs....we weren't so sure that 50/50 split was a good thing, eventually we and a few others were convinced) History lesson over.... jeff

thanks! we'd have it no other way...we'll take that as a personal challenge! jeff

count each GE judge TWICE (to retain the "weight" of GE).....count each of the six other captions ONCE 10 ordinals GE Visual GE Visual GE Music GE Music Ensemble Vis Ensemble Music color guard field brass field visual field Percussion (field percussion is counted once, if we still use two judges...what ordinal does their average come out to, it's added in just like we do it currently, if you count percussion twice it gains twice the impact, more than ind. brass, ind. guard, ind. visual) Ties (for first) revert to the current policy DCI has had on the books since after the 2000 championship, this logic could be applied to all ties if necessary. Why re-invent the wheel? Why would you assume this hasn't been thought out to some "Nth degree," although, what is the standard for "Nth" these days? Part of the rules process used by DCI allows for MANY people (present company included DCP) to examine the proposals with a fine toothcomb (or is it tooth-comb) and bring up multiple scenarios. Are we going to examine each thought for how it's going to change the past or how it might affect the future, although examining the past is always important, it seems to carry an inordinate amount of weight here with some folks. Personally, I think we may be judging a 21st century activity with a 20th century system (I've said that before, I'll say it again), hence some of my (and others) proposals. The poster who suggested that such a process would have an affect on "larger corps to cover up weaker sections and coast along"....not sure I understand the comment or the context.....sorry (and what do you mean by "larger?") In my opinion, the ordinal proposal it doesn't blunt the judging process (I respect your right to disagree) and the judging process doesn't change. The judges would do EXACTLY what they do now. The process of taking the scores and making them ordinals is a change in the process once the judges hand them in. Judges rank and rate. Admittedly, we're diminishing the rating when we tally the scores. Has anyone looked at semi-finals or quarter-finals results with ordinals? I did it a while ago, but have forgotten what changed. Many times the results of big shows (many corps) tend to be almost ordinals now, as many captions tend to become so compressed that a tenth of a point might separate corps in some captions. Sometimes, proposals are made to get the activity to address, consider and discuss aspects of what we do and if they still apply to the current activity. I'm not suggesting that I proposed this rule change just to get people to talk (we've actually been talking about this a bit at The Cavaliers for about 3-4 years, and I've had conversations with others off and on about Overall Affect judges since the early 90s), however, the rules process is a good way to get people thinking and considering aspects or ideas they may have never pondered before. It also arouses a LOT of passion! I'm out.... jeff (FIEDLER).....c'mon, it took me two championships to get DCI to spell my last name correctly, give it a try! Scott Seal, however, is always allowed to spell it (and say it) incorrectly :)

The Cavaliers have 45 age-outs in 2006, about the same as the last two years. jeff

Weather-permitting and for those who are able to make it on such short notice (sorry, we had a catastrophic Web site failure today and it will be taking a little while to reconstruct).... The Cavaliers are planning to rehearse in uniform Thursday evening June 15 from approximately 6:30 to 9 pm at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on the North Central College campus in Naperville, IL. We're still learning a few more charts to the closer (The Machine Age) on Thursday during the day, so a good portion of the evening rehearsal may concentrate on that aspect of the show, however, the plan is (again, weather-permitting) to run the show from beginning to end before the evening is over. Our promotions vehicle will be present with all the new offerings. Should the weather be threatening (as it was late this afternoon) we'll probably skip uniforming (why get wet the day before the first show?), but we'll still run the rehearsal. If you can make it, you're more than welcome! (also, we've got a new "Chop Shop" video going up tonight on the guard costume which will be on YouTube.com, Veoh.com and Dailymotion.com, user is: thecavaliers Hopefully, we'll be able to link it on Thursday with today's earlier DCI posting on the costume) jeff

The snare who is "missing" is Jason Carney from Claremont, CA. This was shot after rehearsal, and each night after rehearsal the drum line runs down a few of their exercises and street beats (Latin Lover, Flam I Am, etc...) and one battery percussionist sits out to watch and listen to the battery ensemble, giving each one of them a better appreciation for what is happening with the battery as an ensemble and how their part "fits in." This night was Jason's turn. however, we're now considering taking one more battery member out mysteriously each night we film, just to give you something to talk about and build rumors around....we'll try to keep it interesting. Brass and drill segments to come... jeff

Thank you, and you're correct. We're sleeping quite well the past two weeks. We're finding this thread quite entertaining. By the way (for the masses): We've been tilted since early April because the drum sgt (Joe Hobbs) requested that it be considered if the staff thought it might help with the new approach and the performance. They tried it....they liked it (members, staff, me, and the alumni who were hanging around that weekend - who used to play tilted with a sling to carry their drum).... also, the guy who looked in "the shadows"...you are correct, five tenors. more controversy to come - I'm sure. jeff