jwillis35

As a general opinion on this topic -- not aimed at anyone -- I think we have to shift the focus of what the activity is about. I am talking about our focus (the fans). For 90%+ of the kids that march DCI I do not think they are focused on winning. Subjects like this one (about BD) tend to come up mainly because we think there must be something wrong with the activity or there needs to be some fairness. I think the judging system is for the most part very fair. Our judges do their best. I do think the kids enjoy competition but they see it as a way of improving themselves and their corps. I do not think they are solely focused on where they place. Most of them do not get to the end of the season and think "darn it, we did not get top 5, or we did not medal therefore this summer was a bust." They are not paying big bucks to buy a placement. They go to a corps that suits them, that fits their style. They love to learn, work hard, travel, and perform. They enjoy making an audience applause and making people happy. Are these things worth more than where you score and place? YES! It's nice to win or be top 3 or top 5. Or maybe you hope to be top 12. That does give you a reason to push and work hard. But in the end if the other things do not matter then why do it. If you love making music then regardless of placement you still love making music.

I agree. This is always going to be the case in drum corps (or even more generically in band competition). You will always have corps who are not able to expand their structure and mostly cannot recruit the 19-21 year old college kids. Many corps come out with 14-16 year old kids. None of us expect them to compete with BD...or Crown, Bloo, Boston. Some of these kids march in Open Class, but we have WC corps marching kids this age. Some corps get a lot of kids in the 16-18 bracket. They can be very good but not top 4. There is just no way of ensuring that each WC corps gets a perfect mix of talent with kids aged 17-21. Kids do not want us telling them where to go. They have their favorites. It's up to the drum corps to build their success. And honestly not every drum corps has the same mission. Not every unit is trying to win at all costs. They may enjoy learning through competition but in the end they enjoy performing. They enjoy travel, friendship, education, hard work...but scores may not mean as much.

This may be true but California also costs a lot more money to live there. Those making good money pay heavily in taxes. I could make an argument that Canton, OH is a more ideal place for drum corps. Cost of living is much cheaper. People have more money to spend on a local bingo and other fundraisers. The corsp has great facilities. The weather is great as Canton is not in the snow belt the way Cleveland is. Their are more high-level music schools at the college level in that NE Ohio, Central Ohio region than there are in the Bay area of California. The corps has some big donors and plenty of community support. It's an easy destination to fly into for camps.

I get everything you are saying but I think you are answering the question here. There is no way for DCI to be truly fair. Drum & Bugle corps are run by community organizations. DCI cannot tell those communities/orgs how to run their operation. And different States and Cities have different advantages. California does have good weather (most of the time) and liberal laws for running Bingo. BD does well with other fundraisers too. - however if it was so easy in CA then what happened with SCV? Not looking for an answer. That is a whole different discussion to be held somewhere else. - add to this other parts of the country have their advantages too. Blue Devils have a vastly larger organization than most other corps. This allows them to work with more kids year around. They have more local parents involved because of BDB and BDC and other functions they run. That local help amounts to dollars when people help in fundraising, or logistics in local events and on and on. With the A corps Blue Devils have built a brand. They are known worldwide. They have also built a brand in how they program shows and craft their music. A lot of talent all over the country and from other nations want to be part of that brand, that signature sound, the style, and so forth. As you stated we can't tell kids where to spend their money. So yes, it is not fair. What can change all that is for other drum corps to build their success, build their brand, their signature sound and style. This is largely what Carolina Crown and Bluecoats have done. It's how they jumped into being top 4 or 5 contenders every year. There was a time they were not close to that. This alone illustrates why the Blue Devils have been important to the activity - even if people get tired of them winning.

I agree with this as well. I usually don't feel a need to research a show unless I want to look into some of the deeper themes or concepts in the show. I did that a little with BD and Cadets this year. But most of the time I first just want to hear the brass and percussion books. Often this lets me know if I will enjoy the show or not. With Blue Devils they play enough great music and percussion is really fantastic that I can just enjoy that. They play so well. Their guard is also highly entertaining and extremely good. So even if I had no understanding of Matisse and the Cut Outs I think I would still love BD this year. Same with Cadets. If I didn't know who Atlas was or the concept behind the show I might question the uniforms, but I would have no problem enjoying that brass line, the percussion, and the musical book they play is wonderful. The drill in the closer is pretty cool too. With Bluecoats this year I am mostly just enjoying their music ensemble and the complex rhythms that get layered. Not a bad visual program either. Their narration this year is not my cup of tea but I typically just try to find the things I do like. This may just be me, but I think just about every corps has something in their show you can grab onto and enjoy. But in those rare cases if a person cannot find that then that's OK too. That corps simply becomes your HOT DOT corps. 🙂

Yeah, we're all sitting here talking about other stadiums, but your point is the more concerning thing. Someone said they heard about this on reddit but I have not heard anything official. And if there is damage where is it?

It's not that so much. I certainly see it as East. But for some they see anything south of the Mason-Dixon line on the East as the Mid-Atlantic region until you get down to South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida then you are in the South East. So yes, I do think many folks want to keep DCI East in the East or Northeast (north of the Mason-Dixon.

Just looked that one up. That is a super nice stadium at William & Mary. Pretty area too. I think like @Tim K mentioned, some people may not like that much of a move (South) because you are technically now in the Mid-Atlantic region and not really the East. I mean, a good site is a good site, but I know some would like to keep DCI East in the East. There really are options for DCI if they ultimately decide to pull the plug on Allentown, PA. Lafayette College is not far up the road. Even the University of PA in Philly could be an option, especially if you still run it as a 2-day event. Talk about a historical site for DCI.

The town of Easton, PA is not far from Allentown. It sits right on the PA-NJ border on the Deleware River. Gorgeous place. The stadium at Lafayette College is amazing with incredible scenery. More than big enough and likely it is larger than J. Birney Crum. Warm-up areas may be a challenge, but housing for fans and corps would not because you are so central to Allentown and Bethlehem.

I wonder if DCI really ran into an issue with this if they could just move temporarily to Moravian University in Bethlehem (right next to Allentown, PA) and use BASD field. It's a fairly good size stadium. You still have the track, but so does Allentown. BASD has decent bleachers. You are in a nice neighborhood where people might either hate it or love it. Plenty of fields around for warm-ups.

Allentown is kind of a historic site for DCI East. Just hoping they can figure out the seating issue if this is the case. I really have not heard anything. I agree with @Jeff Ream that if they ever did have to move DCI East that Annapolis would be a good possibility. Maybe the University of Maryland near D.C. The University of Delaware actually has a pretty fantastic stadium with no track that would be perfect for this. I believe all the construction work is completed now.

it was definitely not their best run for sure. Still good, but this corps when it is ON can sky rocket. The show is so challenging...more so than many might think. Bloo pulled a nice number even though I was not sure they were at their best. Crown definitely had some issues too but also pulled a nice number.

It will be interesting to see where scores are tonight. With all the heat and rain I think it was difficult for some of the groups to duplicate or better their performance from last night. But you never know. Scores could still move up a little. Also, I was watching high cam the whole night and sometimes that takes you out of it. The high cam is really at a level that no one views the show. Everyone seemed to be missing a few players or performers.

Blue Devils are truly amazing! Not quite sure they topped what they did last night. That was an absolute clinic last night. IN fairness I think it would be tough to top that especially in this heat. I think they were still really good tonight. Will win. Score may even go up...but not quite the electricity I saw and heard last night. Having said that I love love this show. It's a difficult beast to pull off. Keep pushing Blue Devils. This is going to be one spectacular show in a few weeks.

This ballad is really coming together. Love the dynamic contrast. Guard work is fantastic as is the staging of the whole corps. I just want less glissy syrup in the trombone solo. You can have some but show a little more control. It will not jurt the effect. Now, having said that I love the aggressive trombone entrance in BUMP. This tune is just minimalist groove heaven.

Looks like 4 holes in Bloo brass. Hope kids are getting healthy.

Fantastic run for the Mandarins! A very unique show and well performed.

Mandarins are bringing the HEAT! I kind of like how this show starts almost like a different version of Angels and Deamons. There are some wonderful similarities with the bitonal color in the brass. Also when the first part of the brass change to the red it feels much like Blue Devils from last year when they tossed the dark portion of their uniform into the circle at the beginning. Some excellent GE for sure. I also caught the Cross reference on the left side in white.

Impressive peformance by Blue Stars! Brass sounds excellent. The ballad is wonderufl and that baritone soloist is one of the best. Fantastic player! The show is cleaning and really coming together. Keep pushing Stars!

Go Go Go and Keep Going! That is how I felt at the end of The Cadets show. Ending is not clean but OMG is that exciting. Overall this was their best performance top to bottom. Great show and a pretty fantastic performance, Cadets!!!! There are definitely a lot of goosebump moments in this show. I think there is something for everyone, even if you're not in the uniform camp. Still plenty to clean in the feet, legs and intervals. Brass, Percussion, and Guard are all performing very well.

I want the Blue Devils to stay right where they are. They believe in Drum and Bugle Corps. They believe in competition. They believe in teaching young people to perform at all ages and they believe in kids and that those kids should have great opportunities to perform and express. It is because of the Blue Devils that the rest of the activity has a real benchmark. Why would we want to get rid of that? They are a benchmark in organizational structure, funding, and performance. Their hard work has provided a road map for the activity -- even if it can't always be duplicated it certainly gives the other corps a view of what can be achieved. We need them to stay right where they are and lead. Yes, they win a lot. That's ok. There will be years that another corps gets them. But without them we lose the high benchmark that I feel has been important to this activity. Losing Star of Indiana was a sad day for me. Yes, I appreciated what they brought to indoor theater and to awareness about our activity, but all of that was short term. Where are they today? Gone. To me this is a shame. We need our Premierer organization alive and healthy and leading the way. I believe the other directors and staff of the other corps would say the same thing.

That is both good for the members, but also kind of sad in a way. I always want these kids to stay where they are so the corps can really build. I really want to see Academy in the top 12 again with the kind of program they had in Corpse Bride.

Yes! That was the best Colts performance yet this summer. The music program is strong. They have really layered in some nice dynamic and expressive playing. They could add some more at the end when they go full bore. But not much to complain about. Visual looked good to me. Guard was strong tonight. Very good show and enjoyable.

Colts brass line has some wonderful control at the start of this show.

Agree. Not sure if Academy is a younger group, maybe just less experienced but the brass playing is safe, not well balanced at times, intonation issues pop up a lot, and they have control issues. That is common with younger lines. I do like the show too. Too much stuff on the field for me and I wanted more clarity in drill. Musically I enjoy the selections. Still time to clean this up.