garfield

Besides, there’s already a waiting list for that job

As Jeff pointed out (probably unintentionally), there are far, far more significant expenses for drum corps to pay for, for a much longer time each year, than to spend money on props and trinkets that are not WHOLLY worth-while to the member experience, as found and described in most corps' mission statements. Even putting aside the requirement that the performers themselves moves their sets around (ahem, "simultaneous", right?), how is the very use of the screens an enhancement of the members' experience? Happy Days, Fonzi, and the shark come to mind.

(I apologize if someone else has already said it...) ...because the props on today's HS (i.e. publicly/donor-funded) will eventually show up in drum corps. Makes perfect sense to me to discuss it here. That said, again I ask, why is drum corps, the "Major League", constantly FOLLOWING? There was a time in history when drum corps set the bar for bands to follow. I bet a smart and accurate historian could connect drum corps becoming a butt-sniffing follower to the specific design decisions adopted, allowed, promoted, and judged by the wizards of smart who dominated DCI for decades. I'm hopeful that most of that is a significant consideration by the new Board leaders of the activity as they consider how long they want to be butt-sniffers of publicly-funded high school kids.

No, sorry, you and I agree. I was poking fun at someone else seen-it-all who accused me of being completely out of touch with the reality of today's kids. (Sure.) My comment wasn't directed at you; it apparently made more sense when I typed it than it did to you.

My comments are not performance-dependent. But I'm sure they'll get better at the show as the season progresses.

Your last sentence shows extreme maturity for your age. But, you obviously need to get out more because, apparently, you're disconnected from the reality of H.S. band kids (as if that's possible!). Kudos to you.

In my opinion, you're being a little too sensitive. The comments have been mostly complimentary or neutral on the show and no one has attacked the kids. What's DCPI? Haven't seen anything positive or somewhat informative? Then you need to spend more time here than you have in the past; you're obviously not paying enough attention. Budget < IS > part of the discussion and, in the opinion of some, is a key consideration in an activity that runs, not on public school budgets, but on the ticketed value it provides and corporate/charitable support is attracts. Hard to just ignore the elephant-in-the-room cost in the context of actual drum corps budgets.

Interestingly, in most orgs, the two aren't connected and the pressure for designing around props and gimmicks is coming from the designers because they know, from their meetings with DCI, what it will take to win. There's never enough money, period. It doesn't matter how much the corps makes, it's never enough. That's exactly why performance adjudication should not be influenced by the dollars spent on a show designed around props and A&E..

Do they really "dig" what they're seeing? Or are they digging it because adult judges are rewarding those things and telling those performing kids what wins in "Cool!" land. I'm significantly confident that, if drum corps judges told those same kids that analog, prop-less performances of musical and visual excellence can win without props or, even A&E!, band kids who are full of A&E would flock to drum corps and analog "DCI" would be Cool again. Few would argue that the pendulum of the activity has swung wildly in favor of "anything goes" and "We'll judge what we see" (aka, excuses for unfinished shows), and it's reasonable that, similar to society, it might be time for drum corps to perform and compete under a different and, maybe, more stringent set of more-objective metrics. Tell kids that performing excellence within "these defined" guardrails (whatever) is rewarded with outstanding teaching, performance excellence, and Saturday night "roar of the crowd" performances and they will flock to the winners in that idiom. Doing so teaches the same performance and "life" lessons as the activity does now and ONLY excludes the avante-gard designers who wish to make their bones on the backs of performers paying, and playing, for applause only. Seriously, in an activity where $15,000 can easily DOUBLE the money spent on WC/OC staff, even if renting these screens and their transports costs just $5,000 a season is, IMO, awfully hard to justify. Tell the kids that inspections before performances are a way to win and watch how fast you see uniform standards change. The adults of DCI lead the activity. It is their interpretation of "today's kids" that sets their policy of performance standards. They are sheep largely with a belief that they must follow the herd to be relevant, and they don't need to be. Being different in what is valued is taught and directed by the leaders of the activity. Don't be fooled into thinking that the kids won't adapt with excellence if the adults establish what's valued with a high score. IMO, anyway.

It wasn't my first thought, but I do have to wonder if a drum corps that can afford to rent and transport these for a season might better use those assets to provide better conditions for the members' experience. For instance, how many housing nights in a hotel before finals do those buy? How many days of catered meals from local stop-overs while on tour? How much better design and instruction can PC or Academy or Blue Stars buy with the assets they have to spend on props just to get GE. It seems to me that, with a modification in judging criteria that directs attention away from props and more on music education and execution, bands such as Grove City and drum corps like The Academy or PC can present a better challenge to the big shots in both activities without "selling out" (my termj) to the arms race "thing of the year". My next thought was the business structure to own and lease vs. lease and, while surely feasible for a group that has the wherewithal to buy, the trick is to make it available for the activity. Thoughts on that should probably come from a new thread.

This is high school? Freakin' amazing. When they played. Digital screens? Meh. Pretty. Pretty expensive for, essentially BK "out there-ness". Maybe this is the first edition of the new event-horizon of the A&E arms race. I can't help wonder about the member experience, hauling all that gear around on the field. And, if (when) it transfers to the drum corps idiom, where band-Mom's and Dad's are relatively rare, most of the responsibility for hauling, staging, and placing all that crap will make up an increasing amount of the member's time on the field. And they're paying to be both performer and laborer. Tarpon, you have a very nice band. And Daniel Ray, for a different example of "nailed" music education from an org that puts music education first above props, and the kids only had to carry their instruments on and off the field (and they played the whole show!): The Lexington, OH show is the equivalent of June in drum corps terms. (Won't let me embed, if someone else has better luck, please help) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlA7zRP4KRo

It seems the underground of Legacy media owners have a captive market of newbies trying to understand our history. You might just ask around the band/indoor/drum corps world for friends who might know someone with legacy media. Sitting down to an evening of 12 shows on BluRay is a whole lot better than watching scratchy YT videos. And you'll surely make some friends who are geeks like you. Oh, and while I can't disagree with Tim's approach, I do believe there are some benchmark shows that defined eras, or legacies, or shifts in design. The Cadets Three-pete story, '87 SCV, Cavies drill design, Crown's Triple Crown are great examples, IMO.

In this environment I think it's worthwhile pointing out things in the drum corps activity that are going well. PC is a leader in the development and publication of policies and procedures to guide their behavior, and it makes those P&P public for any and all other orgs to use and implement as they choose. Since the beginning of 2018 I know personally that other orgs have similar P&P and there's lots of willingness to share. I've heard for years that struggling corps simply need to ask more successful corps for advice and they'll get it. PC and others are demonstrating a more proactive approach by taking away an excuse of "We didn't know how to..." The DCI Board Consortium is a great resource and PC runs parallel meetings for corps participating in their Pasadena show and is meant to help expose other CA corps to the eastern participants and their geographical challenges. In my view, I suspect these organic P&Ps, which are based local geographic conditions, could combine and morph into a group of activity-wide P&P with sufficient flexibility to make them both useful and usable. Stuart's leadership of this org's team of staff and exceptionally-active Board is one to emulate and, If it's true, as I believe, that long-term NP success is built on a foundation of business pillars that drive actions, this is a fine example, IMO: http://www.pacific-crest.org/policies/

Boys! BOYS! If I have to turn around this car around you are BOTH going to get a whoopin' when we get home! Oh, and neither of you has a post history on which one could build a reasonable post "personality" but, clearly, dans has a significant lead in establishing one. So "pot and kettle" and all that...

Outstanding organization and perfect position for Stuart.