garfield

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.

Of all the things to be concerned about, this is not one of them. Good BoD members frequently sit on multiple boards in their area of expertise. It's done all the time in the corporate world and the NP world is no different. BoD members must meet confidentiality requirements. Fundraising is not typically done at the BoD level so it's unlikely that there a conflict of interest in money.

I think it's because there's some desire to understand how big of a story this might have been this time last year vs. the apparent heightened "celebration" of the news based on the impact of the #MeToo movement surfacing in drum corps since then. I understand the question and haven't seen an understandable response to the query, yet. Is the importance of the Trooper's announcement heightened due to the circumstances of the current #MeToo environment in drum corps?

Well, it's obvious that I'm not explaining well enough. Hard to believe with all those words... Just let it go and I'll try in a different environment. Mods, OK to close.

Let's clarify: I never said - in fact I explicitly explained, that the Housing Manager (or whomever) is not doing any "checking" on anything. That was Jeff Ream's input, not mine. In "garfield's world" on this issue, the TEP is simply a line transmission to DCI, nothing more. I'm a little curious why no one who's read my idea has asked "What of these 'forms' you talk about?". Please forget that my original proposal has any TEP or representative doing any "checking" on health issues or whether or not the staff is following DCI-required P&P; that's specifically NOT in the genesis of the idea. Again, I was, until recently a TEP and did the welcome-wagon at 3am, and there's no way I'd want to assume any responsibility for whether or not the corps is following Safety requirements. There's a concern that members/staff/volunteers might not feel they have an avenue to report/escape a bad situation when the units are on the road. Providing as many opportunities as possible for a m/s/v to get immediate help IS the issue, and engaging TEP with a strict and consistent action sequence when ANY m/s/v brings an issue to the TEP does just that, with a different event contact person every time the corps stops. Custodians, show directors, volunteers at events, PARKING ATTENDANTS! for gosh sakes, what's the difference? If every show is run conscientiously according to a defined parameter consistent across every show site on the tour, DCI is engaging maybe dozens or even hundreds of potential "safe persons" for every member of the corps at every show. Again, a well-run tour with emphasis and training properly placed makes this a no-brainer, IMO. The "show packet" data that is returned to DCI is simply an acknowledgement that the corps director has signed off on the required reporting expected by DCI at EVERY housing sight. This could include "M/S/V Safety Rules and Reporting Requirements". It is the attestation by every director of every incidence of member Safety reporting, how it was dealt with, if, and how, it was resolved. With recognition that not all corps directors actually tour with their corps, the intent is for the person in charge of the day-to-day tour logistics and operations on the road and at the front line be the specific reporting person to DCI, parallel, if determined with reporting to the org's director. Smarter people than me can work that through, but DCI becomes the reporting recipient, not specifically the corps executive staff or Board, and THEN to DCI. This also mitigates the potential problem of conflict of interest at corps-run shows. i.e. the show staff is only collecting attestations and funneling them directly to DCI as part of the TEP packet. If DCI is running the tour, and if it requires that TEP be specifically trained in the appropriate reporting protocol, so be it. Our "day-of-show" director held a staff-wide meeting the night before the show for 14 years, and every member of the staff from ticket-takers to stadium ushers were explained their job and their role, even as some were multi-year volunteers (like parking, thank goodness). How difficult is it to say at such a required meeting, something along the lines of: "I'm going to read to you a statement of instruction directly from Drum Corps International. (Reading:) "Should any member, staff, or volunteer of ANY of the performing units approach you about a problem that they say they cannot solve, ANY person and ANY issue, you are to immediately and directly present that person to the show director'. Is that clear to everyone?" The reporting comes from the corps, not the TEP's. I hope that's as clear as it is in "garfield's world". Again, I'm just spitballing here.

I enjoyed it, but an entire performance of descending chromatic chords was quite boring. Love the single-octave keyboard.

The decision to trust the custodian is made by the show director and only for the show director's convenience. The SD still has to collect the form. The requirement by DCI is that a "Housing Director" (my term, not theirs) greet the corps and check-off that it's suitable. If the custodian fails, the responsibility still lies with the SD. The SD signed the show contract and thereby agrees to collect "...these four forms..." . If a kid knows that he/she can even GO to the custodian, and one does, the custodian simply needs to call the show director. The show director is the one who gets on the phone to DCI and, if IMMEDIATE action is required for safety, the TEP can always go to the DCI contest coordinator to get DCI reps involved immediately. I presume that it would be OK to teach DCI contest coordinators what the P&P for intervention is.

Again, this is an important point. A well-run and profitable show is, unless it's a regional or finals, run by either a local TEP or a corps TEP, both of which earn the profits. Requiring that hosts provide an appropriate welcome and check-in procedure is not a lot to ask of hosts who stand to earn 10's of thousands of $ (if it doesn't rain, whew!). If DCI has any hope of producing a truly Major-League contest tour, this is just peanuts of the required effort. Either they want to or they don't, I'd guess.

LOLOL! You brought back some great memories... Maybe the notion of Housing Manager ( maybe custodian) sits better? Wondering if many of those were as dazed-and-confused. And I appreciate the left-handed compliment while I wonder if we rubbed shoulders and I didn't know it? Your comment actually brings up another, separate discussion regarding how DCI can promote a consistent image and optics when the tour is produced by three entities with three different agendas: Indy-TEPs supporting their local schools, corps TEPs financing their own corps, and DCI. I think that, if DCI has any hope at all of spreading its supervision net of influence over the whole activity to consolidate responsibility, it has every right to insist that any of those entities that profit from the show's production are required to comply with unified P&P that DCI has in place. It does that now. Most of the infrastructure is already in place. IMO

"...full truth." I get it and, in this plan, there is no determination of truth at the time the TEP were to get involved. Either, a) the required "check-in" forms are not presented to the "Housing Manager upon check-in, or b) a person from the corps approaches said Housing Manager and shares a concern, ANY concern, that involves their personal safety or the safety of another member of the corps. In the first case, the HM simply checks the box that says the doc was not presented. At the bottom of the checklist, the director/tour manager signs. The HM then has a tour upon checkout and, again, has the opportunity to collect the form before the corps pulls out. If it's collected, both sign off. If not, it's reported uncollected and signed off. DCI gets the data in the show packet returned to them by the TEP after the show (usually within 24hrs, IIRC). In the second case, a person approaching the TEP, the TEP has just one, simply instruction: Find a phone and dial the phone number at DCI that is reserved for immediate DCI action alone. That person (answering service) finds Dan A or whomever is made the central contact. The TEP simply acts as a mouthpiece between DCI and the TEP, or whomever approached the TEP. DCI requires TEP's to pay for hotel accommodations for judges at nearly every show. Surely they'd approve housing a member, staff, or volunteer was in fear for their safety, IMO. Who is the Housing Manager? What's the one, common thread at EVERY housing site? A custodian. At our show, we greeted every corps as they arrived and did the walk through personally. However, at some housing sites, only a custodian is available to open the facility, introduce the facility, and collect the sign-off that everything's acceptable. Imagine: "So, the boys showers are over there, the driver's rooms are over there, the fields behind the school are OK, but the ones over there are not. Hot water is turned on at 6am and off at noon. Is that all right?" "Yes." "Great, so now I'm supposed to get four forms from you including the sign-off, which we just did. Do you have your 7122 form? Great. Your 9-B form? Thanks. And how about the Safety-01 Form, got that? Great! Thanks a bunch, call me if you need me or just come down and pound on the door!" (Most tour managers I've interacted with come fully-prepared to the site.) No more difficult than that. At show sites, the show director is required to visit the housing sites on the day of the show, regardless of how far away they are. The show director signs off on all facilities and functions of the show; he's/she's the one who delivers the show package back to DCI. The corps would have to deliver the forms at every housing site prior to leaving the site, or it's reported as not collected. Spitballing but, the more I consider it, and after having actually run shows for over a decade until very recently, I think the TEP network, regardless of whether it's a corps TEP or Indy TEP, is an asset of money volunteers that is largely under-developed as an ACTUAL partner to DCI. Requiring that TEP's take these steps is peanuts compared to immensity of show production at even the local level, and the key volunteer needed to perform the necessary task on the ground, is the Housing Manager who checks the corps in and out of the school. Also, it dawns on me that, I believe, a DCI Show Coordinator in on-site at every, or almost every, show on the tour. That person could, in an emergency, get "on-scene" and act as DCI's direct report. Any idea that I think might have a shred of merit I usually bring here first to see if it withstands the withering fire...

Granted, I thought of this one, too. But, if the policy is enacted correctly, I see the TEP as, again, a conduit for reporting data back to DCI. The TEP has no room for judgement or review but is, instead, only the reporting liaison to DCI. I don't see a conflict of interest if a corps TEP is reporting that the P&P "checklist" is available for inspection and dated within an appropriate time-frame. Any action that needs taken around P&P is taken by DCI, but the TEP also offers a local, personal, and unbiased "escape route" to any member who feels "trapped" on tour.