sixtysomething

I know you said there was no one on the enemies list but does that include 'musicians', better known as horm players? LOL

Bill You couldn't have put it better!!!!

Thanks for the link

I've checked the DCA website and don't know if anyone has posted earlier here, but are prelims available again this year on live streaming video? This was a great option for those of us, who for various reasons, couldn't make it to the Championship weekend last year.

Two voices of reason as usual!! Congrats to Cabs as it is evident they are working extremely hard.

Hey Frank Have a great weekend!!!

OK, so I'm old and you got me on a technicality! Guess it was 2006 I was there. #### it sucks being out of drum corps....maybe I can latch on with Cadets...........oh wait, no I can't..........just foolin around!!!

Empire was there at least a couple of years in a row 2001-2003 timeframe. Very long haul and requires many to book Friday off work, or overnight on bus. Other than that, I thought it was a great show, and a way to make sure you pushed to get show done early. Hence lots of 'cleaning' time.

I predict another year that I'm going to miss Wildwood (*%^%*)@)! Love this show, venue, Kelly's, boardwalk, sunshine (mostly) and Friday night rehearsal browsing. Have fun everyone and I hope all corps have their best show of the year

What Frank said. Me too!!

To your first two sentences and middle comment..........couldn't agree more As to the future, I see the eventual creation of a new division called (what for it)............ "Senior Corps". IMHO C2 has to be good despite the "experience" factor, and will spawn copies. Perhaps other World Class DCI corps creating 'all age' corps, maybe to the detriment of current BD "B" type corps, who knows? The only thing for sure is that if too many corps with an age cap are successful (and this is certainly not guaranteed because of the financial aspects and all the other things mentioned in this thread)there will be a whole bunch of +25'rs who will get fed up with trying to keep up with the athleticism of these new corps. And I know how it works. I last marched in 2006 at age 59 with some other "experienced" folk, and being in pretty good shape, once the season got going, so did my body & brain. Our show was not what anyone would consider easy either, but we did it. But I certainly don't think I could have done a DCI performance class show. If the demand level starts to rise, because judges reward the higher physical demand levels put out by "age capped" corps, you see where I'm going with this. (hey! is this a new demograhpic we just invented?) Still think its all good, though. Long live drum corps in whatever format!!! JUNIOR DRUM CORPS ALL AGE DRUM CORPS (Now defined as 25 or less or perhaps INTERMEDIATE DRUM CORPS) CHAMPIONS (SENIOR) DRUM CORPS (Formerly All Age). LOL........hey WWBD!!!!

Or Cadets Squared!!!!

Kilties have the same visual issues with their black shoes and the white spats. Even if there is very little phasing, it sometimes looks that way. And the kilt itself contributes as they don't all fall back and/or move the same with different shaped marching members. (Not to mention some have bigger "sporans" than others LOL)!

My original post was about creating a new "masters" division of DCA. I wasn't suggesting that alumin corps start competing. There would still be room for the alumni corps movement, just as now. It would just provide a venue for those older people who still wanted to compete......and ONLY if DCA became too strenuous for those with older knees etc to handle the new, younger demands. Apologies if I didn't make that clear. This venue would be for those who couldn't handle Open Class/Class A DCA demands, but still had that competitive bug, not satiated by the almuni experience.

Frank, The sad thing is you are definitely not too old for today's DCA, along with a lot of other 'senior' members of many corps, but if the activity actually moves more towards a faster paced, higher physical demand it may mean a lot of very good drum corps folks won't have the stamina and/or young enough body joints to handle the pace. However, there are two positive possibilities. Maybe it will mean the birth of more alumni corps, or a return to larger memberships and higher quality in some alumni corps who are having trouble keeping memberships high. Or here's one for you..............I've always thought there should be a competitive "senior circuit" like they have in golf. It could be called the DCA "masters" division. Like in some sports leagues (hockey, baseball) members would have to be 'at or over' a certain age to march. This division would have similar rules to DCA Open and Class A, except for some modifications. For example (and I'm just throwing out random thoughts here), no tempos over 150 bpm unless at a standstill. Box scores that had plus points for actual straight lines. Maybe even bring back the starting and finishing lines, and/or colour presentation! No original compositions in the music book. It wouldn't be a complete return to 60-70's drum corps, but rather an effort to retain some of the more traditional features. There could be some good things for DCA out of this too. If DCA is losing some of its audience because some people don't like the DCI model and think DCA is moving in that direction, having a couple of "masters" corps competing in the show line-up would keep the dinosaurs around. By the way, I'm a big fan of all drum corps styles (although I do admit to often tuning out when a corps' whole book is original compositions) so I'm not anti DCI or the current trend in DCA. I enjoy them all, but I'd also like to see more of the old style drum corps and as good as alumni corps are, making a competitive circuit could add some excitement. Just thinking out of the box, so to speak!!

I don't see DCA dying either, but I do see the need for higher "purses" and budgeting for increased travel for those corps that traditionally haven't left the NE. I agree the fan base won't pay big money for two DCA corps and a couple of alumni corps, but they will pay for 4-5 DCA corps with at least two of these being top 5 contenders.

I had an unexpected hospital visit last week and couldn't make it to Rochester this year. What a great idea to live stream the prelims! I got to see every corps from the comfort of my big lazy boy chair, beer(s) in hand and view from the 50 yd line. It doesn't get any better except to be there in person. For $20, it was a real bargain. As for the 'freeze-ups' I had way too many and not being a techie guy, I have no idea why. The DCA screen with no announcer (as someone else mentioned) was also an issue, because I didn't know if my computer had frozen or the broadcast was still going live. I had to refresh, restart at least 10-15 times and I missed the last two minutes of MB's performance, because my screen froze completely and I couldn't get the video restarted. Audio continued so I got the sound and later the scores. I was in contact with a friend of mine who also had many freezes. Regardless of the nuisance of refreshing, I was extremely grateful to pay my $20 and see the shows for 2011.

I guess somewhere along the line your question about pushing the activity forward became "pushing the envelop". I think there is a distinction between these two phrases. As an example, if you go back to the mid-60's Les Diplomats certainly pushed the envelop when they performed a rotating block. It had never been done before (that I know of) and was something the judges were not initially prepared for. I would call this "pushing the envelop because it was outside what had been done in the past and was adopted by the activity. In addition, the crowd went nuts and it certainly affected the general effect category because the judges had a difficult time analyzing the effect vs the precision, even under the tick system. Did they also move the activity foward....certainly. However, by your description of 'moving the activity forward' I think Bucs fit your description, no "pushing the envelop", because other corps have to work harder to match their abilities. Not that every corps doesn't strive for perfection in their show, but with Bucs consistency over the last few years, there certainly is a higher standard to reach. But I don't think excellence is necessarily innovative or what I would call pushing the envelop. Their execution is excellent, but is the overall show distinctly different than most other corps? By the way, I don't mean to take anything away from the Bucs. Their achievments are impressive. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs (or phrases) here but heck, that's what this forum is for, no?

The other big thing to remember is that "way back" then........many corps were sponsored by local service organizations, legion posts etc. And part of the justification for spending the money to outfit and run a drum corps was that the corps would get local youth involved, and do the odd parade or show for the sponsor or town to "pay the rent" so to speak. That's why the summer was filled with not only competitions (usually not too far away, except possibly for Championships), but also parades and other non competitive performances as well. Once the "tour" was introduced, the local sponsorship became financially impractical and local participation was mute. The goal was only to get the best musicians/marchers from anyone who could afford to attend camp and pay for the tour.

I would encourage you to start walking, treadmill etc now. It makes it a lot easier to get through those early season rehearsals and starts getting your body ready to take the abuse during the year. I last marched at 59yrs old and would still be there (or at least attempting to be there) but for some extenuating health issues. As "cabssopprof" put it, must be something in the water, even my Canadian water!!!!

Tom, you hit the nail on the head. I can tell by your very uncharacteristicly terse post that this person is just trying to stir up trouble. I was surprised when I saw this thread active again. Thought it was "done" a couple of months ago but some people just need the attention I guess. I'd suggest we all ignore anything posted by this person and watch them fall of the first page of posts day by day.

I haven't gotten to the end of this thread yet, but this is the best response I've seen yet. Hit the nail on the head. I'd go to see the top 10 from 2010 again in a heartbeat, judged or not.

If you're only 53, why alumni? Why not competitive? LOL (We all do what we can do, depending on health, time etc).

I don't think that's what it means at all. I thought 2010 was one of the best "entertaining" years in DCA for quite some time. Yes, Empire did have somewhat of a home crowd, but the show was entertaining AND clean AND difficult as was Bucs show and several others, all of whom got great applause/recognition. This is what I think DCA is looking for.....more of what was shown last year. A powerfull statement on the field will get the crowd on their feet, no matter where the venue is and no matter what the music is. Tom's already said it won't be an applause meter system.

Well put.