Weaklefthand4ever
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Posts posted by Weaklefthand4ever
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22 hours ago, DFA1970 said:
2023 is
in first place...Blue Devils in a 3 peat. I actually see them much stronger in 23.
2-12...that is the competition.
Valid. Then again, you never know when another "Down Side Up" is going to pop up out of the blue and make things interesting. I always maintain hope that it's going to happen.
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13 hours ago, Brian Tuma said:
I’ll pick my own d*** key, thank you!
I know! That video literally made my skin crawl and made me want to punch something.
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3 hours ago, keystone3ply said:Elementary music flashbacks. My first year teaching, I got to teach elementary music in the mornings. I never touched the recorders only using the Orff instruments. I figured the children would enjoyed hitting something more than the recorder. 😁
1st to stay on topic.....this really IS a shame. I hate to see any cadet corps go inactive. That being said, it doesn't sound like SCVC was really "feeding" anyone except other top 12 corps with the EXCEPTION of SCV.
Now...off topic...this comment reminded me of unadulterated childhood joys to smashing things with drum sticks. Please see the inserted image for reference of how all drummers feel:
And this also happens to be my absolute FAV kit of Animals from Dr. Teeth. You just can't deny the Champagne Sparkle Fade man.
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2 hours ago, keystone3ply said:
Elementary music flashbacks. My first year teaching, I got to teach elementary music in the mornings. I never touched the recorders only using the Orff instruments. I figured the children would enjoyed hitting something more than the recorder. 😁
So although I finished my degree in music education, I am glad I never TRULY pursued it as a career and here is why:
Elementary School Music = musicians in their first stages of learning
First Stages of Learning = lots of honking, squeaking and tuning issues
Me = CURSED WITH PERFECT PITCH (really, really...a drummer with perfect pitch...what a waste)
I just can't.....just...can't. I am SO glad that there are people in the world who can teach our youth music and SOOOOOOO glad that it isn't me. Universe love and bless you for your contribution.
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On 9/22/2022 at 12:06 AM, IllianaLancerContra said:
I have a death by zoom and PowerPoint meeting tomorrow during which I may be able to read this a bit closer.
I swear I think PowerPoint is possibly the single WORST thing that ever happened to the work industry. I actually did an Elearning last year on using the tool correctly and how to stick to principles of instructional design and accessibility and fanned it out to the training group. Trainers and OPS folks are literally THE WORST at designing content. It's either death by ppt or it's flashing, blinking garbage full of animations created with an "oooohhhhh that's pretttttyyyyyy" approach.
I am glad (I think) that I am moving to the Legal Group in a few weeks.....
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2 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:
The key has always been that members get this info too. Equipping them with this info and ensuring that their reporting structure acts compassionately is also crucial.
Agreed and I think the other elephant in the room is that it HAS to be consistent from corps to corps or activity to activity (WGI, USABands, DCI, DCA etc etc etc.) Although we would logically think that people know the rules and would like to hope that the message is consistent, it is ALARMINGLY untrue. And I think we have to face the fact that without consistent training, you can't have consistent reporting. In the ID world, we always talk about "building the house." The foundation of that house has to be the end goal. Without a consistent message, vision...whatever you wanna call it, you simply CANNOT have a strong house.
Develop the training. Make it mandatory, track it and hold people accountable who don't FIRST pass or take the training. Then and only then can you hold people accountable. I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how many times I have watched people skate by on corporate policy because there was a lack of adequate (or any training) and all they simply had to say is "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong." We CANNOT afford that when it comes to harassment and abuse. Once is too many times.
I am not trying to be utopian and think there is some magical fairly dust or golden unicorn horn that's going to make it all better. But you HAVE to start somewhere and DCI and the Corps in general are wasting time, money and effort in trying to write their own policies when FEDERAL LAW has already dictated what the policies should be. I dunno.....I just get frustrated at how easy it all is to start fixing it when you have the right people with the right knowledge and skillset doing the specific jobs.
Horrible example, but.....no one person in Oakridge could have built a bomb. But get 1000's of people together with specific skill sets and see what happens. Even siloed they did it. Imagine what we can accomplish now.
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10 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:
Fortunately, my generation and younger often see past SOGIE more easily than our elders. And of course, thanks to our elders. Again, the more tools and procedures we give Gen z to help them shape their own reporting and safety systems, then better. It's crucial we enable them... not just stop at training.
Agreed. In some ways, this type of thing is still very siloed. Most people do not have the knowledge of all the pieces of the puzzle. Most times, we (in Training and ID) are trying to piece that puzzle together without the picture on the box. The people who generally have a better concept of the whole (top down approach) are those who have been unfortunate enough to have experienced the actual trauma of abuse.
My skill set has been forged by a very fortunate series of technology and methodology changes as they ran directly into a generational change of how we approach different learning modalities. To sit a multi generational classroom (virtual or otherwise) for an extended period of time is an absolute MIND TRIP. If you can get them to communicate for 8 hours a day over 7 weeks and not get annoyed at each other, you have accomplished a task that is nearly epic.
I would LOVE to lend my talents to the overall organization or even just an individual corps. That being said, the typical volunteer pathways are not generally set up for this type of involvement so people like myself and others who WANT to do good, are sometimes underutilized or not utilized at all. It's a shame really.
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1 minute ago, LabMaster said:
And on the other hand, I think there are books that didn’t get the credit because of judge positioning. It may take a while for each to max positioning for the perc to be read properly and judges to position themselves to read it all properly. But I could be way off base too. Admittedly I’m not a perc guy.
Very valid point actually. It's a learning curve on both sides of the coin and I think you are most likely on target far more than you may think.
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On 9/15/2022 at 11:20 PM, cfirwin3 said:
No.
Drumcorps is a brass organ.
If a scene calls for an organ sound... use an organ, or a synth array.
As much as I love drumcorps, the source music from which the shows are created is vastly superior to the activity. Likewise, as much as I enjoy film score (listening to it and writing it), the classical, romantic literature and other influences from which film music grows are also vastly superior to the score that works for the picture.
Using a cover ensemble, like drum and bugle corps as an ensemble for film music would be like making a xerox of a xerox of a xerox and passing it off as the original.
Additionally, film music is unrestricted with respect to instrumentation. Drumcorps is about as restricted as an ensemble can get (despite some opinions about the state of the activity today).
Speaking of, with the amazing advances in AI generated music (Schuberts 8th, Beethovens 10th come to mind,) are any corps experimenting with AI generated drum corps shows that you are aware of?
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6 minutes ago, LabMaster said:
So a swing and a miss on this one. Many key staff changes to staffs, including one of the top 4. I guess looking back back, some changes aren’t all that surprising, but a couple certainly are. Percussion staffs especially.
I feel like because of the staging now of percussion judges, some of the staffs are just slow to adjust maybe. Those exposed moments have really got to shine and I don't feel like the books have caught up in all cases with the times. This is of course just MHO.
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35 minutes ago, Sutasaurus said:
Depends on how it is arranged. How about “The Rewrite of the Rewrite of Spring”?
I mean....it's so popular because it stands the test of time and it just works SO WELL on the field, right? The question will be, is it identifiable with the younger fans?
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Some folks are gonna hate me saying this. But PR needs a good battery arranger and staff and it just so happens and one of the best in the business (and his staff who have worked together for years,) just so happens to possibly be available. **cough**
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13 hours ago, Orwellian Wiress said:
i... have? i've listened to a lot of the shows i've been sent and i say nothing because i don't want to hurt people's feelings.
You don't have to say anything LOL. Music strikes different people in different ways. I am not a fan of 90% of jazz. It sounds to me like someone took a really good blues band and threw it down a flight of stairs. Does that make it bad? No. Do I have to explain why I don't like it? No. We don't OWE anyone emotional or mental space regarding taste in music. Be your own cat and vibe on the *&^%& that makes you happy.
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14 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:
I'll say too that unless you were around for 2000 or earlier (or so,) it can be REALLY hard to catch onto the raw power of those shows when viewing dated footage shot with the equipment of the time that's been pumped through this weird internet thingy. A LOT is lost in translation. I love many movies from the mid to late 20th century but often the pacing challenges me, for example.
Imagine seeing your first show after only seeing broadcasts. Then imagine the broadcasts you watched were copies of copies of copies. Each of these drum corps experiences are wildly different.
Nothing can take a person back in time, or help them see through the static... let alone translate these shows' relevance to their times and to the development of the industry. Not without lectures anyway. And who needs that?
I'd go to that lecture but I can't expect others to want to.
I will say, there is something to be said for having your face pushed back by a *^&#%@ ton of G-Brass. It's all about moments, right? Things that stick out in your mind and you can hear in perfect pitch and in perfect time 30+ years later. That opening hit in 1987 with Cadets and Appalachian Spring, the cross to cross in 1991 Star of Indiana, 1986 BD with that opening lick of Channel One Suite...I could go on and on.
Now, if I go back and listen to the stuff from the 1970's, do I get that same giddy vibe and emotional response that I do to shows that I saw live (sometimes over and over because I was on tour?) No. Because they were not "MY" experience. The key is that I appreciate them for what they are and what they were. I don't set my expectations of shows from earlier generations at running around a field at 180 BPM hair on fire doing ankle breaker drill. I take the shows for the greatness they were for that time. Musically, very comparable. Drill wise, not at all.
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5 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:
As weakleft can attest: Training also needs to be updated to take into account changes to society and as missing pieces are found.
My first anti-sexual harassment training was around 1990 and covered male harassment only. My own agency caught on before Dept of Defense and had their own female harassing male add on training (missing piece). Then DoD woke up that it can go both ways. Then as being gay in federal service became no longer a problem they added same sex harassment (society change).
Absolutely correct Jim. And especially in my world, it's a constant adjustment to new forms of abuse and possible security issues. My company has over 150,000 employees world wide. And although the majority of them are Brick and Mortar (working in a site,) the virtual world has added a new twist. We now have AI that constantly scrolls chats looking for key phrases, etc. We have a camera system that constantly scans for anything from someone walking in the background to open windows to cell phones being lifted and seen by the camera. When this happens, it reports automatically to the agents supervisor.
I bring this up because no matter how fast you react, people will come up with ways to do whatever they do against the system just as quickly. It AMAZING how ingenious average folks can be.
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7 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:
Yes to universal training.
But, as you are in the training business, perhaps you can shed some light on a question that comes to mind: How often is the ‘anti-abuse’ training (for lack of a better term) updated? Seems to me that as as staff learn what to watch for, then the perpetrators will find a way to work around it - thus requiring staff to need to watch for new stuff. So the training needs to be continuously updated. And it must be somewhat soul-crushing to be the person who repeatedly has to figure out what needs to be added to the training.That...is an EXCELLENT question! So here is essentially the way that it works. Throughout the year, specific representatives of the legal staff and HR (or People Solutions or whatever your company calls their HR department,) meet to discuss changes to laws, current trends (be it in cyber security or upticks in certain forms of abuse, etc.) As you pointed out, as the landscape changes (especially now that virtual training and work is a thing,) and keeping up with new challenges is much more in depth now than in the past.
The information on necessary changes is brought through the legal team and then proposed changes are put into a change log. The Instructional Design Team then meets with legal and HR and we implement the changes. There may be several re-writes through Q1 and Q2 before release in Q3. We also have the option to create additional training "on the fly" and post it out globally.
Every employee is put into our Learning Management System (LMS) and automatically enrolled in the training with a start and end date. New employees take the required courses during orientation. Tenured employees will begin taking the courses when their open dates come up and we track weekly who has taken and not taken the courses. If an employee does not take the course work, they will be subject to dismissal for non-compliance.
Soul crushing is one way to put it LOL. In some ways, it makes you shake your head in disbelief that people do the things they do. I tell folks all the time, "There wouldn't be a rule if someone hadn't tried it."
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8 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:
My first show made me a lover of the esoteric stuff fo life. Couldn't stop loving it if I tried. 🙂
1984 Garfield Cadets...West Side Story at Finals in Atlanta. My 2nd year watching DCI, my first finals and 3 years later I was a young rookie trying to not get cut at every single camp. I didn't even really believe I made the corps until I got my bottom halves.
In 1985, VK played Chimes Festival. My High School band played it the next year. So even back in the 80's, good HS band programs were copying DCI LOL.
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4 minutes ago, college-phan said:
Hmmm, Appalachian Spring perhaps? Love the aesthetic regardless
I would LOVE to hear PR do Appalachian Spring. That poster reminds me so much of some of the William Rice block prints from the Arts and Crafts movement. Much ❤️
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13 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:
This is, in fact, how my partner turned the tide on BD for me. He knows I prefer esoteric art pieces... recalled a show he loved... and then showed me 2000. It changed my whole perspective on them. One might imagine why I was resistant... despite my ongoing respect for our friends across the bay.
See that's so neat! I went the other way. My partner never knew ANYTHING about drum corps. She was a cheerleader and 20 years younger than I am. I took her to her first drum corps in 2018 and she absolutely loved it. Now, she doesn't necessarily like some of the avant-garde stuff but what she DID dig was anything familiar. Hearing her say "Oh that's insert-artist-x" was a really cool thing to watch.
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On 9/13/2022 at 8:35 AM, scheherazadesghost said:
SafeSport has much clearer info about what they do. Looks like their "core" training is 90 minutes with the option for additional trainings. Is this what is offered to members and staff? If so, I don't think it's enough for staff, enough of whom don't have professional licenses or degrees to reinforce their qualifications... and still many do and it doesn't stop them from abusing members anyway. Isn't SafeSport also intended to be a mechanism for reporting abuse?
That's frightening if that's all that's offered to staff. The training I designed for 2022 for AGENT level employees for sexual harassment prevention is 2.5 hours. Then they have 2 hours of additional training on business laws and ethical conduct. STAFF level employees are closer to 9+ hours a year with an update usually in Q3. And we don't deal with people (even each other in many cases) face to face (thank you work at home universe.)
There should be a universal training for these activities. There are too many people involved and too many different opinions of what needs to be trained from corps to corps.
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On 9/14/2022 at 6:26 PM, Orwellian Wiress said:
I notice on a lot of my posts, I get a lot of links to videos of older shows usually with something along the lines of "you should listen to this" or "time for a history lesson". I'm not saying you aren't allowed or shouldn't do that, but just hear me out.
Whenever people link me shows like that, I don't really respond back. Why? Because I don't want to offend everyone just by saying something like "meh, it's okay". I'm not saying classic DCI is bad, I'm saying it's not really my thing. I just.. for lack of a better word, really vibe with modern DCI music. There's just something magical about it that I can't explain. And it kind of annoys me when I get a ton of people trying to "fix" my music tastes. Just because you show me some older stuff won't instantly make me change everything about what I love.
So in conclusion, I like what I like. I might find a few older shows here and there that I do like, but please don't keep trying to make me change what I love about DCI. It just doesn't work that way.
Respectfully and sincerely,
a synth kid.
Every generation has something to offer. Modern Drum Corps would not be here if it weren't for the past. Performance art evolves over time and what you like is simply what you like. One thing to note is that one day, you'll be on the other side of the mirror talking about drum corps of the 2020's and having people say "Meh....it's ok but it's not really my bag." And again, that's OK.
I am not privy to any private messages that you may get, but most of what I see is people in the threads are simply people trying to share what THEY grew up with and try to maybe expand your musical vocabulary. Does that mean that your tastes are flawed. Of course not! You're your own cat with your own tastes and that's cool. Tastes also change with time and exposure and some different "generations" of drum corps literature may connect with you at some point in unexpected ways.
Music, for most, is an emotional journey. What connects emotionally is yours and yours alone. I can say "Man listen to 2010 PR and tell me that it isn't one of the most beautiful shows you've seen." But that's MY emotion...MY mirror. You are your own cat. Be proud of that and continue to be respectful of the work that goes into the generations of music which came before your chosen time frames. That's all anyone can ever ask of a fan.
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On 9/11/2022 at 1:41 AM, Orwellian Wiress said:
I asked this on another thread once and was called rude, so I want to preface by saying I have no ill will.
First of all I wanted to say I have immense respect for everyone who has ever marched. You are strong, resilient, and very talented! Yes I know I kind of have a reputation for being the "eww old dci bad" girl on here, but even if I didn't quite like the show, know that I really appreciate you!
But basically what I wanted to say is a special thanks to every single person who contributed to some of my favorite songs in all of music. I listen to DCI stuff the same way people might listen to popular genres like rock or pop. Yeah, I dance to it. Yeah, I make playlists. You can call me "cringe", but DCI music just vibes with me. It brings out the emotions in me.
I must confess, I do get a little starstruck meeting someone IRL who was part of my favorite bands (yes i do call it a band). It's just amazing to me to know that this one person contributed to my favorite songs. The songs I dance to after hearing good news. The songs I jokingly hum off-key to end in fits of laughter. The songs I turn to in times of great sadness. The songs that empower me to be myself and be better.
I know it won't mean much coming from me, but thank you to everyone who's ever marched.
Your enthusiasm is always appreciated. I am one of the mid-aged folks on here who marched in the mid/late 80's into 1990. And let me let you in on a little secret. Drum corps, like all great performance art is very generational. There are people who stop their musical taste at swing and anything beyond that is "crap." My grandfather was this way. My father hated modern rock. It's natural. But most of us can APPRECIATE what the new corps are doing. I am AMAZED at what the cats do on the field. Do I love every "avante guard" show out there? Hell no. I don't really like BD's shows. I've been vocal about that. What I CAN do is listen with open ears, watch with open eyes and and appreciate with an open heart what is going on.
What I have noticed about meeting folks who marched my favorite corps and or favorite shows is this. They're normal cats. Most of the time it's a combination of right time, right place, right talent and right attitude that winds you in a spot with a corps you want to march with. I have acquaintances from BD, PR, Skyryders, Star etc etc etc. I remember emailing and the meeting Kelley Houpt in 2005 (marched share for BD back in 1984 at our DCA show in Winston Salem. Super cool and just normal cat.)
The more you are exposed to the old stuff, the more you may realize that it's not that much different. We each have our unique perspectives and we are each entitled to our opinions on the direction the activity has moved. I personally, love it all because I truly understand the work involved.
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30 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:
I only remember a couple playing Tiger of San Pedro. Guardsmen and Crossmen.
It's funny. When I first thought about Mangione and Drum Corps / Band, the FIRST song that I thought of was Feels So Good. I think I only had to perform it maybe 3 times. But I must have HEARD it 100 times in the early to mid-80's.
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12 hours ago, crownisking said:
My single biggest fear is that we will end up with multiple corps playing the same music.
**COUGH**Legendoftheoneeyedsailor**COUGH
Or like 14 other songs my Mangione
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2023 Season Predictions
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted · Edited by Weaklefthand4ever
"Presenting their 2023 Program 'The Queen is dead..long live the KING' from Canton, Ohio. Drum Corps International is proud to present The Bluecoats!"