Rifuarian

Troopers seem to being doing much better competitively since their year off. They were a sub-20th corps for a long time prior to the break, they've been solid semifinalists and sometimes finalist contenders since. I actually think the new uniform is pretty sharp. It keeps the basic look, which is important. The neckerchiefs wouldn't really detract from the new uniform, IMO. Corps do have a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater when trying to "forge ahead", this may be one of those instances. My main problem with the Troopers in recent years is the blandness of the shows. Blandness is a disease that tends infect semifinalist level corps, though the situation has improved in recent years. Every year I make an effort to see every corps, and learn about their shows. Right now I honestly can't really remember what the Troopers have done the past few seasons. I know there are talented people designing for this corps but, as in the case of so many corps who have tried to "reinvent" their identity the result isn't innovative. It's insipid. The judges don't hate it, but they don't love it either. The fans tend to stay out in the lot. In drum corps, you can have your cake and eat it too. Look at what Madison is doing. Very traditional uniforms. The shows are wildly entertaining and popular . . . but they're also very much modern drum corps. Madison has the fans riled up, seems to advancing in placement, has created new classics while reliving old classics, all while making full use of the recent rule changes. Likewise with Spirit. Great entertaining and competitive show that's not in any way traditional (though Spirit could very easily do this with Southern music, and I hope they will) yet it feels like an authentic Spirit of Atlanta production. Ditto Crossmen the past couple of years. You can innovate, entertain, compete, and hold onto your identity. Troopers are one of the most identifiable corps out there, it would be insane to throw that away. There is so much great music in the Western and Americana genres, completely untouched by drum corps, that could be exciting and different on the field if arranged properly. Not that the Troopers have to stick with that kind of music, but it wouldn't really be as stifling as some think.

What I'd like to see happen on DCP with regards to the Blue Devils . . . 1. For those who don't like BD's shows to realize that there is not some conspiracy to keep BD in first place. When a corps has no weaknesses year in and year out they're going to win a lot. And just because a show is not as popular as other shows doesn't mean it's not a winner. That's the way this activity is set up. Yeah, I know, the sheets have changed . . . but did anyone really think that would make a difference? 2. For those who do like BD's shows to stop thinking that the anti-BD crowd consists of troglodytes possessed by some preternatural hatred of all things Blue Devils. Sure, there are some of those out there . . . but for most people it's the shows, period. I think Cabaret Voltaire is a spectacularly well-designed and arranged program. Perfect staging, mind-blowing brass and percussion, visually cohesive. It's everything a great drum corps show should be (IMO). That said, I don't find it particularly innovative, thought-provoking, or intellectual. Just good drum corps. And I can understand why it doesn't suit everyone's tastes. Let's face, Cabaret Voltaire is not what most drum corps fans plunk down there hard-earned dollars to see. That doesn't necessarily make them morons.

I kinda felt bad pointing it out, since this is such a great thread. But we gotta give 78 BAC due credit . . .

Unless I'm missing something, it seems like Boston beat Cavies in DCI prelims in 1978. I'm not one to be a party pooper, though. 34 years is still a long time, so I don't think this is any less of a milestone. Boston has a great corps and a great show this season.

It had better have enough to cover something major. If doesn't then you shouldn't be out on the road. But time and again corps ignore this basic principle and the end result is always disaster.

Glad to hear that. Thank you for being so up front. Sorry for my ignorance regarding the current situation, best of luck for the rest of the season.

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Your enthusiasm is commendable, but if you're considering marching a corps that had to quit mid-tour you'd best leave faith off to one side. Faith has burned many, many, many people in this activity, myself included. In my marching days I repeated the "It'll be all right" mantra over and over again. Things did not turn out all right. It's a sad story that's happened again and again and again and again and again. And unfortunately it's going to keep happening. I'm not saying don't march this corps or that corps, but you shouldn't hand over your hard earned dollars to a corps that's had financial difficulties on faith alone. Be optimistic, but cautious. Be prepared to ask some hard questions. If they can't be answered to your satisfaction, go elsewhere. In particular, if the corps lets substantial numbers of marchers to go on tour without paying dues in full, or if it doesn't keep a substantial "#### happens" fund in the bank . . . watch out. You could end up throwing your money into a black hole. March. But be careful.

Then they ought to have avoided a show that is clearly and explicitly identified as a tribute to the Catholic Youth Organization Nationals. Now I do think that it is unwise for corps to set aside certain time specifically for religious purposes. First, because it would be impossible to accommodate all faiths. Second, because it would be unfair to the non-religious membership. Now if a corps wants to do so anyways, that's fine. They're private organizations, many of which have religious origins. And it wouldn't be that big of a disaster. Drum corps marchers are relaxed about that sort of thing by nature. They have to be. There aren't too many Professional Victims who are looking desperately for something to offended in drum corps . . . they wouldn't make it very far! If a bit of religion on the part of some members is enough to divide a corps, then you have a weak, weak, weak corps. Yes, the bond between members is the essential part of drum corps. The whole thing falls apart without it. But the bond doesn't come about because the members all look and think and act alike. It comes from a wide variety of kids, staffers, volunteers, etc. - who might not get along at all in a drum corps setting - overlooking their differences, which can be very great, in order to pull together and do something great. Religion is not really a serious threat to any close knit corps.

Well, maybe. I don't think BK will be out of finals. But "The show is fine! We just have to clean! They don't have the same demand! They'll peak early!" are all standard drum corps chestnuts that oftentimes have more to do with wishful thinking than they do with reality. Firebird is safe drum corps too, no matter the amount of wacky sound effects and alien green. I don't know how things will turn out in the end, but X-men and Spirit have well-designed shows with plenty of demand. Don't expect them to roll over and take their accustomed place behind your corps of choice, because they're in their accustomed place right now. Spirit is at least. We'll find out about X-men soon enough.

While it would be nice if corps were able to provide time for members to fulfill their religious needs, it's simply not realistic. An hour on Sunday morning is difficult enough to provide week in and week out. What about kids who want to attend church Wednesday and Sunday nights as well? What about observant Jews . . . could you imagine corps letting them out of Friday night and Saturday practices and performances? Religious needs can pretty varied. No way can a corps realistically expect to meet them all in any fair or meaningful way. Corps do not "take away" religion from members. Members still have a right to practice their religions as they see fit. They just might not be able to march and do so . . . it's unfortunate, but marching drum corps isn't a constitutionally guaranteed right.

Crossmen and Spirit have a fair amount of cleaning left to do themselves. Can't say too much about the Colts as I haven't seen them yet. It's true that BK, BS, and Cavies are having problems with execution. The difficulty of their shows certainly has something to do with that. But remember (other posters have said this, but I'll reiterate) that demand by itself doesn't mean much. Effect is what counts. A polished turd is still a turd, and a poorly designed show will still be a poorly designed show even with better execution. Not that any of these shows are turds, but I think the point is clear. Spirit and X-men, simply put, have shows that "work". That's a major reason why they're doing so well, in addition to good execution. I won't say that Cavies, BK, and BS will be behind at the end of the season, but in order to pull ahead and stay there they need to make some serious changes. Cavies in particular. Luckily, each of these groups have very smart staffs that won't just sit around cleaning and waiting for X-men and Spirit to peak . . . because that's not going to happen until finals week.

With live animals corps could advertise for "Livestock Fecal Removal Intern" alongside notices for "metronome technician". What a great opportunity for the kids!

Pete Weber is, in my opinion, one of the top visual minds working in drum corps today. I consider 2009 in particular to be a masterpiece of coordination between music and drill. The complaints about staging are understandable, and I do sometimes hear them from bona fide Vanguard marchers and staff members . . . though when I do they frame at as more of a quirk rather than some debilitating flaw. Plenty of our top corps have flaws in their drill designs as well. As a previous poster said, one corps focuses so much on staging that they forgo "wow" moments. Another seems to operate under the assumption that marching drill at 500 bpm represents the pinnacle of good design. I'll take a flawed but interesting Weber drill over those any day of the week. Yes, Vanguard hasn't received the same visual effect scores under Weber that they did under Rosander, but drill is just one part of a visual effect score. And not necessarily the most important part (this has been especially true in recent years). On the other hand, since Weber began writing Vanguard has undergone many chances. Directors, administrators, designers, and instructors have come and gone. But Weber is still there, and I think that speaks volumes . . . more so than scores, certainly more than an anonymous griper on DCP.

Yes, I think we can all agree that everyone has been looking forward to the much anticipated Cavies-Cascades matchup with bated breath. It seems as though this long and bitter rivalry might come to a head this season. Which corps will be left standing, once the dust has settled. Only God and DCI Slotting Tsar Michael Boo know for sure.

And even those corps sometimes have trouble scrounging up enough brass players who meet their standards. Because of that I doubt that even the top corps would get that much bigger. Now, if a corps wanted a 30-man snare line that would be a different story.

The review process is conducted by an independent committee, not the BoD. Yes, the board does vote on petitions to move a corps to World Class, but all that amounts to is a rubber stamp. I don't think any of these petitions have been denied once a corps has "passed" the review. Besides, DCI is the corps, so why shouldn't the corps get to vote on who's admitted to their ranks? It's not exactly a "big boys club" that keeps some corps out. A group like Oregon Crusaders, for example, could go World Class any time they wanted. But they've made it very clear that they don't feel ready yet. I do agree that all corps should undergo a review process every five years or so, and that those who do not pass should face relegation. But that will never happen, for a couple of reasons. First off, some of the top level corps could end up being very embarrassed by such a review. Not saying they'd be downgraded to open class, but there have been times in the past decade when some of our "best" corps haven't quite lived up to World Class status. Second, if corps face the possibility relegation that would be a huge deterrent to making the move to WC (doubly so if relegation is performance-based), which would be bad for the activity, IMO.

If they no longer enjoy the shows, why should they spend their money on it? One surefire way to kill DCI is to pretend that it's a charity that needs "supporting" rather than a business that has to entertain in order to keep afloat. The individual corps can act like charities, sure, but there are many ways to support what have essentially become pricey summer music camps without attending the shows.

I think you misunderstand. The DCP forums aren't for promoting drum corps. There are many other sites that do that. They're for discussing drum corps. It's a large forum with a large membership and lots of activity, so a wide variety of drum corps relevant issues are going to be discussed. It is in fact far, far less negative and much more friendly than the behind-the-scenes discussions that take place in the "real world" of drum corps, where the leaders of all your favorite corps go over these same issues with varying degrees of pissiness. Anyways, the "disappointing season" thread is a little silly. The other two do discuss serious, relevant issues that are being talked about at every level of DCI. Maybe not in the best way, but they're not really "negative". And even if you do find these threads off-putting, what about all the other threads - the vast majority on DCP - that celebrate drum corps? Why focus on a tiny handful of "negative" threads?

Western's stadium is actually a better venue for viewing band and corps. Better sight lines and better sound. But it is much less comfortable. Still, it would be really unfortunate for band and corps to lose PJCS as a venue. It's a very weird situation. No one really seems sure about what's going on. This happened right on the heels of DCI Louisville. Maybe that has something to do with it, maybe not. But if anyone could offer any insight that would be great.

It's been explained very carefully in several excellent posts why woodwinds do not mean more money. There's no support for it anywhere in the community, beyond George's half-hearted statements. It's never, ever, ever going to happen.

As far as I could tell the non-Indy final would have been held in Bloomington again, to minimize the disruption. Of course we'll never really know where finals would have ended up. I understand why a lot of people are upset about finals being in Indy for so long. Heck, I live close to Indy and I have zero interest in attending. But DCI has gambled that the decline in attendance would be offset by the savings that come from having finals in one place. So far it's worked out, and unless there's an absolutely catastrophic drop in attendance - and I don't think there will be - finals is going to be in Indy for good.

Believe it or not, I do know that synths can play melodies the same as mallet instruments. I thought it was pretty clear we weren't talking about synthesizers in this capacity, but I guess it wasn't. And I'll have to check my score, but I'm almost certain that that triangle part was written into the original of the Hungarian Dances. Completely irrelevant to the discussion. This is more akin to arranging Hungarian Dances for brass band, adding in several pauses for an alpenhorn solo, and calling it "innovation". Just because something is new or different doesn't mean it's bad. Likewise, just because something is new or different doesn't mean it isn't ill-conceived and poorly executed. Now, I've only watched BK's show a couple of times. It's early in the season, and they've got a lot of smart people on their team. I'm sure the show will grow and develop over the course of the season, so things might sound very different come August.

Electronic effects are similar to many of the other "auxiliary" instruments in the pit. Things like triangles, sleighbells, chimes, wood blocks, etc. When used judiciously, at just the right moment, they can add so much to a show. But they can't really be the show. For instance, you can't have someone wailing on a cowbell the entire show, unless you're doing a BOC tribute. It doesn't make sense. Brass, percussion, guard. These three things are the meat of any drum corps show. Now, meat without seasoning can be pretty bland. So the special effects that synths, among other things, can provide are necessary to enhance the flavor of any show. But overdo it and it becomes unpalatable. In the case of BK's it seems to me (and many others, but obviously not everyone) that two talented designers have taken a beautiful dry-aged porterhouse and smothered it in cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg are all great, but they don't necessarily belong on a porterhouse steak. Not only do the flavors not pair well with the steak, but the overwhelm it entirely. So many great designers fall into this trap. They want their corps to play a classic chart like Firebird. But they also worry about seeming too same ol' same ol', and being compared to past corps. So they end up playing the piece they want, but only after they've arranged the crap out of it until it resembles the original no more than a processed Waffle House steak resembles a Pete Luger porterhouse. If you want to play Firebird, then just play it. If you want to innovate and push boundaries, and this is what I'd prefer, then choose from one of the many thousands of wonderful, deserving pieces that have never graced a football field and arrange it to suit your purposes.

No, the really sensitive types are posting on the Cadets FB page. Look, I know it wasn't intentional. That doesn't matter. Anyone with half a brain knows that drum corps fans will flock to defend one of their own if they've been wronged in any way. The result could be a lot of insulting messages being sent to one of the ever-shrinking number of instutions that are corps and band friendly, and that's hardly a piffling matter. Anyone who's ever dealt with organizing competitions, finding housing, etc. knows how difficult the task is. Even minor incidents like this can #### things up for everyone. Housing and competition sites have been lost over much less. Again, I understand being upset, but you have to be careful with this sort of thing.