Rifuarian

Nope. It's a great town. It has crappy parts, like all towns. UofL area is a dump, if that's where you were at. Incredible restaurant, great arts and music scene, huge historical neighborhoods, beautiful parks, etc. It's just that most people visit the wrong parts of town. I'm sorry, but it was needlessly inflammatory. I do understand being upset over losing a housing site, I understand what a huge PITA that can be. But us drum corps folks can be sensitive to perceived slights against our activity, especially when they come from athletic types. So making it seem like a corps got stiffed by the Louisville football coach (maybe they did, maybe they didn't . . . don't know all the facts of the situation) inevitably leads to poorly thought out angry e-mails that could imperil a relationship that a lot of people spent many years cultivating. I'm sure that's not what the intention was . . . but when you're representing an organization you've got to be careful. Which is why he really needs to delegate the social networking stuff to someone else.

I can understand being upset over losing a housing site, but the rabble-rousing post on the Cadets Facebook page was completely uncalled for. Why not just say "We've lost our housing site in L'ville on the 12th, can anyone help us out?" The Louisville AD has always been very, very friendly towards band and corps, but there's no better way to spoil that relationship than inciting the Junior Civics Club to write letters to the department calling the coach "classless" and God knows what else . . . especially when we don't really know what happened. As someone who has worked with the UofL AD on several occasions, and has never found any reason to complain, I urge all of you not to #### things up by sending in your irate letters and e-mails.

Paying for low or mid-range amps and synthesizers is one thing. This would be exponentially more expensive. I know a lot of us are wary of George, but in this case (as in the case of the G7 proposal) I honestly think he's just dreaming out loud. It's just that George's dreams can be a little unsettling at times.

It does make things easier. 1. Sure, that would be a nice boon. But here's the problem: How would the woodwinds be incorporated? This is a tricky question. Woodwinds, or at least the woodwinds used in band, are essentially indoor instruments. They're used in marching bands because the original marching bands were concert bands that stood on a football field to play a few tunes to the crowd. Balancing woodwinds vis-a-vis brass and percussion is pretty difficult. Not too many bands really do it all that well. And even the top bands who do manage to have good balance still have to use gratuitous woodwind solos and notey woodwind features to remind the audience and judges that they do, in fact, have woodwinds. How can DC avoid this? In two ways. First, they could drastically raise the membership cap. We'd need at least a 1:1 woodwind to brass ratio, ideally more. That would mean having corps in excess of 200 members. As things stand now all but the top few corps face problems recruiting a full 150 members. Brass members are the most difficult to recruit. How much harder would it be to draw in 80 or so good woodwind players, a group that's never really been involved in corps? And if we double the number of winds, then we'll of course need a bigger guard in order to maintain the guard's effectiveness. And so on. Too many problems with this route, which I can guarantee you no one except (maybe) Hopkins really wants. Second, you could cut brass numbers. If we keep the member cap at 150, that would mean a pretty steel reduction in brass spots. So the advantage of all those woodwind parents coming in to spend lots of money is negated because there would be fewer brass parents. And if there are no extra members, there are no extra fees to cover the cost of hiring woodwind instructors, caption heads, and for purchasing and maintaining these finicky instruments in conditions that can be rough even on brass instruments designed to be used outdoors. Now we could raise membership by 20-30 members or so, which would mean fewer cuts in brass spots, but then we run into the problem of larger corps. Again, no one seriously wants this. Finally, you'd gain some income from the woodwind parents - maybe - but you'd lose a huge swath of long term fans. The people who stay interested even after they graduate from high school, or after their kid ages out. People who buy the most expensive seats, give the biggest donations, buy DVD sets, who join Friends of DCI, and so on. Drum corps can't take that hit. And I'm just talking about older legacy fans . . . many hardcore younger fans would be lost as well. Quite a few of them are posting on this thread. 2. I don't tell the kids what I think. I'm not interested in swaying them one way or the other, I just want to know what they think. 3. It wouldn't. That's the point. All the changes and additions of the past decade haven't brought in any new marchers. This one of course would, but it wouldn't be a net gain. Guard, brass, percussion . . . the essentials of drum corps are what draws in marchers. Bells and whistles don't. But they do help to alienate long-term fans. Woodwinds in the pit is what we'll get, and that's where it'll stop. And that's fine with me. I find the possibilities to be pretty exciting, in fact. But there will never be full, marching woodwind sections.

1. Almost guarantee? Well then who? No staffer, designer, or instructor I've spoken wants full, marching woodwind sections except for Hopkins, and Hopkins is pretty much half or even quarter-###ed about the whole thing. 2. I've taken hundreds and hundreds of band kids on trips to the Murfreesboro competition over the past decade. I enjoy asking them questions as a group, whose your favorite corps, that sort of thing. I do ask about woodwinds. Generally the kids don's feel it's needed. By no means am I saying all of them think this way. But most do.

West Coast deflation! And go Phantom!

In this case, they aren't. And I don't think George is all that serious about it, either. The list of difficulties that adding woodwinds would entail is a mile long. Woodwinds are a massive, expensive headache that no one really wants. Woodwind soloists in the pits - something I'm personally okay with - is as far as the woodwind thing will go. One observation, not really directed at soccerguy: Many people in the drum corps community, both on this forum and off it, make the assumption that band kids want drum corps to be just like band. It's easy to understand why some of us assume this to be true, but when you actually talk to band students you find out it's not usually. Even for woodwind players.

Neither of which would be endangered by expecting corps to be able to field 10 minutes worth of show after months and months of preparation. I know "won't somebody please think of the children!!!" is a pretty standard retort on DCP, but it's not a valid excuse here. 10 months to put together a 10 minute show. Months of camps. Weeks of non-stop practice. All for a season that is shorter than ever, with fewer shows, and fewer corps. Less opportunities than ever for fans to watch drum corps. Like it or not, everything boils down to those ten minutes on the field. That's what draws us into drum corps, it's what gets us to march, it's what keeps us coming back. We talk about the "experience" of the members, and they pay a hefty price for it. It is important. But that experience won't be lessened in any way by expecting corps to field a complete show after nearly a year's worth of preparation.

Quick question: Does anyone know if the Scouts will be having a dress rehearsal in Bloomington this year? I know they're moving up to Wisconsin shortly, so I'll guess they'll dress rehearse up there, but I'd like to know for sure. It's been a lot of fun getting a sneak peak at the show the last couple of years.

Of course, and they can do whatever they want with their work. But it would benefit the corps and the activity if they focused on their own particular area of expertise and let the corps and DCI release information and media as they see fit.

It is most definitely DCI's problem to ensure that the paying fans are able to enjoy the show. If someone is acting like a jack### in a movie theater, an opera house, or wherever, then it is absolutely the responsibility of the venue to see to it. Sure, it's best to talk to the offender first - that's what I do - but why are they owed this courtesy when they're knowingly breaking the rules (written or unwritten)? Why shouldn't a paying customer go directly to an usher, a DCI official, or whoever can fix the problem? Sure, the staffs work on the show . . . but their wouldn't be a show at all if it weren't for the fans. During the show the needs of the fans are absolutely paramount.

I don't think releasing media in the off-season necessarily benefits the individual corps doing the releasing. Which is one of the reasons (though not the most important reason) that information is so sparse. What it does do, or rather what it should do if done right is create a general excitement for the upcoming season. Not everyone reads DCP, not everyone is a hardcore fan . . . a lot of people go through the off-season without thinking much about drum corps until the season starts. Pre-season releases, teasers, and whatnot can get these people thinking about drum corps before starts. It can encourage more people to get out to more shows, boost early ticket sales, and ultimately benefit all corps. But there are a few problems keeping this from happening. First, of course, is the lack of information itself. There are many reasons for this, we've already gone over them ad nauseam. I will make one comment though. It seems that the creative staff are often the guys who decide what gets released and when. Which is completely backwards, because it's not a creative decision. It's a business one. The business side of a corps be completely in control in these matters. That would put an end to a lot of the fretting from designers and instructional staff that someone might say something mean about the show (and this really, truly, honestly is the reason behind much of the reticence we get from certain corps). The second problem is that what pre-season information is released is scattered across dozens of websites, YouTube streams, Facebook pages, etc. Who has the time or patience to look through all of these, hoping against hope that you might find something that's actually interesting? There needs to be a one-stop shop for all pre-season media. A lot of stuff gets posted on DCP, but not everyone reads DCP, and it's a high-volume forum so stuff gets buried pretty quickly. There's the Fan Network, but it's done a fairly miserable job this past off-season. And you have to register just to see the stuff that's free, which makes it too inaccessible. DCI needs to have a free website, that does not require registration, that is connected to Facebook and YouTube, and that contains regularly updated, meaningful information from all corps. Audio and video, posters, concept art, camp reports, what have you. The individual corps are already doing all of this. It needs to be placed together on an easily accessible website that can keep non-hardcore fans thinking about drum corps year round. And it doesn't have to be limited to pre-season stuff. It could be updated during tour as well, it could contain a small rotating library of classic shows, and so on.

There's a difference between cheering on your corps and screeching over every little moment, impact or not, and generally being obnoxious. Everyone expects noise, applause, and cheering at a drum corps show, but when it gets to the you can't hear the show . . . then it is a problem. Most staffs are fine, but a few are notorious for poor behavior. I don't really think it's a huge problem, but anyone who denies it doesn't exist at all has either been very lucky or is being willfully ignorant.

Of all the many, many people and media outlets who have made the "mistake" of calling drum corps marching band (though for all we know DCI itself provided the "band" label) this is the only instance I can think of where someone has apologized and corrected the mistake. Every other time the writer has moved on to more important things and couldn't give two ####s about what obscure term our obscure little activity chooses to label itself with. And still the Twisted Knickers Brigade isn't satisfied.

I'd go even further and say that the small handful of cranks and morons on this forum aren't representative of DCP, which is fairly big community itself. Thanks for being so open and informative. Having Shaun Canon perform at DCI is a great move. There are lot of people both in the stands and working for the corps that want to keep this activity the same safe, secure, insular little bubble that it always has been. I'm glad that not everyone thinks this way, and that there are some people trying to make positive changes to the activity.

Not really. The idea that art should essentially be challenging and controversial is a modern one. Not that art wasn't controversial or challenging in the past - it often was - but most artists tended to be concerned with pleasing their patrons. Including pretty much all the masters.

Look, anyone who reads these forums for any amount of time will quickly realize which corps has the most sensitive fan base. It's not a big secret. But Madison won finals that year fair and square. They were in front in semis by more than a point. The finals format didn't have anything to do with it. Any good judge can pick the best corps out of 12. Doesn't matter what order they go on.

No. I think the people say "yes" may not really understand what they're saying yes to. There are little rituals and traditions that govern every aspect of the lives of most people, and that's doubly true for drum corps members, who spend their summers working their tails in a high-stress, enclosed environment. Without these even the most competitively successful summer would quickly become unbearable. But there's a balance. Clinging to every little bit of history and tradition is counterproductive. But so is change for the sake of change. Most of the top corps understand this . . . they forge ahead while still making an effort to keep in touch with their past (even if they don't do so on the field).

Alright then, my apologies! Though a bit of advice: If you're really, truly offended or angered by something on this forum, the best thing to do is to 1) ignore it or 2) contact the poster privately and let them know how you feel. Posting to tell someone to shut up only ensures that more people will read the offending post(s).

I don't really disagree with anything you've said. Obviously corps need to monitory the online presence of their members to some extent. That said, I think a hard prohibition on any online posting is counterproductive (not to mention unrealistic, in this day and age). And I think there's a pretty outrageous level of hypocrisy when it comes to staffers and administrators - who always seem to be very up-to-date on what's going on on DCP - outright forbidding their members any interaction with the forum. But I guess that's another topic, and one I'm very interested in. With regards to the kid who posted above . . . if it was someone officially associated with the corps that told him to clam up, then obviously it would behoove him to do so. But like I said before, there are a lot of people not employed by a corps who like to play Board Police and try to regulate what members of and alums of their corps do and say online. Which is of course a ridiculous thing to try and do. Since there's already somebody playing Board Police on this thread, it wasn't hard to put 2 and 2 together and assume that it was probably a cranky alumnus or volunteer or someone similar hassling this kid over nothing.

You certainly didn't violate any community guidelines. In the future you might want to use a normal font and avoid the overuse of bold text. But please don't stop posting. Now, if someone who has appointed themselves DCP Police for Glassmen members and alum has whined to you via PM or something (gee, I wonder who it could have been . . .), then kindly tell them to STFU. Every corps seems to have its share of busybodies who feel they have a divine mandate to tell others what they can and cannot say on this forum. But you didn't air out any dirty laundry. Didn't call out anyone by name. Didn't bash your corps or other corps. Didn't reveal any closely guarded corps secrets. You just hyped a little, and there's nothing wrong with that. As for the Glassmen's show, please do something unique and memorable. I can recall each Glassmen show from the mid 90's up until the circus show in 2008. But I cannot for the life of me distinguish between the shows from the last few seasons. It's not as though I haven't been paying attention. The Glassmen have always been called "boring" (something I haven't always agreed with), but they used to be uniquely boring. But lately they've just been generically boring. Which is a very bad thing to let happen to your corps.

An a.m. parade in the downtown of a large city, during the work week? I don't see why not.

That's pretty generic announcement material. I'm sure you could find quite a few band, corps, and indoor show descriptions that sound the same. Doesn't really have anything to do with what ends up on the field. Anyways, Cavies are doing a classical/pop mash-up, so we can call things even between the Green and Cream teams. Unless, like generic show announcements, the classical-pop mishmash show was invented before 2011. But surely it wasn't . . .

Yes, there was extensive discussion. And it was pretty civil too, if I recall. Please explain the bolded text. Be sure to show your work. No.

Hey . . . I was just kidding. Cesario really won me over when he said "there's nothing cheesier than fake intellect on a football field", or something to that effect. Nicely summed up what I've been thinking for years. He can be pretty goofy, but I'm glad drum corps has someone like him who's willing to go against the grain.