njthundrrd

$0.02 to George Zingali!

You’re welcome. Most drum corps are one or two legal actions away from extinction. The cost to litigate on any size is something that 90% of the corps do not have the means to defend themselves, let alone if they were to lose a lawsuit. The pendulum has swung (4 years ago), now there has to be some sort of balance between bad actors and people trying to do good.

Airfare, gas, food, and all the cost of good to run a drum corps… literally everything… has gone up. Every corps that wrote their budgets in the late summer/fall should have taken an eraser to them a few times already… and probably will a few times more over the summer. If your budget was tight in the fall/winter, it might be a no go right now. I hope people are smart enough to figure that out. The good ones with good finance committees will.

I would think that "compiling a list" might be more of a legal issue (I am not a lawyer). In Education, you get a teaching certificate to the state you work in, which can be retired, expired, surrendered, or in rare instances be revoked. The last two are "yellow flags" to most (if not all) school districts HR departments. In Texas there is a website to see a person’s status. I am sure in other states there could be issues with state teacher’s unions etc to keep the sites from even existing. Is it a perfect system? No, but it seems to work. Most school across the country give the “accused” teacher the choice of 1) Immediately sign these papers and you are no longer employed or 2) we will go public to the press about what you (supposedly) did and let the legal process take place. Obviously, most take the first option and ultimately surrender their teaching certificate. So, with that said and using a model like, say, Texas, what if once a clear backround check comes back either DCI, the corps, or a separate organization (with plenty of lawyers / maybe even drum corps alum who are lawyers) were able to issue that staff member a teaching certificate for the summer, then manage the certificate’s status? It seems to me that there is precident through the state educational systems to be able to pull this off legally. Who knows? Like I said, I am no lawyer.

Madison 75 BD 1986 - The first hit in the show. "Holy Mother of..."

Good man.

Bernstein.

LOL I see what you did there! LOL

Most of the time they are speaking "Spanglish" (part of a phrase in English and the other in Spanish) and it is super easy to follow in the context of the conversation. I had not problem with it at all, but I had 4 years of Spanish in high school and live in Texas! LOL It is not hard to follow ... at all. Even if you had 4 years of German! LOL

I have seen the original at least 200 times over my 58 years on this planet and all the times I have written drill to or performed it. The 2021 version actually is an upgrade... multiple Oscar worthy. Because of its lack of (so far) commercial success, it will be one of those Oscar winners that the academy backs and pushes, that I will support.

We had somebody join BD in 84 after marching Garfield 83. From 1st to 2nd. He wanted to play jazz.

Glad you found a home. Kick ###! Mainly your own. Go be great! FHNSAB.

Geez. That ballad (My Body is a Cage) destroyed me in the most beautiful way. At the end, when the guard filtered into the middle, I was looking for a cigarette... and I don't smoke!

To the fans there are decades of history with these corps. For the potential members (high school and college kids), it is about a 4 year cycle. If you don't do well in those 4 years, you have to consider what tweaks you need to make to your brand. Fans buy tickets, kids march spots ... and the show is the product and the group is the brand. But hey? What do I know? LOL

Jeff, the problem with that for about 10 years now, is do you want work your ### off all day long or go to a corps like Crown, BD, SCV, Bluecoats, Boston and not the rigors of the other drum corps? I saw this up close over the past 15 years.

A lot of corps out of the top 6 need to attract and recruit ... talent. You can't perform a grade 6 show, if you do not have grade 6 talent.

BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE!

yes.

1980 Baby! LOL Spandex is back!

I have done this with a few guards in marching band shows and also with a pretty good WGI PSW indoor group with a soloist.

I can't speak for any designers, but in theater more comfortable things are usually placed "downstage right" like love scenes and happy songs, while more uncomfortable things are staged "downstage left." The basic theory that I learned in theater and art classes was that we read in the US from left to right, so it is comfortable for us to rest our eyes to our left and more difficult to the right. I asked Cesario about this in the early 80's as a young drill writer and he confirmed it. Is that why people are staging props there? Who knows?

A good friend in the movie business that was a drum corps person always says, A good "show" should make you laugh, cry, and think .... (then I always added) and took you away from your own personal world/reality for a short time.

Not really that complicated. These are just some general concepts that carry over multiple captions from over the years between band, indoor, and drum corps.

No problem. Glad I could be of some help. I am sure some will disagree with me, but I have been judging for nearly 40 years now, but I am confident in my training and who trained me. These are just the basics of the "philosophy" of judging. Experience helps you apply it in a judicious and in an educational/caring manner.

You guys made me think on this.. The WHAT and the HOW are still adjudicated. They are (for the most part) the top vs the bottom half of the sheet in most circuits. HORIZONTAL refers to the "through line" of a show ... and VERTICAL refers to "moments" in the show, like an EKG. There might be a smaller vertical moment that is the precursor to a larger vertical moment, for example, and how are those placed along the horizontal line. And is the horizontal line even complete to begin with? (which is a problem with inexperienced designers, usually) Some very mature or well designed/produced shows also have multiple HORIZONTAL lines. And do not forget that there is EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL, and AESTHETIC effect potential triadic thoughts for designers. Along with FORM, BODY, and EQUIPMENT potential triadic responsibilities for the performers. Which works well with the "multiplicity of demand" that people like Clarke Williams and Barry Swain used to talk about for many years, which now is referred to as "simultaneous responsibilities."