Madison

[acn]

They had learned 1/3 of the new drill and had not put it on the field yet. With that said, they had not cleaned the old drill due to more re-writes. July third they would have done new drill but the show was rained out.

Thanks for the info.

[billj]

You guys do realize that since last week the corp HAS been making major changes to the show don't you?

They rewrote over 100 pages of drill thatthey are now working their tails off to clean. So in a way they

are pulling a 1976. I think they will improve and maybe they will make finals or maybe not. but they are doing what needs to be done. I even read where someone on here was talking to a judge after the Stillwater show and that judge said that the Scouts are doing exactly what they should be doing and they should improve. So I think they will be alright.

1) I think it's a shame that 100+ pages of drill had to be rewritten - any reason to believe that the rewrites will be any better? I can't imagine that this is the norm for the upper echelon corps. Anyone: Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

2) The musical selections & arrangements leave somethin to be desired as well.

3) The guardwork design is subpar. Hopefully they're fixing that.

4) I'm sure that they'll clean as best they can, but youth & inexperience are a factor, as well.

I'll repeat that I'm a Scouts fan, but I'm also a realist - I don't see them coming close to making finals, and it's likely that they will be battling to make it to semi-finals.

Edited July 5, 2007 by billj

[noduttingoutloud]

Shame on the program coordinator for letting this happen in the first place. After weeks of move-in SOMEONE should have realized the drill was a disaster. Chest thumping over "demading drill for 17 year olds" is misguided. Given the talent level the corps had to work with a smart drill would serve better than a difficlut one.

Fans should be demanding the head of the program coordinator & original visual designer. Their work has put the membership in a bad position. I am sure they are eating well and getting down the road OK. What they are not doing is enjoying the material they have to perform. I've read posts that alluded to the fact the members are sleeping less than desired but are working hard. Not what I would call a good experience. Once again adults making a mess of the kids situation.

2-3 shows have been performed with partial rewrites. Once the drill rewrites are complete, it will take about 2 weeks for the detailing (horn moves, body movement, etc.) and guard work to catch up with all the Div. I corps that are out there. Have patience. Once the design team decided to rewrite the drill, the colorguard basically stalls in being able to put in guard work. They even had to take out some of the body movement that had already been incorporated into the show. The new drill makes it possible for all sections to be more successful (in the long run) due to better staging and opportunities for performance.

Allen Joanis and Kevin ______? from (Ronald Reagan High School?) are writing and re-writing the drill. (http://www.jw3.com/)

The Div. I corps that are competing this year are all at a very high level of being complete in their show design and detailing. Good for DCI.

We will have to be patient.

create peace,

Brent

[vferrera]

2) The musical selections & arrangements leave somethin to be desired as well.

Several people have opined that it's one of their best musical shows since 1999.

[acn]

Fans should be demanding the head of the program coordinator & original visual designer.

As a fan all I demand from the Scouts is a good competitive show. While I think that the music this year is fine, the visual wasn't working, and the scores showed that. Thus - the re-writes.

Everything may have looked like it would work during the winter/spring camps, but until they go against some other corps they obviously didn't know where they'd place.

You don't honestley think that the exec. director/bod/staff would be ok with putting a sub-par show on the field do you??

Things weren't working, so instead of getting pounded every night, they're trying to make it better. I hope it works.

GO SCOUTS

[vferrera]

Shame on the program coordinator for letting this happen in the first place. After weeks of move-in SOMEONE should have realized the drill was a disaster.

Be realistic. When you are just learning the show, you don't have a chance to see it all performed at a high execution level and with all the elements integrated, so it may not be obvious what's working and what isn't.

[marimbadude84]

How well would something like that work today? I mean, it would seem unrealistic unless maybe they scrapped a tune or something. But was it easy to pull off in 1975?

And what would DCI's stance on backing out of performances be today? I can't imagine they'd be too happy with it, but think of how much they could accomplish. I'd guess with how they finished last year, they are slated for an early performanace, causing a lot of ineffective rehearsal time...

I believe there is a fee if you pull out of a show. I know that RCR a DCA corp was going to pull out of a DCI show later in the season due to fincial struggles. DCI was going to charge $2,000 for the cancelling. In result RCR went inactive for the rest of the season. I dont know if the same would apply but if Madison cancels 6-7 shows that could add up to a big chunk of fee's.

Edited July 5, 2007 by marimbadude84

[Tom Brace]

Shame on the program coordinator for letting this happen in the first place. After weeks of move-in SOMEONE should have realized the drill was a disaster. Chest thumping over "demading drill for 17 year olds" is misguided. Given the talent level the corps had to work with a smart drill would serve better than a difficlut one.

Fans should be demanding the head of the program coordinator & original visual designer. Their work has put the membership in a bad position. I am sure they are eating well and getting down the road OK. What they are not doing is enjoying the material they have to perform. I've read posts that alluded to the fact the members are sleeping less than desired but are working hard. Not what I would call a good experience. Once again adults making a mess of the kids situation.

I think people should just relax a bit for a couple of weeks. They outlawed slicing people's heads off long ago. Calm down a bit there partner.

First, we can't change the past. We CAN learn from it, but this is not a time for a Lessons Learned session for staff, Board, etc. That will come at the end of the year no doubt. The past, both distant and recent have been beat up, analyzed, digested, spit back out again, and then beat up again, re-analyzed, etc. There are many threads discussing this. Many folks like to point out flaws in someone's past. It's easy...painless and requires little risk. I know I do!

The tougher job is what to do with the present and then how to guide the future to a desirable outcome. I'm glad this thread is focused on the present and ideas of what can be done. The original author proposes a two week "working vacation" in the middle of the season and it appears that idea has been dismissed both in the forum and with this year's staff.

Right now, it's project crunch time...placing the necessary resources where they will do the most good. All projects, a season long development of a drum corps show are based on only three things:

Time: The Scouts deadline comes at Quarter Finals in Pasadena. There are milestones along the way (each show they compete in.) The eyes are most likely on their Quarter Finals appearance and what they must accomplish to appear both Friday and Saturday.

A Quality Measure: This could be determined by judges scores and/or audience reaction. Given the people on staff, I assume the latter would take precedent. I've heard many times that the big, loud, cool stuff in the show is during the warm up, but again this is heresay as I have not been able to see their show yet. If what I hear is true however, the staff may possibly be working to bring more of that into the actual show.

Resources: Yes, you can pour more money on a problem and make it go away...but that's apparently not the strongest card in Madison's deck. What I believe is their strongest asset...a very strong and loyal alumni base is helping a great deal. I've heard, again haven't seen this myself, many alumni volunteering to lend their talents and expertise to the corps this year. That speaks HUGE volumes. Others are volunteer to drive, cook, or come and help when they can so the operational aspects of the corps remain solid.

Yes, they have a young group of corps members but so do other corps both above and below them. But, I believe, unless any of us are spending significant time with these young people, it would be hard to determine whether they can accomplish the show quality every fan desires from the Scouts. Those who have spent time with them HAVE posted very positive things about these young men, and I believe they would know best.

So, if I were to analyze the project plan as a whole, I would say it got off to a rough start but that resources are being applied in an attempt to remedy this. I'm sure all those directly involved in the artistic elements are looking mutually at the same desired outcome. It appears the operational aspects of the corps are running well and the comments I've too have read on here is that the corps is going down the road well, eating and housing is going well so that part of the project plan seems right on track.

So, as one, who has spent significant effort analyzing the Scouts past, the present seems to be going as well as could be expected given the rough start.

As for the future...Geno has a crystal ball if you are interested. I'm sure the speculation regarding the future will begin even before the present mission is complete.

[mknight96]

Allen Joanis and Kevin ______? from (Ronald Reagan High School?) are writing and re-writing the drill. (http://www.jw3.com/)

I guess this is Kevin Nix? I heard he was working with the corps this year. I hope they get a chance to show off the new stuff soon!

[SkyRyder_FMM]

1) I think it's a shame that 100+ pages of drill had to be rewritten - any reason to believe that the rewrites will be any better? I can't imagine that this is the norm for the upper echelon corps. Anyone: Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

2) The musical selections & arrangements leave somethin to be desired as well.

3) The guardwork design is subpar. Hopefully they're fixing that.

4) I'm sure that they'll clean as best they can, but youth & inexperience are a factor, as well.

I'll repeat that I'm a Scouts fan, but I'm also a realist - I don't see them coming close to making finals, and it's likely that they will be battling to make it to semi-finals.

Sad to say, but I agree with this assessment.