The Future of Drum Corps?

[capsounddad]

Travis ... Hammer. Nail. Head. Hit.

You've nailed it Travis. To quote a line in the movie "The Right Stuff" ... "No Bucks, No Buck Rogers. It's not rockets that get us into space, it's funding".

You can have the most talented kids in the world, with the most entertaining show, but if you can't get them in safe busses, feed them on tour, and oh yes, buy equipment and pay staff ... your corps is destined to fail.

In "the good old days" of the '70s, DCI did hold regional seminars, where experts from the stronger corps would give training on all subjects: "How to score a song for drum corps voices", "How to feed a corps on tour", "How to do souvies", etc. And the smaller corps (such as the Blue Devils at that time) could learn from the "masters". I don't remember when these seminars stopped, but I think it was sometime in the late '70s, early '80s.

One of the main things that I have found in my time in corps management is that most corps treat their business like a "non-profit" not like a "business". By this, I mean there are a number of dedicated passionate individuals who spend a lot of personal time and personal money in getting the corps going and doing whatever it takes. They eventually get burned out, and someone else comes in and the cycle continues. Operational things get done because they become fires that need to be put out ... not necessarily because of lack of planning, but because of lack of volunteers, lack of time, etc. The board spends time worrying about thinks like "who's going to sew flags", or "where do we find a place to rehearse", rather than "how can we raise money", "how do we manage our finances", etc.

A few corps have made the transition from a "Parents Club" to a "business". By this I mean that there is a Board of Directors that are passionate about the activity, but ALSO have strong, and diverse, business skills: Accounting, Legal, Property Management, Entrepreneur, Technical, Finance, who, by there nature, are good at strategic (long term) thinking and planning, along with the experience to do tactical (day-to-day) management as needed. One other key factor to these "business governance" models, is that the board members are not paid staff (which presents a conflict of interest) or have a majority of active parents (to get away from the "you should give our kids more breaks" problem). The Board of Directors hires an Executive Director / CEO to take care of the budgeting and the day-to-day running of the organization, who then is accountable to the board.

Businesses manage their assets (i.e., money, people) to give them the best "Return".

You make some good points. DCI's first priority is to set up a tour schedule, and to manage / promote it's own shows. And, their priority is set by the DCI Board of Directors, who are themselves (mostly) corps directors.

Again, money comes into play ... how much money should DCI invest in promotions of shows (that aren't DCI sponsored regional shows)? They don't have alot of money right now to spend. HOWEVER, I do believe that they should be providing guidance to local show sponsors on HOW to promote their shows (i.e., sample press releases, videos to give to TV stations, etc.). Putting together a "reusable package" that show sponsors can use to guide them through the show management process would be of immense help.

Also, as a separate issue, I think that DCI should (as they did in the '70s), teach new corps directors / staff on how to run their corps (i.e., transportation, food, music, logistics, etc.). Again, the training for new corps would be invaluable to many small corps (as it was to us).

And finally, I think that DCI should be fostering a business interchange between the Board of Directors of corps. All corps Boards have the exact same problems of finance, legal, and other issues. The competition should be by the kids on the field, not between boards of directors. The Boards should be putting their talents on 1) making sure their organization is financially viable, and 2) making sure the activity is viable so there will be place for their corps to perform in the future!

Excellent statements, Travis. The primary goal of every corps should be a positive, live enriching experience through their performances and interrelationships with their peers and staff. It was for me. The only thing I played before I was in BD was the accordion! Jim Ott, Wayne Downey, and Mel Canales taught me how to play the bari from scratch and I was a lead after one year, and gave me the confidence to become section leader, which led to many successes in my life. I wish everyone that opportunity.

The thing that makes Drum Crops "relevant" to todays society is this unique life enriching experience. It's not the big tours and the big shows, it's the life experience. I got this experience through Jerry Seawright right from the start. And I got this experience mainly, not as a "DCI Winner", but through the process of getting there. Jerry set the tone of the organization in "the good old days" when we were still loosing to the Audobon Bon-Bon Girls!

It does require sacrifice ... but not only that, it requires leadership to provide the strategic business planning, and the tactical follow-through, at all levels: DCI, Regionally, Board of Directors, Executive Director, and Staff.

Sorry for rambling ... my 2 centavos!

Jeff,

Terrific input for this important topic.

Here are some random comments:

I wholeheartedly agree about the various boards of directors acting like boards of directors. The line I hate the most when trying to get things accomplished is, "This is always the way the (insert corps name here or DCI for that matter) does things." I also think that they get intimidated by directors, or feel like if they hold instructors accountable, the corps will fall apart. The organization has to be stronger than the individuals running it.

On that same note, DCI should take a leadership role in establishing cooperation among the corps at the business level. Too often the pettiness and one-upsmanship are left unaddressed by the leaders at DCI. No one individual or corps or even group of "elite" corps should be stronger than the organization.

It's hard to have the primary goal of each corps as "a positive, li(f)e enriching experience through their performances and interrelationships with their peers and staff.", when the demands of the DCI tour are so expensive and rigid. The way it stands now and for the foreseeable future there is no room for many young people who aren't wealthy or connected in drum corps

I realize that money is the driving force in most of these problems. But if money drove everything we did, we would not have weddings or children, they're expenses far outweigh the tax deductions.

Rick Melcher

[tradition]

I LOVE the idea from the poster that suggested corps members from the corps going to the elementary and middle schools and playing thier I & E performance, showing videos, being in uniform, talking about corps and the value of a music education and where it would take them. What a great idea. I did that back in the day for our corps with a small group of guys and girls from our corps. We went to the schools to recruit for our cadet corps....showed a movie, played in uniform and performed a skit and then just let the kids ask questions. The next season we had a huge cadet corps. With today's intelligent youth as the players and recruiters...I can only imagine what a year of this being done by ALL the corps would mean to the activity. It may sound simplistic but I know that it works. Now just get all the corps to back such an effort and the sky is the limit. No real expense to the corps and just a few man hours.

[capsounddad]

By the way, if you are bringing this anti-DCI thread...you better have more on the table than an investigation of the DCI budget.

Ten million sounds like a lot of cash right? Not very much at all actually. And guidestar will show you the bottom line on the net. I would wager it being around $250,000.00 or less at the end of the year...and last year (2008), I have a source who told me DCI did not break even.

So, it's not like DCI has $10,000,000.00 lining someone's pocket. Again, bring something better to the table about what DCI does or doesn't do.

Tom,

I am not trying to be anti-DCI. I was responding to a comment made about DCI paying for things that they don't pay for. I am not asking for an investigation of the DCI budget. As a non-profit they are bound by law to make their financial statements available to the general public. I would think that they (DCI leaders) would gladly show their members how their money is spent and what their plans are for the future without having to hunt for it. I personally am not as interested in the bottom line as I am in the priorities for expenses. I have no doubt the bill for finals week is huge and that breaking even is a struggle every year. I just think that every corps should know what their membership fees are and are not paying for just as parents and members should know what their dues and fundraising are and are not paying for.

[capsounddad]

By the way, if you are bringing this anti-DCI thread...you better have more on the table than an investigation of the DCI budget.

Ten million sounds like a lot of cash right? Not very much at all actually. And guidestar will show you the bottom line on the net. I would wager it being around $250,000.00 or less at the end of the year...and last year (2008), I have a source who told me DCI did not break even.

So, it's not like DCI has $10,000,000.00 lining someone's pocket. Again, bring something better to the table about what DCI does or doesn't do.

Tom,

I am not trying to be anti-DCI. I was responding to a comment made about DCI paying for things that they don't pay for. I am not asking for an investigation of the DCI budget. As a non-profit they are bound by law to make their financial statements available to the general public. I would think that they (DCI leaders) would gladly show their members how their money is spent and what their plans are for the future without having to hunt for it. I personally am not as interested in the bottom line as I am in the priorities for expenses. I have no doubt the bill for finals week is huge and that breaking even is a struggle every year. I just think that every corps should know what their membership fees are and are not paying for just as parents and members should know what their dues and fundraising are and are not paying for.

[SF2K4]

I'm curious about one thing... I look at other sports, for example, major league baseball, where they have 30 teams that all are achieving a level of financial success even though not all are seeing as much competitive success. Notice that even though the Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in over 100 years they still have a HUGE fanbase and sell out almost every game at Wrigley Field. Even though the Braves are down now, they've been up before, and either way the fan support was lackluster at best. However neither team has a fear of folding anytime soon just because the nature of the activity. Now I know you can't compare DCI to MLB simply because of the fanbase size and the amount of money in total that goes into the sport. However, while teams have fans all over, in pro sports, a large majority of a team's fans are still local or used-to-be-local people. I think that really is a major detriment to DCI at this point is its total abandonment of any sort of local feeling. You could grow up 10 minutes away from The Cavaliers yet be a Blue Devils fan. Now yes I know it could be a style thing (just like people that grow up in New York hate the Yankees but like the Mets or don't like either team at all, it happens) however the percentage of fans in pro sports that live locally to a team and are fans of said team is probably a majority whereas in DCI I'm willing to bed the number of fans that live locally to a corps and are fans of said corps is significantly lower. Again I know the fanbase style is different, money, all of it however if we're marketing ourselves as "Marching Music's Major League" and treating the entire activity as the business model we should we need to look at the professional sports world and take notes.

[capsounddad]

I LOVE the idea from the poster that suggested corps members from the corps going to the elementary and middle schools and playing thier I & E performance, showing videos, being in uniform, talking about corps and the value of a music education and where it would take them. What a great idea. I did that back in the day for our corps with a small group of guys and girls from our corps. We went to the schools to recruit for our cadet corps....showed a movie, played in uniform and performed a skit and then just let the kids ask questions. The next season we had a huge cadet corps. With today's intelligent youth as the players and recruiters...I can only imagine what a year of this being done by ALL the corps would mean to the activity. It may sound simplistic but I know that it works. Now just get all the corps to back such an effort and the sky is the limit. No real expense to the corps and just a few man hours.

This probably worked well before the era of what I call "free agency". In the past, the majority of members were from at least the general area of the corps home town. My son is in a world class corps that has one member from the state where the corps is located. It's hard to promote locally when most of the corps is from somewhere else.

Having said that, I too like the idea and I will see what can be done locally.

Rick Melcher

[Tom Brace]

Tom,

I am not trying to be anti-DCI. I was responding to a comment made about DCI paying for things that they don't pay for. I am not asking for an investigation of the DCI budget. As a non-profit they are bound by law to make their financial statements available to the general public. I would think that they (DCI leaders) would gladly show their members how their money is spent and what their plans are for the future without having to hunt for it. I personally am not as interested in the bottom line as I am in the priorities for expenses. I have no doubt the bill for finals week is huge and that breaking even is a struggle every year. I just think that every corps should know what their membership fees are and are not paying for just as parents and members should know what their dues and fundraising are and are not paying for.

agreed. and DCI's member corps have the ability to ask and receive the financials. And guidestar can be used by anyone in the world to find out the questions which you seek answers.

[Tom Brace]

I'm curious about one thing... I look at other sports, for example, major league baseball, where they have 30 teams that all are achieving a level of financial success even though not all are seeing as much competitive success. Notice that even though the Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in over 100 years they still have a HUGE fanbase and sell out almost every game at Wrigley Field. Even though the Braves are down now, they've been up before, and either way the fan support was lackluster at best. However neither team has a fear of folding anytime soon just because the nature of the activity. Now I know you can't compare DCI to MLB simply because of the fanbase size and the amount of money in total that goes into the sport. However, while teams have fans all over, in pro sports, a large majority of a team's fans are still local or used-to-be-local people. I think that really is a major detriment to DCI at this point is its total abandonment of any sort of local feeling. You could grow up 10 minutes away from The Cavaliers yet be a Blue Devils fan. Now yes I know it could be a style thing (just like people that grow up in New York hate the Yankees but like the Mets or don't like either team at all, it happens) however the percentage of fans in pro sports that live locally to a team and are fans of said team is probably a majority whereas in DCI I'm willing to bed the number of fans that live locally to a corps and are fans of said corps is significantly lower. Again I know the fanbase style is different, money, all of it however if we're marketing ourselves as "Marching Music's Major League" and treating the entire activity as the business model we should we need to look at the professional sports world and take notes.

Yes...you should move to where a corps is located.

Or, look at Wyoming....no local MLB team in WY but there are the Troopers. Oregon, same deal.

[capsounddad]

I think that really is a major detriment to DCI at this point is its total abandonment of any sort of local feeling. You could grow up 10 minutes away from The Cavaliers yet be a Blue Devils fan. Now yes I know it could be a style thing (just like people that grow up in New York hate the Yankees but like the Mets or don't like either team at all, it happens) however the percentage of fans in pro sports that live locally to a team and are fans of said team is probably a majority whereas in DCI I'm willing to bed the number of fans that live locally to a corps and are fans of said corps is significantly lower.

I couldn't agree more!! There are a whole lot of ideas out there about restoring that local character to drum corps. I think DCA is steadily cultivating that very thing but at a pace that they can handle both from an organizational and monetary stand point. I have seen and heard many posts on these forums that suggest DCI is doing the opposite. Trying to consolidate its resources to support a much smaller, financially viable circuit. One thing that adds to the dilema is that as the number of corps shrinks, the number of shows must also shrink. This seriously detracts from the already limited visibility drum corps has with people outside of the activity.

Rick Melcher

[SF2K4]

Yes...you should move to where a corps is located.

Or, look at Wyoming....no local MLB team in WY but there are the Troopers. Oregon, same deal.

I'm not saying anyone should move to anywhere. I'm saying that the idea that drum corps is somehow better off with less corps is not only laughable but totally unnecessary.