TOP 10 things IN 2009 we think but dare not say!

[Kansan]

2. Def need more than one drum judge watching.

3. Horn lines aren't as powerful,imo,due to focusing on tonal quality and control. Personally,blow my face off. Entertain me or I won't be buying your tickets which means you won't have a corps to march in. And dats da facts,Jack.

4. I like both,clean and dirty. Clean as in 02' Cavies horns and this years Crown horns. Dirty as in Madison blowing my face off,which I love btw (see above).

GE scoring is subjective. I like this,I prefer that. Who's on second,blah blah. Ticks...ticks....and...yes,ticks. Forget the subjective poser displays,just blow my face off (see point No.3 above).

5. See No. 3 above. They quit blowing my face off. And they don't play music. They play tunes like a drunk flipping through radio stations. Two bars of this,4 bars of that,before you know it you're staggering around wondering where you dropped your keys to the car and why your shoes stink badly.

6. Yes,we fans need help trying to figure any of this out anymore. A playbill would help. What Devils were doing half the time I have no idea;none. They go from playing swing to what sounded like Disneys tunes from the Haunted Mansion. Who knows....

7. I left this finals feeling disappointed,not entertained. I don't care if you can play 120 beats a minute if you aren't playing music. And btw,ten second snippets of a tune is not 'music'...it's the drunk flipping through radio stations. Play something I like,that lasts more than five taps of my foot,and I'll buy the tickets to come see you. Don't,and you'll be playing to a empty stadium.....pretty simple math here.....

I totally agree with this. I've been thinking this for years now. I hate being teased with partial tunes.

10. If BD comes out next season and play actual songs,like..from beginning to end and it's enjoyable,musical and I can nod my head to more than a couple times,then I won't dislike them. As it sits,I don't like them and no I would not go out of my way to go see them. Last time I've said that was,well,never. Cavies generally have entertaining shows,Machine was a classic. Their themes are usually great,007 was another. Devils? Who's flying this boat anyway? The drunk flipping through stations? Last seasons show was a 'Huh??' followed up by another classic 'Wha???' this season. Give me that #### playbill will ya? And where are my meds.....my heads aching from this mess....

[codyIL03]

1. the 1.55 point spread between BD and Crown. Ridiculous.

2. Hornlines that aren't loud anymore, i kept waiting for them to get louder...

3. I liked Cadets this year!

4. SCV ending was beautiful

5. #### tickets are too expensive!!

6. the same 3 corps winning 30 championships

7. Synths/bass guitar/piano = BOA not DCI

8. PR's placement was too low.

9. Madison do something to get back in the top 6. I miss shows like 95,96,97,99

10. DCI i'm scared for your 10 yr contract with Indianopolis, but trying to be optimistic...

[Quadman1]

Sure we can. I have for the last 5 years. Life goes on. I got tired of sitting in the stands at the shows and thinking WTF am I doing here? And I got tired of the attitude (mostly here) that if I didn't like it I should move on. So I moved. Still like to make the occasional appearance here to see that others are starting to see the same light I've been seeing, and this year seems to be producing a bumper crop of people.

As has been pointed out in the thread above, the slippery slope has been entered. Enjoy the ride.

I stayed home this year - I did not attend one show the entire summer. My brother (with whom I marched in Freelancers and KAC) said the Vanguard had their best program in more than 20 years, worth the price of admission all by itself. I wish I could have heard and seen their show live. However, between work and family, with some pipe band rehearsals and performances thrown in, I just couldn't devote 6-8 hours to drive to a stadium and sit through 6 or 7 extremely dull shows with drummers running around and making monkey movements while playing snippets instead of tunes, hornlines playing like concert wind ensembles (no FF anymore), and having to endure the incredibly idiotic experience of the "narration". Yikes!

I attended DCI Finals as a spectator in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, and 2007. I was a member of Friends for many years. I marched at DCI in 1982 & 1983. I was a totally commited Drum Corps Geek. But by the mid '90s I stopped bringing new fans to shows. Since the music had become so boring and subservient to the movement, most of my friends found attending them a waste of time. I found there were maybe 1-2 corps with shows worth listening to (or capable of being remembered) at any particular contest, with the remaining 5-6 shows seemingly designed to annoy rather than entertain. This trend only worsened into the 2000s.

Attending finals at the Rose Bowl in 2007, the only truly memorable parts to me were Carolina Crown's great color guard (horses) and the horrifying narrations of the Cadets and Blue Devils. What an underwhelming, non-entertaining, disappointing waste of time and money! The kids now are more talented than ever, and working harder than we did back in the day, but for what? I think the current product is a colossal waste of time, money, energy, and effort.

I sure hope DCI turns things around before the activity goes the way of the Dodo!

[davla00]

So what's YOUR solution? Where's YOUR research and statistics?I read lots of griping and complaining, but no ideas for how to make it better.

----------------

You could perhaps interpret what I wrote as griping and complaining, but actually I was just trying to state some information as I personally know it and let the other posters think about it.....

I am a bit of a fatalist at this point and agree to a certain extent with another poster on here that said something like he is watching the slide.....

So 99 percent of me believes we are headed to BOA/USSBA land within the next five years or less depending on economic conditions.

However, not being a total fatalist there is 1 percent of me that holds out some hope that things can change....

IMHO there are other options - -

1. DCI needs to ACTIVELY support ALL types of corps activity -- from feeder corps, to mini corps, etc......... For those that have ever tried to get support information from them - - it is laughable.... You send an email and get a packet about total nonsense and the benefits of being in DCI. How many posters have we seen on here - - how do I start a corp? where can I get help with.....? What do I do when.....? How do I become a non profit .....? I guarantee you DCI DOES NOT have information or staff or documents that they share or are willing to share with anyone on any of these abc's of drum corps.

DCI claims to support the activity by running what a show circuit ???? Big Deal - if they support the activity, they need to SUPPORT the activity with something other than running a show circuit and making the rules for competition...... Especially an activity that is dying before our eyes.

2.DCI needs to change the governing body - - for the poster who asked what is the governing body.... I would challenge you to email or call DCI and see how fast and IF you get an answer.

The governing body just in the last span of time added "at-large" members - - people supposedly with no affiliation to a corp..... How do you get to be one of those ??? What is the process??? Again, I challenge any of you to be able to find out and then execute it. DCI has created a board that NO one outside of top 12 or an insider to one of those top 12 members can participate in.

THIS needs and MUST change. The more people involved, the better the organization and the more options that open for DCI. DCI is busy protecting its closed inner circle because the breed is dying....... a knee jerk reaction to a losing situation.

In fact, this will be part of the reason DCI dies. Fear of the unknown and the masses.

3. DCI rules for competition - - we can all rehash 100 things we hate about the current rules. Have you ever read them? Holy crap. Amazing. But what I feel and just my HO is that beyond DCP and the stuff posted there - - most people who are either staff, support admin or corps admin are people who have been in the activity for many years combined and they each have their beef with the rules too. So it isn't just us has been fans - - it is the people in the trenches. Unfortunately the WORLD CLASS board members DO not. If you have ever looked at a rule vote, there is very little disagreement when one comes in - - even on the matters like amplification.

I would be curious to know if the board were expanded to included people out side that inner circle - how that would change. I think it would.

The rules need to be simplified, changed and made PUBLIC each and every time one is agreed to or modified.

4. MONEY - - Do you know what the TOP 12 gets from DCI other than the awards at competition = = hold on, here it is : NOTHING. What should DCI be doing ??? IMHO they should be the activities biggest cheerleader, the biggest fundraiser, the biggest support network a corps could have. Every corps from world class on down - gets zippo. THey are on their own both financially and fiscally long term -- Do you know that the inspection process is basically a critique and they don't even offer help to fix things that are wrong with their books, with a corps financial activities or fundraising. So if you have issues getting from Open to world -- DCI will come in "judge" your group, tell you whats wrong and then leave you to figure out how to fix it. To me that is NOT a financial support organization..... THIS must change.

DCI is a show circuit, that holds the rules cards. Nothing else.

Now their inability to be what it should be for a niche activity is causing the slow slide to demise.

So I don't just gripe and not have constructive things to add......but I have been there, done that and tried many ways to see what the benefits of DCI is and could be. I just don't see it.

Although my 99% rules most of the time, my 1% does come out every now and again........... I HOPE that somewhere somehow things change. I love all drum corps, even though I disagree with what I see on the field now. I want my two kids to be in drum corps and learn the lessons that I did - those things haven't changed. I fear that when it is their time to be in it - - what we all know, will be gone.

Edited August 11, 2009 by davla00

[Bydloyoho]

The 'partial tunes' thing is why I can't gel with Devils shows. With less movement this year I'd hoped for more coherence in the music but it just seems to be the way their arranger (is it still Downey?) loves to do it.

Chop 'n' bop just doesn't do it for me, this is why I love SCVs and Crowns shows. I really like when Cadets drop it a fair bit this year - first half of the show still suffers from it but anyway.

[Piper]

As a previous poster had referred to a few pages ago, DCA is expanding quite rapidly and its average membership seems to be getting younger every year, maybe because many people see it as an acceptable alternative to DCI. If the BoD doesn't realize that they must be wearing blinders. Weather permitting, I should have a blast in Rochester this year.

[rwmoore001]

I have one....

Colts were not only in competition with this year's Troopers, but 40 years of their history. I won't say Colts were better than Troop because I think it was a close and exciting match, but there was simply no way Colts were making finals over Troopers. The simple fact that Troopers were the Troopers secured that spot, which I think is disappointing.

not!

[Perry S]

3.) G Bugles are no louder than Bb. The people who claim otherwise just had better hearing back then. (Though I will admit, the sound is definitely unique).

So Untrue

[sssidney]

Just one - I’m sick of most of the sounds coming out of the pit – marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, glockenspiels, etc. Give it a rest once in a while. Maybe these instruments can be featured a few times but I don’t need to hear 12 minutes of plink, plink, plink!!!!

[MarimbaManiac]

1. 2009 was DCI's "We're sorry for crossing you last year BD, here is a free championship, you don't even have to have a decent show or get out of your chair to get it" year.

2. 10 years in Indy? No thanks.

3. Crown's show was the most entertaining show in years.

4. SCV should have beat Cavies

5. Phantom needs to hire a new visual team...asap.

6. Troop was good, but maybe the fact that everyone wanted them to make finals helped push them over the edge?

7. Synths were used (for the most part) tastefully this year.

8. Top 5 had some amazing pits.

9. Clean easy and sterile shouldn't be rewarded over interesting demanding and maybe a little dirty.

10. NO MORE FURNITURE ON THE FIELD. Chairs, tables, living room sets...what's next a full bedroom? Yeesh.

Edited August 11, 2009 by MarimbaManiac