The Challenge

[MikeD]

Well, at least you now admit there were large numbers of corps with DCI involvement. That was my whole point.

I never said corps had zero involvement, just that you make waaaaaay more of it than it really was. Attending a show or two is barely 'involvement' in the sense you seem to mean.

[MikeD]

- Why are DCI's clinic programs segregated?

To elaborate on that last item....one of the best things DCI has ever done is the ramp-up of clinics held in conjunction with DCI events. I've seen a few myself. Band kids are brought in by the busload to a DCI major event, and brought down to the field for a couple of hours of hands-on demonstration alongside a DCI corps. These programs were ramped up around 1996-7, back when even top-12 corps customarily went through the entire off-season begging for members, and fielding with a dozen holes in the horn drill and a "Help Wanted" sign hanging on a tympani drum and/or the corps' booster stand. After a couple of years of these clinics, we saw transformational change in DCI's recruiting results. Now, many world-class corps are cutting November auditionees by the hundreds, and taking full corps through 3-4 weeks of all-days before wowing us at that first contest.

There's just one tiny thing wrong with it all....there is no mention of open-class in these clinics. In fact, there's usually no open-class corps allowed in the major event either. We bus thousands of HS kids in and sell them on drum corps so that they can come back in their college years (for the most part) and march world-class....and these kids can go through the entire day's experience and never once find out that open-class even exists.

I ask this as I don't know in all cases...is it DCI who runs these or the individual corps that host the HS kids? I always thought, for instance, that YEA! runs the Music is Cool clinics, not DCI the organization.

[Jeff Ream]

I ask this as I don't know in all cases...is it DCI who runs these or the individual corps that host the HS kids? I always thought, for instance, that YEA! runs the Music is Cool clinics, not DCI the organization.

probably because YEA has it's own PR department. it seems anyone not under the YEA banner does their clinics with DCi backing them

[MikeD]

probably because YEA has it's own PR department. it seems anyone not under the YEA banner does their clinics with DCi backing them

even those...are they just 'backed' by DCI...or is DCI running the event? It makes a difference IMO...could an open class corps run such a clinic if they wanted to??? I think part of the issue would be...which corps are most likely to have HS kids sign up?

[audiodb]

I never said corps had zero involvement, just that you make waaaaaay more of it than it really was. Attending a show or two is barely 'involvement' in the sense you seem to mean.

So competing in a show is "barely involvement"? I don't think a corps that travels 2,000 miles to compete in DCI Championships would agree with that assessment.

Perhaps you should tell us what it takes to meet your definition of "involvement", then.

[audiodb]

I ask this as I don't know in all cases...is it DCI who runs these or the individual corps that host the HS kids? I always thought, for instance, that YEA! runs the Music is Cool clinics, not DCI the organization.

I think both YEA! and DCI play roles in those.

A clinic needs three components:

1. a corps

2. a clinician to serve as MC for the event

3. busloads of band kids

When DCI began ramping up the clinic campaign, they networked with band directors all over the country, offering them deals to attract their band kids to targeted shows with group ticket packages and the clinics as an added attraction. DCI also lined up top clinicians like Michael Cesario to organize the clinic content. Cesario could run a clinic with a corps he had no prior working relationship with; I guess they'd go over things beforehand.

So for most of these clinics, the individual corps would provide #1 above (obviously), and DCI would provide #2 and #3. In YEA!'s case, their own staff would serve as clinicians, but I think the busloads of band kids are still the result of that nationwide coordination effort by DCI. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[bobjacobs]

There must be some way that DCI can provide basic information on prospective corps with enough disclaimers or big enough asterisks to protect their own credibility.

It extends beyond well beyond mere ego and "credibility" to levels of implied "liability" in many cases.

IMO, what it comes down to is segregation.

I know a lot of the history behind it, but sometimes you need to leave that baggage aside and take a fresh look at these issues.

- Why are so many open-class events separate from world-class?

- Why are there so many world-class events that exclude all open-class corps, or all but those within X miles of the venue?

The mere fact that there is a divisional delineation absolutely IS segregation by its very design, and there are logical reasons why this is the case. As the Open Class corps continue to improve their on-field acts and behind the scenes operational functions, new opportunities will be created. Here are just a few quick answers to just a few questions you've posed:

– Open Class events are held separately from World Class events for a number of reasons.

1. There are X number of shows in a season, and X number of available performance opportunities. It is important to note that not all WC corps that wish to get into a given show are able to do so, and that the scheduling of the tour is an expansive, time consuming process requiring give-and-take among corps and tour event partners alike. Some long-time tour events can't be serviced every year for a variety of reasons... which is another topic entirely.

2. Length of total show – adding 2 corps to a lineup extends a show another half hour +. Not only does that extend most shows to the 3 hour mark, but often pushes the end of the show past the sound ordinance in a local community. Would Broadway survive if every show was the running time of Nicholas Nickelby? It would certainly be a challenge in the short attention span world of today... especially with an intermission every 17 minutes.

3. Additional costs on the contract fees – Open Class corps are paid in "mixed" shows, and plans are being reworked to create some sort of a payday for OC corps in all-OC shows in the future as well. Tour event partners generally try to squeeze in as many World Class corps as possible, and often don't want to pay the additional $$ for additional corps.

4. Additional housing sites – bringing 5 or 6 corps into a town makes for a housing/rehearsal site challenge... additional corps add additional challenges. People aren't coming out of the woodwork offering corps or tour event partners free housing sites.

5. Quality/consistency of Open Class performances, sizes of corps, etc., vary widely. Many sponsors simply don't find it charming to have smaller corps on the field "doing their best." They want big, audacious, loud drum corps. Period. Yes, they'd rather have a lower-scoring World Class corps with more than 100 performers on the field than a high-scoring OC corps with 85. This fact is compounded when a local tour event has been able to get the local TV stations, newspaper photographer, the mayor, other community VIPs and/or corporate sponsor-type officials there for the start of the show... quite often, they don't want an "opening act" to be anything less than World Class.

On the positive side...

6. Open Class-only shows enable the OC corps to be the star of the show. Particularly for communities that aren't long-time bastions of the drum corps artform, it also gives an OC Tour Event the chance to establish and grow an annual fund-raiser in the form of an evening of family entertainment at a reasonable cost of admission, due to the lower contract price for an all-OC show. This is invaluable to an OC corps which sponsors its own "Home Show" and is trying to grow a local support base.

7. Having OC-only shows adds more opportunities for tour events. It also helps to develop an awareness in "new markets."

8. OC-only shows enable OC corps to sponsor interactive learning experiences of their own... once again, making them the star of the show. Not only does this help to reinforce sound educational techniques to local music educators, but also provides an invaluable recruitment tool for the corps as well.

9. Head to head competition. The corps seem to like that!

There's a lot to this entire issue... and I have appreciated for years your stalwart efforts at "sticking up" for the Open Class corps, and I admire you for continuing to do so. I've learned a tremendous amount about this situation as I've been knee-deep in it for the better part of my adult life. We'll dive deeper into this situation in the weeks ahead... but there's a LOT more to this than "the man tryin' to keep a brother down."

Edited February 4, 2010 by bobjacobs

[bobjacobs]

I think both YEA! and DCI play roles in those.

A clinic needs three components:

1. a corps

2. a clinician to serve as MC for the event

3. busloads of band kids

When DCI began ramping up the clinic campaign, they networked with band directors all over the country, offering them deals to attract their band kids to targeted shows with group ticket packages and the clinics as an added attraction. DCI also lined up top clinicians like Michael Cesario to organize the clinic content. Cesario could run a clinic with a corps he had no prior working relationship with; I guess they'd go over things beforehand.

So for most of these clinics, the individual corps would provide #1 above (obviously), and DCI would provide #2 and #3. In YEA!'s case, their own staff would serve as clinicians, but I think the busloads of band kids are still the result of that nationwide coordination effort by DCI. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, Phantom Regiment, Bluecoats, Cadets and several other corps run their own workshops with their own formats and little to no direct coordination with DCI. DCI is there to assist with promotion, etc., and you will probably see a more concerted effort to that end this year. The content, etc., however, is the province of the individual organizations.

[audiodb]

I've learned a tremendous amount about this situation as I've been knee-deep in it for the better part of my adult life. We'll dive deeper into this situation in the weeks ahead... but there's a LOT more to this than "the man tryin' to keep a brother down."

Yes there is....and your vivid explanations are a vital resource in getting that message out. Thank you for that!

[audiodb]

It extends beyond well beyond mere ego and "credibility" to levels of implied "liability" in many cases.

OK, here's the part I don't yet understand.

1. Say DCI.org merely lists a prospective corps as "tentative" for the lineup of a contest in Rio Rancho, NM, on June 22. What liability is there in that?

2. Say DCI.org makes a separate list of prospective corps just to make their contact information available to potential auditionees. This list is framed with disclaimers about how these prospective corps may not be legitimate; that they have not been evaluated by DCI yet; that 90% of corps in that situation don't make it to the field; etc. Is there still a liability risk that no amount of legalese can protect against?