Could the new pre-show rule lead to woodwinds?

[84skyrydr]

In that case, permitting a valve was a gateway rule for horns, I guess.

I may be wrong (and you will certainly know), but don't you need a horn prior to needing a valve?

[MikeD]

I may be wrong (and you will certainly know), but don't you need a horn prior to needing a valve?

Gateway to rule changes, I should have said, I guess.

[euponitone]

I may be wrong (and you will certainly know), but don't you need a horn prior to needing a valve?

In my day, we marched with no horns with no valves!

[soccerguy315]

So what?

Drum corps is about achievement. It's not about regressing to the mean. Some corps had a vision and the guts to make it happen. That makes them guilty of what? This notion that DCI was born in orginal sin because it failed to contemplate the possibilty that its success might damage other corps is silly. What self-limiting, self-defeating policy should DCI have set? Designed a one-size fits all regime that assured artistic mediocrity as well as financial ruin? Silliness.

HH

maybe we just just delete the corps that don't finish in the top 3. They are just dragging down the activity.

[84skyrydr]

In my day, we marched with no horns with no valves!

I have seen your shows many times over and you never marched. You ran, but I don't remember marching going on. As for the horns. I couldn't tell as you guys were moving to fast for me to make out what you were or weren't carrying.

[jeff61108]

OK so people have been expressing their fears about the new Pre-Show rules passed at the "Janual" meeting eventually leading to woodwinds becoming a part of the corps proper.

Here is the rationale: if woodwinds are brought into play for the 5 minute "anything goes" pre-show, corps directors in the future will say "Hey we already use them for the first part, let's just use them for the whole show" and finally create the dreaded rule allowing woodwinds to march.

My question is this: do you think that corps directors who have been raised on pure brass and drums like the rest of us would really allow drum corps to start including woodwinds in the future?

Let's hear the opinions roll.

Actually I think that DCI and corps will decline so much that bands (with woodwinds) will become a subdivision of the DCI Championships to make it large enough to have shows. When that happens bands will gradually take over the event and drum corps will become the "old" way that will be 2nd class - lower budgets, smaller size, and the best instructors will go to the higher quality bands which will be the highest level performing groups.

The high costs of operation and low memberships will force the operation of corps to essentially become bands....some could even be "merged" - band and corps merge to have a competitive unit. We are are well on our way already - it does not matter if we like it or not - finances will force the issue. Although school bands have financial issues too - they still can tap into public funds that corps cannot. The shorter season we are seeing now also is an indicator of dooming financial issues - we are coming very close to the "season" that summer marching bands perform. Having woodwinds in the pre-show just enables a smoother transition.

[The Other Mike]

Gateway to rule changes, I should have said, I guess.

sorta like saying " I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken" ? )

[audiodb]

There IS an underpinning to many opinions here saying "DCI is now, and has been destroying drum corps." I don't agree.

If we think back to when and why DCI was formed, more importantly, WHO formed it, we must recognized it was created to protect and promote the "super corps" at that time. Those high-end groups wanted to determine their own fate, not carry out the wishes of the American Legion or VFW. Their new organization accomplished that. Nothing has changed today.

I haven't read the DCI By-laws (charter?) but I doubt the organization took responsibility for preserving EVERY drum corps on Earth, then and forever more.

But that's precisely where the mixed messages came into play.

When I covered my first DCI Championship events as a DCW staff writer, I was handed a packet of press materials compiled by DCI's PR department. In it was a mission statement claiming, among other things, that DCI was "the promotional, educational and service arm of the drum & bugle corps activity". This was part of a lengthy mission statement that did leave the impression that DCI saw their mission as activity-wide.

Despite that, some still contend that DCI's only responsibility was to their member corps. The problem with that logic is that DCI has always built their operation on the backs of the non-member corps. Whether DCI had 10, 13, 12, 25, 21 or the current 23 corps as members, they have always relied on other corps to fill the holes in show lineups to connect the dots on their tours, and to create championship events larger than their limited membership numbers would allow. Of course, the member corps would get a disproportionate share of the proceeds, and the non-member corps would find it harder to stay afloat under those conditions.

The organization DOES open an opportunity to EVERY drum corps on Earth to earn their way into an elite group (top 12, top 25) who shall determine how best to protect and promote a "super corps" group of participants.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of non-member corps pursued the dream of becoming part of this elite group. Many of them failed and bankrupted themselves in the process.

And does that sound like a wise and sustainable operating model?

If we believe in the "survival of the fittest" theory, we see that concept continuing to play out. As consumers, WE do not have to buy into it.

As consumers, we no longer have any choice. The other 40 circuits and other major contests are all gone....some due to cutthroat tactics, others by DCI takeover.

Yet, if the new vision and changes work for those who decide to make them, fine!

And are they working?

Even looking back to wherever the recent peak is (probably early 2000s), the activity's participant base was a fraction of what it once was, and it's fan base and overall financial support base had shrunk in proportion. There's a real question as to whether DCI was in a strong enough position then to take on the fuel-price challenges coming their way....never mind the self-inflicted costs of adding A&E and subtracting fans opposed to A and/or E in drum corps.

Looking forward, we can now see a day when open-class may be reduced to a handful of corps petitioning for world-class status, and nothing more. At that point, where will the new corps come from? Does anyone think DCI can completely eliminate attrition from the world-class ranks? If not, DCI is doomed to eventual extinction as corps fold without any new ones to replace them. Does that sound like a wise and sustainable operating model?

[Rimba47]

The shorter season we are seeing now also is an indicator of dooming financial issues - we are coming very close to the "season" that summer marching bands perform. Having woodwinds in the pre-show just enables a smoother transition.

Isn't the 2010 season actually LONGER this year? Since finals has been pushed back a week later?

[audiodb]

So what?

Drum corps is about achievement. It's not about regressing to the mean. Some corps had a vision and the guts to make it happen. That makes them guilty of what? This notion that DCI was born in orginal sin because it failed to contemplate the possibilty that its success might damage other corps is silly. What self-limiting, self-defeating policy should DCI have set? Designed a one-size fits all regime that assured artistic mediocrity as well as financial ruin? Silliness.

"First, do no harm".