New tour concept for 2011 proposed

[Grumpy]

Haven't we heard about these directors trying to align with marching band? It seems to me with the instrumentation changes they are really trying to play to the marching band crowd, and it seems like they are going to work closely with band circuits or at least try to. I think they know they won't have the old drum corps audience anymore, and are trying to replace it with more marching band kids.

DCI has been taking this route already for several years now.

[BRASSO]

Mark these words :

If 7 Corps try and subdivide the World Class Division, there will come a day when within the 7 Corps, there will be a breakdown and a further split among the 7, with recriminations and disharmony that one or more of the 7 are either a) not carrying their weight or b) one or more are doing more than the others and should be financially rewarded as such in the financial arrangements.

This isn't about " sustainability " of Drum Corps, ie " helps all Corps"..... this is the classic case of power, greed, ego, self interest as the motivators driving this divisive proposal.

This isn't about free and open competition. It's about consolidation and coercion, imo.

Edited May 20, 2010 by BRASSO

[monoemono]

All I can add to this before I punch out from this:

Man, what short memories these people all have.

Cavies, Bluecoats, Crown, Phantom, and yes, even you, GARFIELD, you all spent your YEARS as somebody else's parking-lot-warmup-time corps. "Big draw corps?". Not always so. You had to work your way up from somewhere.

It's most upsetting to me to see one name on that list--what's going on there down I-77? Better check yourself, Canton!

Edited May 20, 2010 by monoemono

[SynthLine09]

I'm sorry, but isn't this activity about the kids, not the people paying to see them?

[papasmurf]

Umm, because #21 in any given past year is nowhere near the level of #1 in that year, and this might setup a framework for #21 to be #1 (if that's their goal, which it won't be)

Why do you think they keep changing the class structure? ANS: Because EVERYONE wants shows to be more equal. EVERYONE wants shows to be more competitive. EVERYONE wants shows to be excellent, too.

But there always has to be a World Series, just in case someone in a certain class wants to compare itself to someone in another class. That's what Finals is for.

During the summer, let the G7 duke it out at heavyweight events (w/o the overhead of a regional). Let the 8-14 duke it out at their events,and 15-21 at theirs. Then, once per week, everyone comes together at a regional (should only be 2 big shows before FInals) THere will still be the show in Rome,NY work you'll have 7 corps, with 2-3 from each of the "tiers."

There will still be HIGHLY ENTERTAINING SHOWS no matter the tier. (but they won't all be excellent...)

WIN-WIN.

Far from win-win. Everyone wants the shows to be more equal, so how does separating out the top 7 achieve that?

I also find it unfair to say that someone who devotes several hundred hours of their summer to the same twelve minute show day in and day out anything but excellent. I think it's excellent when a person can immerse themselves in to something so much that they are willing to sacrifice time, money, and part of their life for an activity. That is excellence. And it should be commended. Everyone works hard in drum corps, so why punish corps because of other factors?

[Jeff Ream]

I did not say it was a good thing, but, unless the current structure can start generating a lot more revenue, inevitable.

in this economy, you can look for all the revenue you want, it's not gonna happen.

Look if we were in a boom time and this happened, I could see it. But given that the economy sucks and isnt going to get better for anyone that doesnt have millions invested on Wall Street for a while, this is pure ####### robbery.

[ewubrassman1]

Bingo !! And thats the bottom line, regardless of what side you are on.....Competition is the fuel of this activity, cant run without gas.

G

I wish there was a "Like" button!

[AlexL]

You don't know? And yet you speak so definitively against this proposal...

I think he knows very well what the G7 think should happen to these corps... and this why he's speaking so definitively against this proposal.

[Bruckner8]

So is Beethoven's 2nd not excellent? He wrote his 3rd so drastically different than anything before it, arguably creating the romantic era. Is the end of the classical era not excellent because it's so much like the previous 65 years?

Beethoven 2 is a piece of music, absolutely meaningless unless performed by musicians, either for themselves, or a doting audience. Beethoven 3 is exactly the same within that context.

Now, tell me something about the performances. Were they excellent within their frameworks?

Although I'd LOVE to get into a value-argument with you about pure music, that has nothing to do with the excellence I'm talking about here.

PS You can't start the romantic era without Piccolo, Contrabassoon and Trombones! (Beethoven 5, lol)

[CorpsFan.]

Yes, because it clearly sets the standard. It says "this is the framework in which to work if you want to be doing this."

Some corps don't even WANT this! They are perfectly fine catering to a younger membership (Glassmen come to mind). All this G7 will do is make it much clearer to everyone (including fans) what the current State of the Art is in modern Drum and Bugle Corps. I'm pretty sure the G7 directors are in full agreement on Woodwinds already too.

This will not reduce members. No matter what, the given auditioning membership every year will be what it will be. It will go up or down based on all kinds of factors that wont change with this G7 concept. Maybe, if anything, MORE kids will aspire to march a "G7" corps. And if they don't make it,they'll either march a nonG7 corps or not march at all...as already happens!

I firmly believe the G7 originators would love for it to be a G21 someday.

Sorry, but you didn't answer the question. You stated that you would love for the 12th place corps have a shot at first the next night. Giving the G7 all the money and power and control over the majority of the summer tour schedule does nothing to increase the likelihood that someone could finish 12th one night and 1st the next with the same line up of corps. This does not "set standards". It reinforces the "haves" while further disadvantaging the "have nots". It will not improve competition, parity, etc.

This will reduce membership. Where do you think lost performance revenues will be replaced by? Member dues. Higher dues means less kids. If you don't think being able to spend more for staff matters on design and outcome, you are fooling yourself. This will kill the rest of the corps in short order. It is all about the $$$.