Sustainable Drum Corps

[MikeD]

Regional divisions organize local first tour, perhaps weekends only. Shows in smaller areas appreciative of the entertainment value.

Second tour has half the groups in a region visiting other regions. One year you stay close to home, the next you go to a different region. Shows are bigger and go to iconic venues that DCI no longer serves (think Whitewater, DeKalb, etc.).

Weekend only corps means that in huge areas of the country kids will have no corps to march with, since unless there is a corps in a reasonable driving distance for rehearsal they can't march. The touring model is what makes it possible for members from anyplace to march, whether or not there is a corps nearby.

Target Members:

Members should not need to be music majors in order to participate. The more broad the base of members the more broad the captive audience that will pay to see them.

As i have read...1/2 the members are not music majors now.

Judging:

Judging would be based 50% on audience reaction (local dignitariesl)and 50% technical aptitude (circuit judges).

Awful idea! Local people with no idea what is good or not..who have their own 'homer' attitudes, would make a mockery of the very idea of competition, IMO.

The general idea would be to reduce cost, appeal to a larger audience (albeit in smaller chunks) and serve more members. Instructional talent will change often because they will not be able to make a career of it. That should keep the product fresh year to year. In the end it is not about the stadium the members perform in nor the super star staff who puts the shows together. Instead it is about the friends you make, the life lessons learned and the adoration of an appreciative audience.

This describes today, so sure..keep it up!

How would you structure things to save the non G7?

Remove all limitations regarding instruments.

Remove all size limits.

I like the idea of cheaper shows in smaller venues.

[jwillis35]

i'm against any fan reactions being part of the vote. it caan be swayed by locality and also the "in" show of the summer.

we all know BD wasn't as popular as some would claim last year, but you can't deny they were clean as clean can be. but allowing the fans to determine the outcome is basically a popularity contest.

the Dallas Cowboys usually lead NFL sales year after year...so because of that, should they go to the Super Bowl every year? Well, I'm a Dallas fan, so sure, but I prefer they earn that right, and sadly they havent for 14 years.

and I rpefer drumc orps earn it, regardless of being beloved by the masses or not.

I completely agree with your point. The 90% judged score and 10% fan vote is not good. And 10% is a lot, especially in an activity where placement is often decided by tenths of a point. Ultimately, this is about great shows and competition. Too much audience vote on scores actually renders the scores useless and takes away an important aspect of the activity.

[chaddyt]

I completely agree with your point. The 90% judged score and 10% fan vote is not good. And 10% is a lot, especially in an activity where placement is often decided by tenths of a point. Ultimately, this is about great shows and competition. Too much audience vote on scores actually renders the scores useless and takes away an important aspect of the activity.

10% may be a lot, but part of me thinks it would be cool if corps had to consider audience approval to some extent when it came to scores.

[Jeff Ream]

10% may be a lot, but part of me thinks it would be cool if corps had to consider audience approval to some extent when it came to scores.

the Ge sheets come to mind

[bawker]

Obviously, though, some sort of scoring tweak is coming . . .the DCI five year plan says as much, although it also says some ideas were supposed to be floated at the Janual we just had.

Wonder how far that got, and if there's more to come this off season in regards to judging?

[Jeff Ream]

well, they have Ceasrio doing his study...and with the season a few weeks away, we probably wont see or hear much.

but if past cesario presentations hold a clue, I'd say discussing design to be technical yes, but entertaining to the masses is coming..to designers and judges alike

[jwillis35]

If the G7 really did break away, and if I were in charge of DCI, I would propose this:

1. Change name to Drum Corps World (buying the rights from the magazine, which is already in the family)

2. Invite corps from around the world to join the association, in addition to all the corps of the Americas

3. Give all the corps that have joined "Member" status and one vote within the "Corps Congress" (everyone from around the world who has joined the association gets a seat on the BOD)

4. Invite several directors of the nations Military Drum & Bugle Corps to sit on the board

5. Invite serveral business leaders (from any industry) to sit on the board

6. Develop a tour that begins in mid-June with a regional circuit containing local shows, concerts, parades, and perhaps even making sure all corps participate in their local July 4 parades before heading out on the national tour.

7. Develop a national tour that begins July 5 and goes to the 2nd weekend in August. This tour would feature 8 large regional competitions, of which any Div I or II corps must attend at least 4. This tour would also conclude with Div I, II, and III finals competitions.

8. I would use my already existing connections with MENC to help them develop better awareness of the dangers of copying a drum corps in the fall, and the overall purpose of scholastic band programs (academic year) vs. the specialized ability of a drum corps (summer only). Sadly, the fall ends up being a sort-of mini drum corps season for the overly competitive HS band. It's difficult to explain the unique opportunity of a drum corps summer experience to a HS kid if they think they already get that in the fall. It's even more difficult to get the HS kid when they have longer band camps, more sectionals, and more pressure to compete with their own school marching bands. Even if they really wanted to march, many just can't due to time constraints.

9. Judging of the performance captions would be Tic based, and only the GE caption would require an artistic decision based on its subcaptions (visual effect, music effect, staging, overall effect). Two judges would provide feedback for GE.

10. We would market the activity to everyone. We want 'em all, not just HS kids or college kids. We would work closely with communities, with organizations and events committees.

11. We would hold the DCW Championships in a new location each year in order to move it around the country.

12. We would go back to 2-valve G Bugles and do our best to work out a deal with several of the brass manufactorers that will help them facilitate this. We want some sense of the BUGLE tradition.

13. Electronics are fine, but voice for singing and narration is GONE!

14. NO WOODWINDS -- EVER!

15. An American Flag must accompany ALL U.S. corps when appearin in parade or at any field show. Corps from other nations that appear for DCW competition will be encouraged to honor their country as well. The activity will seek to educate young people in more than just music. Duty Honor Country will be a must.

Just my ideas!

[Michael Boo]

If the G7 really did break away, and if I were in charge of DCI, I would propose this:

1. Change name to Drum Corps World (buying the rights from the magazine, which is already in the family)

I'd go with Drum Corps Universe. Then, to make everyone feel they are owners of the organization, the marketing slogan would be "DC YOU!"

[GMichael1230]

Just my input... I don't see the G7 corps splitting off from DCI even if this doesn't pass.

Correct...its all but dead now.

G

[audiodb]

Assuming that the G7 is gone and the rest of the organizations want to do more then beg for scraps from the benevolent G7 table, the questions is how do you put together a sustainable operation in which the remaining groups thrive.

I don't think it would be a major problem. DCI would still have 16 world-class corps, distributed in a way that facilitates three groups of 5-6 corps each for regional action in the first few weeks of the season. The absence of the G7 would provide an immediate solution for one problem, as open-class corps would receive greater access to shows they've been denied in the interest of showcasing the "top corps".

Tour would probably be a bit shorter (season starting a week later). Focus would be on keeping communication between event sponsors, the DCI office and corps so that changes to the tour schedule and budget projections in the transitional year are handled as well as possible.

I would introduce several initiatives to steer the activity toward a competitive field of greater parity. First of those initiatives would be a leveling of world-class pay. All world-class corps would receive equal pay for equal work. Appearance fees would be leveled, and revenue sharing would no longer be a function of competitive placement.

As another parity initiative, I would offer open-class a proposal to give their corps greater access to shows and more pay....when they compete on world-class sheets. I'd open discussion on the possibility of phasing out the separate sheets for open-class altogether....getting everyone on the same scoring system would help create more competition. (I'd like to address voting rights for open-class as well, but governance changes would probably best be left for after the 2011 season.)

Third parity initiative would be to put particular focus on the DCI business plan ideas that foster development of new corps, and growth of existing corps, including eventual promotions of stronger existing open-class corps to world-class.

While waiting for that to kick in, the DCI world-class quarterfinals would feature a temporarily altered format. Until world-class rebuilds to 20 or more corps, the top 7 finishers in open-class prelims would compete in world-class quarterfinals, making it a 23-corps contest in 2011. Top 17 finishers would advance to world-class semis. (Because of the early start time for open-class on Friday, the top 7 prelim corps would get byes into open-class finals.) Promotion to world-class would still be done via the evaluation process.

Also, there are several proposals I've heard concerning tweaks to the judging system that are worth consideration. Frankly, just about anything that would stir the pot in that department would have the advantage of adding competitive suspense. Fans come to DCI to see contests; more fans will come as contests become more exciting.