DCI story on CNN.com

[kstein]

I like Mason's take on the whole thing. He's not the type to back down either when it comes to a fight. If anyone is spearheading the talks with regards to keeping DCI intact ... I'm sure he has one of the loudest voices.

Now that's funny. Mason could have "left this thing alone" and allowed Star of Indiana to continue its life as a drum corps and educational platform for all the young people in Indiana. He could have raised his own capital to do Blast, if that was his bent. Instead, he cannibailized it to make his own "professional thing".

And he's going to lecture others to keep DCI intact.

He continues to be the ultimate hypocrite.

[WOOHOO]

I have to disagree. I had the opportunity a year ago to spend time teaching a show-style marching band here in the Dallas area. One thing that struck me the most was, if I were to turn my back and just listen to the music, and not notice the marching style or drill team/dancers instead of a color guard, it sounded remarkably like 1970s drum corps in terms of arranging style. Visually there are a lot of differences but it's got that same vibe about it--and this style is massively popular at least in the southern half of the country.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT DRUM CORPS SHOULD DO THIS STYLE OF SHOW. My point is simply that the activity is what you make of it. If corps are going to do shows that push more into that old-school vein, it's the activity being what it is that will attract participants. It is, to again steal a phrase from a friend of mine, the thrash-punk division of the classical world, or at least it's supposed to be. Members enjoy corps because they want to march corps, not necessarily because it's some sort of ultra-cutting-edge super-artistic endeavor or anything like that. My friends and I that were rookies together saw being in drum corps as being one of the best and hardest-working, and that has nothing to do with show style.

Couldn't you use this same argument for woodwinds? Or anything else "controversial"?

[NDNation]

Now that's funny. Mason could have "left this thing alone" and allowed Star of Indiana to continue its life as a drum corps and educational platform for all the young people in Indiana. He could have raised his own capital to do Blast, if that was his bent. Instead, he cannibailized it to make his own "professional thing".

And he's going to lecture others to keep DCI intact.

He continues to be the ultimate hypocrite.

Funny... I thought the same thing last night. How odd that the man who took one of the most successful corps in its era out of DCI is now pontificating on the G7 thing. But hey... I think he's right, and sometimes you have to separate the message from the source. He may not have any integrity for saying it, but it doesn't mean he's not right.

[Dave]

Couldn't you use this same argument for woodwinds? Or anything else "controversial"?

My point is in relation to your "kids won't want to do old-style shows" point. I'm sure you could do that, but to that I say that there is value in drum corps being a unique ensemble with unique instrumentation, just like many other groups that have their own unique instrumentation--but I'm not going to rehash those old arguments again.

[NDNation]

If people don't like the direction the country is headed in they have the option to vote their representatives in or out of office, but the DCI BoD is more like a set of collective dictators.

How do you guarantee self-protectionism and insular thinking? Make sure there's no one other than in crowd on your BOD. I think it would do a world of good to change the composition of the BOD to include a generous number of non-corps management appointees.

It's hard to imagine why the corps directors would give up that power. But as someone else noted, this G7 thing is either going to kill drum corps or make it stronger. I truly believe that. My sense is that a can of worms has been opened. I'm hoping that the corps directors are forced into such a tight corner that their only choice is to make sweeping changes, and not the ones Hoppy is imagining.

Then again, I never thought the NCAA conference reallignment debacle last spring would end with no sweeping change. Who knows... Maybe they'll bandage DCI up again and we'll hobble forward for another 5 years before the lid gets blown off again.

[N.E. Brigand]

Because drum corps and marching band are different entities....

Thank you!

By the time I first encountered either, in the late 1980s, they appeared to be nearly the same thing, and the only substantive difference seemed to be that bands used woodwinds (not all of them, though), and corps did not. Which of the two would you say has had more influence on the other, drum corps or marching band?

[N.E. Brigand]

Interesting to find that, according to corpsreps, they never have played it.

Not true. Phantom Regiment played their namesake song as their opener in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1969, and mixed a brief chunk of it into their field show music for the following three years. It has also been in the corps' repertoire for use as a parade, field warmup and/or encore tune in many years since.

Interesting to find that corpsreps is incomplete! I had searched by composer, not by corps. The database doesn't list any song titles for Regiment before 1970.

[WarriorHal]

Now that's funny. Mason could have "left this thing alone" and allowed Star of Indiana to continue its life as a drum corps and educational platform for all the young people in Indiana. He could have raised his own capital to do Blast, if that was his bent. Instead, he cannibailized it to make his own "professional thing".

And he's going to lecture others to keep DCI intact.

He continues to be the ultimate hypocrite.

At least he didn't take six other top corps with him and destroy DCI the way Hopkins is trying to do. On the other hand, I can certainly understand that you are still upset that Star left DCI. How was that decision made? Did the corps members have a say? Did Mason alone make the decision to tour with Canadian Brass? Cook was Star's financial backer--what was his role?

[oldsnare]

I certainly have no insight into what G-7 will ultimately look like, but I don't believe Hopkins will have the only vote about Woodwinds. To date, he has been outvoted almost unanimously regarding that issue. Why wouldn't these same G-7 Corps Directors continue to vote against that?

[WarriorHal]

I certainly have no insight into what G-7 will ultimately look like, but I don't believe Hopkins will have the only vote about Woodwinds. To date, he has been outvoted almost unanimously regarding that issue. Why wouldn't these same G-7 Corps Directors continue to vote against that?

The G7 proposal mentions "winds," not brass. And it's endorsed by all seven corps. Also, the G7 would no longer be part of DCI, so the old procedures for changing the rules wouldn't apply to them anymore, right?