84BDsop Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 And we have totally taken away corps with 22-34 members a place to compete. Which I was saying long ago..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 And we have totally taken away corps with 22-34 members a place to compete. Not exactly laying the ground work for up and coming corps. Can you say 7? I think our west coast brothers can. One easy solution would be to create a second class for mini-corps to fill that void. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 One easy solution would be to create a second class for mini-corps to fill that void. A maxi-mini?? Or just expand mini corps to 11-34 members...easier than another sub-set of corps. I believe that's one of the ideas I suggested a while back.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 A maxi-mini?? Or just expand mini corps to 11-34 members...easier than another sub-set of corps. I believe that's one of the ideas I suggested a while back.... I dunno, I kinda like the idea of two classes, split strictly by size. That allows a bit more flexibility in membership without causing competitive issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 And we have totally taken away corps with 22-34 members a place to compete. Not exactly laying the ground work for up and coming corps. Can you say 7? I think our west coast brothers can. well Ed, the problem is fans have said they don't really want to pay good money to see them. that word came from show sponsors. so who do you yell at...the fans, or the corps for voting on it? I mean here we are in many threads talking about what fans want...well, lemme be blunt. I've sat at prelims many times watching everyone....and when the smaller corps are on, regardless of how good they may be, I'm not exactly in an SRO situation out there til, oh, say 7th place or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 well Ed, the problem is fans have said they don't really want to pay good money to see them. that word came from show sponsors. so who do you yell at...the fans, or the corps for voting on it? I mean here we are in many threads talking about what fans want...well, lemme be blunt. I've sat at prelims many times watching everyone....and when the smaller corps are on, regardless of how good they may be, I'm not exactly in an SRO situation out there til, oh, say 7th place or so. I was more referring to a mini corps from the 11 to 34 member range...not a field corps in that same range. There's a gap that should be closed for those groups that either can't make 35 people for field, or refuse to cut people to get down to 21 people for mini. Go with Kamarag's idea of a separate division for those maxi-minis...it would be like Class A and A-60 in DCI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I was more referring to a mini corps from the 11 to 34 member range...not a field corps in that same range. There's a gap that should be closed for those groups that either can't make 35 people for field, or refuse to cut people to get down to 21 people for mini. Go with Kamarag's idea of a separate division for those maxi-minis...it would be like Class A and A-60 in DCI... So ... just trying to understand ... should DCA have a 11-34 competition class throughout the season or just a separate class for the I&E show at Championships? ... Again, just trying to understand ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldephard Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 The 35 member rule is a hardship on some corps, but DCA is in the business of organizing Exciting & Entertaining Drum Corps shows. There's a reasonable expectation from the show sponsors that the corps have 35+ people on the field. They have to shell out $15-20K to run a show pretty much at there own risk. If the corps are all smaller and not noticably better than the local band (in many people's eyes this=BIGGER), then why would the locals at Lewisburg or Wayne, etc keep coming to the show at $10-$25 a ticket? The show has to be a spectacle! Yes, this is hard for some corps to achieve, but that's what makes it drum corps. All the rules should steer corps toward eventually becoming full sized drum corps that will knock the socks off of audiences at every show. Mini-corps and even Class A should be stepping stones in that direction, IMHO. You want to talk about Helath of the Activity? Let's have 16-20 Open Class Corps of 100+ members and 6-10 Class A Corps of 50+ members at Annapolis in 2012. That would be peas & carrots healthy! Now (RIGHT NOW!)is the time for each corps to develop and execute a plan to make that happen. If a corps hasn't been able to make this happen for a few years, then do something different. Bring in fresh blood at the planning table. Take an honest look at your organizational structure. Maybe it's you? This will come across as harsh to some, but I believe it to be true. I've read a hundred times about how the Buccaneers have taken the fun out of things. Well, you know what? Steal from them! Run the corps the way they do and see if things don't improve. I can remember seeing the Bucs with 20 horns and not making finals in the 90's. Look at them now. I don't think it's magic. It's strong commitment to a sound plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 So ... just trying to understand ... should DCA have a 11-34 competition class throughout the season or just a separate class for the I&E show at Championships? ... Again, just trying to understand ... :-) Ideally it'd be for the season, but as Jeff said, show sponsors don't want it. And in truth, a tiny group on a big field is difficult to pull off well. We did it with Nightfire (8 brass, 4 perc, 4 guard, 1 DM), but we were smart enough to take a page from Mandarins when THEY were tiny and framed the field to focus the attention to the small drill area we used (performance was another matter). So an I&E venue might seem to be best for the maxi-minis, at least at DCA. The problem is room for drill... but in 05 the minis were on the actual field, so if you found a location and could section off a slightly larger performance area, that might work....or increase the area for ALL the minis. A lot of it comes down to logistics, and DCA weekend is already packed....there may not be room for anything else. We're already seeing that with the Class A and Open corps running up against the Alum corps for space and time. SDCA seems to be a better venue for a field-type performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 SDCA seems to be a better venue for a field-type performance. Except that the SDCA concept seems to be having a hard time gaining any traction,...........many of the shows that have been scheduled have been subsequently cancelled,.........there is no formalized system of judging, Also, corps of any size can play exhibitions if the show sponsors or event organizers accept them,......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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