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Blue Devils and Mics


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I know that the ideas you describe are given with that intent stated. Thank you for that.

But let's be candid here....A&E was not added to drum corps to make the audience's experience better. There was a whole lot of talk about making the experience better for designers, judges, and corps members....but the audience was addressed as an adversary even in the written proposals for these rule changes, which urged DCI to "move on in the face of vocal disagreement" with the fan base. (And as a result, some of that audience has moved on.)

It is nice that we can discuss attempts to make the audience's experience better now. Bear in mind, though, that for some of us who thoroughly enjoyed the acoustic experience, we see these potential improvements as merely making the situation "less worse" than it was eight years ago, before A&E.

Let's call a spade a spade. If it increases audience enjoyment (including the green-shirted portion of the audience), then it's an advantage. What's wrong with saying so?

The problem is when rule change campaigns develop double-speak, like we had with so-called "any-key" brass. Some raised concern over judging preferences compelling corps to replace their equipment in order to stay competitive. To get the proposal to pass, proponents hastily insisted that Bb/F would just be an "option", and different key horns would be accepted as stylistic variations between corps. Once the rule passed, the story changed.

You might be surprised how many fans came to drum corps because it wasn't overloaded with electronic sounds. But you are one of those "newer fans", after all. Do you know when the other "newer fans" will show up? We could really use their support right now.

beautifully written

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And this is the age old dilema on DCP: The difference in perspective of those that have a frame of reference for the past and those that don't. I dare say that if some of the traditionalists (dinos :rolleyes:) on DCP saw a live Tarpon Springs High School BOA show...they would hyperventilate and need medical attention. But those young band members in the audience go nuts! So....what to do.....do we embrace technology with the goal of making DCI performances as visual and listenable as possible or dance with "the guy what brung ya".....our father's pure, untouched brass and percussion.

I will only add that it gets tiresome when posters continually reference "ticket buying and the threat of the demise of DCI, etc" to emphasize their point....I hear this enough from the gang in the other DC (the one in Washington). Suffice to say, I'm up for anything that a corps has to show me if it works, while you and others may not be. But I have no intention of threatening my support of this remarkable activity for any reason!

those band kids go nuts. but despite all of the marketing attempts going back to 1997, they aren't paying the bills. if they were, we'd have more kids flocking to corps of all sizes and levels. now we have thousands trying out, with a majority for 8-10 corps....who usually arent even full despite the "rationale" used to increase the membership limits.

the loss of audience members above HS age has hurt DCI and the corps in the wallet. But those with power ( aka not Dan A) do not want to hear it. It's about "art".

Well now we see them saying what they created isn't working. hmmm wonder why

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Does anyone really think hornlines will someday just use microphones to be loud instead of playing loudly?

it happens in the band world, and as we've seen more and more, what happens there ends up here

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Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...

Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

:satisfied:

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Or if, say, the restaurant was a gourmet seafood restaurant and the person came in and said that hated seafood and wanted the restaurant to change their menu to Italian food, or some other taste that fit specifically to that complainer & his friends.

No. An accurate analogy would be if the gourmet seafood restaurant, unique and popular for decades, changed to a franchise steak house....and for whatever reasons, lost some of their popularity at the same time. Yet, some customers might still go there because they like a decent steak....or because they are friends with the owner....or because it's close to home. In any case, would you expect them never to speak the thought of returning to the gourmet seafood operation that not only was more enjoyable to them, but was also apparently more successful?

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So are drum corps, though. Everything corps are utilizing today is condoned in the drum corps activity.

1. Not by the audience....and in the drum corps activity, the audience is a necessary part of the economic equation.

2. Historically speaking, marching band has always allowed these devices, whereas drum corps has always restricted their equipment set (and still does). Which is more condoning - a rule change recently passed by a narrow margin, or something that has been allowed all along, never even a matter of debate?

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Sorry, this last one befuddled me!

What I was trying to say is this. Not everyone who draws a link between A&E and declining attendance is threatening to withhold their own personal ticket-buying support of the activity. In fact, I suspect some posters are genuinely interested in seeing DCI remain viable by retaining a customer base of sufficient size, no matter what creative direction they choose to pursue. The concern they have is that some creative directions (perhaps the current one) might fail to attract that necessary number of supporters.

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What I was trying to say is this. Not everyone who draws a link between A&E and declining attendance is threatening to withhold their own personal ticket-buying support of the activity. In fact, I suspect some posters are genuinely interested in seeing DCI remain viable by retaining a customer base of sufficient size, no matter what creative direction they choose to pursue. The concern they have is that some creative directions (perhaps the current one) might fail to attract that necessary number of supporters.

Yep. Well, that + theyjustdon'tlikeit.

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Or if, say, the restaurant was a gourmet seafood restaurant and the person came in and said that hated seafood and wanted the restaurant to change their menu to Italian food, or some other taste that fit specifically to that complainer & his friends.

Actually, if you want to be accurate in your analogy, it would be that your favorite Italian restaurant suddenly "evolved" into a steak and seafood joint. You come in one night and they no longer make the chicken parmigiana that

you have ordered forEVER. I can see that you would be upset, maybe even make a little noise. I can, also, see that you probably would not come back. Maybe once in a while, to see if your favorite meal was back, but eventually you will stop coming, and hope to find that meal elsewhere...

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No. An accurate analogy would be if the gourmet seafood restaurant, unique and popular for decades, changed to a franchise steak house....and for whatever reasons, lost some of their popularity at the same time. Yet, some customers might still go there because they like a decent steak....or because they are friends with the owner....or because it's close to home. In any case, would you expect them never to speak the thought of returning to the gourmet seafood operation that not only was more enjoyable to them, but was also apparently more successful?

Heh... GMTA, and all that. Next time I will finish reading the thread before posting... :tongue:

(And you put it better than I did)

Edited by OrlandoContraAlum
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