Individual & Ensemble Competition

[bobchilds]

I was just looking at this year's I&E results (found here) and noticed that none of the world class corps listed below are mentioned. Do these corps forbid their members from participating? If so, why? I understand that participation is probably not mandatory for any corps, and I do remember seeing participants from some of these corps in years past.

Cadets

Carolina Crown

Cavaliers

Crossmen

Glassmen

Jersey Surf

Phantom Regiment

Spirit of Atlanta

Troopers

Edited August 2, 2011 by bobchilds

[oldbandguy]

I was just looking at this year's I&E results (found here) and noticed that none of the open class corps listed below are mentioned. Do these corps forbid their members from participating? If so, why? I understand that participation is probably not mandatory for any corps, and I do remember seeing participants from some of these corps in years past.

Cadets

Carolina Crown

Cavaliers

Crossmen

Glassmen

Jersey Surf

Phantom Regiment

Spirit of Atlanta

Troopers

Of course, I'm sure you meant World Class, not Open.

As I understand it, since moving the I and E to the San Antonio weekend, instead of during finals week, the number of participants (and corps) was up significantly this year.

I am a little surprised that Cadets are on your list. They seem to be willing to devote more rehearsal time to non-competition show things (like encore prep/parades) than many other corps. I would have thought they would push the I&E participation.

Obviously the Blue Devils see great value in it.

[bobchilds]

Of course, I'm sure you meant World Class, not Open.

As I understand it, since moving the I and E to the San Antonio weekend, instead of during finals week, the number of participants (and corps) was up significantly this year.

I am a little surprised that Cadets are on your list. They seem to be willing to devote more rehearsal time to non-competition show things (like encore prep/parades) than many other corps. I would have thought they would push the I&E participation.

Obviously the Blue Devils see great value in it.

Thanks for the correction; I fixed it.

I believe I have seen Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment and Spirit participate in I&E in the last 20 years or so. I don't believe I've ever seen Cadets participate.

Nothing wrong with it either way. I'm just wondering about the reasoning behind such policies, if in fact they come from the individual organizations. From what I see, participation doesn't seem to detract from the effort and commitment to the whole corps.

[WPendergrass]

PR participated until the dissolution of DCM, then the IE stuff slowly fell by the wayside. There was some awkwardness with people missing rehearsals finals week to participate. Rookies and people that wouldn't be competative in the events, where not discouraged from participating, but generally didn't because they didn't want people to think they were holding the corps' development back.

[Zeke]

When has Cadets ever had I&E Participants? If they ever did it's probably 20+ odd years since they have if ever.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Zeke

[crackle]

besides this year, when was the last time a corps other than BD won that tenor title?

[crackle]

besides this year, when was the last time a corps other than BD won that tenor title?

[oldsnare]

My understanding of The Cadets' philosophy is this:

There are no individuals in the Cadets - only a team; hence, no I&E

[skywhopper]

Cadets, Crown, Cavies, and Phantom all had small ensembles doing performances at the TOC shows. In fact, I thought those *were* I&E participants. Some of them must have been--BD soloists, Blue Stars trombone quartet.

[On the 50]

The last time The Cadets participated in I&E was 1984 (when they were the Garfield Cadets). They won percussion ensemble, and I believe that was their lone entry that year. After that, they were just about the only corps not to participate in I&E. The explanation I heard was George Hopkins didn't believe in individual competition in a team activity like drum corps. Over the years fewer corps have participated. I believe the main reason is that the corps staff feels it takes away too much time from rehearsal during a critical part of the season (Championship week in the past). It only involves a fraction of the corps members typically, but rehearsal is pretty much impossible for half a day or so. The reason to move it to San Antonio was that, being earlier in the season, the corps would be more willing to take that time out of their schedule. Many corps were already having a "free day" on that Sunday anyway. Sadly, many corps still do not allow their members to participate. I know for a fact that there are DCI judges that feel that there should be a mechanism to reward those corps that allow their members to do I&E.

Phantom Regiment decided not to participate in I&E in 1990 - after the audition season and the corps had been to at least a few camps. There were a lot of folks rather upset with that decision. Just ask J.J. Pipitone. They returned to I&E in 1991 and continued to participate for many years. In 2006 their housing for Finals week was a good distance from Madison, so they decided not to participate due to the logistics in getting the equipment there and back. Same thing in 2007 and 2008. Then it became an issue of simply not taking rehearsal time away as I understand it. They didn't stick around after San Antonio this year and went to Lafayette, LA on Sunday to rehearse. Looks like they are out of the I&E game for good. That's unfortunate. Just look at the excellent showing this year of former Regiment percussionists who are now at SCV. I imagine that could be a factor in deciding what corps to audition for - particularly if you are a top player. I would guess that's one reason Blue Devils get so much high level talent every year. They ALWAYS participate in I&E.