An Open Letter to DCI

[kcbari]

Stopped going in 2006. I've even stopped taking my band kids. They get bored, so we spend our money on dvd's of older seasons.

The kids performing now are better than ever, but the designs have left me behind...if I want WGI, I'll go there

[jazzman334]

Julian,

I do believe many people will read your letter as a "bash Blue Devils" letter. However, my sense is that your feelings mirror mine - except I've been watching drum corps for 36 years now. BD are just the most visible and well-known symbol of the morphing of drum corps from the "brass, percussion and drill" activity you referenced, to some sort of "multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, ethereal artistic collage".....and, oh yes, we still keep those brass and percussion instruments that our grandparents used back in the olden days....but only because we have to.

Before seeing the tour show at Murfreesboro this year, I had been cautiously optimistic the last few years -- optimistic that a few more corps were actually taking their audience appeal into account. Sadly, not only does that NOT seem to be the case (with the blatant exception of Madison and Surf !), things appear to be regressing.

You put it very well when you said that if you want to see all these genres together in one place (which is not often), you can see it elsewhere for a whole lot less money. I agree wholeheartedly. I fear that the elitists in this activity are driving away the fans who made it great.

I am sorry, truly sorry, and I am going to miss drum corps. But I am finished. After 36 years, I am finished for good.

[zig zig ZAG]

I've gotta agree with the OP.

More and more i've found myself disinterested with the direction drum corps as a whole is moving in. BD is a highlight of that direction and a sign of where the judging community is currently incentivizing show direction, but it is not the only one that gets ire from me. This season was possibly the least i've been into drum corps since i first got into things a decade ago. I saw my local show and i went up to minneapolis. I didnt bother with the fan network or even the theater shows, marking the first year i havent seen any of finals week since 2004. (as someone who went to stanford, minneapolis, san antonio, and indy in 2009, its quite a change). I barely post on DCP anymore for a multitude of reasons, but mostly disinterest (and also the fact that BD borg will jump on every opinion you make that isnt positive towards their corps). My postcount shows how that used to not be the case.

OP has it right. Drum corps has become less and less about demanding drill and powerful brass sound and more guard\dance oriented, more taking the easy electronic shortcuts instead of putting it on the backs of performers. Demand (especially simultaneous demand) is discouraged by the judging instead of encouraged (and before someone says 'drill must be achieved before it is rewarded', at a certain point, especially in the top 5, drill is clean enough that it is effective even if it isnt as spotless as a simpler drill might be). Hiding flaws or avoiding exposure is preferred to design that puts the members out there, good or bad.

Will i stop going to shows entirely? Probably not as i have a show 5 minutes from my house, but my time will continue to reduce. For the money i can find plenty of other ways to be entertained.

Exactly. Watching the Olympics and seeing demand plus execution rewarded by judges, made me tune out of finals altogether. Crown has the most demanding show out there. BD has the best executed show.

Olympic motto: higher, faster, stronger.

DCI motto: easier, cleaner, safer.

[BigW]

"Drum corps is geeky... marching band is even more so.... but Civil War Reenactment is a whole other level."

Really? You must not live in the NE US, where Gettysburg, Manassas, and Antietam are within 2 hours of my house, and the re-enactors are quite popular and the Civil War is serious living history. It's not like the South Park episode. Both of the former students that were with one of the CSA units in their teens are doing well and married, most of the people who do it are well adjusted folk. Not geeks. A local HS Principal was involved with one of the Stonewall Brigade units. He really wasn't a geek, believe me, especially when he caused a stink with the music program involving music literature choices before his retirement....

[Kamarag]

"Drum corps is geeky... marching band is even more so.... but Civil War Reenactment is a whole other level."

Really? You must not live in the NE US, where Gettysburg, Manassas, and Antietam are within 2 hours of my house, and the re-enactors are quite popular and the Civil War is serious living history. It's not like the South Park episode. Both of the former students that were with one of the CSA units in their teens are doing well and married, most of the people who do it are well adjusted folk. Not geeks. A local HS Principal was involved with one of the Stonewall Brigade units. He really wasn't a geek, believe me, especially when he caused a stink with the music program involving music literature choices before his retirement....

Those cats are hard core, and I admire their dedication.

[bchorn]

Did anyone watch the men's high bar routine earlier this week? The gold medalist actually had more deductions than the silver medalist. The reason he still won is because he had a higher starting score due to the insane difficulty of his routine. I feel like crown's difficulty was not taken into consideration by the judges.

Edited August 12, 2012 by bchorn

[breezemont]

Surf: "Did you pack enough underwear?"

I laughed out loud at that one.

Talk about thumbing your nose at the whole voice over thing.

The tribute to the Bridgemen could not have come at a more appropriate time.

da-DA indeed...

[kickhaltsforlife]

I don't really seem much wrong with the current performances of DCI corps at all. In fact, they are more incredible than ever.

The disconnect between the older generation and the current is pretty much the same disconnect between the current generation and those older as it is related to popular culture and preferences.

Each generation wants to innovate, make their own mark. The previous generation thought it was absolutely perfect in their day, wishes it to remain frozen in their ideal, completely ignoring the fact the that the generation that came before them felt exactly the same way about them.

Nothing new here, nothing unique to drum corps. Never-ending cycle.

Time marches on... and the point is to support the idea of that same rush of innovation, challenge, pushing of limits and boundaries that you had in your day with in the current generation.

Again, nothing wrong with anything at all. Not a big deal if it "ain't for you", as no one really expects it to be. That isn't the point.

It's not really a new generation designing shows though. It's a lot of the same people from 15 20 years ago.

And I really think people have my generation all wrong. I know plenty of people currently marching who hate electronics in drum corps. I know when I marched I couldn't buy into the show because of the three synths and the fact that my part was 100% doubled by a synth.

Also of you ask a current marching member during the season their opinion on things they are going to be all about what their corps are doing. Drum corps staffs brainwash. You'll see a lot of marching members feel a lot different about shows they marched after the season or after they age out. I know quite a few former BD members from say 2010 who look back and really don't enjoy the show they performed. But the staff brainwashed them into loving it. I mean that is what has to happen. Some people take a little longer to wake up from that brainwashing though.

After talking to some of BDs staff In Allentown I think they are completely full of themselves and completely out of touch with the DCI fan base. They design all their shows believing the crowd will go nuts for them. I asked if the crowd response bothers them. It does. But they don't understand why they aren't getting the crowd response. The guy I talked to actually seemed to be blaming quite a bit on geography. He said that's the reason hey lost in 08 and why they won in 07. While there is some merit to that observation it really doesn't have as much effect on the judges as he is implying. So yeah. I think they are in their own little world over in concord.

Moving on from BD. I find that this year had a great deal of excellent shows and excellent corps. The performance quality a cross the board is amazing. But there are the shows I can't get into because of offensive uses of electronics. I absolutely hated Cavaliers this year. And thought the show was extremely tasteless and took so much attention away from the true performance it made me sick. Blue Knights had some really offensive uses early on in their show. I also don't think there was a single corps who didn't use bass synth support. Crown even used it. Why. Can I pleas just ask why????! And don't give me the "it adds effect" excuse. It just takes away from the horns performance. That all it will ever do.

I don't know. I digress. I'm sure I'll post my review on the season some where once Comcast actually gets internet working in my apartment. I hate typing on my phone!!! Lol.

Will I walk away from the activity? Not anytime soon. There are still moments like Crowns fanfare forthr common man that will keep me coming back. But there was also BDs show where nothing made me really want to clap at all. I appreciate their performance quality though. As long as BD aren't tr trend setters I can be entertained. But I will still be vocal about my dissaproval of electronics in drum corps. I can look past it most of the time.

( I also didn't read the whole thread so sorry if this post ends up out of place:)

[BigW]

Crown has the most demanding show out there. BD has the best executed show.

Olympic motto: higher, faster, stronger.

DCI motto: easier, cleaner, safer.

Arguable on difficulty. Very, very arguable. If you'd have said Crown had a more 'likeable' show, then I think there'd be more agreement.

BD beat Crown on Effect Visual Rep on both judges sheets.

BD Won Effect Music rep against Crown with one judge, lost on the other. That's 3 out of 4 Effect judges having BD ahead on Effect.

Visual Proficiency/Rep, Crown by a tenth. Visual Analysis/Rep, BD by .4 over Crown. Easier visual book than Crown, evidently... NOT according to that judge. BD Color Guard wins by .3 on Content over Crown's. Easier than Crown's? Not by that judge's call, either.

Crown wins by .1 over BD in both Brass and Music analysis/Left Box. .1 is not a lot of difference in difficulty.

BD Wins by .4 on percussion book over Crown. pretty clear from that Judge who had the most difficult percussion book, and it sure wasn't Crown.

So with BD gapping Crown over almost every difficulty/content oriented subcaption except for Brass and over all music, and there only losing by a tenth in each... how can one make any valid argument BD's show is easier than Crown's!? Maybe in Brass. But that's not the whole overall picture. A fantastic sounding horn line doesn't win by and of itself, and I think a lot of Crown fans are thinking that should be so. It ain't how things work.

[84BDsop]

Surf: "Did you pack enough underwear?"

I laughed out loud at that one.

Talk about thumbing your nose at the whole voice over thing.

The tribute to the Bridgemen could not have come at a more appropriate time.

da-DA indeed...

"Have a good band show with your bugle corps..."

Did anyone ELSE feel a little queasy at that -- while laughing at the same time?