An Open Letter to DCI

[JulesBry]

You know, its not the electronics that are the problem, its the context in which they are used. Like look at Bluecoats 2010, that show really knew how to utilize electronic sounds and it came off as really cool and interesting.

Fastforward to this year, I clearly remember audible groans when the word "afraid" was blasted into our ears.

And yet, do the judges reward the truly great uses of electronics and punish the many awful uses? If they do, it isn't registering on the sheets from what I can see. Please feel free (anyone) to prove me wrong.

If good and bad uses are rewarded equally, we're not going to see any real improvement. That's a MAJOR problem.

[JulesBry]

Was anyone at the Indianapolis Colts football game today? The Blue Devils performed at halftime. I am just curious as to the reaction the show got. Because this was many people's first introduction to Drum Corps.

Hopefully the stands were all drunk (and perhaps stoned). I'm not sure I can see any other way for typical football fans to see Dada from a "marching band bugle corps thingy" and be glad about it.

[GUARDLING]

I think 50/50 is pretty generous. Breaking that down further, the fact that ONLY 16% think DCI is completely on the right track is rather striking to me. Even if you add another 10% who think it's getting better, that's approximately 25%. That's almost as low an approval rating as Congress. If that's insignificant, then I'd hate to see what kind of approval rating it will take to change something!

whatever way it went . do you really thik this pole represents anything? just askin

[JulesBry]

Have a great time at Home Jules... I bet if we met in person we would get along quite well... But your online persona seems a bit of a stretch...

I doubt it. My online persona is my home persona. If you don't like people telling you what they honestly think online, you won't want people telling you what they honestly think at home, either. :-)

[JulesBry]

How could they be? Not only were they not perfectly scored last night, they've never gotten the activity's record score and this year, they didn't even sweep GE, which is where it seems we can measure the judges'"visions of the activity." In light of this, I'm wondering, whose standard is it that you're citing?

Well, they did get 20s in GE Visual at finals (apparently scatter drills and blobs are perfect choices). They didn't fare as well in GE Music (falling behind Crown by .3 total in that category). But they still ended up in 1st place overall--the same place they've been for most (all?) of the summer (I didn't have time to go back through every competition, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

You've mentioned multiple times that you wouldn't leave the activity if you felt the judges agreed with you, but in your post, this has only been framed in terms of giving BD lower scores. Worth mentioning? The judges do agree with you! Of the shows you claimed to like this year, 2 were in the top five and 5 were in the top 12 (almost half), and none of them was given a score that wasn't respectable.

First, I want a few judges to agree with me. In other words, I want to see some variety in the standings that shows each judge is actually grading the artwork according to their opinion. If we're going to include artistic categories to be judged (and perhaps we shouldn't), then it is ridiculous to think that every judge will have the same subjective opinion of any given piece of art.

You commented on BD (ignoring my Cadets bashing in the original letter), so here goes. I went back through the last five recaps and discovered that only twice did a corps move more than 2 spots in any GE caption between competitions. And in almost every "change", it was a matter of the slimmest of margins, usually a couple of corps going up .1, and another corps going down .1 or .2. All of these changes are well within the standard deviation. In other words, everyone pretty much agrees on the order and the spread. Furthermore, not one judge had the guts to say, "that looks like chaos on the field--the general effect of the visual components is awful, and I'm not buying the 'it's supposed to look like chaos' line." It's as simple as that. And the same is true for several other corps. I have the same problem with some other shows, but since you're a BD fan, and you're picking on my use of BD as the epitome of what so many corps are doing wrong, I figured I would give some solid data to back up what I've said.

But the more important point is something I can't get over because it's not an intellectual argument. I simply found myself not caring. I've never had that problem with drum corps in the 15+ years I've been watching it. I've looked forward to the new season with eager anticipation and followed closely the whole summer. But not this one. About halfway through, I just found myself not caring. I tried to put a label on it--the judges? the electronics? the rankings and scores? the voice-overs? I don't know what it is, but it's like a weight of inevitability. I had seen the shows several times, picked my favorites, and realized that nothing would change between then and the end of the season. I already knew the outcome. It was something I wouldn't like. So I quit caring.

My friends who know me thought I was sick--I ALWAYS love drum corps.

And the truth is, I think I am sick. I'm sick of DCI. Maybe I'll feel better after some time off. I sure hope so. I want to love DCI again. Really--I do!

Edited August 13, 2012 by JulesBry

[GUARDLING]

Hopefully the stands were all drunk (and perhaps stoned). I'm not sure I can see any other way for typical football fans to see Dada from a "marching band bugle corps thingy" and be glad about it.

it could have been cadets crown, pr, surf, pio..im sure the reaction would be the same , some band and thats it,,,im sure nit many cared who was on the field

[MikeD]

I don't know. At the west Chester show mostly everyone around us during Cavies show was startled by Thr noises coming out of the amps.

Where I sat at West Chester nobody was startled by noises coming out of the Cavies amps.

[MikeD]

Think of it this way.

If you showed a 6th grader interested in joining band with thoughts of marching, would you make BD 2012 your recruiting pitch?

Shouldn't your World Champion be the first thing you would show somebody to represent your activity?

Why?

I'd pick a show an 11-year-old could appreciate. Doesn't matter what place the corps came in. I'd go with either Surf or the Cadets to a group of 6th graders.

[JulesBry]

whatever way it went . do you really thik this pole represents anything? just askin

It doesn't mean much. The sample size is too small, and the general population too homogeneous. And beyond that, the most important thing I learned from taking Statistics 101 is "never trust statistics".

That being said, it does show that among a small group of the most passionate of DCI fans, there is a big problem. In the world of media, this might be called a "focus group". When you assemble a focus group and find out that in that group there's a pretty big problem with your product, that usually means that you need to follow up with more in-depth research to see if the focus group was an anomaly or a sign of a bigger problem.

So, at best, it's a focus group that suggests further research is necessary. At worst, it's an anomaly. But when combined with anecdotal evidence, I would strongly encourage DCI to dig a little deeper. If they find it's an anomaly, then the 40 or so of us who are leaving probably won't be back, and no one will notice. But if it's a bigger problem that they continue to ignore, DCI won't be around for long either.

[JulesBry]

Why?

I'd pick a show an 11-year-old could appreciate. Doesn't matter what place the corps came in. I'd go with either Surf or the Cadets to a group of 6th graders.

I taught 4-12 grades for 7 years, and I showed Drum Corps Videos at least one day every year. Favorite moments among my 5th graders? Beginning and ending of Spin Cycle, the solo section of Cadets '00, the ending of Moto Perpetuo (especially when I explained the concept of the show), and Bluecoats Imagine (especially the costume change). They especially loved the kaleidoscope drill moments from the Cavies.

Kids are smart. They don't need things to be dumbed down. They inherently know what's hard and what isn't. Don't sell them short by thinking they're only going to like drum corps if there are fifteen synths and twelve amps. All humans love to see amazing human achievements, and pushing one key to cover up a bad note from the tuba section will never beat out a truly great tuba section--even among 5th graders.