Popular Post Kevincav Posted August 12, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2012 Dear DCI, I spent the last 10 years of my life, religiously following drum corps, and had the opportunity to march for a couple (Blue Stars 2005, Minnesota Brass 2010). Over those 10 years there have been experiences that I’ll never give up, people who I’ll never forget, traditions and philosophies that I practiced in the military, and even now going through college. In my opinion, DCI has lost its roots to the history of Drum Corps. In 2005 I auditioned for the Cavaliers, and the first thing that Jeff Fiedler said to us was “If you’re here to win, then you don’t belong here. Either go two thousand miles west, or a thousand miles east to do that.” These were words that as a rookie, I had no idea why anyone would not strive to win. Later on in the month, Chad Armbruster called me up, and said we have a spot open if you want it. Thinking that I’m planning on joining the military, this may be my only chance to join a corps, so I took it. For the first half of the season, I thought, “if I don’t join the military after this season, then I’m going to go back to the Cavaliers”; I even strived to get better at the Cavalier style of marching, for practice. It wasn’t till mid season, for our home show, that we added the Star of David to the drill, and premiered it for our alumni, and families. There wasn’t a single person in their seat when we hit that chart, people were crying, the crowd erupted, and cheered till they couldn’t talk anymore; even now, just recalling this instance brings a tear to my eye. When this happened I started to realize, that maybe it isn’t about the scores, maybe it’s not about me but that it’s really about being with the people around me, the alumni, those people we were performing for. From then on, it was all about those around me, not going back to the Cavaliers or a division one championship contender. Shortly after, I went to the doctor to find out that I had gotten bronchitis, which was really close to pneumonia; I refused to quit, even for a day to get better, I kept going no matter how bad it got. It even earned me the nickname ‘coughdrop’. After a lot of dead grass, even more sunburns, and finally getting to finals; when we were getting ready to march on to the field, I heard someone say “These guys deserve to win everything”, sitting there at the end of the show, watching possibly the longest standing ovation ever, and seeing people all around us crying as we marched off. During retreat, all I could think about, was Fielder was right; it’s not about winning, not about the scores, not even about us, it’s the fans, those people who go to one or as many live shows as possible, that without, we wouldn’t exists, I wouldn’t have gotten the experience, and made the friends that I have. Now I’m not going to sit here and talk to you about G vs Bb’s, or amps, voiceovers, synths, or even an old school having only a 50 yard line with marching pit members. Because even with the changes along the way, the appeal to the audience has stayed there. From the 88 scouts playing Malaguena, to the 95 Cavaliers playing The Planets, to Phantom 89, 96, 03, 08, even now bringing back Nessun Dorma and making who knows how many people cry. I even enjoyed Jersey Surf’s ‘amped’ phone call “about packing enough underwear” while having “a good band show, with his drum corps”. Some corps still uphold the integrity of how important the audience is, and ignores the scores. Now I’m sure you already know one of the corps I’m referencing to, and before I talk about them, I just want to say that I respect the corps, and members, and all the hard work they have been through to put a show on the field. But when I was watching quarterfinals in the theaters, they announced the future corps coming up after intermission, and for each corps, people cheered, and it louder each time, until the Blue Devils. You could hear a pin drop, when they announced the Blue Devils, even when it came time for the performance. The focus was not there, no one cared at this point of time, why not? Why are the fans, the audience not interested? I guess the better question is, why are corps being rewarded for a technical show that takes all interest away from the fans? I don’t know one person that I’ve ever marched with, that would willingly stay in a corps to win a title, on the basis of losing the audience. I have a friend, who I served with in the Navy; he left the Cadets after 2005 when they did it, refused to march for them again. This activity is no longer about the audience, and I appreciate the corps who stick with it, but it seems that in order to win, the corps have to break their bonds with the fans. As I said before, I only marched one year of junior corps, then I joined the military. I spent my age out year (season), on deployment off the coast of Somalia doing piracy operations. The only thing that kept me sane, was looking at the scores every night. Finally seeing a corps that deserved to win more than once, rise to the top, made the deployment that much more enjoyable. When I got out of the military, I joined Minnesota Brass; just remembering the kind of respect that they gave the Blue Stars in 2005, with loaning out their horns to us, and sharing the field during an encore. In Minnesota Brass, I saw even more respect between the corps, in 2011, when there was a marriage proposal with a couple of MBI members, the Govenaires stayed behind and played for them. Another instance was when the Buccaneers stayed off to the side, instead of marching off, to cheer on Minnesota Brass, for the championship run. They cheered for a corps that was potentially going to end their 6 year championship streak. The fans stayed behind to watch a cancelled encore, after retreat. I saw a corps member in a wheelchair, and they pushed her around the field to make sure she was involved in the show. In 2005, we were told to have respect for all corps, and it doesn’t matter if they were in front or behind you in standings. The fans have respect back in DCA, and they want to be there and cheer for everyone, especially since the shows are designed around them being entertained, in DCI, I think they’ve lost that respect. With all things considered, I think I’m going to have to part ways with DCI, maybe temporarily, maybe permanent, depending on how things turn out in the future. I will always remember what my time in a junior corps taught me, the life values, or when they refused to teach me the definition of ‘easy’, ‘quitting’, and ‘failure’, and the new family that I made, and will never forget. I will stick with DCA, and will return to March again for Minnesota Brass, and will enjoy the comradery between the corps, members, and fans. I feel that DCA will never lose its history of playing for the audience and alumni, more than technicality. 38 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jasgre2000 Posted August 12, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) I'm sure I'll get a beating for saying this, but it sure seems like a lot of people care more about their own personal gratification when it comes to drum corps than what should be the primary focus of DCI (making sure the participants have a great experience). If you aren't entertained, then so be it. You are free to complain and boycott DCI if you want to. Just remember that it is more than just the "designers" that are impacted by you leaving. There is a lot more going on here than just "entertaining the fans". Edited August 12, 2012 by jasgre2000 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dapperpoet Posted August 12, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2012 I just got a memo from all the corps directors and MMs. They are officially not going to sleep tonight. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKYR_FA1986 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I don't think Chick-Fil-A or DCI is serious enough to stage a boycott over. There are far more important things that might warrant that kind of response. With that being said, I understand people losing interest in DCI because of the way things are going. I get tired of nonsense too but I realize what is nonsense to me might not be to others so I keep it moving. When I saw the way the season was going, I lost interest in driving miles to a show or even going to DCI at the movies. Will I stay away forever, definitely not. As soon as I get wind that someone is doing a certain something or this corps is making a surge towards the top, I will want to know and see. I see it like this, if you don't like a certain artist, don't buy their music. Don't stop listening to music entirely. There will always be something out here for EVERYONE. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I'm sure I'll get a beating for saying this, but it sure seems like a lot of people care more about their own personal gratification when it comes to drum corps than what should be the primary focus of DCI (making sure the participants have a great experience). If you aren't entertained, then so be it. You are free to complain and boycott DCI if you want to. Just remember that it is more than just the "designers" that are impacted by you leaving. There is a lot more going on here than just "entertaining the fans". I agree about the personal gratification thing, but I believe the real culprits here are those designers you talk about, not the fans..... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I agree about the personal gratification thing, but I believe the real culprits here are those designers you talk about, not the fans..... You should ask the members of BD what they think about that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 You should ask the members of BD what they think about that. I think the MMs of Devils are a lot like the MMs of Cadets a few years ago. They know what the corps is about and the controversy around it, but they go there because they like what the corps is doing. So I wouldn't expect a lot of them to agree with me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ordsw24 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) I understand where the OP is coming from, but I believe BD should have won and I loved the show. I have disagreed w/ placements in the past, more so in WGI. However, as a fan and former drum corps MM, I remind myself that I have never been trained to adjudicate DCI or WGI or BOA. GE is only a part of the score; much of the sheet is technical. Championships have been one and lost based on a percussion score alone. "Most entertaining" and "highest achieving" are two very different things, and this goes w/out saying. There have been proposals floating around by other frustrated fans that would address your concerns, such as audience input as part of GE score, etc., or revamping the score sheets in other ways. A perfect system is not possible; we have to accept an imperfect and subjective system. I see BD's success this season in part by putting myself in the judge's shoes... they judge all summer long. If they've been around a while, they've seen and judged hundreds of shows, and have heard a lot of the same compositions re-hashed many times over the years, and experienced many of the same or similar visual effects and show constructions. I believe a show like BD 2012 is a "judge's show" show because it is so unique and refreshing. And no one can seriously argue BD's performance level and skills aren't top-notch. There have been WGI shows over the years receiving mild audience reaction and mixed reviews from fans (often pretty bi-polar reactions) which won w/ really high scores, so this is not a unique phenomenon to DCI. Onyx's art show comes to mind, which I consider one of the best shows of all time. BD this year was something new. It reinvented the wheel a little bit. It re-defined what drum corps can be. For some, (purists), this is threatening, or at least off-putting. To others, it's exciting and invigorating. I'm in the latter camp, but I understand why others feel as they do. Edited August 13, 2012 by ordsw24 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 BD this year was something new. It reinvented the wheel a little bit. Most people generally feel there's no need to do that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Most people generally feel there's no need to do that. theres that " MOST PEOPLE " thing again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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