Another open letter to DCI.

[jjeffeory]

The main thing that bothers me is there are Friends of DCI (read: major financial supporters) that are on their way to the door because of design decisions and the evolution of the activity via WGI. I spoke with some of them just this past week. I think they are tired of seeing elements from an organization that had been so foreign and free-thinking in comparison to DCI for so many years encroach its ideals pretty much by brute force to the activity they all know and love.

In my opinion, we have seen nothing else across the history of the activity evolve more in such a short time than we have the free and open interpretive "art" that WGI has lended to our activity.

Good or bad, I will argue to my death bed that even amplification, electronics, Bb horns, and George Hopkins have not had as much of a profound impact as the above. The abstract staging "revelations" and "works of art" we see used as methods to max out the visual sheets in recent years has to be very concerning for those at the top of DCI. This is purely because it is bad for business, and DCI (as much as we like to think otherwise) is not in this for the education. They are in it to make money. The source of that money comes from putting butts in the seats, and from a multitude of donors.

I am personally bothered that often we no longer have right and wrong in shows, we have interpretive design that can reach perfect scores without any way to compare it to regimented routines and design aspects of the past. We have endless free motion that can't possibly be judged objectively.

Also, on any given night, we can see up to 5 WGI judges on the sheets at a major regional (we did once this year). This is a shame IMO, because a majority of the commentary comes from a color guard perspective that isn't properly evaluating the remaining 70-80% of the corps proper, when it's quite possible the rest of the corps is creating a visual environment that is infinitely more difficult and well executed than another corps above them. This seemless plague of cross caption commentary has further infiltrated its way into marching band circuits across the country as well, as we see more and more visual adjudicators from WGI looking for opportunities to round out their year of involving themselves in other areas of the marching arts activity. I've listened to tapes and spoken with many directors who share this same concern.

The Color Guard in drum corps has a purpose, and can also certainly be a GE evaluated facet just as music can. But when it becomes the entire focus of the visual product and shares such an insane chunk of points for the total score because you see 4 or 5 subcaptions being commented on for guard staging alone, it fails to evaluate the rest of the corps as it should. It is only when we see visual judges not involved in WGI adjudicating subcaptions such as visual proficiency where we get a clearer picture of the entire corps and the product on the field.

Remember when we used to have drill innovation that drew a crowd response? Michael Gaines, where are you?!? George Zingali likely rolled over in his grave a few times last night alone.

I can't remember any moments this year where the abstraction we saw utilized in the Blue Devils guard drew a crowd response of any sort. If this is the way the activity is heading, that's fine. Just don't expect paying customers to stick around for long.

I would further wager the largest portion of Friends of DCI donors are over the hill already and not looking back once they bail out. The younger generation isn't going to pull DCI out of the doldrums of debt once the dinos all die out. This is largely due to the declining numbers of participating corps and members. We don't have 300 drum corps anymore across the country. We've got 1/10th of that, and it is ever decreasing as the days and weeks roll on by. The sustainability of DCI is going to be dependent on paying customers and giving people a product they want to see, no matter how much the Blue Devils don't care about that.

Just my two cents for today.

I agree with much you have said here, but I would like to point out that both Michael Gaines and George Zingali were color guard people, so I'm really confused why the WGI influence by some colorguard people has been negative but our beloved drill designers haven't. That's interesting to me.

[flammaster]

I understand a couple of the points you made and why you made them, but I don't think that the activity is dead or on the downward spiral by any stretch. That being said, you do not speak for the majority.

I am sick and tired of DCP whiners. Those of you who whine and say you are leaving are the #### problem to begin with. Believe it or not, DCI is not gonna just fold because you decided to leave.

Are there opportunities to improve? Absolutely. However, coming on DCP and telling everyone you are walking away doesn't show wisdom, it shows cowardess. It is time for the OP and anyone else who will decide to pontificate there way out of the activity needs to start offering solutions, get engaged and volunteer their time, talents and strengths to the activty to invoke the change they feel is warranted.

Yea I just love these online suicide threads!

I'm leaving! I swear I'm gonna do it! Just you wait and see!

So jump already!

[FlamMan]

Anyone who cant see that DCI is at a crossroads & that fan dissension is at an all time high, isn't very bright. DCI & the drum & bugle corps activity would be wise to start a fan panel & make changes to improve their product, like any business would do.

Edited August 14, 2012 by FlamMan

[xballplayer21]

Hmmmm....still got drums....horns and they march like i can barely believe....i ain't goin anywhere!!!

[jasgre2000]

well maybe you don't care, but many people DO want to be entertained for the prices required to see drum corps today.

I don't like NASCAR, so I don't spend money to see it. Ditto for the opera.

So, should I spend money to see that which bores me?

Not that DCI totally bores me. But enough does anymore to make me wonder.

see DCI IS entertainment.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying, and I could have been more clear. I am not saying Drum Corps is not entertaining. I find it very entertaining, and have for a long time. I am saying that my support for the activity doesn't depend on how loud the crowd is screaming at the end of the show. Do I love every show I see? Of course not. I was not a fan of The Cadets show at all this year. If the trend was for corps to start doing cheesy shows that seem to cater to young children, then I would probably not be that excited. But there aren't several corps doing what The Cadets did this year, just like there are not several corps doing what the Blue Devils did this year. I happened to love BD's show this year, but I have never been a big BD fan. I find their 2010 show much more incomprehensible than this year's show. I think they accomplished this year what they were trying to do in 2010, but fell short. While I haven't seen every BD show over the last 20+ years, I can't remember any that I really liked before this year. I am not a big fan of the type of music they usually select. But, even though I am not normally entertained by BD, I am not going to rant about "the general direction" of the activity and how DCI has lost its way. And why not? Because they decisions of one or two corps are a minor annoyance compared to the value that is provided the corps participants that depend on the support of people like you and me. Entertainment is a very important part of drum corps, but not important enough that I am going to withdraw my support because I find a couple shows a year cringe-inducing or boring.

I guess my point, boiled down, is that there are more things to consider here than just personal entertainment. Entertainment should certainly be considered, but the impact that leaving the activity will have on others (particularly the marching members) is also something that should be considered when deciding that you are going quit on DCI.

Edited August 14, 2012 by jasgre2000

[jasgre2000]

For those that think DCI should change to make things more entertaining for you, do you not think by doing so they would alienate another group of fans? I know I would not be happy if DCI heavily regulated the content of shows or discounted corps that try to be creative and innovative (because being artistic is "pretentious" ... or something like that).

The fact of the matter is, it is virtually impossible for everyone to get their way when you are dealing with tastes and preferences. If you think your tastes should be catered to over someone else's, then you need to tell us why it should be that way.

I, for one, think the wide variety of show designs that we saw in DCI this year proves that there is something for everyone in drum corps. If you don't like one corps, wait until the next one. You will probably like it. If you don't like any of the shows, then maybe it is time to move on, because the entire organization is not going to change to cater to your minority view. That is just illogical.

Edited August 14, 2012 by jasgre2000

[JulesBry]

Are you saying that you do not want the best corps to score the highest? That judges should be free to evaluate the corps based on no set of standard criteria?

That is what it looks like, though I really doubt you mean that.

Thanks for giving the benefit of the doubt. Others would not have been so kind.

A lot depends on what you mean by "best". As I've said before, if a corps chooses the theme "random", writes music and drill using random number generators, and then plays and marches exactly what was written on the page, do they deserve to win? They would have done the hardest thing ever put on the field, but it would look "random" and sound "random". That would mean they had accomplished their general effect. And if any judge questioned them about it, they would be sure to explain what they were going for, and the judge would "have" to give them high marks because they executed what was on the sheet.

Replace random with any concept you want. It doesn't matter if the concept is good or bad, only that the corps marches and plays what they said they were going to. And then we call it art. But no one can say, "This isn't art. It's trash." If they do, the corps "explains" it to them, and then they suddenly change their mind. It all seems rather fake to me.

Oh, I think the freedom does exist...but the judges tend to see the corps all summer long, and speak to staffs at critique, so they do "get it".

Perhaps this is the problem, then. If you don't "get it" just by seeing what's on the field (like the fans do), then you shouldn't give them high marks for general effect. If it has to be explained to you, then I don't think it's a good design. Maybe the "critique" should be from the judges without reply from the staff. Maybe we need more judges to get more opinions involved.

Maybe we need to change the name of the "General Effect" captions. Because that implies that the judge is judging whether or not the general effect is positive or negative. In other words, does the show "work"? To me, that sounds exceptionally subjective. And if DCI is art, then it should be subjective at some level. I don't have a problem with that being reflected in the scores. Perhaps others do.

[JulesBry]

I am sick and tired of DCP whiners. Those of you who whine and say you are leaving are the #### problem to begin with. Believe it or not, DCI is not gonna just fold because you decided to leave.

Then feel free to stop whining about the whiners. :-) And if it gets too bad for you on DCP, feel free to walk away silently. But whatever you do, don't mention your reason for leaving. Others might call you a whiner.

As I've said many times before, I hope you're right about DCI not needing those of us who leave. But if it turns out they do, I hope you'll remember this post.

[JulesBry]

For those that think DCI should change to make things more entertaining for you, do you not think by doing so they would alienate another group of fans?

Not necessarily. Here's what I propose as a compromise:

1. Make all non-acoustic instruments illegal, but continue to allow acoustic instruments to be amplified if desired. Create a place on the sheets for each music judge to judge balance of all amplified instruments related to their area (if the amp covers up the horn line, the brass judge comments, if it covers the percussion, the percussion judge comments, etc.)

2. Make all pre-recorded music of any kind illegal (at least during the official show, preferably during the pre-show, too).

3. Involve fans in some way. Whether that is having them judge an element of the show (general effect?) as part (even a small part) of the overall score, creating a people's choice award, or creating a panel/focus group to have them give input to both DCI and the member corps along the way, give them a voice in the process.

How many fans would those three things alienate? Do you honestly think that people will leave because the corps aren't using synthesizers any more? Do people really go to shows just to hear pre-recorded music?

Maybe the most controversial proposal is to involve fans more directly in some way, but that would at least make clear who is truly in the minority. If I've expressed my voice and found that no one agrees with me, so be it. At current, there's no really good way to express any reaction to the groups aside from cheering or not, and when you don't cheer, you're accused of "hating the kids".

I don't know what all of this would look like, but those are some reforms that would definitely cause me to change my mind about leaving.

[Grandpa]

Not necessarily. Here's what I propose as a compromise:

1. Make all non-acoustic instruments illegal, but continue to allow acoustic instruments to be amplified if desired. Create a place on the sheets for each music judge to judge balance of all amplified instruments related to their area (if the amp covers up the horn line, the brass judge comments, if it covers the percussion, the percussion judge comments, etc.)

2. Make all pre-recorded music of any kind illegal (at least during the official show, preferably during the pre-show, too).

3. Involve fans in some way. Whether that is having them judge an element of the show (general effect?) as part (even a small part) of the overall score, creating a people's choice award, or creating a panel/focus group to have them give input to both DCI and the member corps along the way, give them a voice in the process.

How many fans would those three things alienate? Do you honestly think that people will leave because the corps aren't using synthesizers any more? Do people really go to shows just to hear pre-recorded music?

Maybe the most controversial proposal is to involve fans more directly in some way, but that would at least make clear who is truly in the minority. If I've expressed my voice and found that no one agrees with me, so be it. At current, there's no really good way to express any reaction to the groups aside from cheering or not, and when you don't cheer, you're accused of "hating the kids".

I don't know what all of this would look like, but those are some reforms that would definitely cause me to change my mind about leaving.

I know I've committed to trying to be more open minded, but I have to say I like 1 and 2.

3 - puts home field advantage at an all time high. If I'm in the stands, SCV wins, no matter what. That ain't good.....