Another open letter to DCI.

[RockyGranite]

Except that it's more than 2. If you check the poll on my open letter, you'll see that it's more than 40 out of the 250 who have responded. That's a pretty high percentage. And there are another 90 or so who aren't happy with the direction of DCI, but are sticking around in hopes of things changing. If they don't, who knows how many of those people will be bolting.

Of course, even 130 people wouldn't be noticed by DCI, but if (and I do say IF) that is representative of the community at large, can you see that DCI could have a bigger problem on its hands?

And the truth is, getting rid of electronics would fix a lot of things. I don't think you or the lady from Kansas would even notice their departure. And if DCI created sheets that allowed judges to be completely honest about what they like and don't like, so that placements changed a bit from night to night, I think you'd see a lot of the other people stick around and come back.

I'm not asking for a wholesale restructuring of the activity. I'm just asking DCI to do some research and find out if the preliminary findings from my focus group are at all representative of their fan base at large. If it is, they had better make some changes, or the two of you won't come close to making up for the 130 of us.

Of course the young lady and I won't compensate for the 40...or 130...or whatever other number you care to conjure up. On the other hand, while I have no other numbers to cite than the two I did, I suspect the number of new fans this year is quite a bit more.

While I encourage DCI...and especially their member Corps...to carefully consider the direction they are taking, I don't really consider the departure of you and the 130 like-minded people you cite to be significant enough to cater to YOUR wishes over their own.

[JulesBry]

Of course the young lady and I won't compensate for the 40...or 130...or whatever other number you care to conjure up. On the other hand, while I have no other numbers to cite than the two I did, I suspect the number of new fans this year is quite a bit more.

While I encourage DCI...and especially their member Corps...to carefully consider the direction they are taking, I don't really consider the departure of you and the 130 like-minded people you cite to be significant enough to cater to YOUR wishes over their own.

But you assume that we're the only 130, and that it's not a matter of proportion. Expand that 130/250 to a similar number of DCI fans as a whole, and I hope you'll see the potential problem. As I shared in another thread, even if that 15% of DCP participants who are leaving only translates to 5% of the DCI whole, that's a HUGE number of people. Way more than the number of age-outs and family members exposed to DCI this year.

As I've said many times, the poll is hardly scientific. But I would hope it at least raises some eyebrows and encourages (in it's own tiny way) DCI to take a hard look at doing some real media research to discover what their fans really think.

[JulesBry]

Cadets 2008 might fit into that category.

I'm having a hard time remembering that show (I didn't do the FanNetwork that year, so I only saw the shows once). I'm not sure why it was so innovative.

[JulesBry]

Julian, you shouldn't make the results of your poll out to be more than what they truly are. 16% is not a large percentage, and I'm confident in saying that DCP is not a good reflection of the overall fan base. In fact, I'd venture that the vast majority of fans have no idea that Cesario even has a title in DCI.

I'm sure DCI knows the "problem" of which you speak; I think it's the reason Cesario was hired in the first place.

By the very nature of the activity I think you could always find 36% of respondents who say they don't like the direction the activity is taking. I think that began to be true around the 1930's or '40's.

1. Do we have to assume that throwing the dinos a bone will necessarily alienate any new fans? On the contrary, I don't think most newbies would miss the synths (except for the synth players, many of whom can also play percussion instruments), and I think a lot of them would enjoy seeing more shifts in scores and placement from night to night--imagine if there were true parity in Drum Corps and anyone could move five places in a night (as there is in highly subjective sports like gymnastics and diving).

2. In tight financial times, 16% attrition is a pretty big number. As I described elsewhere, even 5% would be difficult to replace. Especially when it's hard for DCI to add fans (see discussion of the Colts halftime show), and many of the new fans don't have enough money at their disposal to support the activity. (And by the time they're wealthy enough to do so, they may be as disheartened as many of the current "dinos").

3. If I'm running a business where 36% are unhappy, I'm going to do whatever I can to find a solution that can satisfy the widest variety of people. If 64% is the best I can do after trying my best, then so be it. But I think DCI can get a lot closer to 90% by making a few small changes (as described above). They would keep dinos around without alienating the youth.

4. Before you say that satisfying young and old simultaneously is impossible, I point you to Broadway (tons of shows draw wide ranging audiences) and Percussive Artistry--a community percussion ensemble that I was a part of in Huntsville, AL. Our audiences were regularly filled with people from ages 3 to 83 with strong representations of all the demographics in between. We combined skill, theatrics, humor, and good musical selections. There was something for everybody. But it took a lot of time and planning to design those shows. Just as it does in DCI (though it takes much longer for corps to do it, I know). I'm just saying that it can be done if DCI will make it a priority. And if they don't, the bucket of fans will have a perpetual leak of varying sizes.

It's a lot easier to keep people who already love the activity than it is to find new people who don't know anything about it and want to learn. I think DCI can get a lot more bang for their buck if they look for solutions that make everyone happy rather than sacrificing 5-16% (or as much as 35%) in a grasping attempt to appeal to "the youth".

[JulesBry]

See, this is where the logic breaks down. You love it, but only if it looks like you want it to look.

How does taking your support and dollars help assure that it doesn't disappear?

Really, I'd like to know how complete inaction is productive.

If this is complete inaction, then I'd hate to see what passionate participation is. I'm not sure that I'm leaving forever. Perhaps I just need a break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

All I know is that right now, I'm fed up with DCI. I don't love it. I'm not enjoying it. Why should I force myself to give time and money to an activity that doesn't excite me? If you say it's because I need to "support the kids", I'll be glad to take my support to kids who are starving in foreign countries and help them out instead. Honestly, if you want audiences in the seats, you need to give audiences a reason to sit there. If they can keep building an audience while losing a certain number of audience members, then more power to them. I think there's a better way, and by writing as much as possible (and encouraging others to do the same), I'm hoping to help DCI find that better way.

[JulesBry]

ramble about the good ole days and aww of the new shows. That luster is gone.

I used to love to do that, too. Now, I find myself rambling a lot more about "the good ole days" and raising eyebrows at the new stuff. That's not nearly as much fun.

[JulesBry]

I agree that innovation for the sake of innovation is a can of worms. It can fail. I have stated this before on other threads years ago. It seems you just don't like the winning show this year, so you'll just hang it up. There were some really fine programs out there. I personally enjoyed 11 of the 12 finalists very much. My guess is that's about the same percentage that you have. It's just the one I detested is different from your thoghts on the matter.

And I profile as some old legacy dino stubborn old coot and they had a 92 percent batting average. I'd call that pretty good.

I agree that there were some really fine programs out there, but my ratio is far lower than 11:1. And many of them got beaten by programs that weren't nearly as fine.

Am I bitter? Not really. But I am disappointed for the kids who marched their hearts out only to be beaten because there show wasn't "innovative" enough.

For the record, there were 4 of the top 12 that I really liked, 3 on which I was fairly indifferent and 5 that I really didn't care for. Of those, 2 were in the top 5, and two were #11 and #12. That's probably a big part of why I left the season disheartened. Should I pay lots of money to see a show that I like 33% of the time? I can tell you that if it were a Broadway musical (another passion of mine), I wouldn't be going back if I only like 33% of it.

[GUARDLING]

THE WHOLE use to be entertainment. Like you said, 5/6 Surf, Bridgemen or VK shows would drive me nuts. The 70s. 80s and early 90s we did have that comic relief. We also got a little broadway, some serious jazz, a little southern jazz, some masterful classical, modern classics and so on. I also wanted to revisit those shows by listening to them (quite a bit) and watching them time and time again. I do enjoy watching these show now but I am not inclined to listen to them over and over. I might watch them 2 or three times but that is it.

I am not sure where or why there is this disconnect but it has occurred within the past 10 years. I would usually think it is just me, but my friends have the same issue. We use to love the shows, love to go to the shows, ramble about the good ole days and aww of the new shows. That luster is gone.

sometimes as we age the luster goes on many things we were passionate about before, especially if it changes from what we were used to. I remember my Dad and granddad saying the same about drum corps in the early 80s..being they came from the 50s and 60s

[GUARDLING]

I agree that there were some really fine programs out there, but my ratio is far lower than 11:1. And many of them got beaten by programs that weren't nearly as fine.

Am I bitter? Not really. But I am disappointed for the kids who marched their hearts out only to be beaten because there show wasn't "innovative" enough.

For the record, there were 4 of the top 12 that I really liked, 3 on which I was fairly indifferent and 5 that I really didn't care for. Of those, 2 were in the top 5, and two were #11 and #12. That's probably a big part of why I left the season disheartened. Should I pay lots of money to see a show that I like 33% of the time? I can tell you that if it were a Broadway musical (another passion of mine), I wouldn't be going back if I only like 33% of it.

you go to one broadway show at a time not everything on Broadway..which Im sure none of us would like everthing on broadway I would think 33% would be pretty good

[Grandpa]

sometimes as we age the luster goes on many things we were passionate about before, especially if it changes from what we were used to. I remember my Dad and granddad saying the same about drum corps in the early 80s..being they came from the 50s and 60s

Very true. I came to Canada from England when I was 9. I remember England as this wonderful, happy place full of magic and castles. In fact, my neighbourhood was one step away from being a slum. But I choose to remember it like it was right out of a Winnie-the-Pooh story.

Memory gets a little distorted over time, and the further away you get, the better it looks....