KAW Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 There's millions of things I love about drum corps. However, of the issues that frustrate me, this might be at the top of the list. The show designers in DCI, and especially among the top 12, are presumably the best in the world at what they do. We've all seen evidence of late with certain programs pointing to the fact that they've already begun this year's programming (e.g. "The design staff met this weekend in XYZ and had a very productive meeting"). At some point in the season Roddy or Lucia or DP will usually state that planning for next year begins the day after finals- and isn't that amazing! If that is so, then why do we: - begin virtually every season without color guard uniforms? - begin virtually every season without color guard silks? - make fans wonder what "goes there" when its complete? - have props that are introduced over the season? - have a false ending, or filler for the last minute of the show? - perform music / lyrics / singing / patches without license and hope you get them, and when you don't just don't put it on the video and assume that's okay. - Do all this and expect the customer to pay $50 to watch an incomplete show? It all just seems to be part of the drum corps culture and it's okay. I'm willing to bet even the scoring system rewards such behavior in a dysfunctional sort of way (i.e. "where's the changes?). If you look to other places where consumers spend their entertainment dollar it would never be tolerated. So, show designers and coordinators...Do your job now. Do not design and exotic color guard fabric that only exists on the island of Nu and expect it to be okay if it doesn't get here until the 7th show. Do not put together a program and be lacking in how to write the final sequence. Do not be feeding members music or drill as its being written. That speech patch you inserted at 6:30, did you really take until mid July and now you don't have licensing? I understand some will state that it is an artistic work in progress. Agreed. That's what now is for. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Seems to me that show music should be planned 2 years in advance to avoid licensing issues. It's probably not entirely practical, but considering some the copyright problems of recent years, it may be a good way to go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterA Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I have to say I agree with many of your points. It would be great to see full guard costumes and flags at the beginning of the season. And it would be nice to see full shows at the beginning of the season too. I will say there are many factors though that may prevent the full show from being performed very early season. For corps with a lot of high school students, sometimes school years run longer with weather related issues. There have been times where some schools haven't gotten out until the 10th of June, and if your first show is on the 17th, that only gives the full corps 7 days of rehearsal. I remember a story one of my first years of corps, either 77 or 78 I think, that one of the other corps directors out of the Midwest, had told us that because of the horrible winter, almost half of their kids in the corps had only been with the corps about 4 days before the first show that year. And I know personally as a band director, we have written drill for our program thinking it was one of the best shows ever, only to have it not work out on the field, and have to rewrite parts of it during the first 2 weeks of rehearsals. I am not a fan of putting on a fake ending for drum corps, but on the other hand, sometimes an ending written doesn't work out. And a few corps don't want everyone to see their ending during the early season. But I do agree, there are a lot of people that do get cheated early season, and if you are in an area where the only shows are going to be early season, then it really does bite. Most people are aware they aren't going to see August quality shows in June, but it would be great if they did get a bigger taste of what it is going to look like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWNphantomfan Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 From what I know, they don't want to put their final product on the field because the judges want to see the evolution of the show over the course of the season. They don't want to max out their visual and GE scores and then hit a plateau. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Seems to me that show music should be planned 2 years in advance to avoid licensing issues. It's probably not entirely practical, but considering some the copyright problems of recent years, it may be a good way to go. A staff is not going to plan for a show two years down the road when A) it takes every once of energy, time and patience to plan just one show, and 2) they may not be with that particular corps. Any new staff is not going to want a show planned for them by people who aren't even there anymore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 From what I know, they don't want to put their final product on the field because the judges want to see the evolution of the show over the course of the season. They don't want to max out their visual and GE scores and then hit a plateau. Often it takes "living" with a show awhile to know what needs to come out and what needs to go in. Also, I suspect that with the difficulty of shows, staffs want members to have certain things already locked into muscle memory before throwing other things at them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 From what I know, they don't want to put their final product on the field because the judges want to see the evolution of the show over the course of the season. They don't want to max out their visual and GE scores and then hit a plateau. Yeah, after all it is all about the judges. In short, this offers the "cheeks in the seats" several options; as example, do I go see: A) "Gone........." B) "Gone With...." C) "Gone With the.." ..........or D) "Gone With the Wind" All at the same price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 (edited) From what I know, they don't want to put their final product on the field because the judges want to see the evolution of the show over the course of the season. They don't want to max out their visual and GE scores and then hit a plateau. Thats fine, but then score the Corps " as is ". I don't stay for scores at local, early shows. I've seen Corps with complete shows, ( and with sufficient execution and demand, imo ) lose to Corps with " a reputation for quality " that had incomplete shows and literally marked time, or just stopped the show abruptly at the end, because they really had no closers at all... either visually, or musically. I know they were undertime. But they didn't even get an undertime penalty. So why stay for early season scores and placements on THAT ? So I and few others in our group of attendees don't. Edited September 28, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAW Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 A staff is not going to plan for a show two years down the road when A) it takes every once of energy, time and patience to plan just one show, and 2) they may not be with that particular corps. Any new staff is not going to want a show planned for them by people who aren't even there anymore. I agree, and that issue presents an entirely different problem. Not planning 2 years out because you're afriad you won't be there is really not a recipe for success. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAW Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 I know many, many have much more experience with these types of issues than I do, but it just feels that all the reasons why these things happen, like not wanting to put too much out there too soon (i.e. peak), not knowing what you have until its on the field, not planning too far in advance, etc... while individually may be partially true, but collectively they become problematic. The culture of the activity accepts them as normal because thats the way it is, and in some cases it is actually rewarded. Imagine what would happen if a corps who placed 5th the previous year came out on day 1 with everything entirely complete; a solid product that made sense in every caption and felt that it could be a championship show. During the progression of the season they change very little, maybe modify a few notes and very subtle changes. They cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Would they be succesful? I say no, because judges would get bored and expect something to change - give me something new to adjudicate because I've seen that great ending 15 times now. Those silks were fine 2 weeks ago, but now not so much. Even the instructors / designers would begin to feel like they needed to make big changes, because its what we do. That is the culture of how drum corps operates that is really never questioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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