"Tour of Champions" 2013

[cixelsyd]

If nothing, I am consistent... I've been suggesting for years that classes should be restructured and maybe some corps might find a better fit outside of DCI, maybe DCA.

I honestly don't see what benefit open class corps (and some world) receive from participation in DCI events vs. doing their own thing or joining DCA.

Well, what benefits do top corps receive from participation in DCI events? There is your answer.

[normy diploome]

I am impressed that the supposed financial "commitment" of each of the G7 is roughly equal the camp and tour fee for one marching member for a season.

Did the individual members volunteer to be the sacrificial offering for the new project? Are the kids as committed to this as these directors, the most influential in the G7 who make their full time salaries from this activity?

I wonder if the discussion is really about 'the activity."

[cixelsyd]

NASCAR is a privately-owned company, not a non-profit, and they charge a fee for drivers and team owners who want to enter their events. By that token, they're closer to Danielray's idea of a privately-owned DCI (over on another thread here somewhere). They don't really "owe" anyone anything but whatever it is they've agreed to pay them. Drivers often make more from their team sponsors than they do from their NASCAR performances, so for even the best competitors, the money they make from NASCAR isn't the engine that drives them.

But those sponsors only give them money because of the exposure they get from NASCAR sponsorship.

[cixelsyd]

A community corps league could have their national championships aligned with DCI as it is now, but should be organized and managed separately.

That is how it is done currently.

Also, these corps could really be set up using a sort of templated approach. All operations for these groups could be pretty much uniform and templated (every single form, every single doc, sort of drum corps in a box) that would make it easy for groups in various communities to create a new community corps.

Basically, it can be pretty much set up to where you know that if you want to have a community corps, it will cost you $X for equipment $Y staffing $Z regional tour cost... and then a national championship trip on top for those that wish to go.

Wow - another one who thinks all those "other corps" are all the same.

[cixelsyd]

No, it was not. It was set up to benefit the 13 founding members. Early on they let others come and compete at champs, but to us the G7 terminology, they provided no real service to those corps.

But they did provide real service to the corps who filled out lineups at other tour shows, receiving appearance fees in the process. Those fees might have been lower than the member corps rate, but every dollar is a dollar of real service.

[cixelsyd]

Do Cadets owe more to DCI than Mandarins?

That depends on how much Cadets borrowed, and how much they paid back.

[MikeD]

But they did provide real service to the corps who filled out lineups at other tour shows, receiving appearance fees in the process. Those fees might have been lower than the member corps rate, but every dollar is a dollar of real service.

If the meaning of the word 'service' is synonomous to 'dollar' you are right. I don't think that is what the G7 mean by the word 'service', since they are open to allowing anyone to compete at champs.

[cixelsyd]

What people don't seem to be fully grasping is the impact a split would have on recruiting.

You are correct about that. But maybe you should include yourself among them.

G7 corps will still retain the same level of talent in a split, as there is still a high level of competition. Boston and Madison attract and retain a high level of talent because they compete with other corps that are also on a high level of talent. You take this aspect away from these corps and they will struggle to retain a high level of talent.

Or G7 corps will lose talent who prefer to compete in DCI, and talent who prefer DCI drum corps to whatever derivative performance ensembles Music in Motion, Inc. become. And by "talent", that may well include staff in addition to marchers.

[Jeff Ream]

I agree with you that DCI should not focus on sports companies as potential sponsors. The thing is that many, if not most, CEO's and Marketing Directors of For-Profit companies were involved with sports when they were in school not arts; and not only that, their macho character which propelled them to their adult business stature was learned through sports; and more often than not these are the same people who made fun of the geeks in marching band. 'That' is a hard image for DCI to overcome.

I don't disagree that the band image is tough to overcome. We don't make it easy on ourselves.

[Jeff Ream]

And yet, one of the things that will mark DCI's (or someone's) triumph as a marketing company will be when they ARE able to convince mainstream audiences how cool drum corps is.

The question is whether the drum corps themselves are willing to be partners in the game, by ditching some of the elements that make drum corps geeky (or "Gleeky", if you prefer).

Without stepping on too many toes, I hope, can we agree that the men in the guards need to be playing "men", not 'unisex" characters, that the uniform looks, while traditional, don't usually scream "badazz" to a general audience, and that any piece of music that isn't developed with a payoff in mind is probably not going to help in creating a memorable production. DCI's shows are still working through the early 80s impulse to be seen as serious pieces of art rather than just being outdoors entertainment. Not saying you can't be both, but some corps really seem to have a little overly-high view of their artistic abilities.

Oh, and no one, under any situation, use the word "pageantry", unless you want to give the band-geek cliche another day of oxygen.

win