Predictions on Wildwood

[Kyle B]

Completely agree.

I think incomplete shows are an unfortunate by-product of more intricate and integrated show design. It takes time for several caption designers to agree on certain moments or phrases. This is my 10th year in drum corps (between DCI and DCA). I can recall two instances of learning or teaching drill in April/early May that actually stayed in the show throughout the season. Every remaining year, we learned drill in the spring that was ultimately rewritten or completely scrapped.

There's also the issue of corps not knowing what their numbers are until spring-time. Some groups have no idea what their guard/percussion numbers are until April, when WGI is over.

Of course these are just excuses (legit excuses, but still ...). If you commit to a show date, you owe it to the paying audience to at least pretend to put on a complete show.

I've done this for 9 years, and I can say that at least with one organization, what you saw in Wildwood is pretty much what you got in September.

Plan your show better, and you won't have much rewrites.

[Kyle B]

I hear you Kyle. But still no one has answered my question. You said you didn't want to pay for an incomplete product. Would you rather pay for no product? Or, if you consider the grouping of corps at a specific show the "Product," then youd pay for an even more incomplete product?

I guess I just think its odd that alot of people are complaining about corps potentially not being finished their show this early, but there are other corps that choose to pull out of the show altogether, and everyone seems cool with that?

I dunno, if I was paying for something, I'd prefer to get 90% of it than 0%.

Sean, it is not early, it's the start of the season, and while there are a lot more shows in front of it, there aren't a lot of shows to begin with. Corps ask to join this show, so...show respect to the people who drive a far distance, pay a lot for hotels and gas, and have a finished product, IMO.

[BushDad1213]

A few points as I(still somewhat of a noob) see them:

1- Not sure if it alternates, but Wildwood is a week earlier than it was last year. Then a week off, then 1 show(Bridgeport), THEN the season kicks in. Technically, yes it is the beginning of the season and the hard line is the corps should be ready, but many corps don't have a show until July 5th.

2- I disagree with discounting the effect that Indoor running into May has on corps. If half your battery cannot make rehearsals because they are competing, it will delay progress. If your recruiting prospects won't come to camps until Indoor is done, it will delay progress. Just because 1 or 2 corps do not seem to have this affect them or found a way around it, it does not mean a rebuilding corps struggling to fill spots, isn't trying to be 100% complete by Wildwood.

3- At least they are showing up and trying to put on the best show they can at the time.

4- I would assume that most people driving or flying in just for this show already know that a few shows won't be complete. Also, while it may look funky to straight up newcomers, the show is during Legion or VFW weekends in Wildwood, and most casual spectators probably are from these crowds anyway and probably just familiar enough with it to understand and not criticize incomplete shows.

Edited June 14, 2013 by BushDad1213

[VOReason]

With all these coordinators, designers and technicians, it is all so simple that the name of the month even tells you what to do...MARCH! And if all these coordinators, designers and technicians, who have from Thanksgiving weekend through the middle of June to put on an approx. 10 minute marching band show can't seem to have their corps ready, then perhaps they are in the wrong business.

[BushDad1213]

With all these coordinators, designers and technicians, it is all so simple that the name of the month even tells you what to do...MARCH! And if all these coordinators, designers and technicians, who have from Thanksgiving weekend through the middle of June to put on an approx. 10 minute marching band show can't seem to have their corps ready, then perhaps they are in the wrong business.

Can't teach people if they aren't there.

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

Plan your show better, and you won't have much rewrites.

Totally agree. But not every October idea lands in April. The most competitively successful shows I've been a part of were BARELY completed by our first show. It was ugly but we were better off getting the rewrites out of the way sooner rather than later. *shrug* I'm a part of a completely different group under completely different circumstances, so I don't know ... different strokes?

shenanigans on the WGI route. You have corps here in the NE that have people tied to an indoor circuit that goes until the first weekend of May.

If you're still unsure of numbers in April and May, your admin team and staff hasn't done their jobs right. Losing someone here and there...it happens. If you wrote for 40 and you're still at 20 in April, then there's far larger issues

Ok, I probably shouldn't have lumped WGI percussion in. Completely different story with guard, though. A group hurting in guard numbers is going to take what they can get after Dayton. Not saying it's a good approach -- far from it -- but lots of corps do it.

Agree with the second paragraph. Any group that has hole-fillers in the double digits is setting themselves up for failure.

[VOReason]

Can't teach people if they aren't there.

Can't field a drum corps if the people aren't there either. And can't always expect the paying audience and the circuit to indulge while the corps scrapes together enough people for a reasonalbe facimile of a drum corp. Not to mention wasting the time of a well meaning membership.

[LegalEagle50]

A few points as I(still somewhat of a noob) see them:

1- Not sure if it alternates, but Wildwood is a week earlier than it was last year. Then a week off, then 1 show(Bridgeport), THEN the season kicks in. Technically, yes it is the beginning of the season and the hard line is the corps should be ready, but many corps don't have a show until July 5th.

2- I disagree with discounting the effect that Indoor running into May has on corps. If half your battery cannot make rehearsals because they are competing, it will delay progress. If your recruiting prospects won't come to camps until Indoor is done, it will delay progress. Just because 1 or 2 corps do not seem to have this affect them or found a way around it, it does not mean a rebuilding corps struggling to fill spots, isn't trying to be 100% complete by Wildwood.

3- At least they are showing up and trying to put on the best show they can at the time.

4- I would assume that most people driving or flying in just for this show already know that a few shows won't be complete. Also, while it may look funky to straight up newcomers, the show is during Legion or VFW weekends in Wildwood, and most casual spectators probably are from these crowds anyway and probably just familiar enough with it to understand and not criticize incomplete shows.

1) No. Wildwood has been Father's Day Weekend since its beginning in 2004. Unlike Christmas being December 25th of every year, or the 4th of July always falling on, well, the 4th of July, it is more like Labor Day. Mobile.

2) It is the same corps year after year who don't have finished shows. Give members a reason to be there on non-WGI/winter circuit days. Build the show from Day 1. Rebuilding or not, if you do not have a complete show, come up with a creative end to the performance. Not just suddenly turn and march off the field. Casual spectators = newcomers in reality. Hook a newcomer in and they will come back, or even travel an hour to a show. Lose them from the start and they aren't coming back again.

3) Your reasoning is similar to those who used to show up at the SAT's, sign their name and get the basic score. Don't paying customers deserve a little bit more than "Hey!! We're here! You should be happy with that!"

4) See the latter part of point 2. I've been around DCA since '91 (as a participant) and 2001 as a spectator. Every year the guards go later into the season to complete their books. It is visually a fail, and GE-wise a fail. As a relative newcomer if they could tell you the difference in guard work and they will tell you no. As that relative newcomer if they got as much out of Show A or Show B and they are smart enough to know the difference.

[Geoff]

Look, the performers (corps) have an OBLIGATION to be ready for the curtain rise!

If it's too difficult to be ready, meaning present the full show (not necessarily be clean) by such date . . . . START YOUR PREPARATIONS EARLIER!

This has been a sore point for years. There was a time when corps put out full and complete shows by Memorial Day. The weather was no different then, was it? Shut up, Al Gore! Look, the shows are shorter than those days, the entire season is shorter, etc. How can we change this? I see the same thing happening in DCI.

And the shows were much easier. No offense to those who marched then...

[Dan Detweiler]

While I understand the arguments on both sides (somewhat), I have to agree with Bush Dad on this one. I find it somewhat ironic that the DCI corps aren't even out yet and for some reason DCA corps are expected to be at a higher level of completion, rehearsing on the weekends than the DCI corps, rehearsing every day. Granted, if you sign up for a show in mid June, you know what your getting into. I get that.

Having said that though, I have to say that this is a "buyer beware" market when you buy a ticket to one of these early shows. These corps, I assume, are not putting incomplete shows out there on purpose. Lord knows that when you only have 4 or 5 shows all year (which is pretty common in DCA), you can't afford to tank an early show competitively on the hope that the judges will reward "progress" as the season goes on. There just aren't that many performance opportunities.

We all know how hard it is to field a drum corps for a season, as seen by the large number of corps that go under these days. Each corps deals with their own personal challenges in what they feel is in the best interest of their unit. I think that too often we are overly judgmental based on our own desire to see finished products, or near finished products when shows happen to be in our area. Let's give some credit where credit is due. These people are all doing the very best that they can in their circumstances to field the best possible shows they can. Nobody wants to go out there and embarrass themselves or their corps intentionally.

I say let the judges do what they must on the sheets, but let's at least give those people that are out there doing their best the credit they deserve for their efforts and not be so judgmental based on our own preconceived ideas of what is deemed worthy for public consumption. I don't think trashing them on a public forum is doing anybody any good.

As always, just my two cents.

Dan