What's the purpose of DCI

[Dash Fieldpaint]

That's an interesting idea. I was only thinking of loyalty, but you're right that if people had to stay in the corps they start out in, that would level the playing field quite a bit.

Forcing people to stay with the corps they start with? That's a terrible idea. Membership in the lower corps would drop, dramatically. Let's say a 15 year old kid discovers the activity by watching the Cadets and aspires to march there one day. He's 15 and doesn't yet have the skill set to make the corps. Going to another corps to gain experience would prevent him from ever marching Cadets, the corps that got him into the activity in the first place. This kid would never think to go anywhere else. He'd audition for Cadets, once he felt he was ready, and if he gets cut he'll just sit the summer out.

There would be so many more people auditioning for the top corps than we have today, and far fewer people auditioning for the lower ranking corps. The top corps would have a larger talent pool to choose from, as well as more money from audition fees. The lower ranking corps would be smaller and the membership would be less talented than the membership today.

The disparity would be worse, and the entire activity would suffer if a rule like this was implemented.

Personally, I would have never marched with the corps I marched with had this rule been in place. I wouldn't have ever thought to go there. I went there for a season to see how I liked it and I ended up marching 3 consecutive seasons, aging out with that corps.

I marched with a lot of people who moved on to higher ranking corps. They left for a multitude of reasons, each reason is their own. If this "one corps" rule was in place these people would have either stayed and been disgruntled, or they would have just left and never marched again. Or, many of them wouldn't have been there in the first place.

[Pete Freedman]

I'd love it if the BK graph could incorporate the different shows by shape. So instead of each plot being a square, only the first listed show on a given night would get the square. Corps at the second listed show would be indicated with a circle, the third a short, wide rectangle, the fourth a tall skinny rectangle, and the fifth with a larger square (these shapes should be available in whatever graphics package they are using.) In this way we would see that two scores on a night were at two different events.

Also, since the judges are listed in DCI's scores, some interesting charts could be available. So, you could select one corps and view a single caption along with the total score (on the same chart) with the shape indicating which judge judged that caption (and a key of course). Exciting stuff.

If they want to wade into politics, they could indicate in their own server whether each viz judge is a "WGI judge" or not (based on whether they judged WGI before they judged DCI, for example). Then a special WGI Chart (similar to the one above) would use the shape to indicate only whether the judge was a WGI judge or not. Of course, you can figure that out on your own, but having it produced in an automated way would force DCI to notice, if the bias is as real as some say.

[ShortAndFast]

Different sports use different methods to shake up the mix. Drafts, for one thing. Now that would be interesting...

You can't audition for a WC drum corps anymore, you can only enter the DCI draft. You submit your audition video, which is then viewed by all the corps. The last place corps gets first pick. Each member gets picked up to three times, and then auditions in person for those corps. The corps accepts or rejects, and the member selects from among those corps who accepted him/her.

And suddenly all WC corps are on par.

And when you find a sponsor who will underwrite the whole tour and pay the performers, then you can probably do something like that. But as long as the participants have to pay $3000 tuition, they're the only ones who decide where they will and won't march.

[Pete Freedman]

Forcing people to stay with the corps they start with? That's a terrible idea.

...

I agree!

Granted, I think the poster's idea was probably more nuanced that simply a restriction to a single corps. Perhaps only for the first two years in drum corps, or up to the age of 20. Perhaps a limit of two corps for your career. But I wouldn't support any of these either.

I don't even agree with my draft idea. Just throwing it out there for discussion really. I actually agree with ShortAndFast's point above. The activity exists for the members; they get to decide where they go.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Pete Freedman

[westcoastblue]

For some members, it is for the overall experience.

For some members, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some members, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some corps administrators, it is for the overall experience.

For some corps administrators, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some corps administrators, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some judges,it is to be a part of the system and contribute, enjoy the activity.

For some judges,it is to gain rank in the system to go from less important to most important judge.

For some judges,it is to feed ego, to see oneself as a super star, be honored as an expert with definitive

taste and evaluative skills, those who can steer the activity creatively.

Other purposes:

Make money for the top 8 corps as they control everything, really everything.

Entertain, but only as an ancillary outcome of the shows corps produce with their main purpose

being to compete.

In some cases, give members an educationally based experience that grows their knowledge of the

educational process

In rare cases, support a youth non-for profit activity that is largely for the betterment of young people

as citizens regardless of what happens competitively

Not trying to make anyone angry or to sound overly negative. I simply see all this is the blatant truth.

[Jeff Ream]

DCI is for everyone that wants to be a part of it. It's for the kids, the adults with the corps and judging, and the fans.

It needs all of the above to make it all happen. if one part of that equation is having issues, it affects all parts.

[garfield]

For some members, it is for the overall experience.

For some members, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some members, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some corps administrators, it is for the overall experience.

For some corps administrators, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some corps administrators, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some judges,it is to be a part of the system and contribute, enjoy the activity.

For some judges,it is to gain rank in the system to go from less important to most important judge.

For some judges,it is to feed ego, to see oneself as a super star, be honored as an expert with definitive

taste and evaluative skills, those who can steer the activity creatively.

Other purposes:

Make money for the top 8 corps as they control everything, really everything.

Entertain, but only as an ancillary outcome of the shows corps produce with their main purpose

being to compete.

In some cases, give members an educationally based experience that grows their knowledge of the

educational process

In rare cases, support a youth non-for profit activity that is largely for the betterment of young people

as citizens regardless of what happens competitively

Not trying to make anyone angry or to sound overly negative. I simply see all this is the blatant truth.

Well, there's your answer.

One problem though, what is it to the fans? You know, those not part of the groups you list. Those who pay the very largest part of the bills in the activity as a whole?

[Pete Freedman]

Well, there's your answer.

One problem though, what is it to the fans? You know, those not part of the groups you list. Those who pay the very largest part of the bills in the activity as a whole?

Are you saying that total ticket sales plus total media revenue exceeds total tour fees? Or something similar? (I ask because coming from you that statement surely has evidence behind it! And if you answer I'll stop calling you Shirley. )

[garfield]

Are you saying that total ticket sales plus total media revenue exceeds total tour fees? Or something similar? (I ask because coming from you that statement surely has evidence behind it! And if you answer I'll stop calling you Shirley. )

Yes, that's what I'm saying. But I don't have the confidence to make it a blanket statement, so I went back and read the 990 entries for 2011 and still don't have the confidence to make it an across the board statement.

Still, Phantom Regiment, in 2011, generated about $1.258million in total revenue, and about $538m in member fees. That's not conclusive to your answer, but I believe is probably represents the majority of corps. It would not apply to corps like BD and SCV that have significant outside revenue that dwarfs what they get from performance and media sales.

[tigger2]

For some members, it is for the overall experience.

For some members, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some members, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some corps administrators, it is for the overall experience.

For some corps administrators, it is to win/living most of the season with a hope of winning.

For some corps administrators, it is to rank as high as possible, to beat others.

For some judges,it is to be a part of the system and contribute, enjoy the activity.

For some judges,it is to gain rank in the system to go from less important to most important judge.

For some judges,it is to feed ego, to see oneself as a super star, be honored as an expert with definitive

taste and evaluative skills, those who can steer the activity creatively.

Other purposes:

Make money for the top 8 corps as they control everything, really everything.

Entertain, but only as an ancillary outcome of the shows corps produce with their main purpose

being to compete.

In some cases, give members an educationally based experience that grows their knowledge of the

educational process

In rare cases, support a youth non-for profit activity that is largely for the betterment of young people

as citizens regardless of what happens competitively

Not trying to make anyone angry or to sound overly negative. I simply see all this is the blatant truth.

THIS. Unfortunately, this.

I would perhaps more aggressively state the ego part about judges and some corps' administrators.

In the world I live in I hear too many behind the scenes comments from these people that bother me to the extreme.