Murfreesboro Mayhem

[BRASSO]

That's impressive. Don't the Tennessee Titans have a big, new, outdoor and acoustically tested stadium not too far away? That is just a suggestive hint if DCI were to ever get of out the can in Indy.

Show attendance is much more a function of the local show sponsors and volunteers ability to bring in fans. Some of the TOC events were well attended, some not. Some of the non TOC shows had more in paid attendance than the TOC shows. Attendance is no barometer of the degree of success of the TOC events, as the architects of the TOC concept talked about many other things that were mostly unrelated to attendance. Thus, we rightfully assess the level of success based upon those things that they told us the TOC events would do. As such, on the whole, it is my personal assessment that the TOC since its inception has mostly come up short on what the architects said it would do for the activity. They promised much more than what has currently been delivered. The opera singing by MM's, the meet and greet at the shows,the free admittance to band directors, and VIP's, the Corps encores played with local bands, etc the whole format has the look and feel of a regular DCI show to me and from those I've spoken too, to many others as well. Even the rejiggering of the judging system for these shows has pretty much given us mostly predictable placements, most of which are in line with the regular DCI shows scores and placements seen around these events dates, except for perhaps some minor spreads here and there.

Edited July 27, 2013 by BRASSO

[corpsband]

LOL. Those responses were...entertaining.

OF COURSE the line up matters -- it's the first tenet of the structure of the TOC shows.

And judging a show based on butts in seats? Guess that's just ridiculous too....

In closing...

[saxfreq1128]

Re BD using RoS choreography, Crown does the same thing with a lot of their visual moves being from original EotB choreography, in particular the frozen running poses and the laying-on-the-ground kicking, IIRC.

Didn't know that. (Somehow didn't even know EoTB had choreography, even though I've listened to it a million times.) Awesome!

[BRASSO]

OF COURSE the line up matters -- it's the first tenet of the structure of the TOC shows.

Nobody on this thread stated that the lineup of Corps does not matter in show attendance. Of course it has some impact on attendance. Some of the Regionals naturally have more in attendance than some of the TOC event shows. Its a bigger lineup. Some of the TOC event shows the last few years were well attended, some not. If the lineup was most determinative of attendance, then the TOC shows would all have similar attendance, as the number of Corps, the lineup is identical. But the attendance varies widely among the TOC shows. Plus, we'd see all the TOC shows have larger attendance than the non TOC Shows. But we don't. Some of the non TOC shows have more in attendance than the TOC shows did. But again, the architects of the TOC talked about far reaching benefits to the Drum Corps activity as a whole as a result of the TOC concept if it was adopted and implemented. I'm just not seeing such benefits however. The TOC event last night in Murphreesboro had all the look and feel of a regular DCI show with this lineup of Corps. Murphressboro historically has had great attendance at its shows. Its not a new TOC venue. Its been a DCI scheduled summer show for years. The sponsors and volunteers do a great job in bringing out the local university and the local H.S. Band community to its annual DCI shows. This year it had a good lineup, good, clear weather ( not as hot and humid last nite as in the past shows here), and the sponsors and volunteers did a great job once again in bringing out the people to the show. I believe that the attendance would have been exactly the same last nite if this was called a TOC event, or a regularly scheduled DCI show event.

Edited July 27, 2013 by BRASSO

[tja273]

...complete lack of response from a live audience...

Is that what you heard last night? You might want to have your hearing checked.

[corpsband]

. Murphressboro historically has had great attendance at its shows. Its not a new TOC venue. Its been a DCI scheduled summer show for years.

Since 2002 Murfreesboro has essentially *been* a TOC show.

[fsubone]

Since 2002 Murfreesboro has essentially *been* a TOC show.

Yeah, I always thought it was a Top 7 or 8 show, with the exception of 2009 when they split the whole field up to seed placements for Atlanta

[BRASSO]

Is that what you heard last night? You might want to have your hearing checked.

One of the additional benefits of Fan Network is that we can properly gauge... and compare and contrast... the audience reception to a Corps completed show. Last night, we had the advantage that the cameras paned the audience right after the Corps finished its last note. Its all there to see if one wants to watch the audience response to a Corps show. That said, BD staff and MM's don't care about this aspect, so its sort of a mute point with BD MM's staff, alums, etc. And thats fine too. BD doesn't care about audiences, audiences don't particularly care for the BD shows, and so its all good between BD and national coast to coast audiences re. BD as neither one cares what the other thinks re. the BD show.

[BRASSO]

Since 2002 Murfreesboro has essentially *been* a TOC show.

Not really. Murfreesboro has essentially been a DCI show since 2002. I see little to no difference at all between a TOC sponsored event here at this community or DCI sponsored event here at this community. Please consider that the TOC was supposed to be something, new, fresh, innovative regarding marketing, show format, pre show format, post show format, judging criteria and so forth. Thats how trhev architects of the TOC trumpted it when first proposed. Audience interaction was supposed to be enhanced. I'm not seeing it. Murfreesboro sure looks pretty much the same to me... including the placements. Did you REALLY see BD " enhance the audience experience" last nite over previous Murfreesboro visits by BD ? Really ? Sorry, but I missed it completely from the audience there in Murfreesboro last nite.

Edited July 27, 2013 by BRASSO

[corpsband]

Not really. Murfreesboro has essentially been a DCI show since 2002. I see little to no difference at all between a TOC sponsored event here at this community or DCI sponsored event here at this community. Please consider that the TOC was supposed to be something, new, fresh, innovative regarding marketing, show format, pre show format, post show format, judging criteria and so forth. I'm not seeing it. Murfreesboro sure looks the same to me... including placements.

No -- since 2002 it's been about having the top X corps at that show. You might remember -- that's *the* central tenet of the TOC format.

TOC *are* drum corps shows -- the idea that they're gonna diverge very far is not realistic. I think the all the small ensemble and pre-show/post-show stuff is very popular with the fans but it's certainly not critical. The meat of a TOC event is still a drum corps competition. The judging sheets *were* different -- until DCI adopted them for all shows. Also remember that this entire "version" of the TOC has very much been a compromise between factions in DCI. NO ONE is getting their way entirely.

Edited July 27, 2013 by corpsband