strutta Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 (edited) As Mr. Adcock suggested, I wil chime in here as Director of Mass Brass. We are not competing in mini corps this year and there are several reasons why. As I read through this thread, many of you hit on pieces of what adds up to the reason Mass Brass is not competing. Please note, I am not speaking for any other mini corps that has chosen not to compete. I am simply sharing what we have gone through. Mass Brass has competitively entered the mini corps competition since 2002. Prior to that many of the original members competed as far back as 1998 with the Crusaders Sr Corps mini corps. That's as many as 15 years for some of us. During that time there have been several alumni corps and a few other offshoots of drum corps that have been around or come and gone within about a 20 mile radius of our home base. Yet there is still only a limited number of drum corps people in the pool that are willing to make the necessary commitment to do mini corps for a year and it is dwindling. I honestly believe that burnout has played a significant factor in maintaining the number of quality musicians necessary to stay with the elite. Add to this that everyone of us has real lives around this activity and that limits practice and rehearsal time. Further, let's face it people, we as humans are getting old and some are dying. Doing competitive mini corps is real work that becomes grinding as the year goes on. Now, throw in the added expense to travel, to do paying gigs to offset the expenses for music rights, arranging, insurance, hall rentals, instruction, unis, etc. and even something as simple as egos and personality conflicts and this becomes a significant endeavor for all involved. Ray, as you predicted, I will say that Star's dominence has not played into our stepping away this year. However, the fact the bar has been raised so significantly (lead by them for sure but others contributed) HAS had an impact. The decision for Mass Brass to not compete was not an easy one but every member was in agreement that we did not want to go down there and suck. We would rather take our limited resources and membership to a more appropriate venue and perform there. We take pride in our corps and we all want to compete at the highest level we can reasonably expect. Thus, our decision this year was made for brass choir. We have not closed the door on Mini Corps for 2014. Whether we are back will depend on how we do with keeping membership, renewing new members and maintaining a pursuit of excellence that has been the earmark of this corps for many years. Peace out y'all! Edited August 23, 2013 by strutta 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Let's face it DCA has done a good job on the field getting the all age activity a much lower age now days. The older guys,,the guys with surgical scars older than the kids marching today, the beer drinkers,,the party gys have had to give way to the new breed of DCA. Those guys are not making the trips to DCA anymore. Without sounding like a horses rear end who do you think that most of those mini corps were comprised of? Young athletic fresh off the DCI circuit? Not for the most part. Most of the minis were comprised of older vets of other corps that made the trip with their respective corps and did the mini corps thing on the side. These guys are not making the trips anymore or have just lost interest in the activity to the point where participation is not a option any more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 In terms of cost $125? Come on guys that does not seem like deal killer. $20 bucks a person max maybe? Not that big a deal. People talk about paying to play and I gotta wonder why you are doing mini corps in the first place. Its pretty clear this is not a proffesional gig where you are getting paid to play. If you want that I am sure there are plenty of folks out there willing to pay to hear you play. Good luck with that. I can tell you from someone that was passionate about the mini corps field that $125 music rights were the least of our concerns. In 2004 when Music City Legend jumped into the mix we had travel expenses to Scranton in the neighbor hood of $1k per member and that is all we did that year was mini corps. In 2006 and I was with Derby City and Derby City made the trip to Rochester. Again total cost per member was about 1k. 2010 saw me with Rocketeers only for I@E. I somehow managed to budjet that one in for around $500 probably because we decided at the last weeks to pull out of mini corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustyboo Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 So who are the four? We know Star United and Ghost Riders but I still haven't seen an actual line up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Probably The Great Thunderbirds! They have been a while for a long time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 I always saw the Mini-Corps event as a celebration, a continuation of what we all used to do back when, in a more formal way. A group of folks got together, dusted off their tools, and enjoyed an opportunity to play their hearts out yet again. Totally entertaining, certainly not too formal. Best show of the weekend for the money. Wait! It was free! What a good time and VERY accessible to participants and audience. I was disappointed to see drill moves entering the picture. Surely, this new component is considered "over the top" for many early participants. And, yes, the impressive talent, sophistication, and success of Star United has probably taken a little air out of everyone's balloon. 100 likes for this post. When I first saw BLAST around 2005ish I said to myself that it will be just a matter of time before we start to see this creep into the mini corps stage. If you want to put the blame on anyone put the blame on Blast. Movement,drill and staging were around when I got into it in 2004 and probably well before that. Music City did full drill on the slanted ski slope parking lot in Scranton that night. 2 other corps that night also had some sort of drill and or movment in their show. I distincly remember the group Joey Pero played with back in 2006 and 2007. I think it was Ghost Riders???? Someone can correct me on that. They did quite a bit of staging. Renegades also did quite a bit of movement and staging as well. So several groups over the years have tried to incorperate movement, drill and staging in some form or fashion over the years. It just took that corps from Indiana to take it to the next level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Ray, I understand what you are trying to say. Star United's stranglehold at the top could 'suck the oxygen' out of the competitive environment for some. But I hope it is not a major factor. There are no easy answers there. I think the performance level of all units have risen a good deal in recent years. We have to up the ante every season and have been lucky enough to stay on top. I would hope that the rising performance levels would inspire more then deter. But I have been known to be wrong. I like to think that there is more to Minicorps the winning. For most it is more or less a one shot deal. I am not going to BS anybody and say I don't want to win, but it really is not what drives my group forward. And I sure hope that is true for everyone else. It is all about the crowd and beating your own goals and expectations. If anything the one prize most worth winning has been the exhibition slot in finals. The chance to play for that crowd is a huge incentive. Sadly that is something we recently learned is also not to be this year. The Commandant's Own performance is bumping the Minicorps Champs performance. I guess DCA cannot find 10 minutes more for the little guys, despite the fact that it takes longer to get the finalist corps on the field. But that is another thread. I am sure music rights are an issue for some. Not much can be done about that though. It is the world we live in. I had always hoped that more Minicorps competition and performance opportunities would ultimately develop to make all the rights and practice worth while. It is a chicken and egg conundrum. oh trust me, having watched itfor several years, listened in the bars and read about on here, who wins is very important to a lot of people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Perhaps a dumb question here.... But do the mini-corps have to pay those various "rights fees" simply because the mini-corps show is recorded for sale? If that's the case, perhaps if that show wasn't recorded for sale... it might help bring more mini-corps to the event. but remember, they #####ed and moaned they weren't being recorded. it was like they wanted to be the main act ( not all, but some vocal parties), and hell, they weren't even having admission charged...I mean some of them wanted everything for nothing, and DCA wasn't making a dime on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 So who are the four? We know Star United and Ghost Riders but I still haven't seen an actual line up. The Freelancers have it listed on their schedule ... along with Thurs night at "The Dock" and Sunday at the Alumni Classic No clue on who the 4th group is ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 oh trust me, having watched itfor several years, listened in the bars and read about on here, who wins is very important to a lot of people. Yeah its crazy. I was in the mens restroom washing my hands in 2010 at I@E listening to a couple of dudes in the stalls whining about some of the corps,,the repitores, the placements and the scores. It was pretty childish and pathetic. Its one thing to make a effect argument about this or that but its another when all you can do is bash someone for winning and how they do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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