13strokeroll Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I know International Class has seen a little bit of action over the past few years; but, what is DCI's actual presence in Europe and Asia? I know the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands do have a respectable corps presence; but little of that seems to translate into the 2nd week in August, presumably due to the cost of transport and travel to the US. However, would a larger DCI presence overseas create increased interest and funding to make more trips possible? Since consensus will probably never exist about the next direction to draw new audiences, perhaps the next ready-made niche already exists and is simply untapped. It is always more desireable to tap an existing market than it is to fabricate a new one. It is easier to sell to existing customers than create new ones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I know International Class has seen a little bit of action over the past few years; but, what is DCI's actual presence in Europe and Asia? I know the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands do have a respectable corps presence; but little of that seems to translate into the 2nd week in August, presumably due to the cost of transport and travel to the US. However, would a larger DCI presence overseas create increased interest and funding to make more trips possible? Since consensus will probably never exist about the next direction to draw new audiences, perhaps the next ready-made niche already exists and is simply untapped. It is always more desireable to tap an existing market than it is to fabricate a new one. It is easier to sell to existing customers than create new ones. DCI has no official presence outside North America...the corps in Europe, Japan, etc all have their own ruling bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Other Mike Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Drum Corps 2014 - The State of the Activity Genkus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFitz19 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 While I agree with much of Lee’s article, I do take issue with a couple of conclusions, which seem to have become part of current drum corps conventional wisdom. First, not all corps have similar uniforms. Just compare Crown’s uniforms to those of the Blue Devils. Crown’s are tight fitting, top to bottom. BD’s are looser with lots of paraphernalia on them. Shakos couldn’t be more different. Second, I do not believe all corps sound the same. Once again, compare Crown to BD. Totally different sound. SCV, Cadets—each also produces a different sound, neither like those of Crown or BD. One thing I strongly agree with, however, is the idea of the folly of difficulty for difficulty’s sake. So much of what is difficult and rewarded by the judges does not even get communicated to the stands. Also, maybe the increase in difficulty owes as much to George Zingali as it does to Hopkins. GZ invented the drill that could not be perfected, but he perfected it. On the whole a thoughtful and enjoyable article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 And we just can't say..."Great article Lee! Loved what yo had to say!" No, we have to rub salt into a wound. Lee wrote an excellent article and yet one has to use the word "failure." Does anyone really fail? Or do we make a mistakes and hopefully learn from them? Lee is probably more successful in drum corps and in life than any of his hope to be. Seems to me some members of DCP just want to throw mud around or push people down. Bully! Harsh term but the truth. Heck, I was called a bully for standing up for the corps of today. Got kicked out of a site on FB on which I probably had more time in a school bus than others had marching. Anyways, stop trying to make yourself smarter than the next and work together. BE NICE!!! Maybe drum corps is the way it is today because of all the negativism! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcibrando Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Lee - *** STANDING OVATION *** excellent summary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 (edited) Alright, here I go with a dissenting opinion again.... This guy wants modern corps to compete with his nostalgia?! Impossible and uneccessary. All those examples of historical drum corps moments that were popular with fans weren't viewed with a 41 year old DCI drum corps history. It was a time for people where asymmetrical drill was new and exciting... Asymmetrical drill! If you take away the cynical and nastaligic lens that old drum corps guys like to view corps then maybe they'll see it the way I see it. Where everything about drum corps is way better. They are more entertaining, and eye-poppingly amazing than ever. Just because you don't like a BD show doesn't mean the activity is All abstract and obtuse. I mean we have threads here about corps doing "old school" or "retro show". Do you think people in 1981 were saying that? What was retro in 1981? I think atleast half of this class of DCI fans are unfortunately trapped with idea that past always seems sweeter than the present and reliving it by suggesting corps to do retro shows is an indicator of that. I guess the OP is right. How can you find a show like Crown's entertaining when all you can think about is a Bridgeman snare break or constantly thinking "BITD... blah blah blah". Also, the OP said that standing still during your drum solo now would kill your score. Wrong!! What about simply going up and down te 50 yard line? The Cadets drum feature did exactly all those things and they won drums. The stood still, only marched down the 50 and had no body.... Just saying... Edited August 27, 2013 by charlie1223 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcibrando Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 The Cadets drum feature did exactly all those things and they won drums. The stood still, only marched down the 50 and had no body.... Just saying... I get what you're saying in your original post... but the cadets actually did have body movement after marching forward... only really stood still on the flip-flops (about 3-4 measures) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 (edited) Drum Corps 2014 - The State of the Activity Lee Rudnicki here is pretty much echoing what some of us have been saying for quite some time now. Lee is not the only one that has cache and stature in the activity that are saying this either. The question is if his assessment will have a postive effect that changes things for the better. There is a lot at stake now, and the margins for error are much tighter. DCI can't afford to not grow its fan base. While Corps experiment, the economics and the mathmatics of this enterprise go on unimpeded. The laws of real world Economics and of Financial Mathmatics don't stop while we are discussing what Corps should do in the future. And there is no Performing Arts that has a viable future if it disregards an audience or potential audience. There is very little nobility to having an unsustainable bank account because of a lack of audience growth even if we personally think the product is excellent and better than before. Golf claps for top Corps is not something to be admired nor encouraged. It is not good for the performer who puts in the time, energy, and cost to the effort. Nor is it noble to have a future performer to learn tohave a disregard, apathy, or worse, a distain for an audience.In the end, a performer who performs but without a connection to an audience is left empty and can only look inward for some level of satsfaction with that result. At its most basic levels, music is non verbal communication. Music needs to communicate with its audience. If it does not, it is not the fault of the audience that payed to come to receive that communication. Edited August 27, 2013 by BRASSO 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 And we just can't say..."Great article Lee! Loved what yo had to say!" No, we have to rub salt into a wound. Lee wrote an excellent article and yet one has to use the word "failure." Does anyone really fail? Or do we make a mistakes and hopefully learn from them? Lee is probably more successful in drum corps and in life than any of his hope to be. Seems to me some members of DCP just want to throw mud around or push people down. Bully! Harsh term but the truth. Heck, I was called a bully for standing up for the corps of today. Got kicked out of a site on FB on which I probably had more time in a school bus than others had marching. Anyways, stop trying to make yourself smarter than the next and work together. BE NICE!!! Maybe drum corps is the way it is today because of all the negativism! Since I am the "one" who used "failure", I want to say that you're picking for picking-sake in a much more harsh way than I intended. (I changed the word selection above, FYI.) I carefully chose failure BECAUSE failure is usually overcome. "GRIEF" is something that usually stays with a person longer than failure. Besides giving me no credit for being thoughtful you then go on to call me a bully. Jeesh, Keith, give me a break, huh? Sorry, it's not the truth. I'm hardly deluding myself into believing that I'm "smarter" than Lee (although it's possible that I am, I don't know), and that was not the intention of my post. And what if I disagree with what he has to say? Am I labeled a "bully" still? Jeesh, give it up, Keith. BTW, this "successful" and obviously talented Lee didn't mention anything at all about "negativism" and its impact on drum corps. Are you trying to make yourself seem smarter than he is? Get off your high-horse, Keith. You're not the high prince of DCP, this s a discussion board and Lee put his article out there, I presume, to discuss, and I'll say whatever I ####-well want to say here until the mods intervene (which hasn't happened here to me yet as it has to you on FB). Somehow I doubt that Lee, with his experience in the ruff-and-tumble world of Hollywood agency, got his panties in a twist nearly as much as you did. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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