Music City 2014

[Chris Cartwright]

I'm sure many of you have seen this on dci.org. Opinions? Comments?

http://www.musiccitydrumcorps.org/news.aspx?i=70

[3rd&10]

How legit is this? Are we talking a deficit of $20,000 minus Mr. Hall's support or $50,000+?

Prospective members deserve to know the likelihood of the corps raising enough to provide for a competitive experience.

While the fundraisers may be the results of best intentions, it may be a situation where a corps has its financial guts ripped out and doesn't recover.

He started the corps with the full expectation Music City would compete in World Class. Before hitting the field they applied for WC status and were denied. Thus began the long slide into Open Class debt. Limited to no show fees can do that to a corps. The limited staff budget (resulting, up until this year, in a very ineffective teaching staff) kept the corps in the middle of the OC pack at best.

I'm sure many of you have seen this on dci.org. Opinions? Comments?

http://www.musiccitydrumcorps.org/news.aspx?i=70

[drumcorpsfever]

I'm sure many of you have seen this on dci.org. Opinions? Comments?

http://www.musiccity.../news.aspx?i=70

I would say to take this at face value. Keith Hall and Music City have been extremely forthright in communication. As a parent of an alum, I feel confident that they will continue to be open in communication and be very responsible in the operation of the corps. I firmly believe that if there is a December camp, there will be a 2014 corps.

Edited September 29, 2013 by drumcorpsfever

[musiccitybrass]

"The limited staff budget (resulting, up until this year, in a very ineffective teaching staff) kept the corps in the middle of the OC pack at best."

That " ineffective staff" built that corps from nothing to full size in three seasons. Most of the "ineffective staff" received only gas money. As the "ineffective" brass caption head I made thousands of phone calls for recruiting and retention purposes per season. My staff and I worked 50-60 hours a week (offseason) to build a hornline. We inherited 11 brass players in April of the first season and by the third season the "ineffective" brass staff built it to 80. Of that 80, a vast amount weren't even primarily brass players. We as an "ineffective" staff did the most "ineffective" job we could in educating young musicians and helping them acquire skills to be successful and functional within a drum corps brass section. Now if you'd like to criticize that "ineffective" staff further you can contact me directly. If you're wondering, yes that upsets me. Calling a staff that built something so quickly, meaning nearly every year was a new group of members, and still made finals and finished top six or better in brass every year..... I'd say that's #### effective. Do not discredit the level of commitment that those staff and members put forth to build a corps that went from nothing to something in five very short years. That's insulting not only to that staff but most importantly to the work and sacrifice of the members. Those kids could've went anywhere else but they decided to stay at MCDC because they believed in their staff and wanted to build something special.... And that's exactly what they did. Ineffective to you, maybe. To them, it was exactly how it needed to happen.

[mahler444]

Hey 3rd&10, I was also a part of that ineffective staff for three years. As you can see I don't hide behind the computer. If you want to discuss the finer points of teaching you can contact me directly also. I don't know what your credentials are to judge us ineffective. I'm sure you're qualified though.

How many of those MDCD shows did you see in those years? I know you were just running your mouth without thinking, and you probably didn't mean to offend, but frankly I'm glad you did. It gives me a chance to elaborate on what the former brass caption was talking about above. See, with a world class group, when you have this neat thing called auditions, you get to listen to a bunch of great players who are most often probably music majors, and majors on their instruments at that. How many trumpet players do you think auditioned for Crown this year? You know how I got my trumpet section the three years I taught with Music City? Phone calls and text messages. We begged, pleaded, and cajoled people into giving it a try. I think I had as many non trumpet players as trumpet players until 2012. They were great kids, hard workers. They were flute players and saxophone players and, well, you get the idea. Top 6 in brass with a bunch of non brass players? I'll take it. I bet BDB and SCVC and Oregon Crusaders don't have that problem. Oh, and since you probably know the shows that we played, I'm sure you remember how much help we got from the design of the shows, right? Right, I'll let you go back and check that out.

I'll let you go and get in touch with the members who marched those years. I bet they would tell you how ineffective we were. If you want references, you can contact me and I will send them your way.

[Geoff]

Moved to open class.

[cixelsyd]

How legit is this? Are we talking a deficit of $20,000 minus Mr. Hall's support or $50,000+?

Prospective members deserve to know the likelihood of the corps raising enough to provide for a competitive experience.

And management deserves the chance to raise that money, before we cast final judgment.

While the fundraisers may be the results of best intentions, it may be a situation where a corps has its financial guts ripped out and doesn't recover.

And it may be a situation where a corps grows a whole new base of funding support. They made top 25, after all. That level of success can attract new sponsors, better endorsement deals, and more tangible support from the fan base.

As for the rest of your post...

He started the corps with the full expectation Music City would compete in World Class. Before hitting the field they applied for WC status and were denied. Thus began the long slide into Open Class debt. Limited to no show fees can do that to a corps. The limited staff budget (resulting, up until this year, in a very ineffective teaching staff) kept the corps in the middle of the OC pack at best.

... hard to assign credibility to an anonymous poster who rips on an entire teaching staff in this manner. How am I to believe you have inside information when you make comments like that?

[BrassClef]

Glad to see them being PROACTIVE in their efforts and hopefully will see them be a competitve group in Open Class. Keep it up Music City.

[3rd&10]

Look I am sure the design & teaching staffs of Music City were wonderful men & women that had the best interest of the members at heart. However, they were not good designers or teachers AS DEFINED BY THE RESULTS THE CORPS REALIZED ON THE FIELD. Ineffective does not mean a lack of commitment, it means producing less than desirable results.

This is irrefutable.

Somebody did a good job recruiting a whole bunch of HS and college kids to march in the corps. Kudos to them.

Somebody did not do a good job writing and teaching, period. Do not kid yourself and think the other Open Class corps do not face similar challenges. The 7th Regiment has grown up in the middle of a hotbed of drum corps recruiting for World Class, Open Class and DCA corps yet still presented better written and taught programs every year with less members that Music City. Oregon took a season off and came back to move to the top of the ranks in a year. I am sure the DCI membership surveys would prove that the bulk of the Open Class are converting woodwind players to brass instruments. Ask the Raiders. They made do with a lot less.

Yes, I have attended World Championships every season that Music City participated and witnessed their performances live. Best of intentions, not so much with the results. The Music City design team & tech staff was not able to translate one of the largest (if not largest) corps on the field each season into a competitively successful one.

Did I miss a season when they were anywhere close to a medal before this season? Was the visual design strong? Could the corps march well? Play in tune?

Was the color guard EVER close to the top?

Cmon, be honest. You guys worked hard and probably impacted kids lives in a positive manner. But did you make them a good drum corps? No.

And management deserves the chance to raise that money, before we cast final judgment.

And it may be a situation where a corps grows a whole new base of funding support. They made top 25, after all. That level of success can attract new sponsors, better endorsement deals, and more tangible support from the fan base.

As for the rest of your post...

... hard to assign credibility to an anonymous poster who rips on an entire teaching staff in this manner. How am I to believe you have inside information when you make comments like that?

[danp8161]

As a Director of an OC corps, I feel they did it right in shutting the corps down the way they did. They knew they could not continue , so they cut it off. That gives the members plenty of opportunity to seek out another group. No promises to the staff and then have to tell them they won't get paid. It's easy to sit back and arm chair quarter back what they should or shouldn't do