Drumline Battle @ PASIC!

[Jeff Ream]

My point is that if DCI lines were to actually engage in Drum Battle on a regular basis they would: a) develop material which resembled many of the I&E small ensemble routines like the very funny DCI Bass Drum Ensembles, the very entertaining DCI Cymbal Ensembles, or the funny and outrageous and somewhat irreverent antics we have seen from the UNT A Line at PASIC over the years; and b) when that type of entertainment factor is in in place within the DCI lines the 'general audience' certainly can see the drumming quality difference between the various groups.

as the DCI mindset of writing is also employed in WGI, you see a ton of showmanship in the arena.

Honestly it has nothing to do with this style vs that style, and it's all about creating a style that works with this venue. some HBCU's try hard, but they don't always succeed either.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Jeff Ream

[Stu]

as the DCI mindset of writing is also employed in WGI, you see a ton of showmanship in the arena.

Honestly it has nothing to do with this style vs that style, and it's all about creating a style that works with this venue. some HBCU's try hard, but they don't always succeed either.

And what I was trying to get across, especially to jonnyboy, was that if many of the DCI lines began to really engage in Drum Battle they would certainly produce entertaining skits like the Blast Intermission, or the many humorous small ensembles we have seen over the years in DCI I&E,, and they would also probably emulate the irreverent antics done by the UNT A Line at PASIC over the years. Thus the HBCU lines would not 'dominate and destroy' the DCI lines in Drum Battle as he contends.

Edited November 17, 2013 by Stu

[ma24le]

So was anyone else there? Unfortunately this thread turned in to a pissing contest instead of some info and more videos on the actual "battles" at PASIC.

How fair do you think it was to have a high school line compete against a collegiate line? Would think there would be 2 division.

Either way, both lines threw down.

[Stu]

So was anyone else there? Unfortunately this thread turned in to a pissing contest instead of some info and more videos on the actual "battles" at PASIC.

How fair do you think it was to have a high school line compete against a collegiate line? Would think there would be 2 division.

Either way, both lines threw down.

If the ‘Drum Battle’ is all about style and show, as opposed to quality of notes, then is does not matter if it is University of Alabama, Ben Davis High School, Grambling State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Basel Switzerland’s Top Secret Drum Line, the Concord Blue Devils, Stone Mountain Middle School, or Jack and Jill Water Pail Pre-School Drum Line. The line which produces the most entertaining general population stereotype antics, which have nothing to do with music, can and will win the day. This also goes for the anything goes 'Sound Sport' where a kazoo band dressed up in clown suits can also win the day.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Stu

[DarkHorner]

If the Drum Battle is all about style and show, as opposed to quality of notes, then is does not matter if it is University of Alabama, Ben Davis High School, Grambling State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Basel Switzerlands Top Secret Drum Line, the Concord Blue Devils, Stone Mountain Middle School, or Jack and Jill Water Pail Pre-School Drum Line. The line which produces the most entertaining general population stereotype antics, which have nothing to do with music, can and will win the day. This also goes for the anything goes 'Sound Sport' where a kazoo band dressed up in clown suits can also win the day.

If you watch a video of UNA's performance, you will see that it had nothing to do with antics. The showier lines all lost to pure technique and excellence.

[DarkHorner]

So was anyone else there? Unfortunately this thread turned in to a pissing contest instead of some info and more videos on the actual "battles" at PASIC.

How fair do you think it was to have a high school line compete against a collegiate line? Would think there would be 2 division.

Either way, both lines threw down.

I was there, and I don't think it is fair to compare any high school line to a collegiate line. However, I think Ben Davis could have beaten a few of the collegiate lines that were there.

From everything I saw, the judges being affiliated with DCI meant technique was valued above showiness. For instance, Tennessee Tech (an HBCU line) never stood a chance from the start. Whereas, The University of North Alabama (with the closest thing to Cadets style of writing outside of drum corps) was almost guaranteed to win. I think a more diverse cast of judges would help put lines of different styles on more equal footing.

[garfield]

As most here know, I'm solidly behind the DLB effort. But one thing has bugged me since the announcement last spring and another thing seems unanswered about the PASIC show.

First, if a significant portion of DLB's intended results is to get kids out in front of the crowd and interested in marching arts and, hence, excited about joining a corps, where will these new interested kids go if that effort is successful? Fill all the ranks of all corps in DCI and beyond? Constitute enough demand that prompts some knucklehead like me to start a corps?

And the second issue related to the PASIC performance is: did DCI make any money on the effort? If DCI's mission is to book/manage the tour and make as much money as possible for its member corps, did they fulfill that mission with the PASIC performance (maybe they charged a performance fee to each group, I don't know). Isn't it reasonable to suspect that nearly every PASIC participant is familiar with drum corps?

Standing in the shoes of a corps director who believes DCI's role is to manage the tour and make money, I see that DLB kids trying out for corps doesn't really help a corps that marches a full field every year, and so number 2 above is the only real benefit.

Does DCI benefit the top corps by attracting more kids to the activity with DLB when those corps are full every year now? And if DCI isn't making money on DLB, as per its prime directive, what's the point of the effort from the viewpoint of a top-placing corps?

The Devil's Advocate needs to know your opinion...

Edited November 20, 2013 by garfield

[garfield]

I was there, and I don't think it is fair to compare any high school line to a collegiate line. However, I think Ben Davis could have beaten a few of the collegiate lines that were there.

From everything I saw, the judges being affiliated with DCI meant technique was valued above showiness. For instance, Tennessee Tech (an HBCU line) never stood a chance from the start. Whereas, The University of North Alabama (with the closest thing to Cadets style of writing outside of drum corps) was almost guaranteed to win. I think a more diverse cast of judges would help put lines of different styles on more equal footing.

If your perception proves true it would be contrary to everything I've heard about the vision of DLB. Technique and execution were definately envisioned as being second to entertainment as DLB was originally iterated.

That being said, the judging credentials at PASIC could have made it darn-near impossible to ignore technique and execution; perhaps the name-brand of the judges was needed to attain a different goal at PASIC this year, this one time, or in that venue.

[ranintothedoor]

From everything I saw, the judges being affiliated with DCI meant technique was valued above showiness. For instance, Tennessee Tech (an HBCU line) never stood a chance from the start. Whereas, The University of North Alabama (with the closest thing to Cadets style of writing outside of drum corps) was almost guaranteed to win. I think a more diverse cast of judges would help put lines of different styles on more equal footing.

Yes, especially this early in the organization's development... if you start having a specific type of winner, then you will alienate all those groups out there that could really benefit while growing DCI's fanbase.

I'd say you'd want as diverse a panel as possible, and incorporate fan voting (if possible... I know DCP has hashed this issue out in the past).

[ranintothedoor]

...

Does DCI benefit the top corps by attracting more kids to the activity with DLB when those corps are full every year now? And if DCI isn't making money on DLB, as per its prime directive, what's the point of the effort from the viewpoint of a top-placing corps?

The Devil's Advocate needs to know your opinion...

If the PASIC thing was just to get DLB's name out there and to a different audience, then the recruiting effort wasn't wasted, I think. Any publicity at this point is great... plus if they're piggybacking on an already successful conference, it makes for a great testing ground for the logistical aspect of the DLB organization.

And now that Soundsport is out there, how much of a stretch is it to take a successful DLB group and add some wind players and a tiny colorguard and and enter a SoundSport unit? And after 2 years of successful SoundSport participation, that DLB-spawned group can jump into the Open Class circuit.

I think DLB serves your primary focus of getting kids interested in DCI because it provides that performance option to light the fire. You just can't know of an impact of a DBL event until you poll DCI kids a year from now and see if any of them were inspired by being in or seeing a DLB event.

Also... DLB is awkward to type.