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The best and worst changes over the years...off the field


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I wanted to start a thread dealing with all the off field changes over the years. Whether it be advertising, television, other activity conflicts etc.

One of the changes I feel that was negative was taking DCI off of PBS. I always felt that this was a very good fit, even if they used it as their annual fundraiser. It allowed drum corps fans to see the shows again before the videos came out, and I always felt it brought a few new people into the activity every year.

One of the changes I feel is the best is the adding of Thefannetwork.org. For those of us who can't get enough drum corps during the season(or off season) it gives us instant gratification.

One change off the field that seems to have hurt is the number of outside activities that go on during the summer months. So many sports have added AAU leagues, and soccer which wasn't very popular during the summer back in the 70s, is everywhere now. This might hurt attendance at shows, as so many people have children in soccer that might not be able to attend a show 4 hours away if their child is in soccer(or other activites as well)

One change that is both positive and negative.. the huge number on staff at a lot of the corps. I remember in the 70s, there would be some corps that would run on as little as 6-10 people on staff. Now some corps have 6-10(or more people) in each section of the corps. While this is great for cleaning and adding to shows, it can also be expensive, and may be part of the reason some corps have folded over the years.

School policies. This seems to be one of the hardest things for corps to deal with, finding housing sites. It used to be almost any school in the area of a show would be willing to host a corps, unless they had encountered problems in the past. Now it seems like it is much more difficult, and most schools have corps pay for either custodians, or police/security to be there when the corps are staying at the school. And some schools won't let corps rehearse there even if the corps were willing to do these things. I remember someone who had been involved in corps since the 50s said a few years ago, he was worried lack of housing facilities could be more of a threat to drum corps than finances.

Buses, who would have thought years ago about having buses having tvs with DVD players? I remember half the time just worrying that some corps would even make it to their next destination. You were constantly hearing about corps X pulling over to let kids from corps Y get on their buses. Now the buses are mostly air conditioned, with many more comforts of home.

Cell phones, one of the best. I remember our kids having to wait in line for hours to get on the pay phone, and many leaving a site disappointed because they weren't able to connect with their families/friends/girlfriend/boyfriend.

Drumcorpsplanet.com I have to say 95% of the time this is one of the better things to change about drum corps. What better way for fans to connect and talk about the activity so many of us love. Most people a lot of us work with don't understand drum corps, what it is, why it exists, and most of them really don't want to. How nice to have a place to check in and see what other people are discussing on our favorite subject.

Corporate sponsorships, and local involvement. This is one area that almost seems to have gotten worse as the corps activites has evolved. It used to be 90% of the members of corps were fairly local, and with that brought local companies wanting to help out. It also meant tons of local family members willing to volunteer with the corps. However when some corps don't even have members from their own city, it makes it much more difficult sometimes to get the amount of volunteer hours they need.

What are other off the field changes over the years you feel have either postively or negatively chaged DCI? And what changes would you like to see, or think would help the activity in the future?

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Best: Bb horns

Worst: Bb horns

Best: Electrics

Worst: Electrics

In before the close!

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affecting all parts of the activity

Worst.....

gas prices that bounce like a SuperBall so you can't plan worth a crap

our "sue your ### at the drop of a hat" mentality

hassles/price of getting rights to music for sound/visual/both/sales - yeah corps got away with this in the past but kinda nutty now

Best...

Internet/movie theater for passing info and presenting shows for those who can't/won't go live

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Best:

Jim Coates being hired at Carolina Crown in 2003. He took that corps from a 16th place finish in 2002 to winning 4 Jim Otts and a DCI World Championship in only 10 years with his staff hiring process and commitment to keeping good staff around for a long, long time, as well as improving the quality of life in the corps, the look of the group, the strength of the organization, etc. Without him, the Carolina Crown as we know it today would not exist.

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Does this get tiring to anyone else?

day after day..week after week , month after month, year after year..decade after decade...........dont know ...does it?....................lol :augen51:

you know where it's going to end up dont ya.......heheheheheheheh

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What are other off the field changes over the years you feel have either postively or negatively chaged DCI?

The G7 has to be up there as one of the biggest " off the field changes in DCI " since its inception in 1972, imo.

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One more for my best list. Changing the format of finals week and having all corps that want to compete in World Class Prelims. I loved it before when the top corps from Open/DII/III would compete in quarterfinals, but this is even better. All the corps competing in what is my favorite day of the entire year.

Another of the worst, is shows that have to be edited because of copyright issues. Nothing worse than incomplete media.

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