31rabbit Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 back in '03, I was in a Big Ten drumline. on the bus to an away game, the band director told the captain that he had set us up to do a drumline battle against the other school's line. because that movie Drumline was So Cool and he wanted us to do Something Exciting. and figured we had a routine already written and rehearsed, for some reason. so post-game, we're in the designated spot in the lot, with the other line, and a crowd. and it was first date awkward. we played stand jams and cadences at each other. the same stand jams and cadences that we'd been playing all game. i think our cymbal line leaned aggressively towards the other guys. not thrilling. then i think it was...2 years ago?, DCI had the first 'drumline battle' in San Antonio. Crossmen and Surf, i think? again, awkward. they didn't know if they were supposed to face each other or the crowd, it was just show sections without the show. polite applause, reluctant participants. last year at Indie, though, that big extravagant event in the plaza was a huge success. the bleachers were packed, groups knew what they were doing (mostly), a good time was had by all. groups had acrobatics, props, costumes, etc etc. except the one group who got DQ'ed for illegal equipment. but i think they didn't mind, because it was still just DLB. what's the current rule, you can use anything that can be carried in? i think the 'no wheels' really sets a nice safe yet roomy line of permisability. almost every other element of DCI at the Highest Levels is draped in formality. DLB, if it succeeds, will do so as the Fun Weird Cousin. there are plenty of venues for the serious stuff. like the main venue. phew. I'm done talking about DLB. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Next time you do a drumline battle have some respect for the other corps! You didn't see the scouts running around taking selfies and playing games during your turn. They stood at attention and gave you the floor during your performance. poor form Academy poor form. That is bush league. Scouts have always been classy & respectful. Too bad more corp directors don't instill this in their members. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) back in '03, I was in a Big Ten drumline. on the bus to an away game, the band director told the captain that he had set us up to do a drumline battle against the other school's line. because that movie Drumline was So Cool and he wanted us to do Something Exciting. and figured we had a routine already written and rehearsed, for some reason. so post-game, we're in the designated spot in the lot, with the other line, and a crowd. and it was first date awkward. we played stand jams and cadences at each other. the same stand jams and cadences that we'd been playing all game. i think our cymbal line leaned aggressively towards the other guys. not thrilling. then i think it was...2 years ago?, DCI had the first 'drumline battle' in San Antonio. Crossmen and Surf, i think? again, awkward. they didn't know if they were supposed to face each other or the crowd, it was just show sections without the show. polite applause, reluctant participants. last year at Indie, though, that big extravagant event in the plaza was a huge success. the bleachers were packed, groups knew what they were doing (mostly), a good time was had by all. groups had acrobatics, props, costumes, etc etc. except the one group who got DQ'ed for illegal equipment. but i think they didn't mind, because it was still just DLB. what's the current rule, you can use anything that can be carried in? i think the 'no wheels' really sets a nice safe yet roomy line of permisability. almost every other element of DCI at the Highest Levels is draped in formality. DLB, if it succeeds, will do so as the Fun Weird Cousin. there are plenty of venues for the serious stuff. like the main venue. phew. I'm done talking about DLB. I could say that "...people forget..." but it's more likely that DCI hasn't made it perfectly clear that DLB is NOT designed so drum corps compete against drum corps. It's supposed to be everything BUT that, eventually. In the beginning (good memory) it was new, untried, unproven, and first-date awkward, but fun. Now it is more defined and kids and fans know what to do. I think the risk they face is making it too structured - it's not supposed to be - and I think the OP has an incorrect vision of what it's supposed to be. We held the first "all-amateur" DLB at our show the first year. We had weeks to pull it together but we got 4 or 5 school groups together to compete, made up freebie packs for the performing kids, brought in a "real" drum corps announcer, got the local percussion store (Columbus Pro Percussion) to sponsor and get their name all over it, and scheduled the battle for before the show. Officials from DCI and the fledgling organizing committee drove over from Indy to watch. We even had TV coverage that featured the kids from the local center-city drumline group, The Saints. We pulled "judges" out of the audience to join the school board president and the owner of Cols Percussion as judges. Our show "promoter" (announcer) did a great job of whipping up the crowd. I think everyone had fun, but it was a tremendous amount of work to pull off (it was my baby and we had several of us working on it). The Saints, which performed in the Southern Black College style at the time, won the fan vote demonstrably and were more popular than the more "disciplined" lines from the schools. On the downside, only later did we find out that we, as show hosts, would have to pay DCI to host a DLB in the future. The concept was that the parents, friends, and school-mates would crowd the stadium to support their own groups, but that didn't happen. We had no discernible increase in attendance to justify the work involved, let alone the cost of the hosting permit. So we never repeated the effort despite DCI's asking. On the upside, and as a demonstrable success, The Saints transformed themselves into an actual SoundSport team as a direct result of our show and the governance and staff that was attracted. THAT was the hoped-for result that, I was told directly, DCI was hoping for. Now, the Saints (and the other SS teams that have sprung up) pay a fee to DCI to play the pre-show at our show. I suspect the DLB/SS effort will pay off eventually, but marketing and coordinating the effort will take leadership (financial and organizational) on DCI's part for it to propagate to the scale to make it really profitable for DCI and the member corps. Edited July 17, 2015 by garfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 That is bush league. Scouts have always been classy & respectful. Too bad more corp directors don't instill this in their members. Other groups are too busy trying to be actually good, instead of holding on to outdated militaristic ties. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 This is just a difference in corps culture. Madison has *always* been the "stand still at attention for everything" type of group (Cadets come to mind as similar). When full retreats were still "a thing" at every show, Madison was one of the corps that spent the whole time standing still and not speaking. By contrast, for example, the Cavaliers had a reputation for seeing retreat as a chance to goof around, talk, and mess around. I remember at an early show back in 2004 when I was with Capital Regiment. We were standing next to Madison in retreat, with Cavies on the other side of them. The Cavies marchers spent much of the time trying to get Madison to respond to them/talk to them/etc. It was just goofy fun. Eventually some of them gave up and shouted over to us "Does Capital Regiment get to talk???" It's just fun stuff. I think this describes it perfectly. Each corps has a different way of doing things, and that's okay. It's also okay if the OP doesn't like Academy does things. Much like some don't like the way some corps handle themselves during retreat. I don't see the big deal with how the corps behave. And I don't see the big deal with the OP not liking it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbargleeful Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Also, coming back to this for a second. How odd is it that people are more offended by the way Academy's drumline acts in a drumline battle than their ridiculous show theme that reinforces every marching band stereotype in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) nm.... Edited July 17, 2015 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PricklyPear Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Guys - you are trying to compare Drumline Battle to Drum Corps. Drumline Battle is a whole different animal. It is NOT a playoff between two drum lines from World Class Drum Corps. That's what it looks like (because DCI has tried to shoehorn these things into shows to market DLB) - but that's not what it is. Drumline Battle is wide open with "in your face," "can't touch this" attitudes for showmanship. It's all about the show... not "The Corps." BTW - DID YOU HAPPEN TO SEE THE ACADEMY LINE CROSS OVER AT THE END AND MINGLE AND TALK AND CONGRATULATE MADISON? I think that showed good sportsmanship and that it was all in fun. The members from both sides were smiling. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 BTW - DID YOU HAPPEN TO SEE THE ACADEMY LINE CROSS OVER AT THE END AND MINGLE AND TALK AND CONGRATULATE MADISON? I think that showed good sportsmanship and that it was all in fun. The members from both sides were smiling. How dare the members not take it as seriously as everyone else..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nachfolger Christi Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I am sick of drum corps' militarism. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.