2016 Rule Congress proposals

[garfield]

Sort of like when they took the figures out of figure skating. Measuring who did the most circular circle was boring for the audience.

(Psst. NE... PM)

[GUARDLING]

several corps already do 'write smarter, not harder.' know where I see it the most? when a group prioritizes the Body Movement part of a drum featue over the notes, figuring the GE and Visual points outweigh the Drum and who cares if your line can't play clean because the crowd will eat up the funky maneuvering.

maybe some people think it's fun, and i'm the humbug here (all of texas know I'm no fun at all), but dirt bothers me and I always just wonder 'gee, could they have played that cleaner if they'd been standing still, or at least just marching instead of prancing?'

take the drum judge off the field, there's no reason NOT to prioritize the flash over the substance.

then you get Drumline the Movie Style from every corps.

I think it comes down to what you call substance. For many it will be just the drumming, brass playing and spinning for many others it will be the total package .

[GUARDLING]

I may have misled and want to specify that I didn't necessarily mean show drum designers, I meant writers and arrangers. Not field placement movement designers, but the guys actually writing notes on paper would absolutely be encouraged to write down their books in order to assure better scoring of the sound reaching the sidelines or the box.

Here's an example: four sixteenth notes (everyone here do THIS: right left right left with your hands. Picture four sixteenth notes in your head.

Now do THIS: right left right right then repeat starting with the other way: left right left left

Now repeat:

right left right right left right left left

And you have paradiddles, one of the first rudiments that little kids learn. Which do you think would be harder to play? More challenging to do well as a group?

Probably paradiddles, right? Right. But here's the thing:

From the sideline, from the box, and standing right in front of the line, paradiddles (can) sound EXACTLY the same as straight, alternating sticking. If you couldn't SEE the sticking, or if you couldn't hear specific accent patterns that hint to the sticking used, you likely wouldn't even know that the kids were playing paradiddles. You'd simply hear four sixteenth notes whether they were alternating or playing diddles.

So, why write the diddles? If all it takes to score from the box is visual flash and simple rhythms the good drummers will get bored in a hurry and flock to WGI where their diddles are judged by people who can SEE, and not just HEAR them play.

Why is the lot so popular? Because drummers see what's being played. One of the greatest parts of this activity is hearing the drum lines warm up from across the parking lot and rushing over to see them play. Why? We could hear them fine standing by the car. We want to SEE the lines play because of their incredible technique playing incredibly difficult "diddles" written by people who get rewarded in the scoring for challenging their kids to reach incredible heights. If you take away the reward there isn't a writer around who is going to write diddles, and he may even be directed not to by the designers in the box.

I would never disagree with the sentiments of a true drummer nor the popularity of the lot as you say BUT I will say as with all programs it's not just about one thing on that field nor the attraction to what happens in the lot for what i would be pretty sure are other drummers ( not a bad thing )

Totally appreciate a drummers point of view on this subject for sure.

Edited January 9, 2016 by GUARDLING

[HornTeacher]

I may have misled and want to specify that I didn't necessarily mean show drum designers, I meant writers and arrangers. Not field placement movement designers, but the guys actually writing notes on paper would absolutely be encouraged to write down their books in order to assure better scoring of the sound reaching the sidelines or the box.

Here's an example: four sixteenth notes (everyone here do THIS: right left right left with your hands. Picture four sixteenth notes in your head.

Now do THIS: right left right right then repeat starting with the other way: left right left left

Now repeat:

right left right right left right left left

And you have paradiddles, one of the first rudiments that little kids learn. Which do you think would be harder to play? More challenging to do well as a group?

Probably paradiddles, right? Right. But here's the thing:

From the sideline, from the box, and standing right in front of the line, paradiddles (can) sound EXACTLY the same as straight, alternating sticking. If you couldn't SEE the sticking, or if you couldn't hear specific accent patterns that hint to the sticking used, you likely wouldn't even know that the kids were playing paradiddles. You'd simply hear four sixteenth notes whether they were alternating or playing diddles.

So, why write the diddles? If all it takes to score from the box is visual flash and simple rhythms the good drummers will get bored in a hurry and flock to WGI where their diddles are judged by people who can SEE, and not just HEAR them play.

Why is the lot so popular? Because drummers see what's being played. One of the greatest parts of this activity is hearing the drum lines warm up from across the parking lot and rushing over to see them play. Why? We could hear them fine standing by the car. We want to SEE the lines play because of their incredible technique playing incredibly difficult "diddles" written by people who get rewarded in the scoring for challenging their kids to reach incredible heights. If you take away the reward there isn't a writer around who is going to write diddles, and he may even be directed not to by the designers in the box.

Lord, how I DO hate paradiddles!!! And flam-a-diddles?? Won't even go there. Then again, I'm just a lowly, button-pushing trumpet player.

Edited January 10, 2016 by HornTeacher

[Ghost]

Lord, how I DO hate paradiddles!!! And flam-a-diddles?? Won't even go there. Then again, I'm just a lowly, button-pushing trumpet player.

Who taught himself to be a percussionist and over the years has had drum lines win their division championships. (That will be one case of Sam Adams Light please!)

[ironlips]

Does anyone actually play rudiments anymore? And if so, couldn't a qualified percussion adjudicator "see" (as well as hear) them from a distance?

Many years ago we eliminated inspections because the minutia of a speck of dust on the horn bell had virtually nothing to do with the quality of performance.

This "drum judge on the field" thing will die hard. It's somewhat ironic that drum corps has warmly embraced mixing pure brass and percussion texture with electronics, yet holds on so tightly to the ghost of the tick in this case.

I have no categorical objection to preserving the purity of the batterie, but any adjudicator in the actual performance area constitutes a distraction for me, and I am quite confident that the best of them can evaluate even the smallest details from a respectful distance.

In the final analysis, the corps themselves will decide how they wish to be evaluated, and that is as it should be, I think.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Answer: yes, they play rudiments.

Whether it's a distraction to you is irrelevant. The judges exist for the members, not the spectators.

The smallest details in fact are not detectable from any distance, respectable or otherwise. The smallest of details are revealed only upon up-close examination. Issues such as clarity can be evaluated from some distance, but the degrees of difference in difficulty, uniformity and expression that separate two similarly skilled lines reveal themselves up close.

[N.E. Brigand]

Whether it's a distraction to you is irrelevant. The judges exist for the members, not the spectators.

A fair point, but it can also be used to defend shows that bore the audience.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Yes, of course, though a corps will use this defense at the peril of their GE score. I suppose my point is another way of agreeing with ironlips insofar as the corps will decide what is in their best interests and will organize the judging accordingly. Though, if the corps decide to remove the perc judge from the field, they will diminish the incentive to set the degree of difficulty high.

Edited January 11, 2016 by 2muchcoffeeman

[GUARDLING]

Answer: yes, they play rudiments.

Whether it's a distraction to you is irrelevant. The judges exist for the members, not the spectators.

The smallest details in fact are not detectable from any distance, respectable or otherwise. The smallest of details are revealed only upon up-close examination. Issues such as clarity can be evaluated from some distance, but the degrees of difference in difficulty, uniformity and expression that separate two similarly skilled lines reveal themselves up close.

An old argument that was also said about brass , guard and marching.