2016 Rule Congress proposals

[Jeff Ream]

Isn't that Prosperie?

It was like a ballet. He knew exactly where to be to read the tough spots and not get killed or be in the way - a masterful performance by a highly-trained judge. His reward - OUR reward - was his desire and work to get to know the show to make sure. To my eye, he was a masterful dodger who knew where he needed to be but reacted to get there. Highly skilled, yelling into the tape "GREAT JOB" at the ONE, single moment that the line needed to know they nailed it... Let them be judges. I surely don't want to speak for him, but I'd bet Jeff Prosperie would hate to have to judge from the sidelines.

WVU80 and I have disagreed on this before, and I repeat what others here now say as well: Where's the evidence that this is a problem that needs fixed? In the face of such evidence of opinion among drummers, about drummers, and the lack of evidence of a disaster ("criminal" or otherwise) caused by field percussion judges, your guarantee of perfection in avoiding serious accidents is only delivering what we already have.

Leaving it as it is = no accidents and great drum reads (<--- My way)

Doing it your way = no accidents and crappy drum reads

My way is better.

I know you will find this hard to believe, but having a "little" accident once in a great while is worth having to get a great drumline read from the field judge. We can each define "little", but I'm thinking an occasional sprained ankle or busted lip. Yup. I'd take that.

by finals week, those working have seen the shows. the days they don't work, they watch so they can see any last minute changes. they're prepared

[Jeff Ream]

Slippery slope much?

You don't think the corps members would notice? You think the percussion designers would water things down and lower their reputations?

I don't know what you're cooking, but I ain't eating it.

oh books would get easier. why do it if it won't be seen or heard to get credit for it

[Jeff Ream]

And WGI keeps getting bigger.

there's a huge difference between WGI and DCI.

First off, there's no brass in the way. While yes it's indoor, it's in a far smaller venue, and while the judges are off of the floor,they are far closer than they would be if removed from the field in DCI. The amps are also not cranked as high because there's no brass

[garfield]

there's a huge difference between WGI and DCI.

First off, there's no brass in the way. While yes it's indoor, it's in a far smaller venue, and while the judges are off of the floor,they are far closer than they would be if removed from the field in DCI. The amps are also not cranked as high because there's no brass

All correct, but I think his point is (and I agree) that the ranks of WGI will swell if technical writing is judged over there while it's being over-looked on DCI's sheets.

Drummers want to drum chops, not repeat easy books because they score well.

[GUARDLING]

oh books would get easier. why do it if it won't be seen or heard to get credit for it

As I said earlier i think for several reasons, ego also part of it and wanting to do and be the best thing, will still keep it at a high level. Would designers look with a little more sense? Probably and maybe not a bad thing, but because we always want the next best thing I dont see it dropping in quality nor difficulty for the most part.

Will some write smarter not harder? maybe, is that bad?

I remember the exact same arguments with brass and even with marching and guard. I don't think anything dropped there. I guess some could or would want to debate that though..lol

Happy New Year DUDE!...lol

Edited January 9, 2016 by GUARDLING

[31rabbit]

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.

[2muchcoffeeman]

The fastest way to "dumb down" future drumlines is to take the field judge away. Is "dumbed down" what paying students deserve? Drum corps may not exist for designers, and it may not exist for the audience, but it most certainly exists for the paying performers. If the arrangers don't "write up" to challenge the players ability then it will become boring and not worth the cost of tour fees.

Absolutely this. The reason any kid pays thousands of dollars to join a line is to be challenged to the limits of their abilities, and a bit beyond.

The nature of the instrument demands up-close examination. With so many notes -- one second of a 4/4 double-stroke roll at 160 bpm is 21 notes -- and with so many subtleties of the hands within a single measure or even a single beat, it's simply impossible to parse the 0.1-point differences (maybe soon to be the 0.05-point differences) between one line and another from the sideline, let alone the box.

Of course the fans in the stands can't hear the slight fuzz between the 12th and 13th tap in that one second of the double-stroke roll. But you can bet your last tuition dollar the kids in the line can. And that's all that matters, because at the end of the day, the judging is for them, not the fans.

And the reason why each of those kids is in the line in the first place is to get that roll absolutely clean, from first tap to last. They're not there because it's still "difficult, for the most part." No. What motivates a drum-corps drummer is complete precision at the most challenging level attainable. Inside the line, in front of a judge and a crowd, when it clicks absolutely, you can not only hear it, you can feel it, and there is no sweeter feeling. It's the drug that keeps drummers coming back.

Even the matter of balance across the ensemble cannot be judged from a distance when the ensemble itself is only 10 yards wide. You need to be in the middle of it to evaluate it. Not so with the brass ensemble, which is spread from 20 to 20. The battery sound emanates from a single point and spreads. The same thing can happen when a horn line bunches together, but for the majority of a show, the horn sound starts from dispersed points and converges. This suggests that, for execution evaluation, the optimal judging positions for horns and drums ought not be the same. Of course, all of the sound needs to come together in one cohesive whole, and that's what the analysis and GE judges are for. But the execution judges need to be placed where they can get the most detailed read. And if judges are forced into positions where they can't read detail, then detail no longer will matter to the score, and drum writing most assuredly will become less detailed, challenging and interesting. And that will make DCI a less compelling activity for potential members.

Edited January 9, 2016 by 2muchcoffeeman

[garfield]

I'm not so sure about that. I by no means am a percussionist BUT I do know designers, very well. YES we all write to sheets and judging but also to abilities and challenge members but we also write to trends, challenges, keeping up with the jones's so to speak, hope to design something new and being the best.

Often some do this to a fault, not considering talent.

Some believe this is different for percussion but I do remember the same arguments for brass and even visual field judges and the need to have judges all over the place verses in the stands.

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.

Edited January 9, 2016 by garfield

[N.E. Brigand]

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.

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

[Cadevilina Crown]

It's taken me a bit to make sense of all these proposals, but now that I have a fuller knowledge of them, here's my verdict on all nine.

#1 (Electronics): It's all just clarification stuff. I wouldn't believe it if this doesn't pass.

#2 (Metronomes in Warm-Up): Really? Make the spectators and other corps annoyed by blasting your rhythmic devices during warm-ups? That just can't happen.

#3 (Perc. 1 Clarification) - Just another clarification. Go for it.

#4 (Perc. 2 Clarification) - Initially, I said yes... Then I saw #6 and changed my mind (see below).

#5 (2 MA Judges) - Not gonna lie, I'm on the fence about this one. It seems like a good idea on paper, but I feel like it may change the way MA is judged. MA is all about the overall composition of the music, and judging the caption like GE is currently judged (same rules, different focus of each judge) could result in more unnecessary confusion.

#6 (Pit Judge) - Yes, please! The pit is becoming more and more integrated into the fabric of the musical composition (due in large part to the rise of electronics). This would definitely help prevent the Percussion 1 judge from having to run from the battery to the pit constantly, and vice versa.

#7 (All Field Judges on Front Sideline) - No thanks. Yes, safety is important, but the Percussion 1 judge needs to know how well the battery is executing by getting into their sound. If he doesn't, the score may not properly reflect their performance.

#8 (Half-Tenths) - Another yes, please! Who cares how goofy the scores get? This would not only prevent sub-caption ties, but keep competition tight (especially at the top, where everyone is amazing and the details make a difference).

#9 (Ensemble Judges) - Yes to the brass, no to the percussion. I'd like to see another brass judge in the box for the sake of ensuring overall balance and execution (not just analyzing individual players like the current brass judge does). Percussion, on the other hand... I just can't see the need for a percussion judge in the box. I always treat the battery and pit as being separate from each other simply because of their locations. That's why I kind of like #5 (I still have my reasons for being torn, though).

All in all, these are my opinions. I trust that the committee will make the right decisions for their future at their meeting later this month.