tommynev Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Madison's DM in 97 milked it about as much as you can. The corps hit a company front and started wailing as loud as they could. Meanwhile, the DM stuck his baton in his mouth, turned to the crowd, pumped his fists, waved around a pirate flag, threw it over his shoulders, grabbed a camera and took a picture of the crowd, then the corps and finally pulled the baton back out and cut the note off. The drum majors today have NOTHING on him :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland1 Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Disagree to a point...Academy's DM is a hoot... There's a time to be a human met, and there's a time to let your hair down. I only got to see Academy live once, finals. And i probably watched the DM half the time. Some might say thats bad and counter to the point of the show. The DM is there to lead, not to be the show. Drawing unnecessary attention isnt the job description. Then again its really cool. There have been DMs that i like to watch because they were just so good. 2012 was a fantastic year for that, with Vou at BAC, Cunha at SCV, and Dean at Phantom. Sometimes I focus on the guard more, sometimes i focus on the brass more, sometimes i focus on the show as a whole more. So im able to justify focusing some on the entertainment value and excellence of a great DM, considering that i don't treat all shows equally. My reply has gotten longer than i intended. I do like an entertaining DM. But if every DM is like the academy's then i think it would be a potential problem. If this is their personality, if this is a part of the show design, if this is part of who they are as leaders, then i am totally down with it. But if a DM feels they need to "outdo themselves" at the next show, or something like that, then it becomes something different. In my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpsRelic Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Disagree to a point...Academy's DM is a hoot... There's a time to be a human met, and there's a time to let your hair down. I concur, The Academy's DM "JT" was amazing!. I found his performance to be a most expressive and impassionate response to the Corps emotional energy force coming towards him, nearly blowing his coat tails off, IMHO, His incredible command and Orchetral Conducting Style proved to be a demonstraion of professional showmanship of the highest caliber. Just watching his body language in motion conveyed the impact The Academy's performance was having not only on him, but the audience as a whole, which quite frankly, with 15 seconds reamining in the Brasslines last chord Saturday Night was rewarded with the loudest, longest sustained ovations recieved.I dare say, perhaps only second to the ovation given BoooooCoats with the announcemnt pronouncing their first, well deserved, World Class Championship.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 The only time I ever saw milked applause in a dci show was Cadets 96. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Standrews Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 http://www.steelstacks.org/event/3456/frank-zappa-eat-that-question/ Favorite to see conduct. Including Russo. If you never did, you really missed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) Just found this thread. I've spent the majority of my time drum corps time around DCA and its corps for the past 30-plus years. There has been a whole host of DCA drum majors who also were/are great personalities... working the crowd (including conversing with them) while also being great leaders. Jim Russo, Butch Anderson, George Parks, David Bruni, Josh Decker, Ray Richardson, Walter Winkleman (from DCA's early days), and many more. All of them with different styles... all of them fun to watch. The stuff that goes on with the DCI majors is quite tame compared to the DCA DM stuff over the years. From my perspective, I like the "personality" aspect of the DCA majors... nothing, IMO, gets a crowd behind a corps, right at the start, than a DM who connects with the audience... but I'm sorry to say it's going away. I don't know why. A "personality" DM doesn't have to act like an idiot up there on the podium, but a few well-chosen words from them, something like "Hey folks... thanks for coming out to see us!!"... or honest emotion like a fist pump, a shout, a big smile, etc., goes a long way to get the fans on a corps' side. Again, IMO. Not sure why, in these days when even conductors of world-class symphony orchestras are turning around and connecting/conversing with the audience, why it seems to be taboo for drum corps/bands to do the same thing. It's all about giving the paying customers a show, isn't it? OK... off the soapbox now.... We now return to our regularly-scheduled DCP. LOL. Edited August 15, 2016 by Fran Haring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Just found this thread. I've spent the majority of my time drum corps time around DCA and its corps for the past 30-plus years. There has been a whole host of DCA drum majors who also were/are great personalities... working the crowd (including conversing with them) while also being great leaders. Jim Russo, Butch Anderson, George Parks, David Bruni, Josh Decker, Ray Richardson, Walter Winkleman (from DCA's early days), and many more. All of them with different styles... all of them fun to watch. The stuff that goes on with the DCI majors is quite tame compared to the DCA DM stuff over the years. From my perspective, I like the "personality" aspect of the DCA majors... nothing, IMO, gets a crowd behind a corps, right at the start, than a DM who connects with the audience... but I'm sorry to say it's going away. I don't know why. A "personality" DM doesn't have to act like an idiot up there on the podium, but a few well-chosen words from them, something like "Hey folks... thanks for coming out to see us!!"... or honest emotion like a fist pump, a shout, a big smile, etc., goes a long way to get the fans on a corps' side. Again, IMO. Not sure why, in these days when even conductors of world-class symphony orchestras are turning around and connecting/conversing with the audience, why it seems to be taboo for drum corps/bands to do the same thing. It's all about giving the paying customers a show, isn't it? OK... off the soapbox now.... We now return to our regularly-scheduled DCP. LOL. Well there's 2 ways to look at this. Your way , of course you stated that and I can agree to a point BUT with some of those majors you mentioned I can tell you 1st had as far back as the late 80s even members of those corps were done with the drum Major antics, Some more than others, Some made it their show and often messed up what was happening with the rest of the corps. I can tell you especially with one very famous corps, their members were quite over it and went to the director ( I thin k it was in the early 90s ) and said do something or we are out. So YES you are right BUT here's the flip side of that coin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Well there's 2 ways to look at this. Your way , of course you stated that and I can agree to a point BUT with some of those majors you mentioned I can tell you 1st had as far back as the late 80s even members of those corps were done with the drum Major antics, Some more than others, Some made it their show and often messed up what was happening with the rest of the corps. I can tell you especially with one very famous corps, their members were quite over it and went to the director ( I thin k it was in the early 90s ) and said do something or we are out. So YES you are right BUT here's the flip side of that coin. I agree.... there's a point where if the DM becomes the whole show... or tries to....LOL... that's not good at all, and I don't blame corps members for having problems with that. I would, too, if I were still marching. Job One on the podium remains keeping the corps in time, the whole show. But I'd prefer to see at least a bit of personality, compared to a robo-major. LOL. Especially on the DCA side, where it is supposed to be a lot about about fun for the fans. The best I've seen have a combination of that "extra juice" plus the ability to conduct the corps in a professional manner. Josh Decker is one who comes to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) I have said this before, but this, sir, is a Drum Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rSrfoE5lCE edit: for some reason link didn't paste 1st time Edited August 15, 2016 by IllianaLancerContra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) What I don't understand is this. Parents have 100% access to their children's grades. In real time. The instant I type in a grade for any assignment, they can see it. So why do they love to get in touch with me 2 days before the end of the school year to see if they can get the 39% little Johnny has up to a 95%? Oh fellow traveller... 2 days?? Count yourself as most fortunate. Edited August 15, 2016 by HornTeacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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