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Madison Scouts 2020


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The situation with Madison (or any corps who has fallen off placement wise,) is that it's hard to measure what success would be. I don't think Top 12 is realistic simply because the current top 12 is so strong. That's not to say that it can't be done but does the corps (coed or not,) have the staff and talent MM wise to make that jump? Do they have a top 12 show sitting in their back pocket just waiting on the right time to throw it down on the table? I don't know. I don't know that anyone knows without seeing the rest of the corps in the arena. 

I'm unconcerned about the corps going coed. I don't know the true reasoning behind the move and I'm not one to prescribe to theories without first hand evidence. What I am am concerned about is the survival of the corps. I have nothing against an organization in DCI staying all male, all female or coed. That's their choice and they write the by-laws for that specific corps. I believe in inclusion strongly but I also believe in identity. My personal opinion is that the corps made a good move for survival sake. If you're sitting in 14th, putting up a "no girls allowed" sign on your clubhouse isn't really going to help when it comes to drawing talent. You need a pool of people to draw on. 

I also get where some of the fans and alum are coming from when they have concerns about tradition. But this is drum corps folks. Things change and you either keep up or you move over. The thing we should all be hoping for is growth and future success for the corps and that the MM's have a great experience. That should be the primary concern. If they finish 14th and build from there, I would call that a success. If they come in 20th and continue to slide, then it was an experiment that didn't help and that kind of thing happens.

To say that this is all a distraction (which seems to be implied in some posts...let me know if I'm wrong,) is something I simply can't see a corps doing. I don't see a Scooby Do villain anywhere saying "And I could have gotten away with it to if it weren't for you meddling kids and your talking dog." Maybe I'm just blind to it. 

Flame away!

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Through all this strife the Cavaliers grow stronger.  They are a great organization and earned their way in with strong leadership, identity, and vision.  These are qualities I no longer see in MS.  I do not believe anything from MS admins or PR, where credibility is gone. It is a new day. 

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47 minutes ago, wilder1966 said:

Through all this strife the Cavaliers grow stronger.  They are a great organization and earned their way in with strong leadership, identity, and vision.  These are qualities I no longer see in MS.  I do not believe anything from MS admins or PR, where credibility is gone. It is a new day. 

100% exactly correct. Lies, deceit, deception and deflection were words that were never heard mentioned when discussing the MS. Unfortunatly that is no longer the case.

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Boy, you guys know how to welcome a new member to the family 😜 I guess knowing the history some have with admin is relevant knowledge, so I’ve been continuing to lurk. 
Just a note. My son’s decision to audition for the Madison Scouts had zero to do with being coed or their past successes/struggles. My husband and I have a ton of connections to staff members in different drum corps due to our history with the marching arts. There were so many positive comments about the staff that has been assembled with the Scouts this year. That was the only reason my son auditioned... because he was encouraged by our friends to learn from these teachers specifically. He has since watched as many MS shows he could on YouTube and has learned quite a bit of history through the returning members. My son has had an amazing high school experience with competitive success, and we are cautiously optimistic with his happiness with his experience with MS so far. Albeit, 3 camps. But he has already learned and improved so much with the staff and members in that small amount of time.
Camp is this coming weekend, and he’s been practicing his tail off. The members are excited about their upcoming season! 💚🤍⚜️

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7 minutes ago, Angelee said:

Boy, you guys know how to welcome a new member to the family 😜 I guess knowing the history some have with admin is relevant knowledge, so I’ve been continuing to lurk. 
Just a note. My son’s decision to audition for the Madison Scouts had zero to do with being coed or their past successes/struggles. My husband and I have a ton of connections to staff members in different drum corps due to our history with the marching arts. There were so many positive comments about the staff that has been assembled with the Scouts this year. That was the only reason my son auditioned... because he was encouraged by our friends to learn from these teachers specifically. He has since watched as many MS shows he could on YouTube and has learned quite a bit of history through the returning members. My son has had an amazing high school experience with competitive success, and we are cautiously optimistic with his happiness with his experience with MS so far. Albeit, 3 camps. But he has already learned and improved so much with the staff and members in that small amount of time.
Camp is this coming weekend, and he’s been practicing his tail off. The members are excited about their upcoming season! 💚🤍⚜️

If you haven't been properly welcomed, welcome to DCP. I hope that your son will enjoy his drum corps experience and based on your history, I'm glad to see another drum corps family spanning generations. I think the scouts will have a fine season. Don't let the pitchfork club ruin your groove. Some of us can get a little....feisty at times, but at the end of the day, we can also have a beer together and laugh about our exploits. 

P.S. - Stay away from the drummers. We don't get any better with age or *cough* more mature...myself included...just ask Britt.

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1 minute ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

If you haven't been properly welcomed, welcome to DCP. I hope that your son will enjoy his drum corps experience and based on your history, I'm glad to see another drum corps family spanning generations. I think the scouts will have a fine season. Don't let the pitchfork club ruin your groove. Some of us can get a little....feisty at times, but at the end of the day, we can also have a beer together and laugh about our exploits. 

P.S. - Stay away from the drummers. We don't get any better with age or *cough* more mature...myself included...just ask Britt.

Ha! I’m a color guard chick by experience, and my husband played soprano/trumpet. We have drummers in our lives, and they seem... interesting. 😜 We haven’t matured much either 🤷🏼‍♀️

We had to force my son to play in band as a 6th grader (because obviously we knew him better than he knew himself 😂). he chose clarinet, but dad refused and he ended up playing the baritone.  He’s wanted to join a drum corps for the past 3 years, but his HS looked down on kids who were not present for their 3 week band camp that started in July. We all had our ear to the ground after finals last year to help my boy make a good choice for his rookie year. This is where he decided to throw in all his cards and it paid off. I’ve heard there were upwards of 700 kids who auditioned. Amazing talent from what I’ve heard both in the membership and the staff.

Anyway, looking forward to participating here more as I grow with the organization!

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1 minute ago, Angelee said:

We had to force my son to play in band as a 6th grader (because obviously we knew him better than he knew himself 😂). he chose clarinet, but dad refused and he ended up playing the baritone.  He’s wanted to join a drum corps for the past 3 years, but his HS looked down on kids who were not present for their 3 week band camp that started in July. We all had our ear to the ground after finals last year to help my boy make a good choice for his rookie year. This is where he decided to throw in all his cards and it paid off. I’ve heard there were upwards of 700 kids who auditioned. Amazing talent from what I’ve heard both in the membership and the staff.

Pretty typical actually. I started out on Clarinet and switched to percussion my 6th grade year and marched with the high school band starting then. My father was "thrilled" to say the least when I brought home a pair of cymbals to "practice" them...but he got over it. My brother marched corps as a baritone player and my father was a huge drum corps nut. I was lucky enough to be very close to SOA so we had great instruction and a very good path to make the corps. My HS band directors were all former corps guys so they actually encouraged us to march. In fact, my HS band director took me to my first audition. It took a few years for me to make it into the big leagues but I did and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. 

I think you guys made a good choice. Some of my favorite corps growing up were Madison and the 27th. Lots of history and great shows. 

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37 minutes ago, Angelee said:

Boy, you guys know how to welcome a new member to the family 😜 I guess knowing the history some have with admin is relevant knowledge, so I’ve been continuing to lurk. 
Just a note. My son’s decision to audition for the Madison Scouts had zero to do with being coed or their past successes/struggles. My husband and I have a ton of connections to staff members in different drum corps due to our history with the marching arts. There were so many positive comments about the staff that has been assembled with the Scouts this year. That was the only reason my son auditioned... because he was encouraged by our friends to learn from these teachers specifically. He has since watched as many MS shows he could on YouTube and has learned quite a bit of history through the returning members. My son has had an amazing high school experience with competitive success, and we are cautiously optimistic with his happiness with his experience with MS so far. Albeit, 3 camps. But he has already learned and improved so much with the staff and members in that small amount of time.
Camp is this coming weekend, and he’s been practicing his tail off. The members are excited about their upcoming season! 💚🤍⚜️

This is great to hear and I hope your Son has a great experience this year.

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Having read all of the posts in this thread from day one, its amazing how diverse the opinions can be.  One issue however 

continues to bother me, and I wondered if anyone else senses that "something about this entire issue just isn't right".  Its 

the feeling you get knowing "there's a rat in the cellar".  Its really just so basic at every level.  Nobody could miss it.  

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5 minutes ago, wilder1966 said:

Having read all of the posts in this thread from day one, its amazing how diverse the opinions can be.  One issue however 

continues to bother me, and I wondered if anyone else senses that "something about this entire issue just isn't right".  Its 

the feeling you get knowing "there's a rat in the cellar".  Its really just so basic at every level.  Nobody could miss it.  

I'm not certain if it's an actual issue or if it's something that's just being spoken into existence. Drum corps in the off season is finicky business as we all know. Emotions and rumor run high and it's hard to determine what is real and what is imagined or possibly just exaggerated/ misunderstood. I generally choose to wait and see when it comes to this type of thing.

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