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Will DCA be around in 5 years?


Will DCA be around in 5 years?  

99 members have voted

  1. 1. Will DCA be around in 5 years?

    • Yes
      33
    • No
      66


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Lest it seem like I'm picking on the Bucs, I should be clear that I absolutely think that, based on their performances, I absolutely think they deserved their championships (except in 2014 where I thought Cabs, setting aside the penalty, were better), and I have very much enjoyed most of their shows.

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39 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

I hesitate to do the "back in my day" thing... but it pretty much has always been a tough grind for the DCA weekend warriors.

My first year with Sunrisers... 1977... we had 19 shows, including prelims and finals. Plus several parades... mostly Memorial Day weekend and July 4. And no full weekends off basically from early April through Labor Day weekend.   (We did get Easter Sunday and Mother's Day off. LOL. )

We did take some Sundays off during the summer when we had a Saturday show in upstate NY or New England. Getting off the bus at 5, 6, 7 AM on a Sunday morning didn't translate to a productive rehearsal on those given Sundays.  :laughing:

It's just a different era now. People have more going on in their lives than just drum corps.  I don't blame them at all for not wanting to do it, year in and year out. And I salute those who still are in the game.

Is it just drum corps that people are less interested in devoting their energy to, or all sorts of activities? Are people generally spread more thin than they used to be? Or is drum corps suffering particularly from that tendency?

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17 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Well, it would seem that EVERYONE not named Bucs and BD has failed, most of the time, if they can't even manage simple things like consistency and planning.

and they'll admit it on the most horrible place in Drum Corps ( per, well, every corps). 

 

Uh huh

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1 hour ago, C.Holland said:

Coming from dci Open Class perspective, unless you have one key voice at the top of the chain managing the design process, ed staff , and rehearsal schedule, whom is separate from the person dealing with operations, both of who should be separate from the people responsible for development and fundraising,  it’s too much work spreading everyone too thin. 

That voice in charge of each branch needs to be strong, able to keep everyone on task, on schedule, and on budget. And communicative to the other two as nauseum. 

 the one in charge of the artistic vision in addition to managing schedule and budget needs to be able to communicate the design idea and aesthetic clearly from the start, and be able to explain integration of it otherwise the staff and membership cannot.  

yup. I love Lou, but I don't want him designing shows ( love ya Lou)

Edited by Jeff Ream
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2 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Is it just drum corps that people are less interested in devoting their energy to, or all sorts of activities? Are people generally spread more thin than they used to be? Or is drum corps suffering particularly from that tendency?

we are all spread way more than we used to be.

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10 hours ago, BigW said:

How about Centerville Jazz?  I'd argue that one. William Mason? BoA Grand National Finalist last year. Mason's Granger show from 2017 was pretty daggone impressive.

hate to say it, but the dude is right here. Cinncinnati had decent performers but thise HS Band's shows are leaps and bounds better

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7 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

we are all spread way more than we used to be.

i think it's a little of column A and a little of column B.   I've had students who wanted to do drum corps, and baseball camp/hockey camp/dance/cheerleading...   so they try to do it all, because they aren't told no.  They're simply told ok, and they'll figure the schedule out as it comes and ask for forgiveness later when they can't make a rehearsal because there's so many rehearsals, but only one week of leadership camp, or two weeks of baseball camp. 

I would say that when I started marching in the mid 90's, there were less options for band kids.  But there were also less options in general.  My area growing up didn't have much youth hockey, lacrosse, dance, summer theatre, etc etc etc.  Where there were baseball camps the cost was extravagant.  If you wanted to take ballet, you had to go into the cities to find a studio.  I think there's many more options for student members now than there was even 10 years ago.   For Non-student members I think times have changed.  40 hour weeks seem to be fewer in exchange for more flexible schedules to allow for travel or more time off at christmas.  But it means choosing your battles.  Do you want to travel with your fam? Or go to Disney, or whatever else you've banked that time and bonus money for, or do you want to rehearse Fri-Sun all summer?  

Nevermind that costs to do this activity have grown. 

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2 hours ago, C.Holland said:

Coming from dci Open Class perspective, unless you have one key voice at the top of the chain managing the design process, ed staff , and rehearsal schedule, whom is separate from the person dealing with operations, both of who should be separate from the people responsible for development and fundraising,  it’s too much work spreading everyone too thin. 

That voice in charge of each branch needs to be strong, able to keep everyone on task, on schedule, and on budget. And communicative to the other two as nauseum. 

 the one in charge of the artistic vision in addition to managing schedule and budget needs to be able to communicate the design idea and aesthetic clearly from the start, and be able to explain integration of it otherwise the staff and membership cannot.  

Might be an apples to oranges thing, but would it be correct to assume that most DCA corps boards have less experience in those roles than a board at a DCI corps? Maybe the top 3 or 4 corps have board members who have served in a capacity beyond being an MM of a DCI corps but experience in running a corps? I don't know the answer...I'm simply asking.

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5 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

Might be an apples to oranges thing, but would it be correct to assume that most DCA corps boards have less experience in those roles than a board at a DCI corps? Maybe the top 3 or 4 corps have board members who have served in a capacity beyond being an MM of a DCI corps but experience in running a corps? I don't know the answer...I'm simply asking.

I think you'd be surprised.   Program coordinators, artistic directors, maybe...  but finding those who want those positions you still grab from where you can.  Sometimes they're band directors, sometimes they come from theatre and entertainment, other times from wherever.   But admin and logistics come from all walks of life.  I think the key is having a voice for each component.  one for the art/design, one for operations, one for fundraising.  after that its manpower to be organized. 

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1 hour ago, Algernon said:

hate to say it, but the dude is right here. Cincinnati had decent performers but thise HS Band's shows are leaps and bounds better

Well, I just don't see it. There isn't video of CT's 2018 show online, as far as I can tell, but there are various videos of corps scoring in the mid 80s at DCA over the past several years that can be compared to video of bands scoring in the low to mid 80s at BOA in the same time frame (as I said, Mason's 2018 show, which was scored 91, bores me to tears), and by contrast to the DCA corps, the bands are static, slow, and learning heavily on their large numbers to generate G.E. and on their pits to cover musical gaps. Still very good for high school band! But not as impressive or exciting when placed against a solid DCA corps (much less a solid DCI corps) -- and for me, "solid" in DCA starts in the mid 80s. So thus again I say: 100 in BOA = 75 in DCI = 83 in DCA.

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