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55 member minimum?


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So a Corps has exactly 55 members and someone has an emergency at home and has to leave. Or has some bad food or hits a pothole and can’t march a show. Or... you get the idea...

Not like a Jr corps can dress up the bus driver and put him in the pit with woodblocks or something. (Yes I know of a corps that did this in DCA.... friend in the corps admitted it)

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3 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

So a Corps has exactly 55 members and someone has an emergency at home and has to leave. Or has some bad food or hits a pothole and can’t march a show. Or... you get the idea...

Not like a Jr corps can dress up the bus driver and put him in the pit with woodblocks or something. (Yes I know of a corps that did this in DCA.... friend in the corps admitted it)

I would think (although I don't know) that the min number applies to "entering" the season, on tour or otherwise.

I know DCI has a rep of intransigence, but I don't think they'd bench a show because one member got food poisoning...

 

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13 minutes ago, garfield said:

I would think (although I don't know) that the min number applies to "entering" the season, on tour or otherwise.

I know DCI has a rep of intransigence, but I don't think they'd bench a show because one member got food poisoning...

 

No idea about DCI but do know DCA 35 and over policy refers to number of warm bodies on the field. And have seen head judge counting some corps

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43 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

No idea about DCI but do know DCA 35 and over policy refers to number of warm bodies on the field. And have seen head judge counting some corps

DCI had been doing the headcount at Championships week, each day's performance to check that no one was over 154.

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I remember a corps with 53 members making DCI Associate one year.  It was unheard of for a corps that small to be accepted but they were; and that enabled them to recruit and grow year after year and the corps is now a perennial finalist.  But those were different times and maybe that is not possible in this era.

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5 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

Sorry, but how is this "as it should be"?  Why is 55 minimum "as it should be"?  Seems like 30 was "as it should be" until just recently, so what changed?

Are you doing that devils advocate thing again?

For starters, DCI is buried in "exclusivity".  There is a myriad of rules, written and unwritten, and many hoops for organizations to jump through before even getting to open-class.  And what is open-class?  Doing all the work of a full-fledged drum corps while being kept out of the club.  Even if you get in, there are more rules and policies that delay acquisition of full member rights, and mathematic formulas to prevent you from sharing revenue equally with your current peers.

What "exclusivity" do you think DCI has lost?

There is a separate tour for OC corps.  But even that is exclusive.  Encorps apparently was not being granted access to it for 2020.

When did growth become "dilution"?  (Never mind, I remember... it was in 2010.)

If "diluting the brand" is a chief concern, then DCI should stop changing things... especially that one last distinction between them and the band brand.

I don't think the actual number is the point - that's bus-sized.  But, in general, the number is increasing.  The presumption is that QUALITY at shows will improve and more tickets at higher prices will be sold.  

Not really, well, maybe a little Devil's advocate (ahem!  NOT Blue Devil's advocate for anyone who's warped mind might take them that way...).

I have a rudimentary understanding of the qualification process and the dedication of the group that's required.  I wonder:  Does BD REALLY want to look like a good marching band?  How do they maintain "Major League" status.  All of the things you describe are true - the requirements are high.  And the math is tilted in favor of the champions.  But, remember, in a weird way, smaller-budget corps are more "self-funded" (i.e. getting relatively little revenue from DCI) than the headliners.  But even those numbers from DCI's "payout" is a relatively small amount  of almost any corps budget.  The math is tilted to the victors in more impactful ways, like sponsorship and equipment deals.  Most corps corpus is the MM's dues and fees.  The good ones are able to build well beyond that through luck and hard work.

What "exclusivity" has DCI lost?  Now...  I'm not sure if your being sarcastic.  It's rushing headlong into evaporating the last of its exclusivity.  It looks more like band now than ever and is about to become exactly like band in most design and non-execution ways.

Yes, Encore wasn't able to play because they couldn't demonstrate that they could fill a bus and, thus, "waters down" the Major League image. (<-- Full on sarcastic Devil's advocate)  And, I presume, to the exclusivity exclusion of the competitive "club" as you call it.

Ummm... It appears debatable that "growth" of the activity is measured by the number of performances in a show/competition.

I think Crown is not going to be willing to adopt AI for fear of risking that "Crown Brass" sound, or others who have a signature sound.  I think member count has a much bigger impact.  Imagine 200 Crown horns vs. someone else's 125 horns and 50 or 60 woodwinds.  A serious judging change has to be adopted to make that work, in my novice opinion.

Too long.  Sorry.

 

 

 

Edited by garfield
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36 minutes ago, garfield said:

I think Crown is not going to be willing to adopt AI for fear of risking that "Crown Brass" sound, or others who have a signature sound.  I think member count has a much bigger impact.  Imagine 200 Crown horns vs. someone else's 125 horns and 50 or 60 woodwinds.  A serious judging change has to be adopted to make that work, in my novice opinion.

 

Since most of those judging DCI have been judging HS Bands as well as DCI, I don't see the issue there. A judge evaluates the instrumentation presented. I was never a judge at the DCI level, but in the approx 200 HS band competitions I judged, I had to do that all the time. Esp in the smaller bands, I would actually count instruments and make a note on my sheet to myself, in order to know what sound I should expect to hear. 

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3 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

No idea about DCI but do know DCA 35 and over policy refers to number of warm bodies on the field. And have seen head judge counting some corps

In some cases, semi-warm. :tongue:

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1 hour ago, MikeD said:

Since most of those judging DCI have been judging HS Bands as well as DCI, I don't see the issue there. A judge evaluates the instrumentation presented. I was never a judge at the DCI level, but in the approx 200 HS band competitions I judged, I had to do that all the time. Esp in the smaller bands, I would actually count instruments and make a note on my sheet to myself, in order to know what sound I should expect to hear. 

So you prepare yourself for what you're about to hear instead of letting what comes to you define what you hear?  Truly curious.  Do you say to yourself "40 reeds, less volume, new voices..." or "...only 25 reeds, bigger sound, fewer voices..." and judge to that?  Or, if you heard two bands do the exact same tunes, one with all brass (Crown-style) and another with the instrumentation written into the original piece, how would you prepare your expectations?

And, sorry, this comes out wrong, but are you judging to your expectations or to the sheets?

 

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