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The Cavaliers Color Guard Welcomes Three Dynamic Staff Additions


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On 3/19/2023 at 11:22 AM, greg_orangecounty said:

This is something I'll never-ever understand about contemporary Drum & Bugle Corps.  Even more so now considering the astronomical cost of housing, transportation, food, insurance, etc.

Why does a Color Guard alone need 13 instructors!!??  Is that many really necessary?  Maybe they're not all full time, but they must be getting paid something?  If you want to cut overhead, assuming you do, seems like an easy place to start would be to cut the number to two, maybe three guard instructors, and I bet no one in the audience would notice.

Makes me wonder who the activity is really for sometimes. 

I don't think they all tour at the same time. BD has 18 in their visual staff and 17 in their brass staff.

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On 3/19/2023 at 2:22 PM, greg_orangecounty said:

This is something I'll never-ever understand about contemporary Drum & Bugle Corps.  Even more so now considering the astronomical cost of housing, transportation, food, insurance, etc.

Why does a Color Guard alone need 13 instructors!!??  Is that many really necessary?  Maybe they're not all full time, but they must be getting paid something?  If you want to cut overhead, assuming you do, seems like an easy place to start would be to cut the number to two, maybe three guard instructors, and I bet no one in the audience would notice.

Makes me wonder who the activity is really for sometimes. 

It may be to have clear separation of responsibilities, staff availability.  It is very like not everyone is on, every minute.  There are teachers, designers, cleaners, choreographers. Not everyone can be good at everything.  A designer doesn’t necessarily clean.  A tech can clean equipment work but not so much movement.  There are specialties, especially at the top levels.  Same can be said for brass and percussion. People for each section focusing on the performance for each to put it all together.  Now if you ask about personal coaching being utilized this year….

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3 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

It may be to have clear separation of responsibilities, staff availability.  It is very like not everyone is on, every minute.  There are teachers, designers, cleaners, choreographers. Not everyone can be good at everything.  A designer doesn’t necessarily clean.  A tech can clean equipment work but not so much movement.  There are specialties, especially at the top levels.  Same can be said for brass and percussion. People for each section focusing on the performance for each to put it all together.  Now if you ask about personal coaching being utilized this year….

Thank you, Lab Master.  I see by other responses too all 13 instructors (Cav guard) are not necessarily present at the same time and getting paid for the entire Summer.  That still seems odd and I wonder how continuity of instruction is maintained.  The expanding number of instructors "required" to produce a modern Drum Corps show reminds me of a bloated government agency - way too many unnecessary and overlapping positions.

But the kids ARE being fed better and receiving better medical care, which I'm happy to see.  

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2 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

What work, training, or certification has Stephanie Chavez done since she left Phantom Regiment to indicate that she's improved in her ability to support queer guard members and manage a staff to do the same?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say…

diddly

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I can't speak about Cavies' guard staff, but I can tell you about BAC'S guard staff. While I don't think it is 13 strong, it's probably not too much less than that number.  BUT, here's the thing...Boston's guard staff doesn't take any blocks off.  They are with them during all the sectional times in the mornings, also during the "drill" time say in the afternoon,  and also they are out there on the field during the full ensemble.   And, LabMaster is correct; there are choreographers, movement coaches,  rifle, sabre, and flag techs, and a caption head and assistant caption head.  Anyone suggesting with a straight face that you could shrink Caviies' or anyone else's guard staff to 2 or 3 simply is not aware of the demands of the modern activity.   Yes, we had fewer guard staff back when I was alive.....guards marched around for 11 minutes at right shoulder arms at a high mark time.  

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That was my thought too.  Of all the sections out there, the guard probably has the most varied demand as far as the sheer number of specialized skills they have to perform. Add to the weight that design puts on what the guard has to carry and the extreme individual exposure for errors and it's a place where it makes sense to invest in staff.  

That's not to devalue the complexity of percussion and brass, but dang the guard is 'every member learning to do every skill set across all the equipment.'

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Also, every caption has staff that cycle in and out all summer.  I don't know how the techs at Boston are paid (and I wouldn't say if I did), but they are mostly teachers who have to schedule their time considering their own band camps and other obligations.   Really, why does anyone care how many techs the Cavies or anybodyelse has?

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2 hours ago, craiga said:

Also, every caption has staff that cycle in and out all summer.  I don't know how the techs at Boston are paid (and I wouldn't say if I did), but they are mostly teachers who have to schedule their time considering their own band camps and other obligations.   Really, why does anyone care how many techs the Cavies or anybodyelse has?

I “care” in as much as I’d like to see the activity survive long-term and exist for more than just a handful or elite corps.  Give kids that can’t afford $5,000 or more the same opportunity to march as we did.  Drum Corps is dying before our eyes and for a chance to survive it needs to find a way to do business differently and cut expenses.  There’s probably not much opportunity to cut expenses in housing, food, and transportation, but the size of staff…….?  Plenty of opportunity in my opinion and the product won’t suffer, nor will the audience. 

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3 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

That was my thought too.  Of all the sections out there, the guard probably has the most varied demand as far as the sheer number of specialized skills they have to perform. Add to the weight that design puts on what the guard has to carry and the extreme individual exposure for errors and it's a place where it makes sense to invest in staff.  

That's not to devalue the complexity of percussion and brass, but dang the guard is 'every member learning to do every skill set across all the equipment.'

Great point KVG, there are far more demands on todays guard than ever.  BITD the guard members were limited to whatever piece of equipment they tried out on or learned.  Dancing was very limited but then Stacy Lynde and BD changed all that.  But there were still limits.  Now guard members do it all; all use all pieces of equipment and dance and they do it all at a high level.  It takes a village to achieve all what we see now.  Some amazing performance levels.  And brass and now percussion are more integrated in many more facets of a show.  Not only playing a sop or snare.

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