Vintage DCI at 2023 BOA Grand Nationals

[Quad Aces]

As seen/heard over the weekend in Indy at BOA Grand Nationals:

Carmel H.S., IN (2nd place), show title “Prophecy”.  They did Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony, as was used in Cadets 1985.  Carmel’s entire show came from this symphony.  As an interesting side note, Carmel had no props in their show.

The Woodlands H.S., TX (5th place), show title “Day Danse”.  They had Chick Corea’s “Spanish Fantasy”, “Day Danse”, and “My Spanish Heart” as their rep, as was used in Blue Devils 1994.  They were easily one of the crowd favorites and brought the house down every time with each of their three performances over the weekend.

Both of these bands were truly amazing, and were very faithful to the source material.  

As soon as I saw that Carmel was doing the Jeremiah Symphony, I knew it was going to be incredible, and once I saw that “Day Danse” was The Woodlands’ show title, it immediately became the show that I was most looking forward to seeing.

It was great reminiscing about these old DCI shows while watching two of the best bands in the country this weekend.  

 

[OldSnareDrummer]

I don't know why I don't follow bands much. I should. They look like drum corps, sound like drum corps, have all of the pageantry and precision of drum corps minus much of the scandals and controversy of drum corps (from what little I do know anyway). 

Some things I do not know about competitive bands that maybe someone can fill me in on.

Where do they get all these kids? My high school had 2500 students we'd be lucky to get 40-50 even remotely interested in band and marching band was the lowlife of the HS music world. Do they rehearse one show or do they have football game type shows and competitive shows? Are the staffs for these super large bands as large as corps? Where do they come from? All volunteer? 

[GUARDLING]

2 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

I don't know why I don't follow bands much. I should. They look like drum corps, sound like drum corps, have all of the pageantry and precision of drum corps minus much of the scandals and controversy of drum corps (from what little I do know anyway). 

Some things I do not know about competitive bands that maybe someone can fill me in on.

Where do they get all these kids? My high school had 2500 students we'd be lucky to get 40-50 even remotely interested in band and marching band was the lowlife of the HS music world. Do they rehearse one show or do they have football game type shows and competitive shows? Are the staffs for these super large bands as large as corps? Where do they come from? All volunteer? 

Yes to all your questions...Success breeds success..and $$$$$$$$$$ and often the $ don't come from the school but a great parent organization  raising necessary funds

[Tim K]

39 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

I don't know why I don't follow bands much. I should. They look like drum corps, sound like drum corps, have all of the pageantry and precision of drum corps minus much of the scandals and controversy of drum corps (from what little I do know anyway). 

Some things I do not know about competitive bands that maybe someone can fill me in on.

Where do they get all these kids? My high school had 2500 students we'd be lucky to get 40-50 even remotely interested in band and marching band was the lowlife of the HS music world. Do they rehearse one show or do they have football game type shows and competitive shows? Are the staffs for these super large bands as large as corps? Where do they come from? All volunteer? 

I would like to go to BOA Grand Nationals one day, but this time of year is a bit too hectic for me to get away. 

A friend who I see in Indy each year goes to BOA shows regularly believes the football program is a reason why there are schools that field phenomenal bands, at least those schools were football in king. His theory is that schools with excellent football programs want the entire school to be excellent. The cheerleaders have to be better than the opposing team, the band has to be better, more fans have to travel to away games and the stands need to be overflowing at home games. It seems like many of these super-bands are from the south and my only experience of Texas football is watching reruns of “Friday Night Lights” so I have no idea how accurate his theory is, but it makes sense.

Regarding scandals, my guess is there can be as much drama in competitive bands as there would be in drum corps, but scandals are probably fewer because there is a clear chain of command. The staff and volunteers report to the band director who reports to the music department head who reports to the principal who reports to the superintendent who reports to the state and school committee. There are also laws regarding volunteer background checks for staff and volunteers as well as strict protocols that may also be law. 

[kdaddy]

43 minutes ago, Tim K said:

A friend who I see in Indy each year goes to BOA shows regularly believes the football program is a reason why there are schools that field phenomenal bands, at least those schools were football in king.

It would be interesting to see how successful the football teams of, say, the BOA finalists are. 

For Oklahoma - which had no one competing in Indy this weekend - Tulsa Union has long been a football power, and Broken Arrow has long been mediocre. In less competitive BOA programs, Jenks is a football power, Owasso is solid, and Bixby is an up-and-comer in a lower class than the others.

[GUARDLING]

5 hours ago, Tim K said:

I would like to go to BOA Grand Nationals one day, but this time of year is a bit too hectic for me to get away. 

A friend who I see in Indy each year goes to BOA shows regularly believes the football program is a reason why there are schools that field phenomenal bands, at least those schools were football in king. His theory is that schools with excellent football programs want the entire school to be excellent. The cheerleaders have to be better than the opposing team, the band has to be better, more fans have to travel to away games and the stands need to be overflowing at home games. It seems like many of these super-bands are from the south and my only experience of Texas football is watching reruns of “Friday Night Lights” so I have no idea how accurate his theory is, but it makes sense.

Regarding scandals, my guess is there can be as much drama in competitive bands as there would be in drum corps, but scandals are probably fewer because there is a clear chain of command. The staff and volunteers report to the band director who reports to the music department head who reports to the principal who reports to the superintendent who reports to the state and school committee. There are also laws regarding volunteer background checks for staff and volunteers as well as strict protocols that may also be law. 

Quick story on Football teams. I have been lucky enough to be part of some band programs on the east and west coast. $$$$$ mostly no object.  Once in the north east in October ( cold ) the band was practicing on  huge parking lot marked up like a field and thousands of dots , well it was raining a bit and cold and some football players left the field to the parking lot where the band was doing a run through and they stopped for a minute and an arrogant football kid said to a little tiny freshman girl " Are you nuts, why are you doing this" I was near by and heard it, and her answer to the big ole player was " maybe if you worked as hard as us you might win something " I didn't even have to step in. ..it said a lot!...lol

Oh Yeah , she might have called him a big ole WUSS to his face......lol

Edited November 13 by GUARDLING

[denverjohn]

I noticed Matt (drop the hammer) Harloff getting excited in front of his Avon H.S. to the left of the pit. Matt in a suit is a rarity. 

Search the "tube".

[TOC]

2 hours ago, Tim K said:

  Regarding scandals, my guess is there can be as much drama in competitive bands as there would be in drum corps, but scandals are probably fewer because there is a clear chain of command. The staff and volunteers report to the band director who reports to the music department head who reports to the principal who reports to the superintendent who reports to the state and school committee. There are also laws regarding volunteer background checks for staff and volunteers as well as strict protocols that may also be law. 

With so many head staff and techs working both the DCI and band circuits, have there been any shady characters that have had issues in both organizations?

[Tim K]

41 minutes ago, TOC said:

With so many head staff and techs working both the DCI and band circuits, have there been any shady characters that have had issues in both organizations?

I have no idea. My guess would be some have. Since all the bands in various circuits are scholastic and most schools involved are public, you’d hope there are sufficient background checks. I know how schools are run better than I know drum corps management and a key factor would be supervision. Schools often have strict policies about not being alone one on one with a student unless you’re visible to others. Rooms with students must have doors with windows or the door must always be open (a law in some states). Monitors are supposed to randomly walk in unannounced. The theory is predators do not go where they could be caught. 

[MikeD]

3 hours ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

I don't know why I don't follow bands much. I should. They look like drum corps, sound like drum corps, have all of the pageantry and precision of drum corps minus much of the scandals and controversy of drum corps (from what little I do know anyway). 

Some things I do not know about competitive bands that maybe someone can fill me in on.

Where do they get all these kids? My high school had 2500 students we'd be lucky to get 40-50 even remotely interested in band and marching band was the lowlife of the HS music world. Do they rehearse one show or do they have football game type shows and competitive shows? Are the staffs for these super large bands as large as corps? Where do they come from? All volunteer? 

There are around 25,000 high schools in the country. Just about every possible scenario you can think of is covered someplace. 

Sticking with corps style competitve bands, there are thousands nationwide. Some few are at the BOA finalist level (whether they are part of BOA or not) all the way down to the raw beginning bands that do a competition or 2 for the experience. 
 

There are many local circuits that serve geographic areas. They have their own rules and give bands lots of opportunities to compete. Some circuits overlap areas giving bands more options. 
 

Competitive bands tend to have one show that they use at contests and games. 
 

Kids come from band programs primarily, plus the guards. In some schools, marching band is mandatory…it is what they do in the fall. The last band I worked with, from 1994-2018, had a volunteer marching band. We were very small, between 45-55 including guard. We drew members from the 3 concert bands and 3 orchestras. Marching band was 100% after school. We competed in 6 or 7 competitions plus performed  at almost every game. 
 

Some bands have large staffs, while others (like my band) have small ones. All of our staff members had to be vetted by the Board of Ed substitute teacher process which included background checks with the state. The board had 4 paid positions for marching band, director, asst director, guard advisor and percussion instructor. The band parents usually added $$ for a pit instructor position. 
 

Again, given how many schools there are, there are probably as many stories as there are schools.