Bluecoats 2023 Diversity & Socioeconomic Impact Report

[JimF-LowBari]

6 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

I just figured out valve one/rotor two.  There was no three for me until 2000.

I played French horn in band.  He wasn’t a trombone player. 

Hanovers horn instructor also played during the piston/rotor days. When I got my 3 valve I couldn’t resist. 😈 “hey Brian, ok valve 1 is right thumb (horizontal valve), valve 2 is left thumb (rotor)… what thumb is third valve”

Got this “I can’t believe you said that” look. 😦

[JimF-LowBari]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

lul, sometimes I like books, reports, studies and articles more than people, admittedly. 🤓

So, there's DCI's strategic plan. And it states the mothership's goals pretty clearly. However, it's from 2017-2018 (and therefore, pre-pandemic) so it's out of date. But hey, coolio, there are timelines attached to their goals. that's crucial. Also, a yearly report made public would be helpful in describing how they think they did in meeting their goals. Perhaps that's out there somewhere but I couldn't easily find it. Is that what they do at Jannuals? That stuff should be more public if so.

An example of a crucial goal would be the Mission Statement: "To bring the life-changing benefits and enjoyment of marching music performing arts to more people worldwide. We do this by creating a stage for participating organizations to engage in education, competition, entertainment and the promotion of individual growth."

Education is listed as the first dang method for achieving their mission. That's probably intentional. Are their member participants aware of that? I'm not so sure anymore, given the adjustments to many of their own missions to eliminate education altogether. Concerning.

Anyway, the strategic plan, mission, vision, and values statements are all present and accounted for. But there are key concerns there for me. Specifically, how are they holding themselves accountable for these statements and goals? It's like trying to follow a map but never looking up to see if you found water... or simply telling your traveling party you found water when you haven't... or having found it but not sharing it. It's shallow. If there are annual reports I'm missing, then by all means, I'll give them a read and respond.

If this is the case with the mothership, that they aren't holding themselves accountable for goals, then all the little member boats will follow suit.

Now we could dive into their "In Step" DEI programming, but that seems a bit embryonic as well, so I'm reluctant to go full hog on dissecting it. I want it to succeed, and have criticisms, but that's for a later time. It looks to me like my concerns are rooted further down in the clarity of their mission/vision/values.

Then we have the issue of does DCIs goals match the corps goals. And how close do the individual corps goals match each other. 
Some corps goals, if realistic just might be “freaking survive until next year”.  (Sounds familiar to me)

Edited March 21 by JimF-LowBari

[Terri Schehr]

4 hours ago, keystone3ply said:

 

Speaking of valves & fingerings, we had a HS director of a HBCU style band in our district that one of his tuba students asked about fingering a certain note.  He told them, "don't worry about those valves; those are for the college kids. Just lip it".

Not sure how true, but it made for a great story at our district meeting. 😂

Sidenote @Terri Schehr - Illinois will have their hands full with Moorehead State. We had a former student play there a few years back. Should be a 'barn-burner'.   

Edit: the Moorehead train derailed with about 5 minutes left. 😁

   

Lol just lip it.  Sounds like the old days.

The Illini are taking years off my life. 

[scheherazadesghost]

39 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Then we have the issue of does DCIs goals match the corps goals. And how close do the individual corps goals match each other. 
Some corps goals, if realistic just might be “freaking survive until next year”.  (Sounds familiar to me)

I'm currently completing training with SafeSport International. In regards to safeguarding, they drill down on how crucial it is to leverage the latest research and lived experiences of survivor athletes to build consensus about what safeguarding should look like.

FWIW, I'd argue it's the same for equity. Bc again, there is crossover btw safeguarding and diversity... and diversity issues are covered in the SSI training. It would be much easier to listen to the experts, rather than try to reinvent the wheel.

Bc getting consensus from the drum corps community on this subject without a process similar to what I describe above is laughable to me it seems so difficult.

So again, kudos to Bloo for trying. Their members undoubtedly will benefit.

[KVG_DC]

2 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

Lol just lip it.  Sounds like the old days.

The Illini are taking years off my life. 

Could be worse, you could have been a Kentucky fan.  Or even worse, from Kentucky.

[Chief Guns]

9 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:

Could be worse, you could have been a Kentucky fan.  Or even worse, from Kentucky.

I gave you a like instead of laugh. 

Currently I can't laugh at any fanbase right now, as I am still in therapy because of my Niners Super Bowl loss last month. Looks like Kentucky fans will be joining me in next week's session. 

[Jeff Ream]

13 hours ago, Mello Dude said:

So separate and not equal?  Seems kind of a backwards step.  Anyhow, I just hope Bloo gets a better costume/uniform designer this year.

but from those offerings, maybe some kids find their way to drum corps. Maybe not Bloo. maybe Soundsport or All Age. Maybe Open Class. 

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Then we have the issue of does DCIs goals match the corps goals. And how close do the individual corps goals match each other. 
Some corps goals, if realistic just might be “freaking survive until next year”.  (Sounds familiar to me)

here's the thing, and it may ruffle some feathers....

 

BITD scores still mattered. think the Warren Cavies, the Royal Airs and Kilties in the 60's didn't go all out to win? or Garfield, Blessed Sac, Boston, St Kevins? Sure they did.

 

but the pool they recruited from was different then. As were the shows. Few in corps back then went on to be HS or college band directors. those entities and drum corps were in very different camps. But as time went on, and the two camps started getting closer together and personel crossed back and forth, the recruiting pool changed, and the number of corps shrank for all of the litany of reasons discussed/debated/argued about on here, with both fatcs, opinion, and rose colred bifocals.

and surviving until next year has long been a thing in drum corps. like since day 2. So while these are all good points to bring up in relation to this topic, it's not like these two things are only more recent developments. They've been around forever.

[Terri Schehr]

9 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

Could be worse, you could have been a Kentucky fan.  Or even worse, from Kentucky.

Omg how about that? I love the tournament. 

[cixelsyd]

20 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

I've never been seduced by the notion of ubermensches filling the ranks for drum corps to aid in higher competitive rankings. By this I mean, only accepting the "best of the best" (again, who defines "best" and is the group that defines "the best" diverse? does it include women? does it include gender diverse peoples? people of the global majority? No? then I fundamentally can't agree to their definition of "best.") That's because I believe "best" stems from the hard emotional and intellectual labor of collaboration across difference and the unique kind of growth that comes with it.

The turn away from this being an educational activity to an almost wholly-competitive one is lamentable. The very educational process that Terri described earlier has been so incredibly valuable and influential for so many people. It was for me.

 

15 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

An example of a crucial goal would be the Mission Statement: "To bring the life-changing benefits and enjoyment of marching music performing arts to more people worldwide. We do this by creating a stage for participating organizations to engage in education, competition, entertainment and the promotion of individual growth."

Education is listed as the first dang method for achieving their mission. That's probably intentional. Are their member participants aware of that? I'm not so sure anymore, given the adjustments to many of their own missions to eliminate education altogether. Concerning.

My own response to your quoted observations (aside from agreeing with these sentiments) would be only to point out that drum corps provides an opportunity for participants to learn (be "educated") about competition.

Meanwhile, I imagine that DCI and their corps believe that the current activity is "educational".  To be candid, though, the "curriculum" is now analogous to masters and PhD programs, while the elementary education which the drum corps activity formerly provided is now delegated to literal K-12 schools.

With that in mind, to whatever extent scholastic marching arts experience is a prerequisite to DCI participation, any DCI corps will have their demographics dictated to them by the (mostly affluent) schools from which they recruit.  Add that to the irony of DCI, a private club operating for 50+ years and still structured on its founding principle of exclusivity, suddenly showing interest about inclusivity.