Update from DCI Meetings

[zachariaswmb]

How do they fit the 400 member bands? Add more platforms.

[Tom Brace]

Stef tells me "Their only concern is (and rightly should be) THE MEMBER CORPS." so, I guess it is the have and have nots, and DCI makes it stay that way buy hoarding all the money and resources.

If DCI really did care about the activity, they would be doing more to help the smaller corps and treating them as the future.

DCI is not charged with managing the entire drum corps activity. They are, and have always been, by charter to uphold the status of their MEMBER CORPS! (do, I owe Steph a $1 for borrowing her all caps?)

DCI BoD is comprised of voting members from the MEMBER CORPS. They make decisions based on what's best for the MEMBER CORPS. They can't tell DCA how to schedule or DCE, or DCJ, or any other drum corps organization.

Now, there is an affiliation with DCI Div. II/III, but as has been pointed out, II/III has their own BoD comprised of II/III corps. What they get from DCI is very little...a bit of event money and the expense and coordination for the finals location. That's about it. And if tomorrow, DCI BoD met in emergency session and determined due to added costs for the MEMBER CORPS, it could no longer finance II/III...those existing II/III corps would be on their own to hold contests and finals.

Not saying this is slated to happen.

[Tom Brace]

The D2/3 circuit has no real purpose??? :sshh:

D2/3s don't have financial support...that's my point. Meanwhile, the D1s make it more expensive to be D1. Then you say that it's the management's fault that the D2/3s can't keep up. That's a load of crap. DCI slaps the D2/3s in the face. They can do that because they are the only show in town. They are destroying their own feeder system and then insisting they have to go to the marching band world. :angry2: :ramd:

But, II/III is NOT the feeder system for Div. I.

1. Kids cut from DIV. Is don't go to a II/III corps.

2. Kids coming from a II/III to a Div. I program are no less likely to get cut than someone from a band program.

3. Instructors at the II/III level are not actively training kids for the next level. They are training them to march a II/III show.

4. The only feeder corps left are SCVC, BDB and Colt Cadets. That's it. Done. No PRC, Jr. Scouts, etc. All of them cut...by their own organizations (not by DCI)

[Tom Brace]

DCA outdraws DCI division II/III by a landslide, and frankly, the performance level of the division II/III finalists is better than that of the DCA finalists. Clearly, the real reasons for the audience disparity have little to do with level of achievement.

I've only seen one DCA show in my life, so it's hard for me to judge. I would say there are some Div. II corps who could hang with the 16-21 placed crowd in Div. I.

So, part of the problem is clearly marketing. II/III doesn't perform the necessary work it takes to effectively market their position or niche.

[Tom Brace]

I guess when I start quoting the mission statement I should follow it with a couple of thoughts.

1. I haven't read the DCI mission statement recently.

2. Even if the mission statement says, "Advancing of the entire youth drum corps activity." Can't the MEMBER CORPS just pay lip service to that and get away with it?

I mean...who's holding them accountable? 25K fans in Atlanta? 20K in Madison? Or the 4K for the ENTIRE II/III week? Probably none of them.

Would a political party hold a fundraiser for another politcal party? But, yet isn't their mission "to advance democracy?" Mission statements are constantly being held up to scrutiny and when you look at them, they are worded so they can be widely interpreted.

For instance...a defunct corps...perhaps still holds a charter...runs bingo...raises funds. "To better the knowledge and increase the understanding of the drum corps activity in the area's youth." They take some kids to a local drum corps show. That's all they need to do to fulfill this current mission. Some day they hope to be able to again field a parade corps, then perhaps a performing unit. But for today, that's what they can do.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

DCI is not charged with managing the entire drum corps activity. They are, and have always been, by charter to uphold the status of their MEMBER CORPS! (do, I owe Steph a $1 for borrowing her all caps?)

DCI BoD is comprised of voting members from the MEMBER CORPS. They make decisions based on what's best for the MEMBER CORPS. They can't tell DCA how to schedule or DCE, or DCJ, or any other drum corps organization.

Now, there is an affiliation with DCI Div. II/III, but as has been pointed out, II/III has their own BoD comprised of II/III corps. What they get from DCI is very little...a bit of event money and the expense and coordination for the finals location. That's about it. And if tomorrow, DCI BoD met in emergency session and determined due to added costs for the MEMBER CORPS, it could no longer finance II/III...those existing II/III corps would be on their own to hold contests and finals.

Not saying this is slated to happen.

Read DCI's mission statement. It doesn't say anything about doing what's best for the MEMBER CORPS. Go to the DCI website and look at the "About DCI" section. One section stands out...

Drum Corps International (DCI) is a nonprofit youth organization serving junior drum and bugle corps around the globe.

Does that say MEMBER CORPS? Nope. Youth drum and bugle corps around the globe. DCI's words, not mine. DCI has charged itself with managing the entire activity around the globe. However, I don't see that they are serving them much at all. Which is it DCI? You can't have it both ways. Either follow through with your claim or change your claim to "We are about the best interest of our member corps, and good luck to the rest."

Oh and by the way, for all those "it's drum corps even with woodwinds" crowd, here's a quote for you, from the same page...

Now for those key differences. There are no woodwinds (clarinets, flutes, etc.) in drum corps, and a few of the brass instruments are constructed slightly differently from those you'd see on a local football field on a Friday night in the fall. (Bold is mine)

[DrumCorpsFan27]

But, II/III is NOT the feeder system for Div. I.

1. Kids cut from DIV. Is don't go to a II/III corps.

2. Kids coming from a II/III to a Div. I program are no less likely to get cut than someone from a band program.

3. Instructors at the II/III level are not actively training kids for the next level. They are training them to march a II/III show.

4. The only feeder corps left are SCVC, BDB and Colt Cadets. That's it. Done. No PRC, Jr. Scouts, etc. All of them cut...by their own organizations (not by DCI)

The feeder corps lost their shows because DCI's schedule pulled them out of the locals. The locals depended on the D1s to put butts in their seats and make them financially viable. Without that, the circuits and the corps fell by the wayside. I suppose that's all their managements fault too, huh?

I'm not saying DCI shouldn't draw from the MB world, of course they should. However, I believe there is a lot more they can do to foster smaller level corps. Many of those kids will aspire to move up to D1. I know I did. Then, DCI wouldn't have to feel the need to sell their soul to the band world.

Edited February 1, 2007 by DrumCorpsFan27

[DrumCorpsFan27]

I guess when I start quoting the mission statement I should follow it with a couple of thoughts.

1. I haven't read the DCI mission statement recently.

Maybe you should, don't you think?

2. Even if the mission statement says, "Advancing of the entire youth drum corps activity." Can't the MEMBER CORPS just pay lip service to that and get away with it?

No! That's hypocritical. DCI portrays itself as something much better than that. Does DCI want to be known as akin to big business or a political faction?

I mean...who's holding them accountable?

They chose to take over the activity themselves because they didn't like the oversite back in the '60s and early '70s. They chose to charge themselves with being the servants of the entire youth activity around the world. They should hold themselves accountable to their stated mission, or change the mission.

[audiodb]

Even if the mission statement says, "Advancing of the entire youth drum corps activity." Can't the MEMBER CORPS just pay lip service to that and get away with it?

I mean...who's holding them accountable?

The hundreds of non-member corps that were attracted to participate in DCI because they believed those words.

[WWonka]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record..

http://www.drumcorpsworld.com/articles.cfm?ID=213

I usually refer back to that every once in a while when I want to see what is coming next and how far we have to go to get to Hop's "The Vision".

And I don't say that to be a ####. I just think it's the truth.