What it takes to WIN

[Wadep66]

It is a lot of fun to start speculating who will win or be in the top based on early indicators and sentimentality. I do it every year. But, what does it really take for a Corps to take the championship? Just like in sports, it is part talent, part leadership, part intensity, part luck, part know-how, part motivation, etc.

Some Corps KNOW how to win the championship. The BD, Cavies, and Cadets CLEARLY know how to do this with the current leaders they have in place.

If you have the best players but don't have the experience and the leadership, you will not win.

If you have the best show and best leaders, but don't have the experience and talent, you will not win.

You can arrange multiple permutations of this and come up with the same thing.

I'd like to hear some opinions from those of you who marched and maybe even won a championship what you think made the difference?

[Meaghatron]

I didn't march... so my opinion won't matter here much... but I gotta say:

It takes the highest score to win a Championship.

Ok, I'm done. :)

[asifindnoarta]

I've marched and won and all I can say is, beats me. I mean I knew we were good but I have no idea what judges think about when they put numbers down.

[JamMan]

It takes that "special thing". That feeling that when you finish the first camp, you know something special is going to happen that year. The way the corps is being taught and the way the members are absorbing information; the way way everyone's work ethic says, "We're going to be GREAT this year"; the way, when people ask you how the camp was, you can't even explain. And when that mentality is maintained throughout the whole year, a championship is inevitable.

[jwillis35]

Honestly, it is a mix of so many ingredients. One can't say there is one thing more important that another.

For instance, we can talk about the great designers, like Zingali, Brubaker, and others, and we can point to their masterpiece designs and ideas, but those corps had to have the talent, capable and talented instructors to teach, and the funds to get them down the road and back home.

Management is important because the corps must be able to pay the bills, hire the best instructors they can find, make sure that a good relationship between the BOD and the teaching staff exists so that the later can create and teach knowing they are supported in their efforts.

Recruiting is important because no matter what people say, talent is important to win. For all the great education that takes place in drum corps, there is a limit on how far the teaching staff can take a student in the course of 3 months, and unless those performing members are taking care of the private lessons, individual practice, and other excellent musical opportunities outside of drum corps, for which they develop their skills, there will always be a limit on what can be done in the summer. Spending lots of time in warm ups, working tone, breathing, articulations, range, scalar studies, agility, and all those good things is great, but it does not necessarily make one a better musician in the artistic sense, and 3 months is still 3 months. It take years and years of patience, practice, study, and desire to get to a high level of music making (or in the areas of dance and other guard specialities), and those corps that can muster up that kind of talent will always have a better chance. People often spoke of the connection between Star of Indiana and the money they had, but what I saw was the talent that effectively came from having a great relationship with Indiana University and one of the great music schools in the midwest. They also attracted musicians from all over the midwest, and as they got better, they got better talent.

I have always said that while Texas is a wonderful place to recruit from, and it certainly is, there are opportunities else where as well; and I always felt that the corps that made a solid connection to one of the Big Ten music schools, like Indiana or Illinois, Michigan and OSU, Northwestern and UW (think Scouts), Iowa and others, would have an opportunity to recruit from some amazing music schools, and that would give you a chance to go for the title--if that was your goal. Star of Indiana proved that such a connection was powerful.

So you do need great designers and teaching staff who can work together and who have wonderful minds for this activity. But you also need great administration and support, and you need to recruit well. Only then will you have a chance...and that's all it is, a chance.

JW

[CloudFuel]

It's all about playing the game. Not always does the best show win... not always does the favorite show win. I happened to be lucky enough to march in one and only show and that show just happened to win, but there were a few other shows that year that were amazing as well...

The best you can do is perform what you've been given to the best of your ability and then leave the rest up to the judges... and honestly at the end of the day... I'd rather come in 2nd with a show that everyone talks about for years to come, than be 1st with a show no one cares about.

[Slow Adam]

Just like in sports, it is part talent, part leadership, part intensity, part luck, part know-how, part motivation, etc.

Fixed. :)

[kmanv]

The best you can do is perform what you've been given to the best of your ability and then leave the rest up to the judges... and honestly at the end of the day... I'd rather come in 2nd with a show that everyone talks about for years to come, than be 1st with a show no one cares about.

bravo. THAT is what it(drum corps) is really all about.

[cowtown]

It requires a convincing argument that your way is best in the pre-season judging conferences

[glory]

It's all the things mentioned (including luck). But I also think the components aren't enough either individually nor collectively to explain the championship.

In any given year, talent, staff, etc., might be consistent among several contenders. The winner isn't necessarily the one who scores highest in all the component categories (I'm talking theoretical categories, not on the judging sheets).

The winner is often a winner among a tier of equals. We all know the differentiation among the top two or three is narrow in the extreme in some years. What separates the top tier primarily is a sort of chemistry within the corps and between the corps and its audience. That mostly intangible augments the talent, the design, etc., to distinguish a winner among the other successful performers.

All of us who've performed successfully know the difference between a technically excellent performance and an artistically distinguished performance. It's not so much the notes played or the steps taken; it's the way it fits together and, to some extent, the way the audience responds.

That's where I think the champions are determined. Among fundamentally equal components in the top-tier corps, the champion is the one who can develop organically the chemistry that creates artistry. You have to have the components first. After that, it's a mystery born of dedication.

HH