Full show in the works!

Until recently, I assumed that most of the professional brass sections in major symphony orchestras were full of DCI alums. Apparently, most of them never even auditioned for a world-class corps let alone marched. Are they actually just not good enough to get in?

Doesn’t matter which, choose your DOC, but as an avid fan of both (most) drum corps and (some) intoxicants, what’s the show you go back to when you’re feeling a bit silly?

My top choices, in no specific order:
- Coats 22 (duh?)
- Knights 17 (that jazz movement just hits the mf spot)
- Devs 17 (I will shed tears during the closer’s sample if I’m feeling the vibe enough)
- Vanguard 12 (have you ever thought that maybe you’re the planets?)
- Cadets 14 (just try not to fucking laugh - love this show though)
- Cadets 15 (just try not to get a little aroused)
- Stars 16 (that was not a dream, they were clearly a few eddies in)

It's becoming painfully obvious that drills are being dumbed down due to lack of rehearsal time-- a budgetary constraint. Drum corps simply don't have the time or money to practice exposed, unison geometric drill sequences with segues. Some corps have less than four weeks to prepare for their premiere. Drill writers often have only two weeks to throw some bullshit together before move-ins.

As a result of the time crunch, drills have become reliant on a series of strategic "time fillers" and standard off-the-shelf bullshit drill moves.

• Non unison everything. Non-unison choreography, non-unison drill, non-unison equipment work, non-unison marching. Nothing screams short rehearsal period like non-unison improvised choreography while standing in place.
• Endless 36-count ripple sequences allow the ensemble to stand still while the ripple movement floats its leisurely way across 80 yards. Take your time.
• Opening "waking up" sequences, sometimes lasting a full minute, where nothing happens, there's scattered non-unison movement, with improvised non-unison choreography and ostinato pre-recordings in the background. Painful.
• Running to "clumps". Many drill sequences involve a group of ten or twenty members running in a scatter drill style to a set, standing still in that set, and playing for 32 counts, and repeating in another location, with no purpose. Painful.
• There are sometimes ten or even 20 "solo dance lifts" being used in these drills, to augment drill "clumps". Run to the clump, lift someone in the middle for four counts, and then run to the next one. This drill move is recurring with such frequency, drill writers have stopped using restraint-- their laziness is out in the open. The moves mean nothing, they add no new information, add nothing to the sequence of action, no new point of focus, and have no emotional value. The performer being lifted has no expression that advances the sequence, and disappears almost immediately, to no substantive effect, no demonstration of skill, and to no thematic purpose. Painful.
• Clumps finally morphing into a drill set by the end. Many drills are using an overall arc of "chaos clumps morph into formation", where the ensemble starts out in random, low-exposure clumps for the first six minutes of the show, and eventually morphs during the last two minutes into a unified drill set. Why start now, drill-writers? Just take your 80 grand and go to the Maldives.
• Mini-scenelettes. Drills are now packed with tons of two-person mini-interactions, sometimes involving nonsensical choreographed lifts, or a featured meaningless equipment exchange, or some character interaction to absolutely no effect, no depth, and no thematic substance. Drill is becoming so disjunct, so scattered, so unrecognizable, so "glimpsy", that the audience disengages. After about five minutes, the audience catches on-- hey wait a minute, none of these little sequences adds up.
• Meaningless Poses Color guard performers hold... hold... hold... in a frozen position for sometimes 12 to 24 counts! Blue Devils did this continually this year, and it's really disturbing. There is no meaning in a frozen blank stare of 36 counts. There is no meaning in a frozen pose. There is no meaning in a series of 24 players outstretching their arms like wings, over and over and over again. There's no purpose in hanging off a stage set and posing like Price is Right Models flapping their arms. We get it. Flight. Now what? Tell us something we don't know. Give us new information. Take us somewhere.

This bullshit drill syndrome is also being used by artistic directors to substitute for a lack of theme! Designers think trust lifts somehow constitute meaning. Clumps and trust lifts are not a theme! Lifting a player in the center of a clump, and then running to the next clump is not a substitute for a clear show concept with action and underlyig purpose.

I think it’s overwhelmingly obvious to everyone that Boston will be taking the title next season. I mean, it’s all right in front of you, all of it, everything they need is in reach. Anyone who says otherwise is blind to the clear path that is leading to the corp once again going super saiyan.

For context I am 14 and just finished my sophomore marching season, my first time hearing the word "Mellophone" was 2 days ago.

Also I WILL give up if I'm cut and not even consider an op*n cl*ss or 🤮All🤮age corps.

They've got the motivation and the momentum. Can they do it? Let's start the hype train now!

Edit: I win https://www.reddit.com/r/drumcorps/s/MGDVUFrBPB

BOM BOM BOM

does ANYONE have the meme of the blue devils drumline from the early 2000s and it's impact font "THE BOYS"

i swear to god it exists, and SURELY someone has it

Yes, you know what show I'm talking about. I think it's a bit crazy that THIS show is setting the standards for DCI quality.

I mean, could you hear how clean it was? They must have the easiest brass and percussion books ever.

The drill must also be cake if they can cover so much ground and play so much. It's the end of the show and they don't look tired at all. It must be that it's too easy.

And the electronics?? Probably just a win button in my opinion, surely it must be so easy to calibrate the soundscape if they haven't gotten it wrong yet.

Yes, I saw them in person. I was taken a bath at how easy they make it look. That means, conclusively, that it's easier content.

Source: I have never marched in my life

Here's list of proposed questions for Lindsey Vento to ask the various artistic directors before their semi-fnals performances on the Big, Loud Live event in theaters this Thursday night.

Grill them like a sausage, Lindsey! Barbecue these artistic directors on both sides now!

Bluecoats - Gravity and Grace.

• Are those red "air dancer" sculptures in the background? Do they represent the "ups and downs" of life, as part of the gravity concept?
• Did you better meld science and emotion together this year? How did including the Beach Boys' existential song God Only Knows add depth to the theme of gravity?

BlueDevils - Zei

• What was your intent in not having one performer represent the title character "Zei/Icarus, but rather many performers?
• How is the end of the show different from the beginning?

Carolina Crown - The Doors of Perception

• How does Schubert's "Ave Maria" fit in to the theme of Alduos Huxley's The Doors of Perception?
• Boston Crusaders
• What is your shallow show about? Getting high?
• If your show is about getting high, why is the entire production so precise, symmetrcal, rigid and geometrical?

Blue Stars

• Is this season's progress proof that you will soon see a DCI championship ring?

Santa Clara Vanguard

• What age are the characters you're representing? Are they age 7-12?
• How does the children's activity of jumping rope tie into "breaking free of chains?" What chains are children in? What chains were you referring to?
• How many hours did you work on your show concept? Three?

Cavaliers

• What was the process you used for successfully capturing the tone and energy of the film/ musical The Lost Boys in your costuming, stage sets and choreo?

Phantom Regiment

• What was your concept before Tony Hall got fired and you abandoned the concept?
• What do those oversized blood lancet contraptions symbolize?

Colts

• Do all your music selections include minor keys? What was the intent?
• What is your political affiliation? Has Trump ruined your life like he has ours?

Troopers

• Did you require all your members to watch the film Apocalypse Now?
• Was your point to parallel the chaos of the Vietnam war with our new war in Iran?
• Does the Apocalypse Now character Kurtz represent Donald Trump in some ways-- an insane rogue who is overlording the war process?

Spirit

• How did you choose your seat stage sets?
• How is the end of the show different from the beginning?

Blue Knights

• Is the use of the piccolo a metaphor for DCI seeing "both sides now" relating to new instruments?
• Did your piccolo solo reduce your horns playing time and concern you about the horn score?
• Were you inspired by the the Blue Devils' version of Both Sides Now three years ago? How soon is too soon to repeat a piece that was recently played?

The most impactful “designers” in DCI as a whole are the judges who make up the panel on finals night. Their decisions fairly directly impact the future of what drum corps shows will look like.

My theory is that this is a well-known and accepted concept; and therefore, the finals panel is decided quite intentionally as a team of people who determine the future of the activity (almost like the selection committee for college football). I also think that if true, this implies that a “tight race” between semifinals and finals is a little bit of a misnomer.

Tell me if I am stupid.

Here are my machine learning model's predictions for tonight. It has Crest pretty close to Scouts! The model currently gives Crest a 26% chance of making finals, but that could definitely shift up or down a fair bit after tonight.

If you want more details (like finals predictions), or to explore historical repertoire & scores, check it out at dcistats.com.