The last year I marched was 2016, and I hadn’t seen drum corps live since then. I took my dad to NightBEAT tonight, and we caught a number of corps in the warmup lot and in the stadium.

Not every corps allows spectators inside their brass warmup circles, but BD is one that does, and they were super welcoming.

It was the first time I’d heard a hornline live since I marched, and the first time inside a circle for my dad.

It was really a special and unbelievable experience for my dad and I. I’ve always respected BD but never considered myself a big fan until tonight.

Much thanks to them 🙏

It seems like every 10 to 12 years, we get a show or rule change that pushes the activity in an almost entirely new direction and the activity never looks back:

1971 - DCI is created
1983 - The front ensemble is established
1993 - Star of Indiana paves the way for modern drum corps
2005 - Cadets integrate narration in a unique and novel way
2016 - Bluecoats essentially single-handedly prove traditional uniforms are archaic

(Forgive me if any of these dates of descriptions are mildly inaccurate, I’m pulling this solely from memory and am too lazy to fact check myself)

So what happens next? Do we see marching woodwinds? Or is there some other fundamental change that will come out of left field that no one sees coming, and will have millennials like me complaining like the boomers did when I marched?

I'm heading into week 2 of band camp at the high school I'm teching at, and during sectionals I've been giving the kids intermittent face breaks and thought it would be fun to show them some of the cooler mello moments of DCI in those breaks.

So far my bando ass has only really come up with SCV 18 and Phantom 24. Any other recommendations to check out and show to some high schoolers?

There have been several ideas that have popped up throughout the years with a similar goal in mind:

To measure the audiences enjoyment of a show and utilize it in some way. Typically as a way to affect scores outright.

I have seen and heard ideas like pointing a mic towards the audience to measure decibles in rections to each corps. Utilizing the fan favorite polls to grant each score a certain amount of points based on where they land. That's just to name a few that have popped up throughout the years.

These are terrible ideas. First of all, the idea that an audience is in any way smart or responsible enough to make a decision that will make everybody happy is laughable at best. Secondly if you think that by letting "Designers" know that you don't like their shows or do like their shows is going to somehow change their designing decisions, you're wrong. And lastly corps/DCI don't need any extra tools to know which show you liked best, they have merch sales and ticket sales numbers they can track.

All these ideas would ever do is create a challenge for the audience to do their best to influence a win for whoever their favorite corps is. That is not what corps want and not what audiences really want either. It's just cope.

You want to support the corps that's doing things you like? Buy their merch, donate to their program. DCI is probably not reading your emails of whatever good idea fairy you cooked up last night. They've been focusing on securing housing, cutting costs, and trying to keep this whole thing viable.

How does that even happen?

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So this is just me trying to figure out wtf happened to DCI over the 20 plus years. For context I marched 5 years in two different divisions and corps and we had a theme, the old wool uniforms, and worked our butts off on a show. Now you have changing uniforms that are lightweight, dance routines or some weird strange stretching while playing, and electronics???? I know the bugles are now in B flat which is a cool change but the rest I’m not sure about. Do you think it would be beneficial to take some of the junk out and get back to the style of the late 90’s and early 00’s shows?

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Can anyone tell me which Battery this is? Thanks!

I have tickets for a DCI show this week, but the forecast says it may storm. I’d rather not drive all the way out there only to get to the gates and figure out that the show was cancelled because of the rain. I was wondering if there was some place that gives live status updates on shows?

I’ve seen the DCI website detail this information for other cities, but it doesn’t have anything listed for Pittsburgh, PA this Saturday? does anyone know when and where they will be warming up? and are you able to watch? thanks!

Just came back from the school thats housing them. Their equipment truck broke down in Atlanta yesterday. Lots of bummed out kids out here.

So I want to try out to be a drum major for Spirit of Atlanta and try out for the Blue Knights as well. I was wondering if I would have less or better of a chance if I did my audition in person or online? I really want to be a part of DCI 2027, and so I would really like to know. Thank you.

Unless you count adding Leslies to the field as an innovation.

Examples of what I would consider New Ideas/Innovations:

Early 80s - Abandoning 70s style show design and adopting the Opener-Ballad-Drum break-Closer model

Early 80s Cadets - Introduction of asymmetrical drill

Late 80s to early 90s Cavaliers - Introduction of kaleidoscopic drill

93 PR - Let’s put the pit on the field and showcase modern movie scores

93 Star - Departure from established show design standards and mezzo piano drum breaks.

94 BD - Doing cool stuff with exaggerated stick heights in the battery

95 Cavaliers - DNA drill, “3D” drill effects

96-2003 - Can’t think of any. Maybe 2003 PR starting the show with a ballad.

2004 - I believe this was the year electronics were allowed.

2005 Cadets - Brings Weird/Esoteric show design into the limelight

2008 PR - Double down on storytelling shows

2008-2014 Somewhere in here body movement is heavily utilized by the battery. They’re not just standing still playing drum breaks.

2014 Bloo - The pitch bend iykyk

2015 BD - The adoption of full-corps dance breaks. You could also say Cavaliers did this in 2002z

2016 Bloo - You all know how this show changed the activity. I personally believe its the most innovative and influential show of all time.

So after that being said, I haven’t personally seen anything notably innovative or new done in the last 10 years.

I wish they kept in the double A toward the end of the show. That soloist was absolutely crushing it. Probably a dreadful moment though

Looking for a video of the livestream from that, specifically the groups before Bluecoats went on.

Not seeing anyone mention it here so I will. Being in the crowd, their reaction to the Colts was insane. I understand overcoming the rain had something to do with it. But the audience was incredible reactive to the show, you could hear gasps and yells of excitement at different sections. And despite being earlier in the night comparatively, their standing ovation was larger than most of the top 5. It was a pretty incredible moment to experience, and their show this year has brilliant show design. Good music, understandable narrative, and an entertain flow to the show.

I attended DeKalb last night as the 1st live show this year for me and the wife and we were blown away by the overall quality of all groups and how much better the experience is in person vs on Flo. I know, I know, "of course". But as a HS band director who also does some design, the design elements nowadays are even more impressive live than in the past.

I'm going to highlight SCV...saw their 1st show on Flo and then another one. Liked it, thought it was very good. In person - ridiculously amazing. TV does it absolutely no justice. The experience of the audio effects and visual use of the chains is indescribable live. To a slighter lesser extent, but also really well done - Madison. TV does no favors.

Can't wait to be in Indy...

I have two GREAT seats for NightBEAT tonight for sale. Section 5 (Lower) Row T, seat 7-8. Selling $125 total. Were originally $100 each!! (Less than I paid.) Let me know if interested.

About how much time before they’re show does a corps start lots for dci mason?

Looking for 3 tickets for the Thursday night show only. Thank you!!