In recent years, I have come around to the view that Drum Corps International, via a committee, needs to approve and coordinate the programs of at LEAST the top 12 … if not all world-class corps … ( to begin)
All corps should be interested in the appeal of the product. Their product and all products. Sure, there can be a variety, but as a past judge wrote to me today …. “it appears that many of the program designers are having psychological issues they are looking to play out in front of an audience.”
The problem with that - it is not all that appealing.
For numerous reasons, it would make sense to have a committee review and coordinate the corps' efforts.
Sure... one corps might be able to explore a war theme.
But can we make sure someone counters that with a show featuring the “Best of the Bee-Gees”.
Ok, I exaggerate, but to ensure we are not, as a group, exploring the world of self-exploration in the same year… have a committee listen to the “pitches”. And each corps should come to the presentation, or appear online for a presentation, with two options
Now, I appreciate independence and self-expression, but… the whole needs to be considered. The Events Need to bring highlights for all people, not just artists. The drum corps activity is NOT a platform for artists to express their innermost thoughts and considerations. UNLESS and only IF, the presentation is interesting and can generate a standing ovation
Look — If judges get the program explained to them, why doesn't the audience deserve the same clarity? Or better yet — why are we designing shows that need explaining?
I assure you … right now, a high percentage of spectators are confused. They do not get IT. We just throw too much at them in 11 minutes, and not once, but 10 times in an evening.
There is no place in DCI’s organizational structure where the creative product gets discussed as a whole.
The board? Ninety percent of them are business guys. Good people, smart people, but they’re not designers. They can read a balance sheet. They’re not sitting down with an arranger to talk about pacing and emotional arc. They have no creative authority and, frankly, no creative fluency. That’s not a knock — it’s their job description.
And to be frank, the DCI board has no business telling designers what to do. But a small committee of people who have actually designed and judged programs — people like Cesario, John Phillips, Nola, or retired designers — could sit with each corps’s creative team, hear two program options, and say: “You know what, four of you are going dark this year. Somebody should zig.”
The designers? They live “in their castles”. Each one answers to their corps director, and their corps director alone. They are building their show for their corps in their rehearsal space. They are not thinking about what the other eleven programs on the field that night are going to look like. Why would they? Nobody has ever asked them to.
So you have a business side that can’t address the creative product and a creative side that won’t. And the result is that nobody — not one person, not one committee, not one conversation — is responsible for what the audience actually experiences across an evening of drum corps.
That’s the gap. That’s what needs to be filled. And we should NOT try to make this fix through SCORES. It is too late once the performance is on the field.
Not approval. Not control. Coordination.
A creative-level conversation that, right now, does not exist anywhere in the activity.
And I will follow up … so … do not be afraid to subscribe. It is how to ensure you are on the mailing list :-)
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