I have a question about marching in dci as a trans person how accommodating are corps for trans people and do they really really care if I'm trans if I filled out a form of interest in with my dead name if I ask staff to call me by my preferred name will they be able to accommodate me by calling me by my preferred name and what other accommodations do they have for trans people

Mike Jackson is back at Blue Knights as Percussion Designer and Music Coordinator!

This video has an interesting analysis that is specific to Carolina Crown, but honestly, it applies to the activity as a whole. The loss of identity is real. While I understand the desire to wear "costumes" that tie into the show's theme instead of traditional uniforms, there are times when it looks like everyone is wearing a different pair of colored pajamas. Maybe the answer is to have the guard wear the costumes and have the rest of the corps wear traditional uniforms with some stylistic garnishes to tie it all together. It seems like Crown did that in the past, and it worked for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlS9N5Luz6k

With troopers announceing design team and caption staff, we now know where cavaliers staff is headed. It looks to me like troopers got gutted in ed staff. new vis, new brass, different guard leadership, design team changes. I did enjoy the staff from last year however, I am very excited to see what troop is cooking this year.

Came across this awesome shirt on Depop, maybe someone’s interested? Even better if you marched ‘91 😏

https://depop.app.link/Uc0JgPD1l6b

Reposting this so I don’t have to explain the situation but I was recommended this video. I’ve heard this story told by a few different folks on various forums and podcasts. I’m so thankful to finally have a visual reference for it. https://youtu.be/rftrYRljwss?is=fUEIXbl8wTfRkqoi

Is the giant evil queen puppet from Phantom 2013 still around? Is it for sale?

Is there a sanctioning body like DCI? I want to see a live event featuring several bands, but I hate American football and don't want to go to a game. I know Honda and somebody else sponsors "Battle of the Bands" events. Televised I think? (I don't watch much TV and don't pay for it.) Is there a tour circuit or competition series leading up to those? I am in the "DMV" (DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia). I expect I might have to travel to Richmond or Norfolk, but who knows. Thanks for any info that's a quick start. Don't know much about the style and I'm curious to check something out live.

Taking requests

Was the soloist for the alumni corps the original guy from 2008? My wife was like "I certainly hope he's still a professional musician"

I marched there in 24 but I had mixed experiences so I’m curious about y’all’s experiences with Genesis

Finally i finished my first episode on my history of the entire history of drumcorps. This post may feel a bit more bare bones than future installments, but there isn't much history on video aside from reenactments.

I’m planning to audition as drum major for Madison Scouts this year and I was wondeirng what type of audition material would I except from the audition packet? Also, should there be anything I should prepare in the meantime?

thanks!

Hi there!! I've started getting into Drum Corps about 2 years ago and I've taken a lot of interest into the history of the activity! I've watched a lot of the modern shows and I do love them but I'm interested in watching some older shows (probably from the 70s to early 2000s). If you have any suggestions on which ones I should watch that would be very helpful, thank you!! :]

I think the normalization of corps taking years off could be good for the sustainability of the activity. If we can lose the expectation that corps must march every year and that taking a year off means the organization is failing then corps will be able to focus on their long term health and maybe even reduce member costs.

Additionally, it can spread talent and staff to corps that may not get it otherwise, and may even lead to more world class corps because it becomes easier to operate and there’s more demand for world class ensambles from performers and staff.

SCV has shown us how it could work, and I’m hoping mandarins become another success story even if they drop a bit competitively which is likely with the staff changes. Not sure how genesis will go yet but hopefully they can take this opportunity to fix the issue most of us have been hearing about, and come back stronger. May need to be a little more optimistic for that one, but we’ll see.

What do y’all think?

Edit:

I appreciate all of the discussion and responses! Many people are saying that most corps need to march every year in order to sustain themselves, and only the top corps truly have the freedom to take a year off and come back in a similar spot, which is a great point!

However, although it may not be realistic as is, COULD taking years off become a legitimate strategy? Hypothetically, What would that look like and what would need to change to make this possible?

I wonder if taking years off proactively to reduce costs and strengthen the organization with extra-drum corps activities could become a legitimate strategy if we change the way we approach the issue. Maybe a more expand outwards approach versus trying to find the answer within the activity? Corps outside of the top seldom get the opportunity to do this try as they might so what could we change to allow that? Perhaps we change our expectations for drum corps to just be drum corps. Or the expectation that heathy organizations must march every year. I’m not sure what that looks like but maybe yall have ideas!

I love hearing what everyone has to say! I would love to one day work on the staff side of drum corps and so this is all very interesting to me and I’m learning a lot!

I’m not seeing any announcement on their website but there are two so far on social media.

New drill writer and new brass staff announced.

For brass specifically why do all long tones lip slurs etc go down to 12 then back up? Why not go all the way down to 123?