From: dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn)
Subject: Money, net get-together, etc.
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 18:52:33 GMT


Wow!  You don't log in for a weekend and you get swamped with
many many drum corps posts!

Star and money: I have to add my voice to the group of people
who say that money is not everything.  Talent, organization,
management, and teaching are the keys to success in drum corps.
Money is just one aspect in all four of these areas.  Clearly
all other things being equal, it is better to have more money
than not, and presumably corps with less money have to work
harder to achieve the same placement.  But (as was said by
someone else) the judges are supposed to judge what is on the
field, not by corps' financial situations.

It is not true that DCI didn't want Star to buy them off in the
early years.  Star's performances (certainly in 88, 89, 90 -- I never
saw the Star shows before 87) were not championship caliber (although
I might add that the show design in 1990 might have won it if performed
just a little better).

Once again, since we place such a high value on winning, we see Star
as an "enemy" because they have money and other corps don't.  Why not
just admit that the judges thought they were better.  Instead of
blaming Star or having bad feelings toward them, why not blame the
SYSTEM of rewards in drum corps and try to come up with a better one
(good luck if you try ...)?

Do we ever complain that the [insert your favorite NFL footbal team
here] doesn't have enough money to pay the salaries for the stars
it needs to win, and then get mad at the [insert your favorite Super
Bowl winner here] because they did?  I don't.  What makes drum corps
different?  Should a corps be handicapped at Finals because they had
better financial support?

Net get-together: will we be able to enter the stadium at 1:30 (or 3:30,
or whatever early hour people have decided on) and then leave and
come back (i.e. will they let us back in)?  How will the ticketing work?

I like the idea of meeting away from the actual seating area (which
I proposed originally).  How about just meeting at the DCWorld Booth
at the Expo or something?  It seems that the concourse might be a little
too confusing.  I don't know.  As to getting together for lunch or dinner,
we can always meet for lunch/dinner on Saturday.

Drill: I'm sure many people will respond.  My one-and-a-half cents:
it is not necessarily true that a more difficult drill executed well
will necessarily score better.  This is because while the field visual
judge may ooh and aah at the technique and execution, the general effect
judge may not be impressed by a drill that is difficult, but does not
make "sense" (i.e. fit in with the musical presentation).  However, it
true that a "winning" drum corps show has to be on the cutting edge in
brass, percussion, and visual, meaning that a blah drill tends to mean
a blah score.  Advances in drill design have been incredible in just
the last few years.

Big names in drill design currently are: Marc Sylvester (Cadets of BC),
Steve Brubaker (Cavaliers), Pete Emmons (is he doing BD this year?).  I'm
sure there are a host of others.

-- Donald