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January 17, 2007

DCI 2007 Rules Proposals

So the annual DCI meeting is coming up on January 25th and there are 15 proposals on the table this year. Not being a fan of rules in the past few years (i.e. removal of the drum trophy during the DCI Championships), I was pleasantly surprised that *most* of the proposals were halfway decent. If you would like to read through the propsals yourself, go on over to the DCI Rules page and take a look. They are only a page each so you can run through them all in 15 minutes or less. If you find something you do or don't like, let DCI.org hear about it.

DCI Rules Page - http://www.dci.org/rules/

The one that applies most to the readers of the DrumlineBlog is the Percussion adjudication modification.

Basically they are proposing the percussion judge be in the stands/box for the first half of the season to get better reads of the overall show, increase understanding of the shows to reduce "run-ins" during the season, and to reduce missing keypoints of the show when being in the wrong place on the field. After July 5th, they are on the field and getting down to the details.

I think this is a GREAT idea! Nothing sucks more than not getting rewarded for difficult passages when the drum judge is on the other side of the field. I'm still reading through these, but the one that sticks out is the "Inclusion of electronic instruments" proposal by guess who: George Hopkins. Ugh, is my first response. It's the one area where I like how drum corp has remained "pure" in that regard...well not so much anymore, but not as bad as BOA. Now I work with a BOA Grand National Finalist band, and I like electronic effects when they COMPLIMENT the show concept, but when they are used to REPLACE CREATIVITY is when it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Some great bands do A, the lesser ones seem to be stuck on B. So when I see this proposal, I see it as a slippery slope that has good intentions in the beginning, but ends up being a substitute for being creative. My prime example is the Cavaliers from this past Summer - robotic movements from the corp and unique sounds from the front ensemble like the typewriter made for an extremely enjoyable show. Is that the foreshadowing of the future of DCI? A show about machines that used no *real* electronic sampling...the last of a dying breed.

Posted by Ryan on January 17, 2007 10:32 PM