Band concert booted

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http://www.startribune.com/drum-corps-show-will-go-on-university-of-minnesota-says/378348331/

Everyone calm down and show up:

The University of Minnesota has decided to make room for a popular drum-and-bugle corps show, after all.

On Thursday, university officials apologized for bumping Drum Corps International from its scheduled July 16 appearance at TCF Bank Stadium. They announced that the show will go on, just a little later in the day than planned.

“I am absolutely thrilled,” said Todd Tanji, one of the organizers of the touring show, which features hundreds of student musicians from across the country
 

Wait! It's a drum and bugle corps show and not a band concert?


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Who would ever show up to an event like this - the only reason most people even know we have a marching band is that they are forced, as a captive audience, to watch them after their halftime pee break. If it makes a profit, have at it - but it seriously does.not.matter.
 

GopherHomer said:
Who would ever show up to an event like this - the only reason most people even know we have a marching band is that they are forced, as a captive audience, to watch them after their halftime pee break. If it makes a profit, have at it - but it seriously does.not.matter.
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I hope this is said tongue in cheek. If it's not your thing, fine. But there are plenty of Gopher Band alums like myself and the rest of my normal tailgating group/season ticket holders that enjoy the U of M band and DCI (Drum Corps International) as well.
 

GopherHomer said:
Who would ever show up to an event like this - the only reason most people even know we have a marching band is that they are forced, as a captive audience, to watch them after their halftime pee break. If it makes a profit, have at it - but it seriously does.not.matter.
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Attendance records set across 2015 Drum Corps International Tour
By: Chris Weber
Release: 08/26/2015
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RELATED LINKS
Reserve your seat for the 2016 DCI World Championships
This August, Drum Corps International once again recorded a record attendance figure at the DCI World Championship Finals, capping off a successful 2015 summer season that saw several additional new records set across the entire tour.

An estimated 330,000 spectators headed to 107 live events on the 53-day DCI Summer Tour. Tens of thousands of additional fans visited movie theaters throughout the United States and enjoyed viewing events in real-time on their personal computers and mobile devices via the newly launched DCI Live! streaming video platform.

“Record-setting attendance throughout the season is an unmistakable sign of ever-increasing awareness of music education's importance and growing support for performing arts across the country,” DCI Executive Director and CEO Dan Acheson said.

Record-setting attendance. Again, if this is not your bag, fine. But just because you don't like something, that doesn't mean that other people don't enjoy it. different strokes for different folks.
 

GopherHomer said:
Who would ever show up to an event like this - the only reason most people even know we have a marching band is that they are forced, as a captive audience, to watch them after their halftime pee break. If it makes a profit, have at it - but it seriously does.not.matter.
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I've gone to DCI events. Lots of people, especially band alums, find it really interesting and fun. If your only marching band experience is the halftime show, you're really missing the best the U of MN band has to offer in the pregame show. The band is also a huge atmosphere differentiator between the NFL and college football.
 



Ski U Master said:
I've gone to DCI events. Lots of people, <b>especially band alums, </b>find it really interesting and fun. If your only marching band experience is the halftime show, you're really missing the best the U of MN band has to offer in the pregame show. The band is also a huge atmosphere differentiator between the NFL and college football.
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Now it all makes sense.
 

Spoofin said:
Now it all makes sense.
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Again, goes back to understanding what you're seeing. To people who know the ins and outs of marching bands, there are lots of little things to see. No different than someone who played O line breaking down blocking schemes, or NASCAR fan seeing more in a race than just cars going around a track.
 

Those DCI events are amazing. Now, I wouldn't put it as a higher priority than our football program. Having our own stadium was the whole point of building TCF, after years of having to share the metrodome.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Attendance records set across 2015 Drum Corps International Tour
By: Chris Weber
Release: 08/26/2015
Print RSS

RELATED LINKS
Reserve your seat for the 2016 DCI World Championships
This August, Drum Corps International once again recorded a record attendance figure at the DCI World Championship Finals, capping off a successful 2015 summer season that saw several additional new records set across the entire tour.

An estimated 330,000 spectators headed to 107 live events on the 53-day DCI Summer Tour. Tens of thousands of additional fans visited movie theaters throughout the United States and enjoyed viewing events in real-time on their personal computers and mobile devices via the newly launched DCI Live! streaming video platform.

“Record-setting attendance throughout the season is an unmistakable sign of ever-increasing awareness of music education's importance and growing support for performing arts across the country,” DCI Executive Director and CEO Dan Acheson said.

Record-setting attendance. Again, if this is not your bag, fine. But just because you don't like something, that doesn't mean that other people don't enjoy it. different strokes for different folks.
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So about 3,000 an event. Could use any decent HS stadium in America. Where's the $100,000's coming from? And "record setting" is coming from the guy in charge. As I said before, non-story.
 



None of this should have ever been a public discussion..

Tracy needs the locker room to show prospective recruits. Certainly if that was part of the rental a compromise could be found for the football prospects to get their photos taken and see the uniqueness of it. I'm sure the drum and bugle people would allow TC to have his recruits on the sideline and see the stadium. It would have a far greater atmosphere with their performance going on and thousands of people in the stands versus being empty. Any on field work could easily be done at the practice facility or outside practice field, with the construction of the new facilities ongoing for evidence things are changing.

It is all how you frame it and present it to the recruits that makes it a problem or a benefit. Just don't see why it wasn't compromised and negotiated without all the negative publicity, angst and bad PR.
 

Have lurked on GH for a couple years, but decided to post since this topic hits pretty close to home (been involved with several drum corps groups as a performer/staff member ... my family has been involved with it for a long time and it's how I met my wife).

Sorry in advance for the long post ...

I'll concede two points right away:

1) DCI -- and drum corps at large -- is largely a niche activity. It's not for everyone and that's fine.

2) This issue would've been avoided if there had been a contract. The executive director of DCI even somewhat admitted it in the article, so DCI isn't blameless in this either.

That being said, anyone who says it's a non-story is wrong. Even though it's a niche activity, it's a growing niche activity -- the attendance figures and popularity of the live finals cinemacast don't lie (I could write 700 pages about the history of DCI and the changing demographic of its fanbase, but I won't bore you).

Minnesota is one of the states at the center of this activity's growth, largely thanks to this major regional event that brings 20+ competing units from coast-to-coast and thousands of local/non-local fans. Since 2010, this event has been a "first impression" of the U for many of these people.

I'm not lying when I say DCI Minnesota is one of the best regionals of them all ... both for fans and performers. The stadium is great acoustically, the crowds love to be entertained, and there's so much to do in Dinkytown compared to a lot of places (i.e. the neighborhood surrounding the Citrus Bowl). Furthermore, since finals are always hosted at the indoor Lucas Oil Stadium (aka "the oil can") these types of outdoor events are appreciated even more for the acoustics.

As previously mentioned: MN is a rising region in this activity. There are 4 competing drum corps groups in this state -- the newest one is River City Rhythm (RCR) ... launched last year as MN's first major DCI corps since the 70s. The interest in music education and marching programs have gone up in the state considerably since the regional. We won't have the culture that Texas has anytime soon, but we're climbing up the ranks.

Going back to the specific issue: whether this was a power play by Claeys or just an honest mistake by some athletic department pencil pusher ... or both ... it's something that probably wouldn't have happened in a stable athletic department.

I want Coach Claeys to succeed and keep building something great. Compromising the date shouldn't affect that.

TL;DR - the U benefits by getting 100 grand and hosting a ton of potential students. DCI and Minnesota's music education scene benefits by getting a major show in a great, fan-favorite location. Claeys benefits by getting to host his thing on the same day. Everyone wins.

If you're in Mpls and have nothing going on July 16, just walk around TCF Stadium during the event (the top groups go on at night ... groups like Carolina Crown or Blue Devils need to be seen to be believed). There will be dozens of corps warming up in the lots. It's a lively, fun, loud atmosphere full of insane talent that can only truly be experienced live.
 

Ski U Master said:
Again, goes back to understanding what you're seeing. To people who know the ins and outs of marching bands, there are lots of little things to see. No different than someone who played O line breaking down blocking schemes, or NASCAR fan seeing more in a race than just cars going around a track.
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You mean like a lot of drunk rednecks along with scantly dressed women?

[video]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyx79ZwLb1qkbodlo1_500.gif[/video]
 

The Band Police!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DCI MN tonight at TCF. A great recruiting tool for the University as a whole as the young people that participate in this activity tend to be high end students. Hopefully the storms hold off. 100k into the athletic coffers. A win, win.
 

Why don't follow them to Camp Randall and stay there.
 

beavergopher said:
DCI MN tonight at TCF. A great recruiting tool for the University as a whole as <b>the young people that participate in this activity tend to be high end students. </b>Hopefully the storms hold off. 100k into the athletic coffers. A win, win.
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I'll bet my house that a)you have no stats to back this ridiculous statement up; and b)you were in band.


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So if this DCI event happened last night, where did we have the BBQ? The camp ended late afternoon? Did we have to ship everybody over to Bierman for the bbq? (That would seem like a less advantageous recruiting environment)


I'm all for having events like DCI at TCF when it's empty, but the senior and junior camps, and recruiting bbq, unquestionably have to take priority. I can see why Claeys wanted this date, with high school practice starting shortly, and the 4th of July weekend being a non-starter.
 

Spoofin said:
I'll bet my house that a)you have no stats to back this ridiculous statement up; and b)you were in band.


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Average GPA of the marching band at the U is 3.6 if I remember correctly, Diem was big on promoting that figure (as he should).
 

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