Although I might enjoy talking to drum corps people and putting the details together for a successful drum corps circuit it does become overwhelming at times. SDCA is attempting to not only gather corps together but also give them a place to play. This is like double work

There is a very unusual process of putting the cart before the horse and talking tongue in cheek.

I love using old phrases to set the stage. Although, you have to hope that everyone understands the expression as you intended.

Anyway, since we are trying to work with drum corps and communities at the same time there is a lot of “faking it”. What I mean is that I can’t go to a community that is having a festival and tell them that I want to put on a drum corps show as part of their entertainment if I don’t have enough drum corps that can schedule for that day; and I can’t tell the drum corps I have a place for them to play if I don’t have a willing community that wants to have a show. Additionally, we are trying to have a Saturday/Sunday weekend for the corps so that they can maximize their performing and monetary gain. Can you see the dilemma?

So carefully we have been using good rederick to meld these two entities together.  This being our second year has given us a good base to start with and thanks to Will Koenig who had the foresight to put a promo video together for us along with a handout brochure we developed with some of Jim Whites pictures  in it we have somewhat of a presentation we can provide to the communities.

We projected ten shows for this year and so far have secured eight. We are still looking for two more to round out the season. . I have to thank Chris Wellner of the Northernaires for his extended efforts in the Michigan and Wisconsin area for successful putting four of these shows together.

We have already notified the member corps that SDCA will be looking to them to host a show in 2011. What this will do is to get the corps to be active in their community. One of the requirements of a host corps is to present a free brass and percussion clinic to the community school band and SDCA will provide the kids with a complimentary ticket to the show. Our hope is to capture the interest of the community kids, chamber of commerce, local businesses and other would be supporters in the area. With this accomplished the second annual drum corps show hosted in 2012 will bring out moms, dads, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, siblings and friends to see the show I.E. buy a ticket and support the activity.

We still have a long way to go and if any one out there wants to help out send an email to me. Thanks for reading this. Look here again and I’ll keep you updated on out progress.

SDCA staff and board have thought long and hard about ticket sales and prices.

We considered: money changing, price of live entertainment, quality of entertainment, number of attendees, keeping the cost reasonable, the demographics of the current audience, the goal for doubling the attendance, make it easier for families with young children to attend, get a larger K-12  age audience…….

We have decided that the ticket price will be STANDARD $10.00.

That every $10 ticket will allow one student (K- 12) to enter free.

That children five and under get in free with a paying adult.

The money dispersed to the performing corps will be $1.00 for every ticket sold.

The HOST corps (that provides the manpower) will receive $2.00

SDCA will receive $2.00

Any remaining ticket money will be distributed equally to all performing corps.

As this year comes to a close SDCA has a lot to be grateful for. We have organized an association that is functioning well. We have had many upon many volunteers to keep SDCA running or have stepped forward to help us advance in the years to come. We are in awe that we were inspired to do this in what appears to be the right place and at the right time. We have met some outstanding people. We have seen many of these people use their valuable time and get actively involve for the common good of drum and bugle corps. We have seen others get excited about organizing or reorganizing a corps to have the opportunity of play and march once again. We have extended our acquaintances and friendships to many other people from Canada, Texas, The East Coast and the West Coast that were initially outside of our intended geographic area of concern.  It is our intentions to go into any of these areas that have a desire for additional opportunity to play and march. With all of this positive response we now recognized that SDCA is moving in the right direction. With our finger on the pulse of today’s drum corps activity we have been working on a five-plus year plan with economics in mind so that each corps will be a one or two bus corps where the larger corps will have a Field Show.

We are thankful for the fans that have given SDCA overwhelming support and great constructive comments. We are humbled to see four new corps organize or reorganize as alumni corps due to SDCA’s influence.

In 2009 SDCA had six corps participate in three shows. After this years annual meeting we will now have thirteen corps participating in ten shows in the 2010 season. After only one scheduled year we realize that it is not impossible for SDCA to be coast to coast and in Canada within the next five plus years. Additional, after talking to 21 + age groups we have recognized that there is a desire to have an all age drum circuit / colorguard circuit. When the time is right SDCA will move forward in this area.

Drum corps life is good and we at SDCA wish you all great health and happy marching.

On October 17, the second birthday of SDCA, we had our first annual Information and scheduling meeting. Sixteen people were there representing eight corps; the Minni Brass, Sine Wave Brass, Pioneer, Northernaires, Royal Airs, Warriors and the 42 corps. Additionally we had heard from a few that were unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. They were the Blue Notes, the Blue Saints, Imperial Knights, the Classic Cavaliers, the Lakeshoremen and the KnightFire

            We talked about our first year where we had 10 potential shows planned and due to the limited number of available corps were only able to produce three; Menominee MI, Fond du lac WI and Mchenry IL.    However, for our first year we are very satisfied.

            As far as when the corps continue to grow in membership we said we will add full field show performances. If these shows are designed to be confined to the 35 to 35 yard lines these shows can be performed either indoor or out door. We want to make it clear that this is not meant to take the place of DCI or DCA or to interfere with any corps involvement with them. We feel that SDCA can be a stepping stone to these organizations if the desire is there.

            Our First year the corps that participated were; The Blue Saints, the Classic Cavaliers, the Lakeshoremen, the Northernaires, the Minni Brass and the Royal Airs. As well as the Southshore Drill team and the Strikers drum line. Thus far since the organization of SDCA we have influenced the Americanos to reorganize into an alumni corps; the KnightFire drum line to become a drum and bugle corps, the Imperial Knights from Canada to form a senior corps and the Sine Wave Brass to start a mini corps. All of these new corps will be performing in SDCA shows in 2010. Additionally, we continue to receive emails from Canada, the East and Texas for SDCA to form regions in their areas. Please note that SDCA is not soliciting membership except in the Midwest but we will go where ever this type of organization is wanted. 

            We have completed our program scheduling for the 2010 season which consist of eleven shows that will span from April to September. Now we will be actively pursuing the details for each show.  The shows we selected will take up only one weekend a month to allow for rehearsal time and family time.

            Keep an eye on our progress and come out to see the performances.

Welcome to our new blog. In this format we will attempt to keep you updated on the WHO, WHAT and WHERE;  I.E. the inner workings of SDCA . Our idea is for you to watch the growth of this new drum and bugle corps circuit.

Your comments are always welcome. After all, we feel we have put this organization together with you the drum corps fan and performer in mind.

Special thanks to Bob Doran our web master who keeps educating me about this site. 

So keep coming back. this is going to prove to be a busy few months as we put together our annual business meeting to set up our 2010 season.

By the way, keep an eye out for the possible SDCA arena show coming November 14 2009 in Sudbury Canada.