ADDRESS:

Eldorado?  A Feasibility Study of Olympic Drum Corps

Stuart E. Rice


INTRODUCTION.

In 1596, Spaniards exploring what is now Bogota Columbia reported the discovery of a land of
fabulous riches they called El Dorado - "the gilded one".  Four hundred years later, an
economically malnourished DCI discovered their own "El Dorado" at a region not far from this
area.  Or so they thought.  Drum and bugle corps did not, in fact, discover greater popularity,
participation, and prosperity beneath the wing of the world's largest entertainment corporation. 
Rather, the pilgrimage to Disney World 1995-1997 only managed to keep the activity's assets
and interests solvent in a whirlwind of change.
     Does El Dorado exist for drum and bugle corps?  It is a timely question, and one which
makes this a special paper for me.  I usually write only about marching history, choreography,
and technique.  I have never before attempted to write something I felt was as timely as this
topic is for drum corps today. I believe the material presented within this paper will come as
close as possible to answering the question of drum corps' "El Dorado".  I believe it still exists. 
But only if we are willing to make the journey.  And begin it right away.
     
     In Section One "BACKWARD GLANCES," I hope to illustrate just how timely and
critical the Olympic option has become for the activity (November 30).   Section Two "THE
OLYMPIC MOVEMENT" will present the facts about the Olympic Movement - what it is, and
what it does, respectively (December 1).  This section will also raise several key challenges
about the compatibility of the Olympics and drum and bugle corps.  These issues will be
explored in more detail in the Third and final section, "ISSUES FOR FUTURE
DEVELOPMENT" (December 2).
     For those who may find the Olympics unrealistic or intimidating, let me assure that it is
neither.  On the contrary, it promises to be a great adventure, and one which will no doubt give
new life to drum corps.  After preparing this research, I think I can assert that the Olympic
Movement is not only compatible with drum corps, but that its sanctuary and structure offer
opportunities for self-development and prosperity hitherto undreamt.
     My decision to write this paper, however, was not just a product of my interest in the
subject's feasibility and importance.  My selection of this topic was also a choice I felt would be
a contribution befitting my best wishes for the activity as I expect to depart.
     As some of you are aware, the topic of my presentations in the past three Symposiums
has always been the same - marching choreography and technique (I am overdue for a paper on
ensemble marching, however).  I take very seriously my responsibility to present original
research in the marching arts and sciences, and am considering my retirement from drum corps
as a professional author so that I may spend my remaining years doing so productively.
     I expect to return to writing and researching my field of study, apparently of peripheral
interest to the activity, next year.  Until then, however, I would like to offer this last personal and
individualized gift, a gift which I hope may be found useful to an art which has given me so
much, and to an activity which has given so much to the art of choreographed marching.
     I also feel a great sense of urgency in promoting an awareness of the urgency of our
situation, which, given immediate and top priority to the preparation for drum corps
participation in the Summer Olympic Games, would require at least ten years, and will take
about as long to help turn the activity around.  Allow me to explain my sense of urgency, and
illustrate what trouble we are in.


SECTION I: BACKWARD GLANCES:

A Backward Glance at Growth.

     In 1957 there were about 1,400 active junior drum and bugle corps in the United States
By 1972, that number dropped to about 400.  By 1997, that number fell to just over 100 and then
dipped to the double-digits this year (Tolzmann).  Today there are two-thirds as many junior
corps in America as there were in Connecticut alone 28 years ago (Popp), a state not twice the
size of an iceberg (A-38) globally warmed off the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica last Summer
(NIC).  Drum corps is a "dying" activity (Monterastelli).
     While it may seem that 1,300 junior corps folding in forty years landed us on our
deserted island, I would like to emphasize that we are not quite an endangered species yet.  Nor
was this shift in numbers entirely the result of DCI.  Consider the 1,000 corps which evaporated
in the fifteen years before DCI's first championship in 1972:  most of these numbers were lost to
the demographic vacuum left by baby-boomers who grew up and aged out.
     The fact that DCI could emerge as such a success in the 1970's and 1980's cannot be
explained solely as the result of hitching a ride on the boomlet's population "echo".  This golden
age of drum corps speaks volumes of the activities' resiliency.  More relevantly, it testifies to
its dependence on refinement and excellence for success.  Down-sizing and re-tooling do
sometimes pay off.  And hard times certainly reveal who your friends are.
     Many other factors which decimated the drum corps population between 1957 and 1972
have never ceased troubling the activity.  Interest in militant/patriotic symbols was on the wane
during this period.  A two-hundred percent increase in the cost of instruments, buses, and tour
food. Prize money, on the other hand, increased a mere 10 percent.  To add injury to insult, drum
corps became a touring activity during this period.  Next to educational standards, this one
controversial factory has done more damage to the activity than any other in history.
     Tied to this Achilles heel is the changing nature of funding and support which made
touring possible.  The first junior corps nationals competitions (starting with the Legion National
in 1937) saw the drum corps movement materialize not from bingo, but from the sponsorship
these corps enjoyed from organizations such as war veterans, parishes, the Y.M.C.A., and B.S.A. 
Support from these organizations created most of the 1,400 corps operating in 1957.
     When junior corps (Scout House in 1953, the Boston Crusaders in 1955, Cadets of
Bergen County in 1958, etc.) began to cut themselves loose from the limited budgets of these
local affiliations, the security of community support was exchanged for the freedom to tour and
greater control over managerial agendas.  This not only made the activity more competitive, but
also contributed to the cross-fertilization of ideas, which accelerated the independent creative
development of a self-actualized activity.
     The interest in touring plateaued around twenty years later, about the same time eight
million viewers watched the 1976 DCI Finals live on PBS.  Drum corps was no longer a mere
recreational activity.  It was the "State of the Art" of the marching-music movement, the cutting
edge of a phenomenon which was until then thought of only as an elaborate parade or halftime
amusement.
     But just where choreographed marching was heading was not yet clear.  In drum corps,
the only answer seemed to be coming from more competition.  As a result, it lost more support
from affiliated and educated locals, members, and entire corps who could not appreciate its
increasing expense.  As drum corps began pricing itself out of its market, its competitive
agendas began to chafe under its unresolved ambiguity as a creative/re-creative endeavor which
no longer tied to specific political interests, religions, or social causes.
     Today, about twenty years since then, our movement has plateaued again.  What once
became recreative now became a truly creative endeavor (a question finally settled in 1983 by
the drill of George Zingali, and to some extent Steve Brubaker).  But the direction and
destination of
that creative community remained in question.  In a sense, we are still very much like a recently
publicized transient, living out a hand to mouth existence which has depleted our friends and
endangered our health.  We, too, have all but set fire to the field for the warming thrill of visual
effect, ignorant of the history and heritage which goes up in flames with it.
     If we were to calculate our future based on the fallen comrades of last year's pundit, we
would be forced to conclude that junior drum corps would be extinct in a decade.  And the
remaining senior corps follow suit soon after, no doubt.
     However, I don't believe this will happen.  Rather, I believe the present scaled-down
version of the activity, along with the fact that we have considered and tried just about every
other option within reason, may finally allow us - no, force us - to enter, with one accord, a
community we could call home.  The Olympic Movement.


A Backward Glance At Creative Development.

     The Disney vacation served as a refresher course in what drum corps was like before DCI
brought the activity center stage.  This lesson was an intimidating warning: there could be no
going back to the way things were when drum corps were just a patriotic flag that every veterans,
youth, or religious organization paraded before their neighbors.  It was then that "creative" drum
corps began to feel what it means to be on its own.
     Many pivotal decisions have affected drum corps during this experimental period of
DCI's tenure as "first elected governor" of the activity.  "Marching and Maneuvering" in the past
several years has become "Visual".  Winter Guard International was formed in 1977.  In 1980,
the American Flag began to exit the field.  Ten years before DCI's first World Championship, the
prevailing judges association took "a strong stand against any form of sensual dancing" (Popp). 
Ten years after, girls were swaying their hips with large feather-fans in their hands.
     I n 1976 The DCI Rules Congress approved a (de-facto) second valve to bugles, while
going on record to state "permanent opposition" to the use of a third.  By 1989 that resolve
dissolved as well.  In as much time a serious movement developed to abandon restrictions on
instruments altogether.  Percussion pits have ballooned.  Indoor drum ensembles have since
spread across the country.
     "Filters" restricting creative resources (in the words of DCI Head Judge John Turner)
have been open so wide, so long, that audiences went from watching strictly symmetrical drill to
staring into a whirlpool of chaos, free-form drill, and apparent disorder.  Extreme marching has
swept audiences and youth (literally, in some cases) off their feet for bedazzling and coveted
"Visual Effect".  A year ago, a well-meaning drum corps veteran said: "I've been looking at old
recaps and found a caption called M & M.  What does this stand for?"
     Indeed.


A Backward Glance at the Mission.

     The DCI "experiment," for all intents and purposes is now finished, every paradigm
explored, every element dissected, every permutation considered, every extreme revisited.  DCI
has given birth to a real live "movement".  Yet in spite of this independence and creative
self-actualization of this movement, our future is as much a mystery as our past.  Our numbers
have been in decline for so long we look to our rate of decay for signs of potential growth. 
Something is wrong.  It now seems hardly likely that DCI will ever be able to "promote, develop,
and preserve the operational and artistic standards of the competitive musical sport" as the
"promotional, educational and service arm of the drum and bugle corps activity" Did the DCI
experiment fail?
     In fact, it could never have succeeded.  As an experiment, that is.  When the colonies
accepted the Declaration of Independence, the ideal that "all men are created equal" was far
from a reality.  Class distinction, imported with most European immigrants, was still widely
accepted.  Slavery was a blot one hundred years from legal abolishment, and another two
hundred years from the dawn of social abolition.  Congress was not prepared to split semantic
hairs over the words "all men" when its inclusivity was already apparent to a silent majority - a
group of citizens with wisdom and forethought who were aware of the tenuous political issues
and circumstances of the day.
     These delicate social conscience may not win the point if the Declaration were to run
aground over such revolutionary and unimaginable social ideas in that age.  The Declaration of
Independence was a failure from the start.  What it promised, however, was a formula of ideals
and political structure in which these ideals could be realized.  The Declaration of Independence
was a gift for future generations to realize - younger, freer minds to struggle with.
     The trouble with such a wish list is that it cannot endure indefinitely.  Thus, to keep the
dream alive, the founding fathers did what they could.  Establish currency.  Regulate trade.  Set
up agencies for taxation, defense, law enforcement, judicial systems, territorial claims, foreign
affairs (for comparisons between American and drum corps history, See Mavroudis, RAMD
Virtual Symposium 1995).  That was the easy part.
     DCI has declared its own independence and has established many of the agencies
required to sustain its functions thus far.  But many of the ideals of DCI's Mission Statement
could never have been realized when the agenda which began the DCI experiment was limited to
more pressing issues such as managing its own revenue, regulating its creative content, and
governing its exposure.  The establishment of DCI was the realization of those goals.  DCI had
larger ambitions for the activity.  It viewed drum corps as a "competitive musical sport" worthy
of "artistic standards" and "education" - the kinds of things which create truly worldwide
movements.
     However, we are in our creative and educational infancy.  The more committed we
become to touring, the more our community interest shrinks.  Our base of veteran support is
drying up because drum corps has become more about shows than corps, more about "what" than
"who".  Our entertainment value draws a more exclusive and tight-fisted audience.  While this
has been an uncomfortable adjustment, it is a sign of growth.  The activity is entering adulthood,
and becoming more expected to offer the quality of experience and justifying the level of
support the founders who established its wish list originally intended for it.
     Many of these supporters and founders are no longer here to pick us up and dust us off if
we fall down.  Thus, were are not merely on our own as a youth activity with high creative and
technical aspirations.  We have our own following now for the first time.  They are no longer
comprised of copious numbers of friends, family, or fathers.  They no longer march to fight foes,
form friendships, find favor, or forge faith in fashion.  They do not participate for peers,
patriotism, or paternal practices.  They do it for the love of it.  This is the kind of following upon
which a movement may be built.
     But unlike organizations which were founded in in the drum corps community (winter
guard, indoor percussion), drum corps compete for students and audiences against organizations
that are much more socially integrated and securely funded (schools).  Schools have studied our
art well, and can provide a substitute of acceptable quality for all but the majority of the Top 12
organizations (one reason why these corps have not folded).  Drum corps does not produce the
universal awareness, interest, and prestige it once did - or the dollars.  Again, this is not news.
     This is my point: we cannot bring our activity to them, as Winter Guard International
does so successfully (or as indoor percussion is in the process of doing).  We cannot win their
students over to an activity which is as obscure as it is redundant to their marching bands.  There
is only one winter guard activity and one indoor percussion activity.  However, there are two
kinds of "band," as we have now warmed up to the term.  One kind (marching bands) dabble in
what we do, and will never fully adapt to what we are capable of.  The other kind (drum corps)
has set the standard for the medium ever since the rise of music education and post war peace
brought the merits of marching band under question.  Our present weakness makes choosing one
of these courses vital to our survival.
     Which brings us to our present watershed of development.  It is widely known that
creative and educational progress requires not only an objective, independent party to establish,
but also the regulation of a credible agency of authority.  DCI has always been unable to provide
that leadership, comprised as it is of competing interests with disparate and limited goals for the
drum and bugle corps activity.  We are left with two options for further developing creative and
educational facets of our mission:
     The future of drum corps is either one of greater exposure, prestige, development, and
higher standards through radical reform, or greater ambiguity through greater collusion with
marching bands.  Given the fact that drum corps (not marching bands) fathered and initially set
the standards for the aforementioned activities, I believe the activity both worthy and capable of
realizing the option of much needed reform.  I hereby present this feasibility study of drum
corps' submission to higher ideals, aims, regulations, and practices such as those of Olympism.
     As I am sure you are aware, there are many inherent challenges to this proposition. 
Among the most formidable of those are requirements of The Olympic Charter as summarized:

     1.  Sports must be practiced in 50 (men) and 35 (women) countries to participate in the
     Olympics.
     2.  Most aspects of the regulation of drum corps must be approved by the International
     Olympic Committee and various subcommittees.
     3.  Live music has yet to be considered sport.

     Solutions to these problems and others like them will be discussed later in the paper. 
Meanwhile, for those who are skeptical of this feasibility study, I hope an exploration of the
management, philosophy, Doctrine, and Spirit of the Olympic movement will offer productive
suggestions for the management of the activity.
     Due to the sheer magnitude of changes in the activity it implies, the Olympics may well
be the most important decision DCI ever makes.  It offers the opportunity for virtually unlimited
development through its programs, but also may be the only institution which can stave off the
dismantling or extinction of the drum corps heritage.  How does it do this?  Let me list a few a
the more fundamental means:

1.  Development of the athlete and sport through universal ethical and moral ideals.
2.  Financial and promotional support.
3.  Interaction and guidance from a community bound by a mission of mutual support.
4.  Increased political recognition and social stature.

I think we can all agree drum corps is both deserving and in need of each of the above.  I will
now devote the second and third of this paper's four parts to explaining what the Olympic
Movement is, and how the Olympic Movement works (particularly for new sports with
distinctions such as ours).


SECTION IIA:  THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT: WHAT IT IS

     The Olympic Movement is comprised of several managerial, ideological, and
philosophical branches of the Olympic Movement itself, the realization of which becomes the
responsibility for committees appointed thereto.  There are also many affiliated organizations
with which DCI as an International Federation would be working.  These include:

II. Doctrines and Documents of the Olympic Movement to be discussed in Section II (What It
Is), including:

     The Olympic Motto ("Citius . Altius . Fortius")
     The Olympic Charter
     Olympism
     The Olympic Movement
     Olympic Solidarity
     Olympic education
     The Olympic Spirit
     The Olympic Games

Organizations of the Olympic Movement will be discussed in "The Olympic Movement:  What It
Does," including:

1.  The International Olympic Committee (IOC)
2.  Relevant International Federations (IFs):
     Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (A.S.O.I.F.)
     Assembly of IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (A.R.I.S.F.)
     General Association of International Sports Federations (A.G.F.I.S./G.A.I.S.F.)
3.  Relevant National Olympic Committees (NOCs):
     Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games
     Association of National Olympic Committees
     Pan-American Sports Organization
     International Olympic Academy
     Games of the Olympiad
4.  Olympic Sports.
5.  A Review Of Issues.

The Olympic Movement:  What It Is.

     The Olympic Movement is not games, competition, nations, organizations, athletes, or
even the spirit of good sportsmanship.  The Olympics are not a "gig" you spend a lot of time
preparing for.  Olympism, the Olympic Movement, and the Olympic Games are not things you
"age out" of.  They are not intended to make athletes or groups of athletes "special" or "world
champions," though they do have that effect.  The Olympic Movement is a way of life much
deeper and far-reaching than any of these things or anything we might imagine.  They are for
everyone, everywhere, at every stage of life and physical development.
     In this section on what the Olympic Movement Is, I have chosen to address the beliefs,
ideals, doctrine, and other philosophical and educational facets of the Olympics as contained in
Documents and Doctrines of the Olympic Charter.  These outline what constitutes "The Olympic
Movement".  I speak of these materials and principles as specifying what the Olympic
Movement "Is," as opposed to what it "Does" - they are what the Olympic Movement revolves
around.  Organizations are just a means to those ends.
     Terminology shouldn't be a problem for anyone, inasmuch as the only unusual terms are
titles of organizations.  The terms of these Documents and Doctrines may be found in the titles
of each section devoted to them.  Their meaning and function should be well explained, but
mental notes are handy when they start popping up later with their acronyms, the most common
being the IOC or International Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Motto.

     The Olympic Motto is "Citius . Altius . Fortius" - Latin for "Faster . Higher . Braver," and
frequently misinterpreted as "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".  These terms are a nod to those values
of the ancient Games, when results were measured in length, height, and weight.
     However, the Olympics today are more than a contest of champions and one-upmanship. 
Modern Olympism is a "philosophy of life ... blending sport with culture and education ...
building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without
discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic Spirit".  These reflect the fact that the Olympic
Movement expects more of its athletes than just raw power.  Olympism requires commitment to
a way of life.  It suggests we as human beings find Olympism in more refined preoccupations as
well.  Advantage: drum corps.
     Modern Olympic Games founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin explained this principle
through what he briefly describes as the Olympic creed: "The most important thing in the
Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the
triumph but the struggle.  The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well,"
or 'bravely,' as the Olympic Motto suggests.  There is tangible, even measurable beauty in this.
     Unfortunately, some fans may overlook the "Braver"part of the Olympic Motto and see
"higher, faster, stronger, louder," etc. - "cool!", as if drum corps and Olympism fit hand-in-glove
due to our ability to run our feet off, play high notes, and "push the envelope" over the edge. 
This is where we need to stop and think.  We all know deep down that drum corps is much more
than that.  We also know that much of what constitutes the legitimacy of the activity is not found
in "higher, faster, stronger".  It is found in our art, and the souls of those who devote themselves
to it.
     Ross-Robertson (who uses "trumpet" and "bugle" interchangeably) claims that "trumpet
playing contests were a featured item in the Olympic Games of about 400 B.C." (The
Encyclopedia of Drum and Bugle Corps, 1966, p. 5).  However, these were instruments of such
tremendous force (and shock value in combat), that their large mouthpieces had to be strapped to
the head.  It certainly was true: for all we know, these contests were simply a matter of who
could play higher, louder, longer, or without passing out.  But the Olympic Movement
transcended these values, even to approach art (skating, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized
sports), and so must we, as we aspire to their level of success.
     We have all felt the thrill of exceeding these technical dimensions in our lives.  Indeed,
The Olympic Charter invites the Olympic Movement to face these challenges and "excel in
accordance with the Olympic spirit".  But our activity is not a contest of decibel levels or the 100
meters or of keeping a euphonium bugle at near arm's length from the face for over 10 minutes. 
As ballet artfully challenges its vertical limitations with grace, so drum corps challenges its
two-dimensional medium which the multi-dimensional media which accompany choreographed
marching.
     The distinctive athletic premise central to our multi-dimensional sport is
two-dimensional dance, and it is a medium which we as human beings use to define our physical
function and our most objective identity.  Our ability to accept this fact is among the most
challenging issues facing our activity (issue #1).  "To what, and with whom do we belong? 
Dance, drill, and other rhythmic muscular exercises have always played a part in answering
those questions.  They will continue to do so as long as the gestural, muscular level of
communication continues to bind human beings together into emotionally vibrant groups that
give meaning and purpose to human existence" (Keeping Together In Time, William H.
McNeill, anthropologist and retired soldier, 1995).

The Olympic Charter.

     The Olympic Charter is the most important Olympic Document because it encompasses
and summarizes all others.  It also describes what the Olympic Movement does, but we will get
to that later.  The first two sentences of the Charter explain what it is in its own words:
     "The Olympic Charter is a document that sums up the philosophy, aims, traditions and
realities of the Olympic Movement.  In the charter, it is clearly specified that sport serves the
harmonious development of man by creating a philosophy of life."
     At least two things probably strike the average corps veteran of interest here: "the
harmonious development of man" and the *creation* of a "philosophy of life".  Many corps fans
think the only harmonious development of man consists of planting your feet on one's "spot" on
the front sideline and pumping out three or four lung-fulls of "harmonious development". 
Generally, our lifelong access and devotion to our activity don't demand that we co-exist
harmoniously with anything but a flag, a pair of sticks, and a bent metal tube.  We are estranged
from our art.  In nearly any other Olympic sport, Pepe Notaro would be thus obliged to dig
himself an early grave to end his marching career when that dirt "hits his face".
     Drum corps is unique among Olympic sports in that it is (or can be) an activity feasible
and beneficial to health well into the golden years.  If an Olympic sport "serves the harmonious
development of man," then drum corps is uniquely qualified to do so directly both within and
without the Olympic Movement.  Walking itself is increasingly being recognized for its
therapeutic value.  It is recognized as America's most popular form of exercise by the Sporting
Goods and Manufacturers Association of America (growing 22% to 16 million participants in
1995).
     Walking is even being sought via suspended mechanical equipment as an aid to the
partial recovery of quadriplegics with deadly injuries to the 7th cervical vertebra (beneath the
skull), as demonstrated by Christopher Reeve recently in a television adaptation of Hitchcock's
"Rear Window".  It is truly a sport for everyone, everywhere.  This is not only good for drum
corps.  It is also good for the Olympics to have such healthy sports, and that weighs in our favor.
     You'll notice the Charter suggests Olympic sport involves "creating" a philosophy of life.  
Creating is a very personal act which doesn't lend itself well to conformist activities like
synchronized skating/swimming.  Drum corps is one such activity.  It has compensated for this
somewhat with I&Es, but this fails to address the individual development of the extramusical
athlete.  This is an issue that must be resolved through education and the acceleration of
technical mastery.  Higher, more artistic technical standards in marching must penetrate the
collective will in the service of both collective and individual interests.
     To be thus effective, such educational objectives must aim to "create a way of life based
on the joy found in [good] effort, the educational value of good example and respect for
universal fundamental ethical principles".  Many don't realize these ethical principles have
technical/mechanical implications.  Particularly in view of a "way of life based on the joy found
in effort".  This is not simply will.  This is skill.  This meeting of ethics, education, and training
is called "Olympism" (discussed hereafter).
     Technique has suffered in the absence of judging and functional instruction from WWII
veterans and their students, causing poor lifting, bobbing, swaying, shuffling, heel-weighted
marching, leaning during the initiation, cessation, and alteration momentum.  Even falling.  This
does not, in the Charter's elaboration of its advocated philosophy of life, lead to "exalting and
combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will, and mind".  Frequently quite the
contrary, and at times hardly "blending sport with culture and education".  We have our work cut
out for us as athletes.  Hard work, and smart work.

Olympism.

     This facet of Olympic Doctrine deals not only with how well we promote the health and
well-being of those whose skill and knowledge promotes the activity, but that is a more inclusive
population than we are inclined to think.  Those with limited participation constitute public
relations, and those who we might find other ways of reaching through workshop, introduction,
or example can be even more powerful.  It can "place everywhere sport at the service of the
harmonious development of man".
     Central to this goal is "a view to encouraging the establishment of a peaceful society
concerned with the preservation of human dignity" (this has political implications for the
movement).  The "establishment of a peaceful society" and "preservation of human dignity" pose
particular challenges to the activities inclusion, which will be addressed in Appendix 1 (issues
#5 and #6).  Briefly, it should be remembered that images of Nazi street marches are still
stamped in the minds of many elderly (#5), and marching the second best show in the world by
falling on one's face (1995 Finals) is not likely to impress the IOC as aiding the "preservation of
human dignity" (#6).
     The IOC takes Olympism very seriously throughout the Charter.  The Olympic
Movement itself stems from it.  It is not to be taken lightly - sports can be rejected or ejected
from Olympic status according to their exemplification of it.

The Olympic Movement.

     The modern Olympic Movement was effectually founded by Pierre de Coubertin when
311 athletes participated in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.  This Movement
encompasses organizations (discussed later), athletes, and "other persons who agree to be guided
by Olympic Charter".  Criterion for athletes and sports wishing to belong to this movement is
recognition by the IOC based on the recommendations of an NOC, as approached by an
International Federation in compliance with the Olympic Charter.  The biggest challenge of
making this work is reforming DCI to comply with the Olympic Charter.  Issues involved will be
discussed at length in part three of this paper (to be posted tomorrow).
     That is, in a nutshell what separates drum corps from the Olympic community.  To obtain
recognition by the IOC, drum corps must also enter into collaboration with other organizations
also to be discussed later.  They serve a very important role in making drum corps Olympic.
     "The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better
world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the
Olympic Spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and
fair play".  Three more issues are raised in this statement for drum corps:

7.  Olympic sport must be "educating youth through sport".  Drum corps merely trains youth,
imparting various ethical virtues thereby.  Any truly educational virtues of the activity cannot be
accounted for within the individual veteran.
8.  Olympic sport must be "practised without discrimination of any kind".  While drum corps is
hardly racist, its success is heavily dependent on good musicians.  Good musicians are
dependent on good equipment (or equipment period), which may or may not have been available
in their formative years in elementary school - there is frequently not enough to go around.  For
every student in this circumstance, a portion of ethnic American students wound up a statistic in
a recent survey which showed a disproportionately high number of white, upper-class youth in
school music classes.
     This not only creates class division, but also impoverishes corps which
socioeconomically advantaged youth will leave for more competitive and economically
advantaged corps, exacerbating the problem further.  Without early intervention and equal
distribution of resources, drum corps becomes part of the problem rather than the solution,
regardless of how much equipment corps own.  Add to this touring, which traded visibility for
elitism, and the lack of promotional and compensational parity within the creative staff, and it is
evident equal opportunities are not being provided to drum corps youth.
9.  "Solidarity" between corps is not a virtue to be won on a competition field.  Nor can it be won
during rules, tour planning, or other organizational meetings if these forum and their results are
governed by corps representatives.  DCI is becoming aware of this, but it is not the supplying of
educated creative leadership that needed to truly establish solidarity.  In fact, there mere
establishment of medaling (gold, silver, bronze) would go a long way in establishing solidarity. 
However, it is the creative product that lies at the heart of corps identity, as evaluated by judges,
which binds the activity, and here the reform must begin.

Olympic Solidarity.

     The doctrine devoted specifically to Olympic Solidarity elaborates: "The aim of Olympic
Solidarity is to organize aid" for organizations which support Olympic Sports, "in particular
those which have the greatest need of it".  This has very deep implications for educational
funding on a local level, insofar as there are restrictions governing the funding of Olympic sports
organizations themselves.  Explicitly, "this aid takes the form of programmes".  Here we see the
first glimmer of hope for how drum corps may be promoted in 50 countries.
     The objectives of these aid programs are (1) to promote the principles of the Olympic
Movement; (2) to develop the "technical sports knowledge of athletes and coaches" (translating
to interesting implications in our case); (3) "improving, through scholarships, the technical level
of athletes and coaches," which means we must have established the (4) "training [of] sports
administrators; (5) "collaborating with the various IOC commissions ... pursuing such objectives,
particularly through Olympic education..."; (6) creating "sports facilities"; (7) "supporting the
organization and competitions at national, regional and continental level under the authority or
patronage of the NOCs"; (8) "encouraging joint bilateral or multilateral cooperation programs";
and best of all (9) "urging government and international organizations to include sport in Official
Development Assistance" (i.e. - that prison construction money would go a lot further if ...").
     It sounds like a dream, but it all works if we pursue Olympism and concentrate on
elevating the standards which have inspired so many other activities through the past several
decades.
     The second to last statement in the Charter's Fundamental Principles is somewhat
unorthodox, in that it has no elaboration and no further reference.  Yet it hast vast political
implications.  It says "the practice of sport is a human right.  Every individual must have the
possibility of practising sport in accordance with his or her needs."  This has implications
beyond the Olympic games.  It suggests the activity sit down and ask itself why everyone can't
experience the sport in some way.  Every age.  Every social and political circumstance.  Every
disability.  Are we ready for that responsibility?  What does it entail.  Points worth exploring
later (issue #10).
     This infers that drum corps, as an Olympic sport, must take an immediate and committed
interest in "the development of sport for all, which is part of the foundations of high-level sport,"
which in turn promotes sport for all.  It means we use our sport in the service of humanity, and
not vice-versa, which has caused its contraction for so long.
     The IOC enumerate several other points of the movement, including:

- a commitment against doping in sport;
- the encouragement of sports ethics;
- prevents endangering the health of athletes;
- encourages the social and professional future of athletes; and
- support other institutions which devote themselves to Olympic education.

     Each of these issues is worthy of deep, serious consideration as challenges in the drum
corps activity (see issues #11-15).
     The last of the Charter's Fundamental Principles states the Olympic Movement, Olympic
Organizations, and Olympic Games are governed by the Olympic Charter.  As it states from the
outset, "Any person or organization belonging in any capacity whatsoever to the Olympic
Movement is bound by the provisions of the Olympic Charter and shall abide by the decisions of
the IOC".  It is the most important document to know for aspiring Olympic Sports.

Olympic Education.

     Separating the definitions of Olympic education and the Olympic Spirit is problematic. 
The two are so intertwined - synonymous at times - that there was a special section on The
Olympic Spirit (written by an non-IOC officer) was included in the Charter, but entitled "The
Educational Aspects of the Olympic Ideal".  The author, Belhassen Lassoued (Tunisian) spells
out the educational agenda of the Olympics immediately: "the principles of educating
individuals and teaching them to adapt to their living conditions have been one of the main
objectives of the Olympic spirit".  Like the Greeks who cultivated the Games anciently, modern
Olympic Movement founder Pierre de Coubertin believed the development of the mind was part
of the development of the body and the whole soul - an idea still ahead of its time in many ways.
     Coubertin was no jock.  He was a "humanist and teacher, historian, philosopher, poet and
educator.  A man of sensitivity, generosity and determination...".  He wouldn't have made it far
in the NBA.  Among the educational pedagogies of the time which influenced him were the
works of John Dewey, advocate of "learning by doing," and a stalwart proponent of the works of
F.M. Alexander, "re-educator" of posture and basic movement.  Dewey's writings would be
greatly influenced by the work of Alexander, and he was invited to write the introduction to
Alexander's ground-breaking book, "Man's Supreme Inheritance" in 1918.  One of Alexander's
earliest American pupils, "Dewey considered that the Alexander Technique provided a
demonstration of the unity of body and mind" (Jones, "Body Awareness In Action," 1976).

The Olympic Spirit.

     For Lassoued, this "unity of body and mind" doctrine translates to the "specific
characteristics that distinguish the Olympic Movement from all other branches of society," i.e.,
that Olympic activities are aimed at developing both the physical and spiritual side of a person
"in order to form a well-rounded, complete individual".
     Personally, I have always thought of a human being as being made up of the physical,
mental, and spiritual, just as music is made up of rhythm, melody, and harmony.  I believe part
of education is teaching individuals to nurture curiosity, to exercise observation, to restrain
judgement, and to discriminate between what is true and what is not; what is worthy of one's
attention/effort and what is not.  I think this is what is lacking today in society and sports alike. 
News headlines read that "Anti-tobacco forces [are] unsure how to deter teen smokers," even
though the federal government "turned up the rhetoric against smoking" since 1992, when youth
smoking began its "dramatic" climb (The Salt Lake Tribune, 11/30/98).  It is not a perceptual
solution we need.  We need an active solution like drum corps.  Our activity can put those lungs
to better use.
     In spite of its apparent neglect of academic/mental educational values, I don't believe the
Olympic view of an athlete completed solely by spiritual values diminishes the value or potential
of the influence of the Olympics for good on these points.  Particularly its value for any activity
like drum corps, which desperately needs to examine spiritual values in a market dependent on
transiency and bingo.
     Lassoued asserts that "a clear understanding of the Olympic ideals should allow
individuals to develop their basic physical abilities to peak levels while also teaching
self-control".  Lassoued finds this a necessity insofar as "the ability to be cool, calm and
collected is, after all, one of the objectives of the Olympic Movement".
     While I haven't yet been able to find that objective listed in the Olympic Charter, I would
suggest that a better reason for developing physical self-control is that it is a defining
characteristic of both beautiful and correct movement.  This ideology can be traced through de
Coubertin through Dewey to Alexander, who advocated upright posture at all times (an objective
we have yet to even define and objectify in today's drum corps judging standards (issue #16).
     Lassoued's article discusses several of the objectives of the Olympic Spirit such as
socialization, adaptation to living conditions, excellence and self-mastery, and moral
development.  The one we might be most interested in, however, is competition.  "If an athlete's
conduct on the sports field is true to the [Olympic Spirit], it will be much easier to prevent any
anti-sporting feelings ...".
     Have we ever seen "anti-sport" feelings in drum corps (issue #17)?  I suggest we see them
every year when "booing" takes place.  Lassoued is careful to point out that the aforementioned
ideals and objectives exist to eliminate such "dangers which threaten the Olympic Movement". 
If the Olympic Movement feels threatened by them, how much more ought we to be?
     Founder of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin made a very relevant statement on
this point.  He said "the modern Olympic Games had firstly to be created; they must now be
purified.  They have set in motion too many activities which are alien to sport, there are too
many ulterior motives at play ...".  Is bingo an activity that is alien to sport (issue #18)?  Yes, and
it is a problem (a form of gambling, and a prohibited means of support) solved by the Olympics
(discussed later).  Likewise, there are bound to be other ulterior motives which turn up when
drum corps is viewed through the perspective of the Olympics.  There are solutions, for as
Lassoued states, Olympic ideologies exist to "help eradicate the ills of our times".

The Olympic Games.

     Many assumptions about the Olympic Games are wrong.  Rule 9.1 states specifically that
"The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not
between countries".  Just as during athletic competition itself, the whole of Olympic competition
is an individual struggle.  And typically, it is the individuals who win their own personal
struggles that also win competitions, for competition of Olympic caliber is so tight and intense
that in the final analysis, each athlete holds his or her own results in mind, hand, and heart.
     This raises a recent and hotly debated issue over the influence of "designers," or
choreographers of marching, who, while physically absent from the performance itself, weight
most heavily in determining the outcome.  This is issue #19.  I will say no more presently.
     Two side notes to the Olympic Games of interest.  First, "Those sports which are
practised on snow and ice are considered as winter sports".  In other words, unless the activity
makes a remarkably good case for those athletes who live too far north to enjoy snow sports in
the Winter, drum corps will never be a Winter Olympic Sport.
     Second, the IOC owns the Olympics, period.  "The Olympic Games are the exclusive
property of the IOC, which owns all rights relating thereto, in particular, and without limitation,
the rights relating to their organization, exploitation, broadcasting and reproduction by any
means whatsoever".  Say goodbye to DCI's private revenue (issue #20).  It's a whole new
ball-game in the Olympics.
     The upside?  "All profits derived from the celebration of the Olympic Games shall be
applied to the development of the Olympic Movement and of sport".  Including drum corps.  For
an activity with visibility as high as the Olympics, one can only wonder (but not dream) about
the implications of fiscal security.


SECTION IIB.  THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT: WHAT IT DOES.

1.  The International Olympic Committee.

     The objectives of the Olympic Movement are carried out through various organizations
at different levels, principal of which is the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  The IOC is
an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization located in Lausanne, Switzerland. 
Its mission is to lead the Olympic Movement in accordance with the Olympic Charter.  Its
authority to do so comes by virtue of its supreme power among all Olympic organizations.
     The IOC is comprised of one president, six executives, and a few dozen members from
various countries.  These various members are responsible for developing the Olympic
Movement in their respective countries, implementing IOC programmes (including Olympic
Solidarity), and to inform the IOC President annually of the results of such efforts.  In addition to
these annual meetings, they are to advise the IOC President of any events in their country which
may affect the Olympic Movement in any way.  This is a good individual to have for a friend.

2.  Relevant International Sports Federations.

     "In order to promote the Olympic Movement, the IOC may recognize as IFs international
non-governmental organizations administering one or several sports at world level and
encompassing organizations administering such sports at national level" ...The role of these
Federations is to establish and enforce, in accordance with the Olympic Spirit, the rules
concerning the practice of their respective sports," which they develop worldwide.  This
definition of IFs fits so well the role of DCI, one might think DCI was created with this pattern
in mind.  There is a two year "probation" for the recognition of IFs, after which written
confirmation by the IOC of IF status must be receive.
     While there is no apparent reason why DCI as such could not obtain IF status, its statutes,
practices, and activities must be in conformity with the Olympic Charter.  This would require
extensive reforms.  Given that, however, "each IF maintains its independence and autonomy in
the administration of its sport".  IFs must further:

     -  Establish and enforce rules of their sports via the Olympic spirit (issue #21);
     -  "Ensure the development of their sports throughout the world" (see issue #2);
     -  Forward the goals of the Olympic Charter via Olympism and Olympic education;
     -  Establish and submit to the IOC eligibility criteria for the Olympic Games in
     conformity with the Olympic Charter;
     -  Assume technical control and direction of their sports at the Games under IOC
     patronage;
     -  Provide technical assistance through Olympic Solidarity.

     Some relevant International Sports Federations are:

     Aside from more direct management of Summer Olympic Games objectives, the purpose
of The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (A.S.O.I.F.) Is to "coordinate
and defend the common interests of its members," with an aim of "preserving the unity of the
Olympic Movement while maintaining the authority, independence and autonomy of the
member International Federations".  Only IFs appearing in the Summer Olympic Games may be
members of this organization.  Its offices are located in Rome, Italy.  Its Secretary is Robert
Fasulo (fax 3906/679 86 30).

     The Association of the IOC-Recognized International Sports Federations (A.R.I.S.F.) Is
less exclusive.  It serves the same role as the A.S.O.I.F., but for sports which are not on the
Summer Olympic Program.  In addition, its aims are "to ensure widest possible participation at
IOC congresses and in IOC programmes and projects," as well as "to actively support the
inclusion of its members in the Olympic programme".  Thus, once DCI gains recognition by the
IOC according to its adherence to the Olympic Charter, this committee is its ticket to the
Olympic Showcase and the powerful A.S.O.I.F.
     Only by inclusion in the Summer Games program or withdrawal of IOC recognition can
an IF like DCI get the boot from this committee.  Current sports which are members include
alpinism, boules, bowling, finswimming, golf, karate, korfball, netball, orienteering,
parachuting, pelota vasca, racquetball, roller skating, acrobatic sports, squash, trampoline, water
ski.  Golf is the only discontinued sport (1904) in this group.
     Thus, a prospective Olympic sport must have a strong Olympic Movement drive behind
it, or it will not likely recover from a less than successful inclusion in the Olympic Program, as
was also the case with Cricket (1900), Croquet (1900), Roque (1904), Jeu de Paumme* (1908),
Lacrosse (1908), Motor Boating (1908), Rackets* (1908), Tug of War (1920), Rugby (1924), and
Polo (1936) [*=extinct, but helped shape the sport of modern day tennis).  It may be that a sport
may gain IOC recognition with a manifestly temporary interest in the Olympic Games, much
like saying "HI MOM" in the living-rooms of the world.  It is possible to muster just enough
interest in one's sport to make such a temporary appearance in the Olympic Games in order to
"test the market," as it were.
     There is great flexibility here in the IOC's interest in making the games "newer, hipper
and simpler," says one authority.  "While there is no discernible criteria that determines how a
sport becomes part of the Olympic Games [except for IOC recognition and at least minimal
Olympic Charter adherence], the host city organizing committee seems to wield significant
influence.  Consider the following.  Handball, invented in Germany, was added to the 1936
Games in Berlin.  It was then immediately canceled and re-appeared during the 1972 Games in
Munich".
     The IOC does not discourage this, insofar as the IOC has said that "sports will be added
or deleted according to their international popularity," according to one source, although not
fully embracing the Olympic Spirit (as so many sports do which have not returned to the
A.R.I.S.F.).
     
     The fact that some of these sports still enjoy international interest today can seem
intimidating to drum corps unless one considers the vast popularity of marching band, and drum
corps key role in their athletic development - a role which can be resumed just as easily in the
Olympics as more obscure sports such as luge and curling, both of which have graduated to
medal status.  President of A.R.I.S.F. is Ron Froehlich.  Its headquarters are located at P.O. Box
531208, Birmingham, Alabama 35253 (fax 1.205.871.1239).

     The General Association of International Sports Federations (A.G.F.I.S./G.A.I.S.F.)
serves much the same function as the aforementioned A.R.I.S.F. with a more philosophical view
of defending the interests of worldwide sport and exercising tighter control on the verification
and dissemination of information.  It is the only forum which gathers the whole of sports for
yearly exchanges, where good relations among IFs is promoted.  Its financing is dependent on
membership fees and sponsorships.  It represents the IFs which are responsible for organization
of the Olympic Games.  Its membership is open to International Federations which regularly
hold competitions at world level, and which need not participate in the Olympic Games, but do
require IOC recognition.
     The G.A.I.S.F. also recognizes Associate members "combining the activities of several
members" (as would a national or international judging federation) "whose goals contribute to
the objectives fixed by the members of the GAISF".  These include International Federations for
time keepers, education, sports facilities, sports medicine, masters games, paralympics, media,
school sport, military sport, etc.
     Provisional members who have only partly fulfilled the requirements of their requested
membership (billiards, jiu-jitsu, skibob) are offered provisional status.  All in all, the G.A.I.S.F.
offers drum corps productive interaction and support in its interests in the Olympics.  They are
an intriguing picture of problem-solvers that drum corps would do well to become acquainted
with immediately.  Their President is Un-Yong Kim and Secretary General is Peter Tallberg. 
G.A.I.S.F. Administration is located in Monte-Carlo, Monaco (fax377.93.25.28.73).

     As a final note, International Federations are allowed to collaborate in the preparation of
the Olympic Congresses, where the status of sports and other significant issues may be affected.

3.  National Olympic Committees.

     National Olympic Committees (international, continental, or regional) carry the same
rights and responsibilities to advance the Olympic Movement as Ifs.  Additionally, and more
particularly, IOC-recognized NOCs:

-  Have exclusive rights to represent their respective countries and teams at world/regional IOC
recognized competitions.
-  Have a particular responsibility to fight doping, betting, and illegal training methods.
-  May cooperate with and enjoy the support of public authorities, resisting political, religious, or
economic pressure, in keeping with The Olympic Charter.
-  Vote, with participating Ifs, on matters affecting the Olympic Games.
-  Have sole responsibility for submitting to the IOC Olympic Charter-compliant teams
sufficiently prepared for high-level competition.

     NOCs are comprised of their countries':

-  Present and Past IOC members.
-  IF representatives from sports taking part in the Olympic Games (one IF per sport).
-  Athletes at a certain stage of retirement from Olympic competition.
-  IOC-recognized national federations not included in the Olympic Games (non-voting status).

     Relevant National Olympic Committees include:

-  Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games
-  Association of National Olympic Committees
-  Pan-American Sports Organization
-  International Olympic Academy
-  Games of the Olympiad

     NOC duties require that a General Assembly be held yearly.  These meetings are used to
organize continental or regional competitions, and prepare their respective countries for the
Olympic Games.  This preparation includes the provision and coordination of equipment,
transportation, accommodations, insurance, uniforms, logistics, facilities, agendas, and behavior
guidelines.

4.  Olympic Sports.

In terms of getting Olympic medals, there is no gray area about becoming an Olympic sport. 
Today, a sport is either (1) recognized by the IOC as an Olympic Sport ("tenured," in a sense);
(2) participating in the Olympic Games on "probationary" status; (3) on IOC-recognized
non-Olympic/Participating Status; (4) or not involved with the Olympic Movement.  Medals are
awarded to sports in the first two categories only.  Exhibition (non-medaling) sports no longer
participate in the Olympic Games program.  This category was found to be unnecessary and was
recently discarded.
     While the transformation from the former to the latter may remain shrouded behind the
careful and guarded judgement of the IOC, the criteria for compliance are clear:

1.  Competitors must comply with the Olympic Charter.
2.  Competitors must comply with the rules of the IF concerned, as approved by the IOC.
3.  Competitors must be entered by their respective NOCs.

     Further rules of note include:

4.  Competitors must respect the spirit of fair play and non-violence..
5.  Competitors must refrain from using substances and procedures prohibited by the IOC, Ifs, or
NOCs.
6.  Competitors must comply with the IOC Medical Code, which prohibits doping, determines
prohibited substances, and prohibited training methods.

     Competitive rules and judging criteria are established by a sport's IOC-recognized,
Olympic Charter-compliant IF, as assisted by affiliated National and International Federations
and team's respective NOCs.  Each IF establishes its sport's own eligibility criteria in accordance
with the Olympic Charter.  Such criteria must be submitted to the IOC Executive Board for prior
approval.
     Only an IOC-recognized NOC may enter a competitor in the Olympic Games.  These
competitors must come from national federations governed by International Federations to
NOCs (the NOC takes the role of the national federation on condition of its absence).  These
NOCs, in accordance with Olympic Charter guidelines, submit such entries to the IOC for final
approval.  Once approved, NOCs may transmit such entries to the OCOG for organizing and
scheduling in the Olympic Games Program.
     The NOC carries the specific responsibility for sending to the Olympic Games "only
those competitors adequately prepared for high level international competition".  Thus, it is
reasonable that an NOC may in certain countries be obliged to hold competitions in which
entries strive for qualifying scores, rather than qualifying rankings, before competing in
continental, regional, or Olympic Games programs.
     Other rules for participating in the Olympics involve expectations of IFs:

1.  "The entry or participation of a competitor in the Olympic Games shall not be conditional on
any financial considerations".  Prize money is out.
2.  No competitor "may allow his person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for
advertising purposes during the Olympic Games".  While a boon to visibility, the live Olympic
Games are a sport/team/athlete/promotional/broadcasting blackout.
3.  Competitors must have citizenship in the country they represent in the Olympic Games.  This
is not great concern for large teams that require such extended and proximal training
circumstances as drum corps.  Coaches are exempt from such consideration.
4.   "Only sports widely practiced by men in at least seventy-five countries and on four
continents, and by women in at least forty countries and on three continents, may be included in
the programme of the Games of the Olympiad".  A tall order (see Issue #2).
5.  A discipline, being a branch of an Olympic sport comprising one or several events, must have
a recognized international standing to be included in the programme of the Olympic Games". 
This is quite reasonable, if greater diversification and representation of our art is introduced into
reforms.  Such leadership would be much needed among marching bands, drum and fife corps,
bagpipe units, winterguards, etc.

5.  A Review Of Issues.

Issues to be considered in Part III of this paper tomorrow (as explored and established in this
posting) include:


     1.  Drum corps and the Olympic Motto.
     2.  Sports must be practiced in 50 (men) and 35 (women) countries to participate in the
     Olympics.
     3.  Most aspects of the regulation of drum corps must be approved by the International
     Olympic Committee and various subcommittees.
     4.  Live music has yet to be considered sport.
     5.  Olympic sports must contribute toward the "establishment of a peaceful society".
     6.  Olympic sports must promote the "preservation of human dignity".
     7.  Olympic sport music be "educating youth through sport".
     8.  Olympic sport must be "practised without discrimination of any kind".
     9.  "Solidarity".
     10.  "Sport for all".
     11. A commitment against doping in sport.
     12. The encouragement of sports ethics.
     13. Prevents endangering the health of athletes.
     14. Encourages the social and professional future of athletes.
     15. Supporting other institutions which devote themselves to Olympic education.
     16. Physical development, peak performance, and control.
     17. "Anti-sporting feelings".
     18. "Activities which are alien to sport".
     19. "The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes".
     20. "The Olympic Games are the exclusive property of the IOC".
     21. Establish and enforce rules of their sports in accordance with the Olympic Spirit.


SECTION III: ISSUES FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

At Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, a tombstone above the final resting place of
Margaret Daniels reads:

     She always said her feet were killing her
     but nobody believed her.

Like Mrs. Daniels, DCI is showing signs of stress after 25 years of "going it alone".  There are
important decisions to be made about the activity - fundamental decisions whose time has come. 
I think we are all beginning to realize this for the first time.  Drum corps is no longer simply a
recreational activity.  As drum corps' numbers are beginning to suggest those of a creative
endangered species, we are running out of time to re-invent it.
     Like Mrs. Daniels, our time has come to seek shelter somewhere as did the winter guard
activity.  Our audience, an average of 44 years old  - (63% over 35) are aging.  69% have no
children in the household.  "A conclusion that can be inferred from this ... Drum corps is NOT
family oriented entertainment" (Wise).  We are "all grown up" now, but seem to be "living in our
parents basement".  Our activity is funded by and heavily dependent on support from
family-based communities.  Our interests have become to adult, too specialized, and too global
for us to reach for sustenance from the dangling carrot of prize money.
     Elitism has transformed this recreational activity into a sport within an art form. 
However, elitism has its price.  Hypocrisy begins to surface over standards we are willing to
claim but cannot be governed by.  "Willing to accept the fact of excellence in many other areas
of life, many balk at emphasizing excellence in the teaching of art.  Misgivings suddenly surface
about the reliability of value judgements and the appropriateness of identifying exceptional
performance" (Smith).
     This degenerates creativity, beauty, and even functional effectiveness.  Case in point:
"Let us take the ideal figure of the soldier as it was still seen in the early seventeenth century ...
someone who could recognized from afar; he bore certain signs ... movements like marching and
attitudes like the bearing of the head belonged for the most part to a bodily rhetoric of honor.  By
the late eighteenth century, the soldier has  become something that can be made; out of formless
clay .....  Recruits become accustomed to holding their heads high and erect ... throwing out the
chest and throwing back the shoulders ....  The classical age discovered the body as object and
target of power," much in the same way that some accuse drill writers of treating today's youth,
trading individual technical skill and development for dazzling effect.
     The problem with this is, effect is not a high virtue of the Olympic Games.  The creative
standard of the Olympic Games calls for Artistic Merit.  The former makes a prison of the body. 
The latter makes liberates the body to express the spirit.
     However distasteful at times, we needn't be ashamed of this transition from the "bodily
rhetoric of honor" (Foucault) to merely taking on "the air of a soldier" (ordinance of 1764).  It is
part of the learning process.  It can be a good thing.  It can mean we're maturing, depending on
how we interpret and rectify our weaknesses.
     We must focus on that learning process, thereby learning that "a good artist does not
create his own public within his lifetime and needs support, if he is to work as well as he might". 
We have finished our work of creating this art.  Now it is for others to master.
     What have we learned?  Perhaps all we've learned so far is that there are clear limits to
how far this can be accomplished in corporate America.  But its a start.

     On a more personal note, I feel I should say that, like Mrs. Daniels and drum corps, "my
feet are killing me".  I feel as though I've run around as a professional writer, writing just about
everything on any edifying subject anyone cares to hear about.  I have felt compelled to repay the
debt of love for marching which I owe from my brief 1983 lesson in drum corps.
     I am likewise running out of time to cultivate my field as a professional author in drum
corps.  I see the signs in my lack of available time to promote my research in the marching arts
and sciences which serve this activity.  I see it on the field, in my phone bill, in my pocketbook,
which should enable me, as a professional author, to continue promoting the drum corps
marching arts through my research.
     I even see time running out on this newsgroup.  That isn't to say I plan on going
anywhere.  I look to buy or find access here somehow.  But I must put my feet up and get back to
organizing my library, and finding and promoting the research I feel will serve this art I love -
choreographed marching.  That means cutting back.  Big time.  It also means I cannot write
professionally, regularly, for drum corps anymore.  I intend to thus retire at the end of this year.
     However, the time I devote to my family and home leave me little time for injecting my
research into the threads I download from RAMD.  My place of employment, where I have set
aside a few minutes to write this conclusion to my Address, has restricted internet access
recently in such a way that I can watch my access disappear "like sands through the hourglass".  I
haven't been able to read a message posted by a RAMDer since Nov. 27, and I'm not sure the
Symposium itself is posting (even as I write this).  It looks like it is.  The dates of its posing this
week appear below those of Nov. 27 and earlier.  But no one has said anything to me via e-mail
that confirms this.
     Meanwhile, the number of posts my computer has the capacity to show drops about 200
per day.  It used to be about 1200.  Now its about half that.  I should lose access sometime early
next week (if I haven't already.  It appears that my opportunities to address the drum corps
community end with this post.  If so, time's up, and the day has arrived for me to sit down and
propose to you the reader, one on one, the course of action required for this activity's success. 
Then, as I return to my research and my perceived role in this, we can push this activity over the
hump together.

ISSUE #1.  Excess
(Drum corps and the Olympic Motto "Citius . Altius . Fortius").

     An art teacher once told me "nothing exceeds like excess".  At the time, this struck me
like the Zen koan "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" (and no, Bart Simpson's answer
was not correct).  Now I think he meant that there is a time and place for virtues like the
Olympic Motto, "Higher, Faster, Stronger," Louder, or whatever else we can come up with.  I
think he meant being an artist is recognizing "The Power of Limits," as one book's title puts it.
     There are those who think we as a sport should not put ourselves above the raw
objectives "Higher, Faster, Stronger".  I will only say the Olympic Motto actually disagrees. 
"Fortius" is Latin for "Braver," not "Stronger."  There is no braver act in the world than revealing
oneself in art, and finding sport in doing so (while arguments about drum corps being "sport" OR
"art" persist, it remains a fact that the two are inseparable.  Technique will always be found in
true art).
     Part of the frustration we encounter in trying to satisfy ourselves with aesthetic goals is
that we don't know where to go looking for them in our activity.  The answer to this question, I
believe, can be found in simply looking deeply and objectively at what we do.
     "From a distance we are instruments marching in a common band," according to the
lyrics of Julie Gold's song.  Changing the word "band" to group (on of its many meanings), we
find this is quite true.  From the Goodyear Blimp one doesn't hear nearly as much as one sees.  It
is our marching art that defines and projects our activity.  That is a two-dimensional art, fairly
distinctive as such, and not nearly as refined in any other two-dimensional sport, synchronized or
otherwise.  This is our identity.  This is our home.  This is our game.  It is a game we play very
well.
     Who has seen enough of this art to describe it?  The cheap seats are like front-row seats
to a mall.  The press box is an exercise in overcoming the oblique perspective.  Airplane
windows reduce our accomplishments to buildings, roads, and cars..Space-Shuttle windows
reduce our accomplishments to a few condensations of light and a skinny wall in Asia.  As a
result, we don't see much of what we are "From A Distance".  We get distracted by other things. 
Clothes, sounds, people hitting/spinning things/running around/jumping up and down.
     The reality of it all is that not many of us make enough trips in the Goodyear Blimp to
make an authoritative judgement about the art that coordinates these accompanying arts of
music and ancillary.  Yet it is this perspective that gives us our best view of mankind's first and
most fundamental art:  human planar movement.  We are an art which choreographs works of
marching yearly.  We are known by our two-dimensional dance, not by the borrowed music
which accompanies it.
     What are the rules of this game?  Strip away the accouterments and distractions, and you
have just three different options with what to do with your elements: relocate them, reorient
them, and/or reshape them.  Within these three categories of movement lie nine types of
movement which have been analyzed and explored within the Top 6 corps of DCI 1995 and
1996 Finals (see "Planar Analysis" at www.geocities.com/paris/metro/8226).
     To give you some perspective about just how far we are from understanding the rules of
our game, consider the following.

-  The dance, martial, and dramatic arts practice as many 2D directional variables as we do (8).

- Nineteenth century pioneer in dance Francois Delsarte recognized, within the 3D context, all
three categories of 2D movement.  These he called the "Three Great Orders of Movement:"
oppositions (reshape/resize), parallelisms (relocation), and successions (reorientation), as well as
four of the nine types of specific movement (Brown).  Yet over a hundred years later we have yet
to even contemplate such things (let alone find evidence of them on judging sheets which
evaluate the massive amounts of man hours spent mastering them each Summer).

- Sociologists such as McPhail and Wohlstein began studying collective locomotion as early as
1980, and evaluated the skill of groups (including marching bands) in two of three categories of
movement.  Almost twenty years later we have yet to look as closely at our own art as have
sociologists..

- Editors of the Journal Herodote in 1980 recognized the army as a "matrix of organization and
knowledge" (Gordon), yet its first means of defense in is recognized in drum corps as neither
organized nor educational, outside the mystic and misdirected realm of static "design" in drum
corps.

-  Michel Foucault, prominent researcher of Western institutions, recognized in 1977 the
importance of both "Tactics, the spatial ordering of men," and "taxonomy, the disciplinary space
of natural beings".  "In the eighteenth century," he notes, "the table was both a technique of
power and a procedure of knowledge".  In 1996, a six part series on aforementioned Planar
Analysis (entitled "The Periodic Table of Moves) was published in Drum Corps World
Magazine, exploring in detail various measures of difficulty, quantity, complexity, volume, and
sequence of drill movements in the DCI 1995 Top 11 corps.  And yet DCI judges still have yet to
officially breach the subject of this objective measure of drill at any Rules Congress.

- Two hundred and twenty-six years ago, military tactician J. Guibert (Essai general de tactique)
recognized that (like our "designers"), tacticians "blinded by the immensity, dazed by the
multitude ... the innumerable combinations that result from the multiplicity of objects" might
approach "true principles ... with simple, similar tactics, capable of being adapted to every
movement," making it "easier to move and lead" men and their spatial ordering.

- Three hundred and thirty-two years ago, John Bingham documented at least three types of
movement "whereby the conditions of a battaile may be improved".

     Obviously, catering to interests of limited visibility and effectiveness such as props,
dance, and gesture are little excuse for a military art which pioneered choreographed marching
falling hundreds of years behind the times.  As a result, I propose the following first step:

PROPOSITION: Alter judging criteria on marching to reflect specific interest in the creative use
of the three categories of movement.


ISSUE #2.  Worldwide Interest
(Sports must be practiced in 50 (men) and 35 (women) countries to participate in the Olympics)

Drum corps currently consists of only seven national federations representing at least eight
countries to my knowledge.  Taking into consideration corps outside the borders of these
countries with national federations, drum corps couldn't be practiced in much more than a dozen. 
That's not an encouraging outlook in terms of recruitment feasibility or general interest on
Olympic scale.  Indeed, it constitutes drum corps' most formidable Olympic challenge.
     However, I for one believe that if an activity can, all by itself, put on a show that in 1976
gained Nielson ratings as high as second in some areas of the nation's 8 million viewers, it can
take on this challenge.  That's professional sports material, and many uncommon Olympic sports
have fared just as well without such pomp and circumstance.  Consider first the advantage of our
fundamental role in physical activity.
     Choreographed marching is mankind's oldest art, specifically detailed on cave drawings
in Spanish Levant dating back 8,000 years.  Anthropologists agree that the function of our
distinctive anatomy is locomotion, which freed our hands, raised our sights, and increased our
intelligence.
     Compare this to nordic skiing (Maffly).  "One of the oldest records of skiing is a
4,000-year-old petroglyph chiseled into the wall of a sub-Arctic cave in northern Norway.  The
carving shows a figure sporting rabbit ears to fool prey and a pole for balance on a pair of long
skis".  Scandinavians relied on this as a form of transportation before it became defined as an
Olympic sport which sports a rifle for shooting what used to be rabbits and other prey en route. 
It is the oldest winter sport in human history, beating another travel sport originally for travel
(skating) by a couple of thousand years.
     Consider further comparisons:

-  "Top cross-country skiers are the most aerobically fit humans on earth".  Top walkers are
among the most functionally fit and rhythmically integrated humans on earth - a different (and in
many ways better) kind of "healthy".

-  Cross-country Olympic events are making an effort to become more spectator friendly and
exciting with mass starting (rather than starting individuals at 30 second intervals) - "the race is
easier to understand" (John Aalberg, cross-country dir., SLOC).  Has drum corps responded to
such needs?

-  Nordic skiers see mass starting "renewing" the sport.  It doesn't change the demands placed on
the individual or alter the essence of the sport.  Yet the use of props, ornate costumes, unwieldy
or dysfunctional equipment, dance, etc. cloud the essence of what drum corps is and was when
DCI was founded.

     When youth decide to commit their Summer to an activity, they aren't thinking about
such glitz and glamour.  They're thinking realistically.  They're wondering if the activity has
established a real, unique, and respected identity worthy of effort.
     We would do well to remember two things about recruitment:

1.  Drum corps has a great history of recruiting converts to the activity, the former Blue Devils
Drum and *Bell* Corps being an example.  If their unparalleled success and double dynasties
are any indication, DCI could well hang its hat on conversions of one sort or another.
     There were conversions in the form of adaptations of musical styles, media such as
theater, opera, ballet were conversions which furthered drum corps search for itself.  Certainly
the band movement and its subsequent rejuvenation in the 80s and 90s is an ideological
conversion.  It was relatively fruitless, however, in light of the fact that only drum corps drill,
marching, and arranging techniques were exported.  The instrumentation which fully enables the
marching art was not.

2.  Drum corps is young.  It is still strongly tied to community.  It is highly unregulated
ideologically and educationally.  It is accordingly weaker than sports which have sparked
interest across the world.  This interest, as we recall early in drum corps' creative history, can
explode.  This explosion must be contained, channeled and directed through correct education
and Olympic ideals.

3.  The marching arts, principal of which is drum corps, has a much longer curricular residence
than music.  It was introduced to P.E. in colleges (and high schools soon after) when military
training was mandated in 1862.  It was so successful and popular that it was only reluctantly and
gradually relinquished at the behest of the War Department's call for higher levels of fitness in
1943, ushering in the sports era.  Bands on the other hand didn't make the curriculum until well
into the twentieth century, and only because they got their start accompanying marching in P.E.
     Believe it.  "The effect of the World War upon music in the public schools was beyond
calculation.  We are too near it in point of time [1928] to estimate its influence with a true
perspective [it was later virtually written out of music education history].  Hundreds of band
leaders were trained in government schools.  After the war many of these men became
instrumental directors in the public schools, and they brought to their task a knowledge of
organization and teaching skill of the utmost practical value.  Moreover, the military training
introduced into high schools of necessity required a band for every school.  The result was an
immense acceleration of band activity," some of the windfall from which blew our way (Birge).
     Drum corps is a sport, and needs to turn its attention back to the marching arts'
educational roots in public schools (see Christina Mavroudis' paper this week) to secure a future
as such.  Fortunately, rules are more flexible there than the Olympics.  But not without the
activity becoming much more simple and user friendly at that level.  In 1990 I proposed "The
Marching Band Alternative" which winter guards and indoor percussion units pursue today. 
There are musical reasons why this would work, including clef-reading versatility, rhythm, and
access to the physical feel of music.
     However, we cannot allow our attention to and interest in such things to sell out the
physical development of our youth.  I speak of extreme marching, which drives kids to march at
velocities which are unhealthy for the sake of spectacle rather than Artistic Merit.
     Extreme marching is a factor relative to the Medical Code, insofar as it is inherently
dangerous to a marcher's health and a musician's embouchure (and professional aspirations,
which we are obliged by the Olympic Charter to advocate).  Extreme marching is characterized
by:

- Strides which are physiologically incompatible with an athletes development, size, control, and
training.
- Frequencies which, for purposes of effect or otherwise, inhibit individual control and safety.
- Choreography which demands velocities and proximities inherently dangerous or potentially
prohibitive to an athlete's ability to fully complete an effective performance.
- Training methods which compromise an athlete's posture, uprightness, ability to perform
safely, effectively, and with dignity in accordance with Olympic values.
     In the end, easier recruitment relies on education.

PROPOSITION #2:  A comprehensive and carefully crafted educational agenda by experts in the
marching arts and sciences.


ISSUE #3.  Submission to the Olympic Charter.
(Most aspects of the regulation of drum corps must be approved by the International Olympic
Committee and various subcommittees).

While there are Olympic Committees which defend the right of Olympic sports to regulate
themselves, most important decisions must be approved by the IOC.  This is why adoption of
Olympism is so critical - its principles put everyone on the same page in a hurry.
     Consider the problem of competition for example.  Competition can cloud judgement,
inhibit decision making, and intimidate the unprepared.  That is why the Olympic Movement
doesn't suggest that competitors cater to audience interests with national honor at stake.  It
would destroy both sports and nations.
     It counters both coaching and learning.  Charles Barkley recently remarked that while
NBA draftees were entering professional basketball with good statistics, they were also
apparently not being educated in the basics.  Instead, coaches are becoming couches, watching
players roll the dice of chance instead of refine and develop skills.

     Competition can kill leagues and even sports just as easily as it kills competitors and
teams.  A recent scuffle over "questionable" NFL referee calls which left winners, losers, and
sportswriters jaws collectively drop in the headlines today.  Among the baffling calls is one that
will probably stake its claim among the most incredulous of all time: the coin toss in one game
was mis-called (due to the announcing referee's effectual deafness to his colleague's
determination in the matter).
     Michael Jordan's inscrutable dominance of his game and mastery of his own finances and
image has fueled no other explanation than the one which consumed the game this season: that
good players are bought and not made, and that a player's competitive value is measured in
dollars and no sense.  The NBA will not soon recover.
     The result of this obsession is the worship of winning.  It accounts partly for the recent
explosion of gambling among youth, and is outlawed in the Olympics.  Harvard recently
estimated that 5.7% of youth are compulsive gamblers (Israelson).  This is no society in which to
be promoting gambling, which Lech Walesa recently cited as being obligated to show a moral
example as the worlds only remaining superpower (Hancock).
     What can we do about this problem in drum corps?  Allow me to suggest one small
solution which will move us one small step toward Olympic Standards:

PROPOSITION #3: Allow medaling (gold, silver, bronze) at DCI Finals.  It will make it a lot
more interesting, rewarding, and will ease the overhype of winning which saw huge numbers of
fans upset over the recent recognition of co-champions.


ISSUE #4.  "Musical" sports
(Live music has yet to be considered sport).

     I have just a few more minutes for some last remarks and then I must leave.

Fact:  Drum corps play music.
Fact: The Olympics currently outlaw the making of even rhythmic sounds to aid synchronized
skating.

More facts:

-  Interdisciplinary Olympic sports do exist.
-  Drum Corps don't create music.  They re-create music, and re-creational music is akin to sport.
-  We don't know where the IOC's interests lie on this point.  However, if they do look favorably
on any type of real "art" in the context of athletic competition, drum corps is cut out for it.  Its
instrumentation is designed for outdoor use, and has always been.  Conical bore instruments
have always set drum corps apart from real music organizations which play music composed for
their medium and make outdoor appearances for kicks and for visibility sake (i.e. bands).
-  There is a precedent for Olympic music competitions, albeit nearly 2,000 year ago.

I believe its time we recognized that drum corps music cannot begin to be considered art until
composers begin to take note of the medium and write music for its accompaniment.

PROPOSITION #4: Study the athletic implications of sound production and promote the athletic
and recreational realities of drum corps music.


     My unfinished references may be found below, many of which, like Issues 5-21, I will
have to complete at a later date.  This paper will be submitted to the A.R.I.S.F., in accordance
with its interest in organizations which provide independent research and support for sports such
as the one for which I serve as editor, and which I owe thanks to its continued support of my
research: Flatland Press.

Many thanks to you all for your interest.  God bless.

Time's up.


References.

(Komlos, Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development, 1994)
(Russell, Rhythm and Education, American Physical Education Review, 1905)
(Rice, ed., The Duchesne High School Marching Band on "What I Learned From Marching
Band")
(Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1977)
(Gordon, ed., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 Michel
Foucault, 1980)
(Gu et al., Postural Control in Young and Elderly Adults, Journal of Biomechanics 29(3)
(Brown, ed., Movement Education: Its Evolution and a Modern Approach, 1969)
(Meckler, Health Disparities Between Races Disturbing, the Bakersfield Californian, 11/27/98)
(Hancock, Lech Walesa Speaks, The Daily Utah Chronicle, 10/14/98).
(Israelsen, Gambling: Pain & Profit, The Salt Lake Tribune, 11/114/98)
(Maffly, Nordic Skiing, The Salt Lake Tribune 12/1/98)
(Birge, History of Public School Music in the United States, 1928)
(American Association For Leisure & Recreation, Pioneers In Leisure and Recreation, 1989).
(Rice, The Medium is the Message: Developing Choreographed Marching in Twentieth-Century
American Schools)
(Kahn, Symmetry Holds Key to Beauty, Researchers Say, Reuters, 9/24/98)
(American Academy of Physical Education Papers, Physical Activity in Early and Modern
Populations, 1988)
(Wise, DCI survey on 1994 POC and Finals audience, 1996).
(Sparshott, A Measured Pace: Toward a Philosophical Understanding of the Arts of Dance,
1995)
Gould, Posture Maketh the Man, Monthly Review 47(6)
(Smith, The Question of Elitism, Council for Research in Music Education 93)
(Rice, Navigating the Uncharted Waters of Choreographed Marching: A Two-Dimensional
Object, 1997)
(Rice, Flatland Press [website], www.geocities.com/paris/metro/8226)
(Gaedeke, Marketing in Private and Public Nonprofit Organizations)
(Guaspari, Theory Why)
(Meyer, Real-World Intelligence)
(Pilzer, Unlimited Wealth)
(Spanier, Games Nations Play)
(Feinberg and Tarrant, Why Smart People Do Dumb Things)
(Garfield, Second to None:  The Productive Power of Putting People First)
(Florida and Kenney, The Breakthrough Illusion)
(Carr, The Competitive Power of Constant Creativity)
(Gretz and Drozdeck, Empowering Creative People)
(Deseret News, NBA Player of the Week, 4/17/97)
(Guaspari, Its About Time)
(Naisbitt, Megatrends, 1982)

    Source: geocities.com/marchingresearch