One of many key focuses of Drum Corps International 2022 annual winter business meetings in January centered around honing and improving on the competitive systems of the DCI Tour.
At the forefront of many of those conversations were two key leaders in the drum corps judging community, DCI judge administrator John Phillips and Open Class judge administrator John Turner, who serves as the chairperson of DCI's Artistry and Competition Steering Committee (ACSC).
Ultimately, 2022 serves as an interesting year for the competitive aspect of the drum corps activity, as it comes on the heels of a successful, non-competitive tour in 2021.
Turner and Phillips discussed that and much more with DCI's Steve Rondinaro in conjunction with the January meetings.
1 | New faces on the field and in the press box
In many capacities, 2020 was a challenging year; for one, it meant pressing the pause button on many phases of life, and exciting areas of progress.
John Phillips readily mentioned it that one of the hardest aspects of the shut down for the drum corps judging community was having to put growth intiatives on hold — ones that would bring new individuals to adjudication panels across the DCI Summer Tour.
“We had just initiated in the last few years, a concerted effort to bring new faces to the judging ranks, to provide more diversity in our membership and on the roster,” he noted.
It’s important to note, though, that “pause” and “stop” are not one and the same.
According to Phillips, several new judges are poised to join the DCI judging ranks, helping continue a wave of evolution throughout the activity and specifically among judges.
“We have some really great candidates who were going to be in their first year of judging, they’d done the trial judging, they’d done all of the other interviews and presented their material to us, and they were ready to go,” he added. “But they didn't get that chance (in 2020). So they're very eager to get going at this.”
Learn more about becoming a DCI judge
2 | Celebration season successes
2021’s abbreviated DCI Celebration Tour — which featured just a few dozen events over three weeks, as opposed to a full, eight-week traditional schedule — provided many valuable insights to the future of the drum corps activity.
On the judges’ end in particular, it displayed an impressive common trait shared by drum corps across the community.
“They certainly discovered that they could do a lot in less time, which was really kind of interesting,” Phillips said.
According to Phillips, drum corps’ ability to adapt within a shortened schedule and still put impressive and entertaining performances on display led to compelling offseason discussion regarding the future of competition in DCI.
“(The corps) did a lot in less time, perhaps, because they didn't have the pressures of competition,” Phillips continued. “And so, as a result, they thought, ‘Well, maybe that might be something we would carry over into the next year when we finally get back to business here.’”
3 | Competition in the coming years
Members of DCI's corps-affiliated design and instructional staff community also gathered virtually during DCI's annual winter business meetings for a variety of educational sessions and conversations. According to Phillips, there may be somewhat of a shifting tide in many conversations toward a system that minimizes the early-season impacts of scoring and placement.
“They came up with an idea where they might have some events early in the season not be scored,” Phillips said of a concept discussed during the annual meetings. “They would still be evaluated from the standpoint of judges being present, giving feedback, and meeting with instructional teams afterward to discuss their observations, but they weren't going to necessarily be giving scores that would be announced, or scores that the corps would see.”
Now, nothing has been signed off on for the upcoming competitive season, and it’s likely that any changes to the competitive system would be instituted, if at all, during the offseason between the 2022 and 2023 DCI Summer Tours.
4 | Judges make the most of off year
With the 2020 DCI summer season having no performances and all of 2021’s events being exhibition-only, DCI judges haven’t seen the sidelines since August of 2019.
But make no mistake — the judging community capitalized on its absence from the field in 2021, holding the first-ever “World Judging Symposium” in conjunction with the DCI Celebration events in Indianapolis in August.
According to Phillips, more than 400 individuals were registered for the two-day virtual event run with support from Conn-Selmer.
DCI partners with Conn-Selmer to present “World Judging Symposium”
Those in attendance discussed a variety of pivotal topics related to marching music adjudication, and even had the chance to meet with various corps participating in the weekend’s Celebration events.
“It was a great way to bring everybody back and reengage our judging community while getting ready for the summer of 2022,” Phillips said.