“‘We’ is greater than ‘me.’”
Genesis music supervisor Key Poulan has often guided his actions by that principle. The collective, as he sees it, is always stronger when working together through the sum of its parts.
That’s not just Poulan’s ideology. Genesis, as an organization, makes it a point to hear and value all voices within its organization — especially, its performers.
“There are a lot of things that we're trying to do within our organization that put the membership first,” CEO and program coordinator Chris Magonigal said.
So, when it came time to make decisions for the design of Genesis’ 2023 competitive production, gathering performer input was a natural step.
But Genesis’ creative team didn’t just want members to offer feedback — they’d had the opportunity to gather that during a corps meeting near the end of the summer of 2022, at which a number of old drum corps performances were viewed and design ideas were discussed.
They wanted drum corps performers, essentially, to pick the show.
“We took a vote with the 2022 membership, and even the members that aren't returning,” Magonigal said. “It was an experiment at the end of last season that started some really great conversations. It really just came from our mentality right now of putting the members first, and trying to put the members, as opposed to the adults, in the drivers’ seat.”
“‘You guys are the future,’” Genesis veteran mellophone player Amanda Strickland recalled as the overarching message from corps leadership in those initial conversations. “‘So, we want you to have a say in what the show is.’
In terms of specifics, Genesis’ vote consisted of two contrasting show concepts — developed based in part on input from discussions with members and the corps’ “Performers Council” — which were presented in an online survey format.
Magonigal had developed each concept in detail, providing as much information as possible on as many creative facets as possible, in order to foster an informed vote.
“(Magonigal) had it all laid out,” drum major Antonio Fox said. “Show title, potential props, potential uniforms, potential music that we'd be playing, just everything. We had the full package.”
As a member of Genesis’ Performers Council — which is made up of a diverse group of performers who are able to speak on behalf of the views and needs of Genesis’ membership at-large, on a variety of organizational topics — Fox has had even further insight into the corps’ design process.
During Performers Council meetings throughout the fall, Fox noted that there were plenty of updates along the way regarding Genesis’ creative conversations.
“The fact that we were involved, and we were updated from day one, makes Genesis so unique,” Fox said.
When it came to putting pen to paper and developing the show concept at hand, Genesis’ professional team of designers remained in control, but operated first and foremost based on the member input it had been given.
“We are doing our best to serve the members in terms of their general idea,” Poulan said of the corps’ design team. “Obviously, we have our angle and our creativity, but they're the catalyst of all of that.”
For Poulan, who has been arranging marching music and working alongside drum corps creative teams since 1985, it’s a brand-new outlook on show design.
As one of many positives — he and his fellow Genesis designers can work creatively knowing the ideas at play already have buy-in from those who will ultimately bring their work to ife.
“When you empower the members, the buy-in is there, the loyalty is there,” Poulan said.
What are we capable of together?
Posted by GENESIS Drum and Bugle Corps on Friday, March 17, 2023
Strickland — the corps’ 2023 horn sergeant — can attest to that buy-in. When it came time to vote back in the fall, her vote was amongst the ultimate majority — she, essentially, selected the show she will perform several months later as part of her final age-out season with Genesis.
“This is what I'm going to leave on the field when I'm done with drum corps,” she said. “That's a really awesome feeling that they allowed us to take part in.”
Genesis’ 2023 production, which will portray a back-and-forth struggle and ultimate unification between human ideas and artificial intelligence, has an apt title.
Genesis aims to reinvent “The Firebird” for an electronic era
“Symbio.sys” isn’t just what will take place on the field. It’s what took place between members and corps leadership throughout every step of Genesis’ summer preparations.
“It's kind of a bigger picture idea of the organization,” Poulan said. “I think that's really cool.”
And according to Fox, in all of Genesis’ operations, that symbiosis is the ultimate goal.
“Everyone who comes from Genesis says that without the membership, we don't have a drum corps,” Fox said. “I think that's the route that we take whenever we do anything, on the field or off the field."