DCE releases DCE Competition Manual 10.0

Drum Corps Europe has released the DCE Competition Manual 10.0. The manual will be the basis of the European Music Games 2014. Here is an overview of the changes compared to version 9.2.

Drum Corps Europe has released the DCE Competition Manual 10.0. The manual will be the basis of the European Music Games 2014. Here is an overview of the changes compared to version 9.2.

Clarifying competition times (page 8)
The rule about competition times has been rewritten to clarify it better.

Introduction of ‘competition area’ (page 6 and 8)
The term ‘competition area’ has been introduced in the manual. This is the area of a venue where the contest field and staging area are situated. Corps have 18 minutes (Premier Class) or 15 minutes (Junior Class) to use this area after a signal given by the contest staff. It’s possible that the corps is placed on the competition area while another corps is still performing. This isn’t included in the 18 (15) minutes. After 18 (15) minutes the competition area should have been cleared (all corps members, corps staff and equipment should have left the competition area).

Age limit rule changed (page 7)
The maximum age of 16 year (Junior Class) counts on the date of the DCE Championships. Should the DCE rules be applied by a national organisation, a corps with members aged 17 or over at the date of the DCE Championships may request dispensation from their national organisation. The acceptance of such requests are at the discretion of the national organisation.

Position sound engineer (page 7)
It’s allowed to have the sound engineer placed outside the competition area.

Explanation of the use of paradigms (page 19)
The explanation on how paradigms are used has been added.

Responsibilities of staff and judges (page 22)
A new diagram has been added to make clear where responsibilities of judges start.

Effect captions changed (various pages)
The names on the two sub captions of the Effect captions have been changed from 'Content' and 'Achievement' to 'Design Effectiveness' and 'Performance effectiveness'. The captions themselves have not been changed. The new names connect better to the content of the captions.

Junior Class sheets removed (all sheets)
The Premier Class sheets are now also used for the Junior Class, the Junior Class judging sheets have been removed. The Junior Class is judged is based on a different paradigm.

Wording box 2 changed (all sheets)
The wording in box 2 has been changed from 'fair' to 'some'. This is based on experience of the judges with qualifying what is meant by the word 'fair' - which is in itself subjective. 'Some' is more objective in the way it’s more countable. It also fits better in the range of boxes (little, some, good, excellent, superior). This change accommodates judges and corps staff better in understanding box 2.

The DCE Competition Manual can be downloaded here.