DCI publishes rules change proposals

On January 22-23, instructors and directors of the voting membership of Drum Corps International will meet in Indianapolis to discuss eight new rule proposals as part of the annual DCI winter business meetings. On dci.org, columnist Michael Boo breaks down each of the items that will be considered. Here is an overview of topics that have been published so far.

Age requirements (for 2011 implementation)
Currently, corps members may march in a DCI corps provided they don't turn 22 years of age prior to June 1st of the calendar year. Under this proposal, they would be allowed to march provided they don't turn 23 prior to January 1st of the year in question. Putting it in simpler terms, any member who doesn't turn 23 during the calendar year may march that season, allowing all 22 year-olds to march instead of just those who turned 22 on or after June 1st. This effectively adds five months of eligibility to the membership pool. This proposal was submitted by George Hopkins.

Sound engineer in press box
Phantom Regiment's Dan Farrell has offered a proposal for corps to place one sound engineer in the press box during their respective performances. This is in addition to the staff sound person who is currently on the field during the performance of their groups. The staff member in the press box would be allowed to communicate via wireless device with the staff sound person on the field, in order to ensure a quality sound between the amplified front ensemble and the field ensemble. This will, according to the proposal, "allow for designers to take more chances and create better results, knowing that they will have the ability to blend the overall sound of the ensemble."

Change time of entry and warm up (pre-show)
This is another proposal from the Cadets' George Hopkins; one that would influence the way the audience perceives the entertainment value of shows. Under current rules, there are 17-minute blocks allotted for each corps' production including setup and actual performance time. Under this proposal, each corps would be given 18 minutes, with the first three of those minutes used to enter the field and set up equipment for the performance.

Modification of entry and warm up time
DCI Contest Director Tony DiCarlo is offering a proposal similar to the one above. His proposal would in effect simply fix the rule book to reflect how field entries and warm-ups have been handled the past couple of years; a five-minute period prior to the judged performance, with each corps deciding how to use that time. DiCarlo notes that this would "give each corps more flexibility during this period" and would "allow the corps to use this period of time creatively", making the "period of time prior to the show more entertaining" for the audience. Under this proposal, judging will proceed as before, once the five minutes is up.

DCI's Michael Boo gives his insight and opinions on how passage of each rule might affect the direction of the drum corps activity on www.dci.org.