The NCBA Band, Auxiliary and Drum Line Debate!

[Zero]

There are many of us who remember the old days in the NCBA when color guards were not split into divisions, but rather split in to captions like Tall Flag, Rifle and ID. The idea to judge color guards as an ensemble and split it among the divisions was to allow others who weren't in the big bands like Fairfield, Benicia, Lincoln, Foothill, Golden Valley, Vallejo and so forth a chance to place.

There's been questions of whether or not the same should be done for percussion. Should drum lines be split among the divisions to allow for other lines to place and so that there would be a sweepstakes winner. Hypothetically, should that be made possible? Keep in mind answers made won't affect future competitions, but if made significant enough, should be brought up at a general meeting.

Would it be wise to split drum lines into different categories?

In my honest opinion, I don't see a problem with the current system now. Drum lines compete against each other at their own merit and go head-to-head in the same division. It gives all the units a chance to compete with everyone, those inexperienced and those with great experience. It allows instructors who may not be placing where they would like to place to ask educated questions like:

- What am I doing that these other lines are doing that help them win?
- What do these lines incorporate in their training programs to get them to their level of performance?
- Where can I seek ideas and training to better my own education and therefore, spread this education to my students?

I would honestly rather see this happen again with guard. All auxiliaries competing head to head in one division. Why? Because when you have color guards competing in divisions where you have an almost 20 point spread between first and second place, then you're cheating the students into thinking they truly got a second place when what really happened is the scores were divided among divisions and they happened to place second in their division rather than overall like percussion.

Now the argument would be that it's not about the scores. But then, why have competition? What's the point of scoring and a rubric in which to show them where their skill level is and what they need to improve on if it's not about the scores? Are we telling our kids that second place is okay with their score of 55 and that they should continue on at the level they're at? Are we telling ourselves that it's okay for us to not seek training or advice from judges on how we can improve our training programs and our students?

In the reverse what's happening is those schools who aren't winning first place are trying to copy those winning guards or drum lines by attempting tosses that are not being achieved or attempting rudiments, hybrids and licks that aren't exactly understood but feel like as long as its in the vocabulary then it's okay and they'll get the credit for attempting it.

Is attempting it okay in general? Should judges score higher for vocabulary that isn't being achieved as long as it's attempted. You'd be surprised how many instructors believe it's okay and how many believe it's not.

If there's truly a problem with classification or splitting, then why not split it by classes from novice to open for both color guard and drum line, like it is in the indoor season? But then what happens to bands? There are also bands, that even though are small, can still compete with the vast numbers of the big bands.

Does that mean create an open class for bands who would like to compete head-on with big bands? And still let there be classifications afterwards like A to E and so forth. That would be an interesting approach. To see bands like Golden Valley, Armijo, Fairfield, Foothill, Jesse Bethel, Vallejo, Santa Cruz, Rodriguez, Merced and so on in the same division, competing against each other, one after another instead of spread across the line up. Would scoring line-up at that point? Would it be fair or would it be the same as now?

Again in my opinion, it would be interesting and I believe the scores for seeing bands of that caliber compete one after the other would create a more accurate scoring then seeing them spread across a four or five hour schedule. Even then, it gives blossoming, inexperienced directors, instructors and students to see what these programs do and give them the chance to ask themselves what they can do to improve their own organizations. I say this with no offense to any organization or to say that the bands stated earlier were the best bands in the organization, but those bands have had years of excellence with amazing parade, field show, concert, jazz, and winter drum line and color guard programs. All of them.

Take it with a grain of salt. These are all the opinions and observations of a person who has been with many programs throughout the decades. I was part of the NCBA when the judging system was still split among equipment for guard and there were three judges on the stand. I was there when the Rose parade committee was still judging bands for the Rose parade at Fairfield's Tournament of Champions. I'm still part of the new and improving judging system for band, color guard and drum line.

What do you think? Should we split drum line? Should we reorganize the captions for auxiliary? Should there be an open division for bands?

I'd just like to see.

[JCYS]

1. Wouldn't this thread be better of in the percussion section?
2. NCBA doesn't choose what trophies the hosts give (IE, it is the hosts decision to do color guard by division OR NOT.)
3. About 1/4 of the groups in NCBA do not have drum lines on the street.
4. Santa Cruz does do drum line by division...they can afford it.
5. I am in favor of your proposal, but you have to convince the hosts to fork up the $$$ for the trophies, not the NCBA.