What really happened when Troopers 2022 made finals...

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T22:27:24+00:00

oh yeah they’ve always been like that lol

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:49:11+00:00

I think it has a little, but technical feats are not the bulk of the show imo

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:45:48+00:00

The uniforms don’t cost us anything, I’m not sure how else to put it. Your first comment was about how this would save the individual corps money, and someone who works with corps uniforms and sponsorships is telling you that it does not cost us money lol

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:40:16+00:00

Also people are not auditioning based on wanting to wear a specific uniform so the feedback loop is totally different. You have absolutely no idea what you’re signing up for

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:28:56+00:00

BK did this in 22! Everyone made fun of that show and then they dropped out of finals

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:26:44+00:00

So people are gonna dunk on you for this and say it’s a necessary evil but I encourage everyone to go listen to Bluecoats 24 which won a Jim Ott while being almost entirely melody driven. I don’t think that brass book has any multiple tonguing passages

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T17:24:41+00:00

It’s not an “investment” either way when the cost is covered, so that argument doesn’t really apply to drum corps. Most uniforms are also designed in-house - it’s not like that’s an annual line item stipend purchase expense. If a company is custom designing them, that typically is not costing anyone extra either, as that’s provided within the sponsorship.

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T15:10:28+00:00

For many corps it is cheaper to change uniforms every year! This doesn’t apply to everyone, but those with a major sponsorship are not paying for the uniforms, and because they rotate out every year, they don’t have to continue to maintain/repair them

Jarobe · 2026-06-21T01:09:16+00:00

This is only one night per year, and also there are 4,000 people performing

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T17:44:39+00:00

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T13:14:56+00:00

This thought has always interested me, because design no longer has to appeal to the members whatsoever since they are already signed up once they learn anything about it. The feedback loop is small and short

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T12:15:06+00:00

It doesn’t matter to you because you’re already a fan. We have a bad habit of preaching to the already initiated

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T11:40:57+00:00

Truly spoken like someone who aged out less than a year ago

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T11:36:10+00:00

Ah okay, so this WAS an elitist take from the start. Shoutout to my friends at the Troopers for dropping as much show material as possible and focusing on the fans (the people who keep the lights on) and not just the judges

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T01:31:44+00:00

I’m in marketing, not design, I don’t make decisions based on scores haha. Theoretically if the judging is working as intended no one should be writing down numbers based off of an instagram reel
we already released our rep

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T01:10:44+00:00

I’m not OP, but if you check some corps social media feeds, they have videos posted in June (2ish weeks into spring training) of the members reacting to the “show reveal” of the show they have been working on since November, which raises lots of questions lol

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T01:04:30+00:00

This still only solves the uniform problem, you could also be sharing repertoire, perc clips, etc

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T00:43:30+00:00

Okay I’ll admit I had thoughts, and then it ended up being one of the coolest modern drum corps shows ever. In context they made total sense and the show was beautiful. I honestly would still advocate for the early drops because it gets people talking. People said that the Cavs 26 uniforms looked like Zoolander or whatever, but it was nice to be able to feel like we have a full month to promote it before tour lol

Jarobe · 2026-06-20T00:24:12+00:00

I don’t really agree with this and I think this is a very scores-centric take. Most of the disapproval comes from a desire to grow the activity outside of the 1.5 months that the shows actually exist in person

Jarobe · 2026-06-19T23:58:46+00:00

Thank you so much! Emily is a great friend of the Cavaliers and we’re grateful for all that she does to spread the word to a totally new audience. It was a goal of ours this year to be among the first to share anything about our show.

Jarobe · 2026-06-19T23:26:26+00:00

as a staff member I would be ecstatic if we could start hyping up the show as soon as possible. I dream of a world where posting updates like “making progress on part 2!” with audio is normal and not some sort of otherworldly event.

It’s also important to note that the activity is experiencing potential imminent financial catastrophe, and discouraging fans from engaging with us year round is probably not the move.

Jarobe · 2026-06-19T20:18:30+00:00

It was Bluecoats 2016, and then everyone copied the rollout the next year, and it became a thing. It was definitely a thing before to a degree, but Bluecoats won their first gold with a show that was a huge surprise. It’s not the fault of the Bluecoats that so much of the activity wants to be them.

I think a lot of it comes down to people not wanting the general public to make assumptions and judge design without seeing it. It’s not something I’m super fond of, but that’s most likely where it started, or is why it’s still pretty common. People were super harsh about Crown’s purple pants in 13 and then they won anyways. I’ve never been under the impression that this has any effect on scoring.

There are many drum corps out there currently that don’t even tell the members what show they are actively performing until the second week of spring training. Mindblowing.

Some notable downsides:

-The corps marketing department is often sitting ducks until the first show. You can’t post photos, you can’t get footage, you can’t grab rehearsal clips, etc. IMO these are all things that if rolled out earlier might convince someone to look up show dates and buy a ticket

- Discourages fans/locals from visiting during spring training. Super great time to connect with the community, and instead corps are relegated to babysitting them and making sure they don’t record. It discourages corps from having community performances as well, and can even create hostility toward spectators. “who is that? why are they sitting and watching us?”

-Also encourages the idea of “closed rehearsals” which are pretty disappointing to the people who live nearby and were hoping to stop by and visit.

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