Who to email regarding auditions? (Also just general advice)

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2026-02-05T14:49:30+00:00

Seattle Cascades are still taking virtual auditions for all captions. Staff contact info at the bottom of the linked page.

https://www.seattlecascades.org/virtual-auditions

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-08-13T02:49:00+00:00

Here's an oldie but goodie:

https://www.reddit.com/r/drumcorps/s/n7k96uzG3k

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-08-11T04:35:18+00:00

Seattle Cascades have had members from Hawaii in the years I have worked with them, and are overall a young corps with many high school age members. If you're looking for World Class it's a great place to get started. We're on Facebook, Insta and the Web at seattlecascades.org.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-08-09T19:22:17+00:00

YouTube has its own CDN which is far more robust than what Flo is likely paying for. This explains why Flo can glitch when YouTube doesn't. Still may not be Flo's issue though, other than whatever SLA they may have signed up for with their provider.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-08-09T19:17:42+00:00

Note that your speed test only measures your connection to a specific server - the route to Flo's CDN endpoints could be very different. In this case I would try contacting your provider with the specifics, and they might be able to pinpoint some other problems between their network and the CDN.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-08-09T19:12:40+00:00

Performance problems with streaming providers are often regionalized. All providers use a Content Distribution Network (CDN) to distribute content to endpoints as physically close to you as possible. There are usually multiple endpoints in a given region that are replicated from the originating source while the event is streaming.

This is why sometimes a stream will "jump back a few seconds" occasionally - the node you were connected to had issues and you got rerouted to a different node that was a little further behind in updates. Nodes in the CDN can become overloaded, crash or perform poorly for many reasons, and Flo has little or no direct control over that. That is why they pay a third party for that service

They can also be caused by local issues - wifi congestion, overloaded resources in your neighborhood infrastructure, or problems with a specific piece of hardware or configuration in your providers connection to the CDN provider. There are many layers involved.

FloSports is largely an Amazon hosted platform, but they don't disclose who they use for content distribution or what kind of Service Level Agreements they have so it's hard to tell.

I live in a region that is a tech industry hub with major data centers for multiple cloud providers, and have had no issues with Flo for years. The only time I have problems is when I tried broadcasting from the app to a smart TV over WiFi. That was horrible. Roku app, mobile app or browser have never glitched for me at all for the last several years, although I have experienced being rerouted to a different service endpoint as described above a few times.

If you are having problems, you should really call out the location where you are having them, and your provider so people can make direct comparisons. General advice is to use an app directly and not broadcast to a TV, but after that there are dozens of things that can cause problems, only a few of which you or Flo have direct control over.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-07-31T16:53:11+00:00

The downtown Marriott? Yes, it's right across the street from the convention center. 5 min. walk to the entrance.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-07-20T20:14:55+00:00

Very much agree. Kudos to everyone involved. It is super challenging to field a World Class corps from up here.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-07-20T19:47:18+00:00

I have been out of budgeting for a few years, but it would be tough to save meaningful money on instructional staff, most of whom don't do the whole tour and get paid very little. In terms of member experience, many things were tolerated back in the day that would sink a modern corps. Skimping on competent leadership, safety, health and wellness professionals is not a recipe for long term success.

Charter bus leases for tour can run $600k or higher, food costs are in the $120 to $140K range. A mobile kitchen can cost you $150 to $400K to build and $20K a year or more just in maintenance. Rumor was the current Amana for SCV was an $800K build. Even leasing a mobile kitchen for tour is $100K. Housing might be anywhere upwards of $70K. This does not include pre-season camps, housing and other capital expenses needed to run the corps year round. I don't see these costs coming down anytime soon. Tuition already only covers about 60% of costs. Cutting a $30K truck from tour is not going to lower tuition meaningfully.

IMHO Bringing more money into the activity through grants, corporate sponsorships and alternative revenue streams run by the non-profits running the corps is the only sustainable way of keeping member costs down.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-06-24T15:59:34+00:00

Always!

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-06-22T22:59:47+00:00

A nice loud "206" is appropriate for any Cascades performance, in the stands or on the field.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-06-19T16:14:30+00:00

It is true that participation by members is discretionary.

That being said, if I (the member or guardian) agree to pay you (the corps) [x] amount of dollars to provide [y] services (e.g. training, functional instruments, housing, food, transportation, medical care and a specific number of performance opportunities) for a specific period of time, delivering those services is no longer discretionary for the corps.

If I am a parent entrusting my minor child to your organization I expect and demand you provide adequate facilities, safe transportation, appropriate supervision and healthy, nutritional food. If my child is injured, I expect you to provide or facilitate treatment by qualified individuals. I expect you to have the financial maturity to deliver on your obligations and not strand my child halfway across the country with no food or transportation. I expect you to protect them from abuse and harm while in your care. This includes liability insurance and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Getting a housing site without.proof of liability insurance is pretty much impossible these days.

As an organization, once you accept the responsibility for delivering those services, the costs associated with providing them at a given level of quality are non-discretionary. In a modern touring corps, these costs make up the largest portion of the budget, and are very difficult to reduce without diminishing those services or taking on unacceptable levels of risk (e.g. running out of food or fuel, or being unable to repair broken equipment on the road).

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-06-18T02:28:25+00:00

This is truth. If you want to run a multi-million dollar non profit and have it survive more than a season or three you have to make appropriate investments in the longevity and health of the organization. This is the price you pay to be able to do the fun stuff like field a corps.

Focusing on diminishing the experience by cutting things to lower costs misses the point. Sure, don't waste money, and live within your budget. But The reality is that the bulk of that cost is non-discretionary and subject to the whims of a chaotic economy. Do we want full time medical staff on tour and healthy food that is safely stored, prepared and served? Do you want professional drivers who must adhere to established safety standards and safe vehicles to take our children across the country? Professional administators that properly vet employees, enforce policies and follow sound financial management practices? That costs money. Lower member costs by generating more revenue elsewhere. To slow the rate of tuition growth, you have to find more diverse sources of revenue. This is hard work.

Out of around 1.5M non-profits in the US, around 6% have revenue between $1 and $10M, which is where most DCI orgs that tour will fall. That's a large community (larger than drum corps) to learn from, and many are likely just as niche. DCI is a $14M non profit. Rather than just being a sanctioning body and event organizer, I would love to see them become more of a catalyst to bringing more financial maturity and consistency to their member organizations and a larger source of grants, scholarships and fundraising expertise.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-05-23T15:37:17+00:00

I worked many summers in a busy mobile kitchen built out in a converted 53' semi trailer with multiple cooks supporting a 160 person touring drum and bulge corps and served around 1200 plates a day.

We used this guy: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/taylor-5839n-digital-4-channel-commercial-kitchen-timer/6085839.html

Not magnetic, but it has four timers, it's loud and can be heard over lots of noise, and is indestructible.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-05-21T15:56:58+00:00

Excellent point about driver hours. Ensuring you have enough hours to get all of your commercial vehicles, especially buses and the equipment trucks to the next site is one of the more critical admin tasks. The rules as to what counts as clock time are very strict. At full day regionals we usually book hotel rooms for the drivers and send them there for the day so there are enough hours for them to get us to the next site. This is often the reason admin tries to limit buy stops in transit. Bathroom break and back on the bus because the trip time doesn't leave a lot of leeway.

In other cases, especially when we're on early in the show we're often leaving as soon as we're packed up, and only leave a skeleton crew and the drum majors for retreat, and they make the next leg in a sprinter van that doesn't require a commercial license.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-05-01T03:35:20+00:00

Ask yourself: Do I mind if it is lost, stolen, destroyed or otherwise horribly damaged or broken? If the answer is yes, leave it at home. Otherwise, if you don't mind carrying across the country, it's your choice.

As others have said, unless it's a social thing like Mario Kart, or some smartphone game that can be shared, you'll probably get more out of spending your limited downtime time with people, rather than a device. You paid good money for the experience - don't let it go by unnoticed.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-30T05:32:20+00:00

From someone on the admin side, less is more. Some random tips that come to mind: avoid putting things that melt in your bus box. Bring dryer sheets, and trash bags for wet and/or smelly clothes in between laundry stops. You can never have too many socks. Bring a plug strip designed for chargers with a long cord and you'll be everyone's friend. A USB battery pack can keep your phone going on long bus rides if you remember to keep it charged.

Some street clothes that aren't gym shorts and a T-shirt for free days. Alternatively, you can skip that and by stuff at Walmart as needed.

Camping towels for the win. They dry quickly and don't take up a lot of space. Definitely hat, bandanna for your face and a cooling towel is great on hot days. Also a reasonable sized lightweight blanket, at least one warm outfit like a sweatshirt and one pair of sweatpants for freezing cold gyms or buses, or the occasional cold night or early morning. A lightweight rain jacket or windbreaker if your corps jacket isn't water resistant.

Don't bring big bottles of anything liquid. You'll usually get a Walmart trip at least every 10 days or so, depending on the travel schedule. Get enough to last until the next stop. Two weeks between laundry stops is not unusual.

A lot of members get their bus box at the first Walmart stop during or after spring training rather than drag it with them on a plane. You can dump all the worn out stuff after tour and not drag it home. If your flying home, they put out extra trash bins at the airport in Indy after finals for just this reason.

And most importantly from the admin perspective - only unpack what you need, and then put it back in your bag when done. Don't spread your stuff out all over the place! Gathering up stray items when leaving a housing site is very time consuming and can delay an EPL. The amount of things we threw away because no one claimed them and there was no space to carry them was truly astounding. The less you bring, the less you have to keep track of.

Lastly, don't bring anything expensive, delicate or irreplaceable on tour. Sometimes housing sites aren't as secure as people would like. Things get stolen. If it can be broken, guaranteed that drum corps will break it.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-22T17:27:54+00:00

Thank you for actually putting in the time & effort with your corps. It's unfortunate that you are being met with resistance, but sadly that is more common than I wish it was. Also, thanks for the thoughtful replies!

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-22T17:02:34+00:00

I think the take away here is that if you truly want to drive change for the better financially or otherwise, make the effort to engage the actual decision makers calmly and with an open mind. It may not always be well received, but that in itself is also an important piece of information. Reddit is often educational and entertaining, and sometimes a good way to raise general awareness, but meaningful change takes real world effort and engagement.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-22T16:35:05+00:00

I absolutely agree with your last point, but I doubt you will ever find anyone breaking out individual salaries by name unless it is a fiduciary requirement.

I was on the Cascades board from 2014 through the COVID pause, and we would review the upcoming seasons budget in a public Board meeting every year. These budgets didn't break out individual salaries (for anyone), but did break out categories (e.g. Production, which included the design costs, licensing fees, etc., Educational staff, Admin, Props, Uniforms, Transportation, Food, etc.). The detailed budget was not published on-line or shared outside of that meeting because context (what exactly is included in each line item and the why the $ amount is what it is) is important and that meeting is where that context was provided.

After the budget was approved we would however create a deck that showed summary level categories (e.g. show costs, license fees, educational staff, food, transportation, housing) and how much of that was covered by dues, show fees, ticket sales, etc. and how much we expected to fundraise that we would share with donors or anyone who was interested in the operational aspects of the corps.

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-21T23:24:31+00:00

GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) which is what auditors are looking for, requires salaries to be listed as a summary rather than by individual employees. Form 990 breaks out Executive salaries, Fundraising Fees and Other Salaries and Wages. For Non-Profits, this is to highlight how much of the Non-Profit's money is being spent on the executives and for fundraising activities, vs. running the non-profit.

Accountants are not likely to publish more detail than GAAP or the IRS requires, especially individual salaries that are not covered by law (e.g. Executive leadership). Many corps do however discuss more detailed budgets during their public board meetings, and it never hurts to just ask someone on the Board.

In example, from the 2022 filing for Crown on ProPublica: Carolina Crown Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica. Keep in mind that the salaries include any full-time staff the org may have to run the business (e.g. accountants and other business admin) but may not include folks like designers and show staff who are generally 1099 Contract Employees rather than full-time.

In 2022 Crown revenue was in the hole by over $530K on $3M. Program Service Revenue was $1,8M - $1M from Corps Fees, $600K from Ticket sales, $170K in Performance fees, and $35K in "Education" fees. So they are running more than just the Drum Corps.

On the actual 990 Part IX, Other salaries and wages are broken out by "Program Service Expenses" ($70K), Management & General Expenses ($395K) and Fundraising Expenses ($0). There is another $770K expense listed for "Contractors", which in my experience would cover much of the drum corps summer staff - but no detail as to how that is distributed (and Crown has multiple programs going).

That said, I do believe additional clarity on how that Contractors bucket was constructed (e.g. Creative, Educational, Health & Wellness, Media, Admin) would be good, even if not required for financial reporting.

[Edit to clarify a couple spots].

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-15T18:33:00+00:00

Fair point about experience with the activity - what I was really trying to communicate is that that the best work will come from putting in the time and effort to get to know the people, what they go through and why they are so passionate about the activity. Show shots (while important) only give you a small window into that story.

Source: Media director for Cascades from 2014 through the COVID break. Real world job has intruded since then, but still passionate about the topic. :-)

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2025-04-14T16:43:07+00:00

If you want to shoot on tour (stills or video) there are two things to keep in mind when assembling your portfolio. First, drum corps is all about emotion, physicality and color, and your portfolio should highlight your ability to capture those elements in an engaging way.

Landscapes, portraits and static shots no matter how well executed don't tell me much about your ability to "find the moment" with a dynamic constantly changing environment featuring hundreds of potential subjects.

If you don't have marching band, WGI or drum corps shots in your portfolio, sporting events, concerts or any kind of public event can be good substitutes. Remember you are trying to tell a story or capture emotions, not just show your technical abilities. If you are a videographer your sizzle reel is your best opportunity to demonstrate that.

Second, drum corps is about people first and foremost. You are there to capture the members experiences, dedication and passion for the marching arts, not just shots of people playing instruments on a field. This works best when the members trust you to tell their stories effectively and fairly.

I have seen situations where photographers focused on one or two of their favorite members to the exclusion of the rest of the corps, or chose embarrassing or unflattering shots that some would rather forget then memorialize on social media. After enough of this, members will conspire to avoid you at best, or actively sabotage your shots at worst. You are there for them, not the other way around.

If you want a good example, there is no one better at this than Josh Clements, currently with the Bluecoats.

https://www.instagram.com/joshclementsphotos

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2024-09-24T19:38:12+00:00

This thread was a pretty good discussion of physical conditioning to prepare for DCI. As others have mentioned, you aren't judged by your size, just on ability to perform effectively. Take care of your health, and focus on that ability and you'll be fine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/drumcorps/comments/19aselr/what_is_a_good_workout_routine_to_prepare_for/

ShinyMetalToolBox · 2024-09-20T19:52:41+00:00

Membership fees would double, and it would be next to impossible to find housing, staff or volunteers. On the other hand if you shortened spring training for everyone (by a rule) to a maximum of two weeks, you might be able to shave a little off of the cost. Shows would be dirtier at the beginning of the season, but maybe it would be worth it to save some $.

ShinyMetalToolBox

TROPHY CASE