It looks like either they are making more strides towards turning drum corps into marching band, or they just can't find enough people who can understand the judging criteria! I know I have a music degree, and I can't figure it out.

In most band shows, individual sections (guard, percussion) are judged, but those scores aren't included in the band's overall score. Maybe eventually there will be one judge for music, one for marching, and one for GE - think how much money they'll be able to give to the Top 8 corps then!

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

I have also heard that these "short panels" are used in the early season shows as a cost cutting measure by DCI.
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; quartermaster 1964-66, ass't drum instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 -1963

The smaller panels may have something to do with cost. I'm not sure how the judging compensation works so don't understand the cost impact. Does anyone know how much the judges are paid or is the only cost their expenses--hotel, airfare, car, meals, etc.

The smaller panels have caused the scores to be somewhat inconsistent. It used to be that as the early season progressed a corps score would generally increase from show to show. If the score decreased in was only 0.1 or so. This year it's different. One example is the Cavaliers--on July 8 they scored 83.44 in Ohio and then on July 9 scored 81.55 in Madison.

Of course the only competition that means anything is the finals in Indianapolis. So all the shows leading to that indicate how much they have to modify their performance to score higher.