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Today, I was mowing the grass (for you in CA, that's the green stuff that grows from the ground after the white things in the sky drop water over the area) and I was pondering the math of auditions and membership. A coincidence - or is it - occurred to me.

First, it's very difficult to break into a top-12 corps if a prospective member is still in high school. Most top-12 corps are very reluctant to take HS talent, for any number of reasons.

So, if we presume college-level playing begins at about age 18, and age out is 3, or possibly four, years later it's most reasonable to expect that the parents of those marching members would be fans for about 3 years.

The Persona survey of several years ago presented that the average tenure of fans is about 3 years.

Coincidence? Maybe. But are the corps killing their own legacy fan base by, essentially, restricting participation to the three college years?

It could be that the air filled with the smell of that fresh cut grass and the "brown" smell of felled leaves in the clippings has gone to my head and caused me to miss the obvious. Maybe I just wish there were more corps so more kids could march for a longer time.

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In 2006, our son tried out (and made) a top 12 corps (finalist corps for three of the previous four years, including in 2005), and he was a 15-year-old high school freshman. He marched four years, and had intended to march 7, but simply got burned out after four years. His corps had plenty of members who were still in high school. I'm sure that the higher you get in the finalist ranks, the more difficult it is for high schoolers to make a corps, but his corps has always had many high school members, even when they were in the middle of the finalist pack (4th-7th place) back in the late 70s and throughout the 80s.

BTW, I just finished mowing my lawn too!

Edited by oldsoprano
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Are high schoolers in some way more costly than college age kids? For example, do the younger kids require the corps provide more chaperoning, or more other services, than others?

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Today, I was mowing the grass (for you in CA, that's the green stuff that grows from the ground after the white things in the sky drop water over the area) and I was pondering the math of auditions and membership. A coincidence - or is it - occurred to me.

First, it's very difficult to break into a top-12 corps if a prospective member is still in high school. Most top-12 corps are very reluctant to take HS talent, for any number of reasons.

So, if we presume college-level playing begins at about age 18, and age out is 3, or possibly four, years later it's most reasonable to expect that the parents of those marching members would be fans for about 3 years.

The Persona survey of several years ago presented that the average tenure of fans is about 3 years.

Coincidence? Maybe. But are the corps killing their own legacy fan base by, essentially, restricting participation to the three college years?

It could be that the air filled with the smell of that fresh cut grass and the "brown" smell of felled leaves in the clippings has gone to my head and caused me to miss the obvious. Maybe I just wish there were more corps so more kids could march for a longer time.

Boston had many high school students over the years while still maintaining top 12 status...some of those students have marched 5 and 6 years with them...their recent DM was with them from 2010 til 2016 for example...as far as current numbers I don't know those...only from what I've heard here and there or when I've talked here and there at the shows or read someone as well...

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The Persona survey of several years ago presented that the average tenure of fans is about 3 years.

Coincidence? Maybe. But are the corps killing their own legacy fan base by, essentially, restricting participation to the three college years?

I doubt it. There are lifelong fans who marched less than five years, or did not march at all. Furthermore, many of those who march three years in the top 12 also marched in other corps prior to that.

Maybe "corps are killing* their own legacy fan base" by changing the fundamental nature of the activity so dramatically that it no longer interests those legacy fans.

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Drum corps is more than the top 12 corps and many people march in Open Class or non-Top 12 corps before they march in top 12 corps..

Some people--gasp--even spend their entire drum corps marching career in non Top 12 corps.

Some fans--gasp--even enjoy watching non-Top 12 corps as much as they enjoy the top corps.

That being said, there are several top 12 corps that have high schoolers in them.

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In 2006, our son tried out (and made) a top 12 corps (finalist corps for three of the previous four years, including in 2005), and he was a 15-year-old high school freshman. He marched four years, and had intended to march 7, but simply got burned out after four years. His corps had plenty of members who were still in high school. I'm sure that the higher you get in the finalist ranks, the more difficult it is for high schoolers to make a corps, but his corps has always had many high school members, even when they were in the middle of the finalist pack (4th-7th place) back in the late 70s and throughout the 80s.

BTW, I just finished mowing my lawn too!

Cool that he followed your path at Spirit.

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I just wanted to say I have turf in my backyard that doesn't require mowing.

Carry on.

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