GuyW Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 No.I'll grant you that drum corps instrumentation is a subset of marching band instrumentation at this point. But that does not make drum corps a subset of marching band. Police use a subset of the military's equipment, but that does not make the police a subset of the army. Surfers use surfboards. Skiers use skis. fencers use swords. buglers use bugles. bugle corps are made up of buglers trumpets and tubas ain't bugles If ya carry band stuff in contrast to the definitive bugle stuff, you're a band. DCI groups are bands. Bugle corps ain't (colloquialisms used purposefully) Forest Gump could figure this out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The equipment that is used does matter. If things like that were meaningless, MLB would surely be using aluminum bats by now. The rules of baseball have changed minimally over the last 100 years and that sport is doing just fine. Kids play baseball in many countries all over the world. The rules don't have to be changed to keep people involved. It doesn't have to "evolve." There is something quite nice and appealing about activities that attempt to stick by their traditions. It is too bad that certain elements within drum corps are hellbent on tossing aside every traditional element of the activity. They believe it must be reinvented every few years. For whatever reason, they believe what made drum corps different had more to do with going on tour for the summer than the unique equipment (compared to other marching activities) used. For me, it was everything that was different about drum corps that made it appealing. As they have stepped closer to closer to marching band, it has become less appealing for me. If I want to see marching band, I have plenty of those in my area that I could watch for free. I went to drum corps for something that marching band just wasn't going to offer. I understand for many of you it has always been thought of as just some intense version of summer band camp and you don't care whether they march harmonicas and kazoos or violins and flutes. Try as I may to convince myself otherwise, the instrument limitations did matter to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) To be more specific about the taxonomy, Mike... Drum corps and Academic Marching Bands are each a form of marching music ensembles. Just the same, so are winter drumlines, winter guards, parade drumlimes, HBCU marching bands, etc. etc. Because there is no all-encompassing name for a marching music ensemble, and because drum corps often closely resemble Academic Marching Bands, the general public uses "marching band" as a catch-all phrase for many types of ensembles, and they do so because the phrase accurately defines features of many of the ensembles, particularly drum corps and academic MB. Thus, I don't believe having drum corps called a "marching band" is something we should cherish, adopt, or otherwise hold sacred. It is the differences in the ensembles that make them unique, and in no way does the common catch phrase bring more validity to our activity. Just because the general public uses a poor choice in naming, we should not simply give up on the differences. That's populist nonsense. If there is a reason to convert drum corps to be no different than academic marching bands, no one is laying out a good reason. All that's happening is we're slowly eliminating the differences, providing a slow and painful death to our offshoot. In no way does the fact that most people can't tell the difference mean that we should just give up. That's stupid. Edited February 12, 2008 by drumcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Can you tell the difference between that show and SCV? I was careful to say a drum corps style show (anticipating an ambush which I see was in fact coming). "Drumline" doesn't quack like a duck. I hate that movie because now a lot of people think they know what I do (did) on tour... No ambush. Just breaking this down into understandable (for me) parts. So instrumentation is one component of the definition of drum corps. Content is another. Am I right? Are there others? HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdewine Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Another very important component of drum corps, IMO...is TRADITION. (at least it used to be important) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 No ambush. Just breaking this down into understandable (for me) parts.So instrumentation is one component of the definition of drum corps. Content is another. Am I right? Are there others? HH Organizational independence... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Brass, Colorguard, Amplification, Computer and Drum Corps (in place of drum and bugle corps) all under the umbrella of DCI. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Organizational independence... Wrong. There's a high school in Florida that has a drum and bugle corps instead of a marching band. I can't remember the name of it. Spirit of JSU doesn't exactly have organizational independence. All of the service academies (Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, West Point, etc.) have drum and bugle corps, don't they? And then the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle corps isn't independent either. I say it's strictly instrumentation that should define what a drum and bugle corps is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Wrong. There's a high school in Florida that has a drum and bugle corps instead of a marching band. I can't remember the name of it. Spirit of JSU doesn't exactly have organizational independence. All of the service academies (Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, West Point, etc.) have drum and bugle corps, don't they? And then the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle corps isn't independent either. I say it's strictly instrumentation that should define what a drum and bugle corps is. Oh for Effs sakes. I'm trying to answer a general question with a general statement. So GENERALLY the organizations are independent, particularly those in DCI. Spirit from JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY excepted. ####. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Oh for Effs sakes. I'm trying to answer a general question with a general statement. SoGENERALLY the organizations are independent, particularly those in DCI. Spirit from JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY excepted. ####. If you're referring to the following question, No ambush. Just breaking this down into understandable (for me) parts.So instrumentation is one component of the definition of drum corps. Content is another. Am I right? Are there others? HH I don't really see that as a general question. My answer to that question would be, no there are no others. Content is not even a component of the definition. It's strictly instrumentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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