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How do we save Drum Corps


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1. Corps must return to recruiting local members, not music majors who are 1000+ miles away from the corps home base.

2. Corps seem to have lost touch with their local communities. These local ties need to be strong, which will also help local recruiting.

3. Corps need musicians as program directors & show designers. The music needs to be the primary focus, the visual/guard is complimentary.

4. Many corps uniforms look ridiculous. Corps who look like they are wearing a costume do not look good. There is too much guard influence in corps unis for my taste.

5. Require every corps to do a park & blow "concert" number.

6. No more high brow ultra complex symphonic a-million-notes-a-minute crap. Leave the customers whistling & tapping their feet.

That is all...

1. Members march where they want to march and can afford. Local or distant is irrelevant.

2. Some corps still do have tie-ins to their home towns, but it is not all that important in 2012, at least at the World Class level.

3. Shows should be, IMO, a marriage of visual and music to create one seamless performance where each is used to present the ideas the designers wish to create.

4. Corps unis look just fine.

5. No. 99% of them were my least favorite moments of shows back in the day. See #3.

6. I want to be entertained by great performers presenting amazing music and visual designs. Period.

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As always, you decide to drive on the wrong side of the road. The OP gets it! Maybe you weren't marching back in the 60's and 70's...ah, it worked! You continually show us all your complete lack of understanding for this activity...what it was, what it is, and what it should be! Go check out archived scores from the 70's...then compare it to all the scores last year. My guess is there are more competitions in the 70's then last year.

Loads of smaller, inconsistent and uncoordinated shows are not the answer, and would be counterproductive, actually. More unification as a highly-coordinated circuit, not less.

The answer is larger shows that are more consistent and more coordinated from one to the other.

I do agree that there should be a new A Class that is restricted to doing local shows with regionals and a chance to go to finals (not a tour to finals with shows on the way, simply A-class finals).

Open Class could be more similar in terms of more of a regional focus.

Again, no more small shows. Small shows are a complete waste of time. They require about the same amount to put together a larger show, but nothing near the return.

A great target would be to have the smallest show at 5,000 attendees... that being the new floor.

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So ... the next time someone from the Boston Crusaders approaches me at the Plymouth show or the East Coast Classic asks me to pledge financial support for the BAC program, I guess it's okay for me to respond: " I wish your organization well, but the activity has a limited following in New England and a limited membership of youths from the Greater Boston area. I'll be more interested pledging financial support the local marching bands and local alumni corps."

If you so choose too WP since it's your money.

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Permit me to contend otherwise by pointing out that "back then" the activity was flourishing; one only needs to count the numbers. The product being put out today, rings or no rings, is boring to the general public and to potential new recruits.

Wow....this thread has risen from the dead, and all because you chose to take a months-old post of mine way out of context.

I'm on your side (if there must be "sides"). I am well aware how much the drum corps activity was flourishing BITD compared to today. However, it is fair to point out that from a technical standpoint, today's corps are more advanced than 50 years ago. (On the other hand, it is also fair to point out that technical advancement has not maintained the same audience draw that drum corps enjoyed 50 years ago.)

But anyway....

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No, it is not really a very different experience. Local corps of my day and local competitive bands of today are pretty much the same, only an average band today is much better than the small local corps used to be.

But a small local corps today is still better than the average band. Why are you comparing today's bands only to drum corps from decades in the past?

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Kids do have more choices today, so more traditional activities have seen a decline.

That's a myth. Soccer is a traditional youth activity, and it hasn't seen a decline.

We've looked at finances in these posts. we've also looked at old school/new school debates, and just about every other topic, but if we're discussing saving drum corps, have we ever asked what is essential to drum corps? The unique aspects of a drum corps is the selling point.

And while we can argue endlessly over precisely what those unique aspects are, they do fall into two main categories....art and sport. I'd like to address the latter category for a moment.

There's a reason people pay good money to see the non-professional art of drum corps....because it's also a competition. Back in the day, drum corps was a competitive free-for-all, and it drew huge crowds partly on that account. Today, there is a well-established competitive hierarchy due to disparities between corps, and a systemic competitive inertia that further discourages changes in the placement order of contests. Oh, and look....fan interest has dropped over that same time period.

If you want to "save" drum corps, figure out how to make it competitive again.

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That's a myth. Soccer is a traditional youth activity, and it hasn't seen a decline.

And while we can argue endlessly over precisely what those unique aspects are, they do fall into two main categories....art and sport. I'd like to address the latter category for a moment.

There's a reason people pay good money to see the non-professional art of drum corps....because it's also a competition. Back in the day, drum corps was a competitive free-for-all, and it drew huge crowds partly on that account. Today, there is a well-established competitive hierarchy due to disparities between corps, and a systemic competitive inertia that further discourages changes in the placement order of contests. Oh, and look....fan interest has dropped over that same time period.

If you want to "save" drum corps, figure out how to make it competitive again.

HMMMM im from bitd as well as teach today and I see it alot different I guess.

1st maybe soccer is doing great BUT you arent looking at the big picture..Boy Scouts are 1/2 the amount of kids now from 1972...many or most civic programs are down or gone..forget church groups....How can you say kids dont have more choices than we did back then..Its a whole new world.....the activity serves a very different kid today. Maybe I see it different because i deal with kids today and their issues and they by no means are the same as we were.

Next, Drum corps is as competitve as it always was...less corps? yes...less interest yes compared to the 60s maybe...Different times and needs...as far as contests BITD were all over the place and anyone could win or flip flop because the tick system was a horror and was at the mercy of more of a personal opinion and tollerence and was a totally unaccountable situation.

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That's a myth. Soccer is a traditional youth activity, and it hasn't seen a decline.

Tubas cost way more than soccer balls. Just sayin. :lookaround:

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But a small local corps today is still better than the average band. Why are you comparing today's bands only to drum corps from decades in the past?

Because there are people who are yearning for a return to the past when there were hundreds of small local corps. I'll take the thousands of competitive bands of today if there is only room for one. As for small local corps of today and average band, it of course depends on the bands/corps you are thinking about using in your comparison. With so few corps, it is harder to make general statements.

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