Drum Corps 2014 - The State of the Activity

[charlie1223]

Not particularly, of course (I did read it closely). But, the point of the article is:

Is it better?

If one thinks that it is, then Lee suggests credit goes to Hop for the inspiration of the changes.

But, if one thinks it's not better, and clearly Lee is not convinced, then what's the genesis of the problem and who gets credit for the genesis?

I didn't know Hop designed for all the world class corps.

[mingusmonk]

I hope there is a follow-up essay that has some thoughts on how to actually redefine "better" while downplaying the combination of execution and demand.

EDIT: Being serious here ... for once.

Edited August 27, 2013 by mingusmonk

[jonnyboy]

I think we can leave out whether Hop is good or bad, whether unis are homogenous or not...lets not pick it apart. The bottom line is that shows should be about the fans.....that is if you want the activity to survive and thrive in the future.

The DCI triad: members, fans and the design community.

The members will come to experience the excellence and tradition of corps and to perform. They are young and will come, and they will perform what the staff gives them. The don't get jaded until they are old like most of us.

The fans will come because they love corps. They would come in droves if the shows had broad general appeal. There would be new fans if the show had broad general appeal.

The design community. Let's lump design, judging, admins and activity movers and shakers into one big group. They are responsible for our shows and what we see. I really think they have become self serving clubs to a large extent. The have lost track of what puts butts in seats and they don't care or don't know. They might even think they know better than "Joe Drumcorps", or they don't care about him. It is my personal opinion that they have bored themselves to death with corps and are searching for the next best thing and to push the activity "forward".

The members will come, the design community is entrenched.....so that leaves the fan hanging out to dry.

[garfield]

I think we can leave out whether Hop is good or bad, whether unis are homogenous or not...lets not pick it apart. The bottom line is that shows should be about the fans.....that is if you want the activity to survive and thrive in the future.

The DCI triad: members, fans and the design community.

The members will come to experience the excellence and tradition of corps and to perform. They are young and will come, and they will perform what the staff gives them. The don't get jaded until they are old like most of us.

The fans will come because they love corps. They would come in droves if the shows had broad general appeal. There would be new fans if the show had broad general appeal.

The design community. Let's lump design, judging, admins and activity movers and shakers into one big group. They are responsible for our shows and what we see. I really think they have become self serving clubs to a large extent. The have lost track of what puts butts in seats and they don't care or don't know. They might even think they know better than "Joe Drumcorps", or they don't care about him. It is my personal opinion that they have bored themselves to death with corps and are searching for the next best thing and to push the activity "forward".

The members will come, the design community is entrenched.....so that leaves the fan hanging out to dry.

Or, even worse, they "know" what we SHOULD like, because we're cretins without them.

[charlie1223]

I get what you're saying in your original post... but the cadets actually did have body movement after marching forward... only really stood still on the flip-flops (about 3-4 measures)

After re-watching some clips they do have a fairly simplistic side stepping form that follows a wave pattern but it hardly "body movement" an it's less visually oriented than the Bridgeman in the 80's. Bridgeman played blind folded, used racked drums, and did stick visuals and body movements. So the complaint that you can't win while standing still could be said even back then when the visual spectacle of the Drumline feature was just as pronounced... It wasn't just about standing still and "drumming" as some BITD purists would like to think.

Edited August 27, 2013 by charlie1223

[BRASSO]

I didn't know Hop designed for all the world class corps.

And Lee never stated, nor implied as such in his article, so thats a comment that is irrelevent, imo.

GH is a principal driving force behind where we are today in the activity regarding instrumentation and trhe changes he has championed for years. Except for his quest to bring woodwinds into DCI field competition for Corps, pretty much all the things he has pushed for to make things " better " has seen come to fruition since he first began pushing them in the 80's . But do we have more Corps, more marchers, more national exposure, more fans, today than in the 80's when he pushed for these things to allegedly make things " better "? Well, thats up to ones perspective and their overall assessment if we are better off today regarding the overall health and stability and growth prospects of the Drum Corps activity. With all of these changes, one would think that we are poised for explosive growth in the coming years. But are we ? Well, if we arn't, then what should we do to change things to grow an audience in the future, as what we are doing now, is barely keeping the activity alive.

[skywhopper]

And we just can't say..."Great article Lee! Loved what yo had to say!" No, we have to rub salt into a wound.

I thought the article asked for discussion. People have different opinions...

[charlie1223]

And Lee never stated, nor implied as such in his article, so thats a comment that is irrelevent, imo.

GH is a principal driving force behind where we are today in the activity regarding instrumentation and trhe changes he has championed for years. Except for his quest to bring woodwinds into DCI field competition for Corps, pretty much all the things he has pushed for to make things " better " has seen come to fruition since he first began pushing them in the 80's . But do we have more Corps, more marchers, more national exposure, more fans, today than in the 80's when he pushed for these things to allegedly make things " better "? Well, thats up to ones perspective and their overall assessment if we are better off today regarding the overall health and stability and growth prospects of the Drum Corps activity. With all of these changes, one would think that we are poised for explosive growth in the coming years. But are we ? Well, if we arn't, then what should we do to change things to grow an audience in the future, as what we are doing now, is barely keeping the activity alive.

The state of drum corps in 2014? Go to DCI's Facebook page and take a look.

Over the past few days DCI has been promoting dozens of BRAND NEW corps/sounds sport teams and drum lines from all over the world.

Attendance for Big shows has been increasing. And you could argue that more young people are a part of the marching arts now than at any pther point in its history.

[N.E. Brigand]

And you could argue that more young people are a part of the marching arts now than at any other point in its history.

Maybe, maybe not. We'd probably need a lot more information to say for sure. For instance, in this thread from last fall, I noted that the average size of competing marching bands in Ohio seems to have decreased slightly from 1991 to 2012. However, that statistic may be offset by other factors, or may not be representative of activity elsewhere.

[BRASSO]

And you could argue that more young people are a part of the marching arts now than at any pther point in its history.

This section of DCP is about DCI Drum Corps. Lee is referring here in his article to DCI Drum Corps. He is talking about the 80's and today as it relates to Drum Corps. As such, we stay within the paremeters of his comments. In this context, as it relates to the numbers of young people participating in marching in DCI Drum Corps, it is undeniabled that less MM's are marching today in Summer competition DCI than in the 80's, and before that, the 70's. Is DCI responsible for the smaller numbers of participants ? In my view not totally responsible for it, but certainly its decisions have accelearated the loss of Corps, and with that, overall participation rates, imo. The question now remains how do we begin to grow an audience base, as its not acceptable to grow an audience by less of a percentage than the percentage of the increased costs of DCI and Corps operation. if we grow an audience by ( say ) 2%, but our annual costs exceed that to operate, then we really arn't growing as an overall activity at all... we are losing ground.

Edited August 27, 2013 by BRASSO