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Why do You Stay?


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Drum Corps was the most important thing in my life for about 7 years, from 1974 to 1981. I cherish the memories that I have, the people who I marched with, & the lessons that I learned. I hold out hope that this activity will once again capture the audience like it once did. I still look forward to June & the first few shows to see what corps are doing. I subscribe to the DCI FN & watch every webcast. While I am very critical of DCI & show designers, I cant leave or ignore the activity that was so important to me during my formative years.

Edited by FlamMan
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Is that broad brush of yours heavy? How presumptuous of you to claim to know the motivation of drum corps fans/alumni, then to cast them (those who don't share your views) in a very negative light based upon your own personal bias. Why don't you stick to answering why You stay.

As the years go by I'm more glad I had the experience of being with a corps struggling to come back after being inactive (twice). Spent a full year (split over 2 seasons) of coming in last every show and left first time 6th place at Finals. Ones I respect the most are the ones who took their beatings for the corps knowing they would be gone before the corps got good. Totally different mindset from going for the ring or something to brag about later. And really got to respect the amount of work needed to put a last place corps on the field.....

Not sure why but seems like humility or at least respect for differing opinions is really missing on a lot of these threads.

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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Is that broad brush of yours heavy? How presumptuous of you to claim to know the motivation of drum corps fans/alumni, then to cast them (those who don't share your views) in a very negative light based upon your own personal bias. Why don't you stick to answering why You stay.

are you refuting? I knew my answer would strike grumpiness with folks (many of whom I suspect could indeed be painted with my brush - sometimes it's much easier to curse at the scale than to admit you're overweight and need to change).

I tried hard not to over-generalize too much, and if I did a poor job I apologize. I think if someone wants to 100% refute what I'm saying, GO FOR IT! I'm more inclined to believe, however, that there are indeed plenty of people who DO fall in line with what I say.

HeII, I tried to make the point that I too had that entitled, "this isn't what I like so it must suck" type of attitude. If you think I'm way off mark, I'd love to hear your reasoning. I've been around RAMD and DCP for over a decade, have been around drum corps since the late 80's and I've been around PLENTY of fans over the years whom I feel fall under my assessment.

*edit*

A few years ago when I was writing on the side for an entertainment site, I had a 180 shift in my thinking of opinion. Instead of, "I love punk music, I hate modern pop music" I tried to challenge myself. What exactly do I dislike about, say, Justin Timberlake? Do I just generally don't go for radio-pop music, or is there something of merit there? I started "forcing" myself, with a weekly column of "New Music Wednesday" (or whatever day of the week it written), to explore new music. Sometimes I chose a CD based on nothing but interesting album art, sometimes I took readers' requests, sometimes I just bit-the-bullet and listened to whatever was popular. This forced me to look for cool stuff in other music I wouldn't normally listened to, made me question specifically why I liked/disliked stuff (how much was nostalgia vs legit qualities of "good/entertaining" music for example), etc. It actually made me reassess, "no Lady Gaga isn't complete garbage as a singer/song-writer/performer - there is so cool horror-movie nerd qualities in some of her music ("Bad Romance," and the video in particular, for example), she writes GREAT pop music hooks, interesting drum beats, etc." Using that approach with aspects of drum corps I don't like automatically (like Cadets' narration this year - forcing my self to evaluate the quality of "performance," the effectiveness of content, staging, etc) often might sway my appreciation, if not flat-out "force" me to change my opinion.

Edited by perc2100
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there's definitely some truth to all this. At least from my own experience. My motivations for staying run in all directions including times when I really wanted out and be done with it all to experience more in life. I have seen all of what you are saying including a multitude of other reasons . This is why sometimes I think I have a different perspective than most. Not a better outlook , just different. I was from BITD as a member ( very young ) especially to be in the corps I was in, became a very young instructor, branched off from playing soprano ( in those days ) to guard because guided by George Z. and telling me the future was going to go wild into visuals, that's where I wanted to be. I had my 1st top 5 guard by the time I was 24 ( a time when there were only 1 or 2 instructors for a section, not 15) did DCA corps, bands coast to coast , Judged in almost all arenas. Many WGI medals and finalist in every class., including percussion....................Why do I say this? not to preach my own experience. Iv'e been here on DCP for quite a while and almost never mention any detail of what I do ( on purpose ) it's just to show different times, different outlooks, different perspectives. I see and have experienced it all.

I guess I'm one of the ones many talk about stepping down, hell I do it myslelf and I do try to make room and nurture others. Maybe that and a few other reasons may be the reason I HAVE STAYED.

I 've lived through all the changes and adapted, ( had to if I wanted to continue ) many times put my own spin on it, educated the young on the ones who came before them, tried to also show my own piers from my marching days of the similarities, not the differences. Longevity is not easy in this activity , although many may think that because of some who have been around since dirt, it's actually very hard and something one works on constantly to stay relevant. Maybe again.

That's why I stayed.

Thanks for the insight; I've known plenty of folks similar to you who marched BITD, had great mentors, constantly changed with the times, etc. Like all things, I would imagine most of us had had peaks/valleys with our fandom: some years we're neck-deep in our passion, traveling all over for shows (or working with someone), going crazy for the competitive aspect and designs. Other year's where not as engaged for one reason or the other.

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Not sure why but seems like humility or at least respect for differing opinions is really missing on a lot of these threads.

I think it's partly survivor bias as applied to message board posting. An attitude of humility about your own opinion and respect for differing opinions is going to bias you toward not posting, and not get sucked into flame wars; the opposite attitude, the opposite.

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The spirit of the activity has always been the same: Young people who love performing in a large group and experiencing a tour.

The output of the activity--the field show--has changed over time and that's where we debate often because that's why we buy DVDs and tickets. But how performers learn and perfect that show is still the same.The spirit of the tour is essentially the same. That's why a lot of corps volunteers still volunteer even when they no longer have children in the corps. They do it so today's performers have the same rewarding experience.

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I think it's partly survivor bias as applied to message board posting. An attitude of humility about your own opinion and respect for differing opinions is going to bias you toward not posting, and not get sucked into flame wars; the opposite attitude, the opposite.

Yeah that has some merit. Other week was accused of something and I tried to talk it out. Like talking to a flame thrower as more I tried to explain I got roasted in return. Now I know another person not to waste my time on.

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Thanks for the insight; I've known plenty of folks similar to you who marched BITD, had great mentors, constantly changed with the times, etc. Like all things, I would imagine most of us had had peaks/valleys with our fandom: some years we're neck-deep in our passion, traveling all over for shows (or working with someone), going crazy for the competitive aspect and designs. Other year's where not as engaged for one reason or the other.

you are very welcome. I dont ( for many reasons ) like talking about what I did or didnt do or what I'm doing now ( doesnt really matter ) BUT I have continually done this thing we call drum corps for more years than I can count at this time. Does it mean I know more? of course not BUT I am very much current , involved, seen the bad and good, had to fight as well as compromise , have had a small part in maintaining tradition as well as fight for change. I know many , even here who dont realize I do know who they are. ALL DOESNT MATTER but I would hope I might have gained a little insight to many situations. Even still JMO and I still to this day wonder why I did stay as long as I did, Maybe because I felt needed or was needed, maybe dozens of reasons including because I could.

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Why people stay, a (hopefully) short dissertation/attempted explanation.

I think people who the OP is talking about Most of them don't march, they don't volunteer, they don't teach, they don't serve in an administrative or director role, they don't serve of a corps BoD, they don't design. They do nothing except maybe by tickets, FN, and/or other souvies and then feel entitled to voice their opinion. .

So basically, all you DCP'ers here that havn't marched yet, don't volunteer with a Corps, havn't taught a Corps, don't serve an an administative capacity with a Corps now or in the past,.. havn't designed a DCI show, etc and so forth.... but just buy tickets and souvies, etc.. then STHU, as perc2100 here has done all these things ( or most of them anyway ) and this makes him and other super duper elites like him uniquely qualified to have an opinion on Drum Corps ( whatever that opinion is ), but you others here that are not really important people in the activity shouldn't be expressing your opinions. You really havn't earned that right yet because most of you here don't have the sweetest smelling perfumed #### thats required to express your opinion here on anything..

Edited by MikeD
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The spirit of the activity has always been the same: Young people who love performing in a large group and experiencing a tour.

The output of the activity--the field show--has changed over time and that's where we debate often because that's why we buy DVDs and tickets. But how performers learn and perfect that show is still the same.The spirit of the tour is essentially the same. That's why a lot of corps volunteers still volunteer even when they no longer have children in the corps. They do it so today's performers have the same rewarding experience.

I would agree, as much as things change, there's certain things that don't

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