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Reasons for decrease in audience over the decades?


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First show I went to was Hershey, PA 1974 and it was a regular season 5 corps show (Thunderbirds, Buccs, Matadors, Cabs, Yankee Rebels IIRC).Only big thing I could think of going on was Buccs and Cabs were neck and neck and this was abut the middle of the season. We get there night of the show and find out the concert side (remember that term?) was SOLD OUT. From what I was told 8K fit on one side so paid attendance was 8000 plus the 1000 or so on the other side. Cabs website have a vid of that show so you can see the paid folks around the 50 on the far side.

Also helped with/attended the Carlisle show (70s/80s) and from talking to the people know more than a few had nothing to do with corps and just liked to go there for an evenings entertainment.

So how did we lose these non-corps people over the decades? Have changes to shows over the years just left them behind (I walked away for ten years and that possibility crossed my mind)? Has the cost of tickets killed the idea of shows being a good price for an evenings couple of hours entertainment?

No idea myself except guesses so let's hear yours......

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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Jim,

Many answers, no one better than the other. I'll add this. Alternative entertainment options have grown tremendously thanks to dramatic technology advancements. It's much easier, and cheaper, to find amusement that thrills, and with FAR less effort.

YES! I'm guilty.

Edited by Fred Windish
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Ticket prices have absolutely become a factor-$30 to $40 times 2 (or more, in the case of families) people is a pretty hefty chunk of change. For those of us "die-hards", we live with it. For the casual, once-a-year fan, probably not so much-especially when perhaps half of the performing corps are playing obscure music that only the judges and music majors in the audience can appreciate.

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Ticket prices have absolutely become a factor-$30 to $40 times 2 (or more, in the case of families) people is a pretty hefty chunk of change. For those of us "die-hards", we live with it. For the casual, once-a-year fan, probably not so much-especially when perhaps half of the performing corps are playing obscure music that only the judges and music majors in the audience can appreciate.

All music was obscure at one time or another. There was a time when people went to a drum Corps show not just to be entertained but to watch and be a spectator to a competition. Not to be judge and jury, not to decide if a corps should wear or play a certain thing. Some very familiar tunes in drum corps would be very foreign to many outsiders. Being familiar with something is merely hearing it over and over and over again.

You are very right about ticket prices. I also remember a 10 and 20 dollar ticket for a Broadway show. Those days are gone for good thats for sure. It's impossible. It would be very hard for a family to go to a show these days , thats for sure but look at a family of four going to Disney..thousands of dollars.

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In my era we had music that was obscure (who is that Mangione guy anyway) but still had a tune that could be picked up by people who didn't know the music or composer. Seriously the music lovers in my family became Chuck Mangione fans from going to shows. Later I walked away after hearing some shows where it just seemed the corps was trying to impress you with what they could do instead of entertaining you. History of Drum Corps called it the season of audience discontent. Forget the show but it had horn hit.... nothing... horn hit... nothing (repeat a few more times) while marching. Hard to do cleanly but got repetitive and boring.

Weird thing was I didn't find out that I wasn't the only one who was "discontented" until I came back 10 years later.....

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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In my era we had music that was obscure (who is that Mangione guy anyway) but still had a tune that could be picked up by people who didn't know the music or composer. Seriously the music lovers in my family became Chuck Mangione fans from going to shows. Later I walked away after hearing some shows where it just seemed the corps was trying to impress you with what they could do instead of entertaining you. History of Drum Corps called it the season of audience discontent. Forget the show but it had horn hit.... nothing... horn hit... nothing (repeat a few more times) while marching. Hard to do cleanly but got repetitive and boring.

Weird thing was I didn't find out that I wasn't the only one who was "discontented" until I came back 10 years later.....

I wonder sometimes if disconnect is on the person feeling disconnected or the one who they feel disconnected from..hmmmm. seems like it could be either or both or maybe even a choice. Just a thought.

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Ticket prices have absolutely become a factor-$30 to $40 times 2 (or more, in the case of families) people is a pretty hefty chunk of change. For those of us "die-hards", we live with it. For the casual, once-a-year fan, probably not so much-especially when perhaps half of the performing corps are playing obscure music that only the judges and music majors in the audience can appreciate.

My non-corps friends in the late 60's thought the pop tunes, old big band charts and patriotic music I played in my local GSC corps was about as lame as it could get. In 1970, my first year in Garfield, we performed at the Princeton U P-rade, their annual alumni parade through campus, billed as the biggest sloppy parade in the world. Given the times and where we were...you could just see and almost feel the disdain and scorn of the Princeton students when we got off the busses in our military Cadet unis, and started to play our opener, Gounod's "Queen of Sheba". They only warmed up to us when we started "White Rabbit", so someone decided (I think it was our DM) that we would ONLY play that tune in the P-rade.

I just don't buy the rose-colored view that drum corps was some nationally popular activity that became a niche...it was and is a niche activity for those of us who love it.

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design trends hurt sure, so did ticket prices. Fewer local corps meant fewer local shows. It's also not cheap running a show, and corps arent going to go to a show for free. lack of ties in with local groups hurt as well.

and the audience base got older for the DCA side. Fans died off or it got to a point where travelling was an issue be it financial or health. Sadly, when i last saw the database for Serenade in Brass, say around 2008, I saw at least 200 names that had "passed away" marked next to them....for a show that maybe held 1500 people

Edited by Jeff Ream
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I wonder sometimes if disconnect is on the person feeling disconnected or the one who they feel disconnected from..hmmmm. seems like it could be either or both or maybe even a choice. Just a thought.

Word was "discontent" not "disconnected"...

Personally I felt boredom more than anything else and had some new things in my life going on (marriage, house, church council). 20+ years later still remember watching the mayflies kill themselves on the stadium lights and thinking "I have more important things to do with my life". So after the corps on the field was done I walked out without a regret.

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First show I went to was Hershey, PA 1974 ..... So how did we lose these non-corps people over the decades?

In 1974 I think we had 5 television channels ... and books ... to compete for time. Simply hanging out, with nothing in particular going on, was the most popular form of entertainment. Finding something out of the ordinary coming to town, like a drum corps show, was probably a lot more appealing.

Forty years later, we actually have much better tools to get out the message that a show is coming to town, but an exponentially larger amount of entertainment options crowding out the perceived value of the show. With the options available these days (cable, movies on demand, every sport imaginable, etc.) people have to pick and choose WHICH entertainment they have time for and which will be sacrificed.

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