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Transition from Fan to Parent


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30 minutes ago, yogitom said:

It's  a competition activity. Critiques are a part of it. Shielding the members or their parents from it, does you and them no favors. Good luck to you and your son MikeN.

I critique for sure, but I'm nice about it.  I never come on here and just unload on a corps.  

Edited by DrumManTx
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1 hour ago, yogitom said:

It's  a competition activity. Critiques are a part of it. Shielding the members or their parents from it, does you and them no favors. Good luck to you and your son MikeN.

Mike, did you say "son"? Daughters are allowed too, right...?

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42 minutes ago, DrumManTx said:

I critique for sure, but I'm nice about it.  I never come on here and just unload on a corps.  

Agreed.

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2 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Many of us valve-rotor dinosaurs moan about the current state of Corps,

As an old valve-rotor dinosaur I can relate (I still have a valve-rotor contra in my attic that I hope to play again someday).  But I thoroughly enjoy watching my kids have their own drum corps moment!

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Never dreamed that my son starting piano at age 5 to middle school band  to high school band would lead to this. Last year being a first year DCI parent was a whirlwind.  Taking time the 2nd time around to enjoy the moment more. I am so amazed at the talent from the bottom open class corps to the top world class corps.  Then it hits me....my son is in this thing too! Totally blown away and totally amazed at what my kid learned away from the shows. Its a total experience. 

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Congrats on your child making a corps! Mine also marched 2 years DCA then made the jump to DCI last year. While I'm generally supportive of all corps and the effort put in by marching members and staff I will admit to having blinders on when it comes to my kid. I must've watched their show 100 times or more on grainy YouTube videos shot from horrible angles with lousy sound quality and couldn't have cared less. Never did get a chance to watch the whole show either as I was firmly locked in on our son the whole time.

Enjoy the coming year and, if you're anything like me, you'll be amazed at the end of the summer that your child was (1) talented enough to make such a group and (2) dedicated/strong enough to perform at such a high level for an entire summer under grueling conditions.

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On 3/20/2017 at 4:23 PM, MikeN said:

So as of last week, after 28 years I am no longer a DCI Fan.  I am officially a DCI Parent.  <applause> :thumbs-up: 

That said, as we've gotten closer and closer, with callbacks and video assignments and camps and talking about drum corps EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. for 18 months, I've found that my perspective on this season - and DCI - had changed quite a bit.  Really, without me even noticing until now.

First, I could give a flying ... leap... about the other 40+ corps in DCI this year.  So what if the Cadets are coming out in hot pink?  BD playing Taylor Swift in their drum feature?  Madison's relocation to Tulsa?  No big deal.  I'm sure it's all great, but I'll be honest - all I care about is my kiddo and how they're doing, how they place and how they feel about their corps.  I probably will be one of those parents in the stands for only one corps, to tell the truth, even if they are likely to be near the front of every show.  Sorry, fans who don't like transient crowds - sure I'd like to see the Cavaliers live when they go undefeated and stomp everyone this year, but I'd like even more to see the kiddo and hear how they felt their run was.

Second, and probably much more significant, I'm suddenly very amazingly more tolerant of DCI's recent creative explosion.  As they say, it's all fun and games until it happens to you.  (Or is it until someone loses an ear?)  My kiddo is going to be doing some fairly novel stuff in an avant-garde way, and I couldn't be happier.  Because this year of DCI was made for them - this is theirs and nobody else's.  You had your La Fiesta and Candide and Medea and Bjork and even your Justin Bieber, but now it's my kid's turn.  To be brutally honest, as of now my kid's version of DCI is more important to them (and me) than your DCI.

So best of luck, other corps, even if I'm only watching with half an eye and listening with half my brain.  My focus is on one group of kids - one kid - and what I already know is going to be the best summer of DCI ever.  :cheer:

Mike

 

Ok... let's make this an actual discussion instead of some kind of a narcissistic blog post - parents, what did you find changed for you when you made the same switch from fan to parent?

I like this

A little snarkly, brutally honest, 

bring it! 

I can't answer your question,  my kids are still a little young. 

There close though. 

Have fun this summer,  if you want to say hi I will be around clapping for your kid along with everyone else.  That's just how I roll.

GO DCI

 

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My son who is still in high school is starting his 4th year in DCI. I admit I got him in early (he was 12 y.o. at his first rehearsals) but I was teaching the corps at the time. He is now on his own path, choosing to stay with SCVC for his 2nd year after having the opportunity to march with SCV A-corps members and alums for the Rose Parade back in January. I can tell his short but in depth exposure to A-corps talent affected him profoundly, as up to November he was considering auditioning for Xmen (he's a huge fan, Xmen folks!) but he really had to step up his game. As a SCV FMM now SCV-parent I was very tense because the 2017 SCVC auditions were extraordinarily more competitive versus 2016, and a number of returning kids were unfortunately not successful. 

Edited by TRacer
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