Evolution of the Revolution

[BoaDci]

Just now, corpsband said:

these are better.  you could start back with colorguard appearing on Glee, contemporary color, virtually every NFL team now fielding a drumline, etc... viral memes are fun but they rapidly burn out and disappear.  imo it would be far better to dramatically increase the amount of content than to create one-off viral videos (although monetizing a video could be a heck of a way to pay for your dues!) 

so

one the one hand, there's been a tiny, itty, bitty, minuscule  expansion of the niche.  

on the other hand, it's still mostly invisible.

on the gripping hand,  in today's  my-refigerator-talks-to-my-thermostat interconnected world, it might not take much of a kick to get things rolling.     

 

 

[Tim K]

Things may look different this year, but I'm not sure the revolution is beginning, or whether it has been happening. Around 2009/2010, I got a bit tired of what I was seeing and hearing. Never to a point where I wasn't interested or would not attend shows, but it wasn't as exciting, at least for me. There were always shows I enjoyed, and I never ceased to be amazed at the talent of the kids and difficulty of the shows, but I did not feel the emotional pull I did years ago. It wasn't a missing the old days feeling because I know styles change. Something seemed to be missing. Fast forward to 2011, first show I saw, Spirit was making a comeback with an audience friendly show, Madison played "Empire State of Mind" like they played anthems back in the day but it was new. Crown had "Rach Star" and BAC performed Les Mis and 1812 for "Revolution." Prior to that year, Michael Cessario spoke of keeping the standards high while engaging the audience. That has been happening in both WC and OC. In WC, we've been seeing and hearing all kinds of great and unique shows, pushing the boundaries while also being engaging. For me, it's like what we saw during the 80's. Watch 1980, a great year, in many ways a bridge year, then watch 1989, a very different year. Watch the years in between and you see the evolution. Watch 2011 and 2016 then watch the shows in between and you'll see a similar evolution.

I'll have to wait to see if we will have a revolution this summer. Right now I say the revolution has been going on since 2011, but if everything is totally different, and we do have a revolution, the past five years have been the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the sinking of the Gaspee and the innovators are our Patrick Henry's and Samuel Adams. 

[BRASSO]

9 minutes ago, Tim K said:

Things may look different this year, but I'm not sure the revolution is beginning, or whether it has been happening. Around 2009/2010, I got a bit tired of what I was seeing and hearing. Never to a point where I wasn't interested or would not attend shows, but it wasn't as exciting, at least for me. There were always shows I enjoyed, and I never ceased to be amazed at the talent of the kids and difficulty of the shows, but I did not feel the emotional pull I did years ago. It wasn't a missing the old days feeling because I know styles change. Something seemed to be missing. Fast forward to 2011, first show I saw, Spirit was making a comeback with an audience friendly show, Madison played "Empire State of Mind" like they played anthems back in the day but it was new. Crown had "Rach Star" and BAC performed Les Mis and 1812 for "Revolution." Prior to that year, Michael Cessario spoke of keeping the standards high while engaging the audience. That has been happening in both WC and OC. In WC, we've been seeing and hearing all kinds of great and unique shows, pushing the boundaries while also being engaging. For me, it's like what we saw during the 80's. Watch 1980, a great year, in many ways a bridge year, then watch 1989, a very different year. Watch the years in between and you see the evolution. Watch 2011 and 2016 then watch the shows in between and you'll see a similar evolution.

I'll have to wait to see if we will have a revolution this summer. Right now I say the revolution has been going on since 2011, but if everything is totally different, and we do have a revolution, the past five years have been the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the sinking of the Gaspee and the innovators are our Patrick Henry's and Samuel Adams. 

 I think this is a pretty good assessment and observation of these years, trends.. and thus deserving of at least one Sam Adams, imo.

[Tim K]

On May 4, 2017 at 10:11 PM, BoaDci said:

Drum corps is slowly but surely becoming more mainstream as well.  A good example is Ben Gunnarson's championship encore headcam just hit a million views, which alot of those rewatches are by me, but I have to imagine a certain number of them came from people who dont know what drum corps is.  Its also gonna be interesting to see how corps continue to run their social media and are able to grow drum corps.  Anyways, those are just a few of the ways I see the activity changing in the coming year or two.

..

 

 

YouTube for me is like self publishing. John Grisham self published, was noticed by a major publisher, and is one of the most successful writers of all time. For other self published writers, there's a reason publishing houses rejected them. Justin Beeber's fame, for better or for worse, came from YouTube. He has made it in entertainment. We also have lists of so called YouTube stars who get tons of hits, but no one remembers them for long.

i don't think drum corps is out of the mainstream. If you look at the fans, they're pretty typical. The kids who march are pretty typical too. I think the issue is people do not know drum corps still exists. Just as an example, many people visit Bristol, RI for July 4th. The Bristol show is now in Cranston, RI, but when it was on July 3rd  in Bristol, lots of people stumbled upon it and a pretty common comment was "I didn't know there still were drum corps." Drum corps are fewer and no longer local.  I tend to think of mainstream as average. Now if by mainstream you mean better known, social media can help, but the solution is getting people in the stands. This is where school music programs are critical. I went to NightBEAT a few years ago, a full stadium for me meant traffic jams when leaving. Very little traffic. Why? A good portion of the audience were high school students. The boarded school buses after the show and went home. So I say get them in the stands and get them while they are in middle and high school.

[garfield]

4 hours ago, Tim K said:

So I say get them in the stands and get them while they are in middle and high school.

OK, you're a show producer at DCI and you want to attract kids to your drum corps show, likely several years prior to their marching in corps.  What do you do?

 

 

[Ghost]

30 minutes ago, garfield said:

OK, you're a show producer at DCI and you want to attract kids to your drum corps show, likely several years prior to their marching in corps.  What do you do?

If the town/city has a middle or HS band, talk with the director?  Invite them to a corps rehearsal?   Discounted ticket price with a dog/burger and drink thrown in?  Discounts at corps souvie set ups?  Adults pay full boat?

Edited May 6, 2017 by Ghost

[Tim K]

1 hour ago, garfield said:

OK, you're a show producer at DCI and you want to attract kids to your drum corps show, likely several years prior to their marching in corps.  What do you do?

 

 

Ghost already said what would be my suggestions. We can still rely on alums to fill seats at shows, but corps started dropping like flies in the early to mid 80's. That group is in its late forties to mid fifties. We no longer have a large pool of alums to draw on, so we have to begin when they are younger, and attract kids who may never march. I do see some young people at shows in the Northeast and Allentown, but not nearly as many as I saw at shows in the south a few years back. 

[corps8294]

The change or "evolution" of the activity is occurring at a much faster rate than it was from the '70s to '80s, '80s to '90s, '90s to '00s. Part of this rapid change about is the significant growth and popularity of BOA and WGI. It used to be DCI and the drum corps activity that had the influence in the marching performing arts; BOA and WGI looked to the drum corps activity for inspiration. Now, it's the other way around. Most of the movers and shakers in the in the drum corps activity are coming from BOA and WGI programs as a lot of the classic big names are retiring, passing the torch to their younger counterparts, or (sadly) passing on. The instrumentation allowed in the activity is becoming more closely related to marching bands and the look and design of the corps and their shows are heavily influenced by WGI. The young men and women in the ranks love and embrace what's going on and they are the ones that are keeping the corps alive. There are some things I'm not crazy about (sousaphones? really?); but, if the members dig the changes and keeps them coming back, so be it. This is their time and era. 

[Hrothgar15]

1 hour ago, corps8294 said:

The change or "evolution" of the activity is occurring at a much faster rate than it was from the '70s to '80s, '80s to '90s, '90s to '00s. Part of this rapid change about is the significant growth and popularity of BOA and WGI. It used to be DCI and the drum corps activity that had the influence in the marching performing arts; BOA and WGI looked to the drum corps activity for inspiration. Now, it's the other way around. Most of the movers and shakers in the in the drum corps activity are coming from BOA and WGI programs as a lot of the classic big names are retiring, passing the torch to their younger counterparts, or (sadly) passing on. The instrumentation allowed in the activity is becoming more closely related to marching bands and the look and design of the corps and their shows are heavily influenced by WGI. The young men and women in the ranks love and embrace what's going on and they are the ones that are keeping the corps alive. There are some things I'm not crazy about (sousaphones? really?); but, if the members dig the changes and keeps them coming back, so be it. This is their time and era. 

This seems exactly spot on.

[Ghost]

8 hours ago, garfield said:

OK, you're a show producer at DCI and you want to attract kids to your drum corps show, likely several years prior to their marching in corps.  What do you do?

With your show experience G, I'm thinking you may already have an opinion to your own question.  What you say sir?