In The News – Major League Of Marching Band

[xandandl]

3 hours ago, Lead said:

It's like this...

All Corvettes are cars, but not all cars are Corvettes. All Drum Corps are marching bands, but not all marching bands are Drum Corps.

I marched BITD. Not sure why this is so difficult for people. It's not offensive, it's just the truth.

There was a girls corps BITD named the Corvettes and a more recent DCA corps called the Corps-vets.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Tim K said:

... Since we were sitting and playing music, does that mean the concert band and orchestra were the same thing?

Using a broader terminology yes concert bands and orchestras are the same thing (Instrumental Musical Ensembles).  For example outside of music in broader terminology both NASCAR and IndyCar are the same thing (Auto Racing).  And within music... by definition as well as meaning, in a broader terminology Second Line Parade Ensembles and Drum & Bugle Corps are the same thing (Marching Bands).  The term 'Marching Band' is actually a generic description that is correctly applied to any and all groups who utilize instruments while also marching; the designation 'Drum & Bugle Corps' is a specific sub-set of that general description; and 'High School Marching Band' is also a specific sub-set of the general description.  What this really boils down to is the blow-back that happens from the DCP (and DCI) cranks who HATE having their beloved organizations referred to as what they consider a derogatory classification.  But by all definitions and meanings of the words, whether anyone likes it or not, the designation 'Drum & Bugle Corps' actually, truthfully, and honestly is a sub-set of 'Marching Band'.

[Lance]

5 hours ago, Lead said:

It's like this...

All Corvettes are cars, but not all cars are Corvettes. All Drum Corps are marching bands, but not all marching bands are Drum Corps.

I marched BITD. Not sure why this is so difficult for people. It's not offensive, it's just the truth.

yeah, i don't get it either

also, the intent is to grow the fan base, right?  people know "marching band" when they hear the phrase. even if it elicits jokes, the picture people get in their minds is basically correct: marching/dancing around on a football field, playing things, beating on things, and twirling things. then, when they see a drum corps show, they understand that it's badash marching band, and will either dig it or not dig it.

saying "oh, no, it's not marching band, it's drum corps" doesn't do anything to fix misconceptions or to grow the fan base. they hear "drum corps" and you end up explaining it, and they say, "oh, so it's marching band." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[dcsnare93]

22 hours ago, cfirwin3 said:

As an aside... it is remarkable, the number of marchers who didn't hear a drumcorps live for the first time until they were actually in one.  The ability to see these shows live has always been a bit elusive for young fans.

Yeah, this was me. I, and a buddy of mine, had never seen a show live until we marched. I've had a few students in the same boat. It wouldn't surprise me if this was somewhat common.

[Stu]

23 minutes ago, Lance said:

yeah, i don't get it either

also, the intent is to grow the fan base, right?  people know "marching band" when they hear the phrase. even if it elicits jokes, the picture people get in their minds is basically correct: marching/dancing around on a football field, playing things, beating on things, and twirling things. then, when they see a drum corps show, they understand that it's badash marching band, and will either dig it or not dig it.

saying "oh, no, it's not marching band, it's drum corps" doesn't do anything to fix misconceptions or to grow the fan base. they hear "drum corps" and you end up explaining it, and they say, "oh, so it's marching band." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

It is not much of a problem with those who come up through the ranks of BOA, TOB, UIL, etc… The problem mainly arises from the bitd hard-corps folks, like I used to be, along with those who are influenced by the hard-corps D&B folks who hate being lumped in with ‘the whimpy-arse groups with wood-winds’.  But again, by meaning and definition, the designation D&B Corps actually is a specific sub-set of Marching Band whether the hard-corps folks like it or not.

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, dcsnare93 said:

Yeah, this was me. I, and a buddy of mine, had never seen a show live until we marched. I've had a few students in the same boat. It wouldn't surprise me if this was somewhat common.

For some reason many, many, many HS and University Band Directors hate, I mean (HATE) DCI and do not want their students exposed to the activity.  This has been the case since the inception of DCI.

[Lead]

My college music department was the same way. Told me DCI would ruin me as a player. I looked a whole room of them in the face and told them,"you can't honestly believe that playing my horn 8-10 hours a day all summer is going to make me a worse player, can you?"

... it was the last I ever heard of the discussion :)

[Pete Freedman]

At one time drum corps were local groups that competed with scholastic programs, and I think this is a big part of the animosity some music teachers feel toward drum corps.  If you joined a drum corps, that meant you weren't going to show up at some practices and/or shows, so either it was not allowed or not encouraged.

Because of this history, a lot of teachers are probably unwilling to look into the modern drum corps and realize even that it is a summertime activity held nowhere near the school zone or college.  It's more like a summer camp where kids go away to train all day.  I expect most drum corps kids today come back in the fall much improved from the previous spring - possibly moving up a chair or two - whereas most other kids will have backslid.

Also, corps shows are not really performances of the stated works, but are more like etudes inspired by those works.  They are highly unfaithful to the original works, and this offends some people.  Nessun Dorma performed with a 30-person percussion battery, for example.  It's not actually a performance of Nessun Dorma at all, actually.  The drum corps show is a ten minute work inspired by Nessun Dorma and several other works over that ten minutes, for the purpose of maxing out the students' skills in contests.  But that isn't clear to purist outside observers, who see nothing but disrespectful interpretations of these treasured works.  So, different kinds of teachers have different kind of objections, at least in part due to misunderstandings, or at least not realizing what's really happening.

[Pete Freedman]

A drum corps is a kind of marching band, clearly.  However, marching band is a poor term for a drum corps because there is a more specific preferred term: drum corps or drum and bugle corps.  So when newcomers call a drum corps a marching band it makes perfect sense to advise them of the preferred term, drum corps.  But instead of saying, "It's not band" they should say something like, "We don't call it a band generally, we call it a drum corps" or just "More specifically it's a drum corps."  

There are so many conversations comparing drum corps vs. marching band, it's important that newcomers have the generally accepted terminology.  

 

[Stu]

35 minutes ago, Pete Freedman said:

At one time drum corps were local groups that competed with scholastic programs, and I think this is a big part of the animosity some music teachers feel toward drum corps.  If you joined a drum corps, that meant you weren't going to show up at some practices and/or shows, so either it was not allowed or not encouraged.

Because of this history, a lot of teachers are probably unwilling to look into the modern drum corps and realize even that it is a summertime activity held nowhere near the school zone or college.  It's more like a summer camp where kids go away to train all day.  I expect most drum corps kids today come back in the fall much improved from the previous spring - possibly moving up a chair or two - whereas most other kids will have backslid.

Also, corps shows are not really performances of the stated works, but are more like etudes inspired by those works.  They are highly unfaithful to the original works, and this offends some people.  Nessun Dorma performed with a 30-person percussion battery, for example.  It's not actually a performance of Nessun Dorma at all, actually.  The drum corps show is a ten minute work inspired by Nessun Dorma and several other works over that ten minutes, for the purpose of maxing out the students' skills in contests.  But that isn't clear to purist outside observers, who see nothing but disrespectful interpretations of these treasured works.  So, different kinds of teachers have different kind of objections, at least in part due to misunderstandings, or at least not realizing what's really happening.

a) While there may be some conflicts with scholastic summer camp situations, and in some cases the first week of school, DCI has not competed directly, nor indirectly, with any scholastic marching band performances since the 1970’s or earlier; so any teacher who is holding on to that type of animosity has to be near or at retirement age. (My belief concerning their animosity from the get-go, and even now, is that it is a fear; a reaction fear in order to avoid personal embarrassment if the kid from their own school program goes away to DCI and returns as a far better performer than their other students).

b) As for band directors who are ‘purists’; if they hold to that purism aspect in which you say is the reason why they hate DCI, then they would be hypocritical if they do not also despise the following treatments: Concert Band arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, ad infinitum.