Has the time come?

[Jeff Ream]

there's only one directore pushing for upping the numbers. The costs would have to be staggering adding more busses, the fuel, the food, the insurance etc.

[drumcorpsfever]

7 hours ago, stevedci said:

ponder this as why there may be more to 150 size than bus size....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number

 

 

Okay!  I'll take 150 brass!!!  LOL

Edited July 25, 2017 by drumcorpsfever

[Vdad76]

15 hours ago, thebrassshop said:

Being in the parking lots for 29 years repairing instruments  I have seen this activity grow from 2 busses 1 truck and a food wagon of sorts.

1oo members plus staff and volunteers of approx. another 15  (115)  to 150 members   plus up to 50 staff and volunteers (200 and more)

also Corps today run 3 and 4 busses plus Staff busses  2 or 3,  3 and 4 trailers, 1 or 2 box trucks, vans and chase vehicles is one huge undertaking.

I hear of budgets from $900,000.00 to almost 3million. The first show this year there was a small issue getting everybody in the lot  that was just 6 corps,

and they filled it. This has not been a mom and pop organization for years, it's year round  with offices , storage , rehersal facilities.

office staffs from 3 to 8 or 9.  This is Large business folks.

I know what I spend just for Fuel for a 13000 mile 40 show tour  , 1 vehicle   roughly 60 days   runs between 2300.00 and 2600.00

Figure what fuel costs are for busses 5 to 6 mpg , tractor trailers,maybee 8mpg, box trucks etc  do 10,000 miles and 25 shows.

I believe a lot of people could live very well on what it costs just for fuel.  NOT a joke    a corps 5 yrs ago fueled everything at once 3 busses

2 tractor trailers staff vehicles, etc   well there goes $20,000.

 

The problem being, as I can see it and read from everything, is that a few people (very few) would like to increase the Corps size, which would just damage the activity beyond repair, besides what can be put on the field and made to look good so the judges and people in the stands can understand (somewhat) what is going on.  What that will do is kill the activity.  We've seen Drum Corps go from hundreds of groups to less than 100 to closer to 45-50 groups and only 15 or so that can field full Corps.  As the activity, which I still believe in for what it does for kids for reasons that have been well explained in several of the postings, shrinks the costs go up for the individual marchers and the corps who are not financially stable enough will crumble and die out.  We are missing many, many historical groups, foundation groups who were part of drum corps for many years but who found it either to not want to increase burdens on kids, lost corporate funding, lost backing from traditional sources (Boy Scouts, CYO, VFW, etc) or were in unhealthy debt, that just folded and have disappeared from our memories.  We may just kill the activity completely and destroy what is left of a great learning experience for many kids and peel it down to 10 groups (or less) or so that just tour the country and play in 10-15 shows for the year or have regional areas with maybe 2-3 groups in each regional that play 5 shows or so in their regions, then all meet for a championship.  Or we could just kill it off completely and have drum corps be a footnote somewhere in music history.

[jwillis35]

For me, 150 is almost at the too large point. Any more than that just begins to clutter the field. A 200 piece band for football is fine. Different atmosphere. For competitive groups you need the group size to not clutter the field, to allow for breathing room with forms, to better showcase marching techniques, and to allow the demand in drill design to not be impeded by clutter.

Certainly there is a money issue with larger groups. Yes, corps could take more kids. They also have larger bills. More mouths to feed, need for more space with housing, more buses, more uniforms, more instruments and equipment. I am still not quite the fan of 150. I'd prefer to see 138 to 142 max. 

[TexasPRfan]

7 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

For me, 150 is almost at the too large point. Any more than that just begins to clutter the field. A 200 piece band for football is fine. Different atmosphere. For competitive groups you need the group size to not clutter the field, to allow for breathing room with forms, to better showcase marching techniques, and to allow the demand in drill design to not be impeded by clutter.

Certainly there is a money issue with larger groups. Yes, corps could take more kids. They also have larger bills. More mouths to feed, need for more space with housing, more buses, more uniforms, more instruments and equipment. I am still not quite the fan of 150. I'd prefer to see 138 to 142 max. 

This!  I couldn't have said it better myself, Jonathan.

Harvey

[fireshane1]

Not cluttered on the field at all!!! (Please note the sarcasm). Supposedly the biggest marching band in the US. 800 members

 

Bonus- HS band doing a little 2011 Cadets.

 

[JKT90]

33 minutes ago, fireshane1 said:

Not cluttered on the field at all!!! (Please note the sarcasm). Supposedly the biggest marching band in the US. 800 members

 

Bonus- HS band doing a little 2011 Cadets.

 

Gesh...thats like 14 buses...

[ftwdrummer]

22 minutes ago, JKT90 said:

Gesh...thats like 14 buses...

They were impressive to watch come on the field when I was in high school (we shared an Area with them). Watch them come in...here's the battery, there's a full band's worth of people, that's everyone...

...oh wait, no it's not, because now the brass are coming in, too.

My dad (who grew up in north Texas) likes to wistfully recall the days when there weren't 800 people in Allen, much less 800 people in the high school band.

[cixelsyd]

2 hours ago, fireshane1 said:

Not cluttered on the field at all!!! (Please note the sarcasm). Supposedly the biggest marching band in the US. 800 members

 

Bonus- HS band doing a little 2011 Cadets.

 

And it becomes clear why DCI corps will never be that size.  No room for props!