How important is the competitive aspect of Drum Corps?

[jmc5682]

26 minutes ago, Bobby L. Collins said:

There certainly are.  Like cheerleading, drum corps is moving towards recorded jock-jams piped into the stadium.  The fruit's of WGI's labors are ripening...

I think this is an exaggeration.  I think the use of electronics and sampling needs to be reigned in a bit, but I have no problem with the way most corps are using them.

[Ediker]

10 minutes ago, jmc5682 said:

Attendance would plummet if there was no scoring.

Agree with your post wholeheartedly.  Even the best exhibitions, by the best corps, are a bit boring, imho.  It's the sport and competition that hook me in every time.  

[Bobby L. Collins]

24 minutes ago, ouooga said:

Meh. You're not wrong, but I don't see the problem outside of the aversion-to-evolution scope.

 

Scenario: Imagine KFC's chicken sales plummet; people just stop eating chicken entirely. However, their Oreo Cake sales increase dramatically; everyone in the country has to eat at least two a day, they're that good. At the end of the year, KFC reports their best year ever in sales, highest net profit in company history, even though they didn't sell a single piece of chicken (their core product offering and even their namesake) and daily they sold out of Oreo Cakes. Would you consider that year a success or a failure for KFC? 

 

My answer, it's a success. It may not be what was envisioned, and there's a lot of people going to be screaming "what about the chicken?!" but if I was KFC, surviving and thriving would be the primary goals, with remaining traditional a secondary.

So you wouldn't change your name to "Kentucky Fried Oreo Cakes" and continue instead to pretend to be something you are not?

[ouooga]

11 minutes ago, jmc5682 said:

Without the competition aspect drum corps would die.

In a perfect world, I want to disagree with you. I'd love to see scores and placements go away, and drum corps be basically like Cirque shows that tour the summer, with students doing it for the experience and the love of performing and the love of the style itself.

 

But I tend to think you're correct on this one. The competitive aspect keeps it interesting to new members, and that's the lifeblood.

[Bobby L. Collins]

2 minutes ago, jmc5682 said:

I think this is an exaggeration.  I think the use of electronics and sampling needs to be reigned in a bit, but I have no problem with the way most corps are using them.

Aye, that's what a lot of folks said about amplification in 2005, when some accurately predicted that it would get wildly out of hand.  And now it is.

I mean, do you honestly think it's going to plateau with singing, vocoders, synthesized tubas, and reciting poetry into speakers dialed up to 11?  If someone doesn't reign these groups in, it's just going to get more out of control, more costly to participate or watch, and more ridiculous.

[ouooga]

1 minute ago, Bobby L. Collins said:

So you wouldn't change your name to "Kentucky Fried Oreo Cakes" and continue instead to pretend to be something you are not?

At that point it comes down to a question of how important the brand name is on sales. In the scenario, people know the name Kentucky Fried Chicken. Change the name, and risk losing any brand loyalty, which could hinder Oreo Cake sales as well. It's a risk though on either side, I don't know if there's a definitive which-one-is-right, but that's a good question you present.

[jmc5682]

1 minute ago, ouooga said:

In a perfect world, I want to disagree with you. I'd love to see scores and placements go away, and drum corps be basically like Cirque shows that tour the summer, with students doing it for the experience and the love of performing and the love of the style itself.

 

But I tend to think you're correct on this one. The competitive aspect keeps it interesting to new members, and that's the lifeblood.

I would hate to see scores go away.  First, because I love the excitement competition brings, but secondly the products on the field would decline.  Competition drives the kids and staff to be the best they can possibly be, which serves them well later on in life.

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

The competitive aspects go beyond the dots and sounds.

Drum corps is an activity where non-profits compete against each other. Getting money and organizing staff/volunteers is as much of a competition as cleaning drill and nailing releases.

Edited August 16, 2017 by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar
grammar

[jmc5682]

14 hours ago, Bobby L. Collins said:

Competition is fine, so long as it is balanced with education.  Today, education has been tossed out the window in favor of what cannot even be described as competition, but rather as an arms race to see who can blow the biggest budgets and do the most ludicrous crap on the field.

The learning experience today is far better than it used to be.  Corps members are learning so many different techniques.  The staffs of these corps are filled with people who are at the top of their field.  The members get way more instruction than when I marched, because the staffs are so much larger.  The music and arrangements being played by today's top corps are far more complex than they used to be just a few years ago.  The shows on the field these days are so difficult, yet performed with such excellence it blows my mind.