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Allegiance to the Corps or to the Staff?


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On the eve of potentially significant staff changes I raise this issue. 

My impression is that the allegiance to corps has changed dramatically, yet subtly to staff over the decades  

In the 60's and 70's MM's stuck with their hometown corps. 

By the 80's a handful of MM's began to emigrate towards higher ranking corps--chasing the ring. 

The 80's into the 90's and 00's we saw the demise of many corps which opened up the doors for a mass exodus of MM's away from their hometowns to other corps still in existence. 

With the advent of social media, the greater ability to travel; the hotbeds of talent where a hometown drum corps does not or no longer exists, and the limited amount of talent in today's drum corps' hometowns does today MM feel more of an obligation to follow a staff member to another corps then to build the drum corps they started with to become a powerhouse?

My impression is that all corps no longer have a hometown base like it was years gone by.  How many MM's from BD are from Concord?  How many MM's from Bluecoats are from Canton?  How many MM's from Boston are from Boston?  Troopers from Casper?  Colts from Dubuque?

With that being said, how much talent was drawn away from the Cadets and Crown when parts of their staff moved to Boston this past season?  

What if Academy, for sake of argument, happens to take a significant portion of SCV and BK's staff this year, would we see MM's from those corps' make their way to Arizona?

Has the mindset of today's MM changed for the better?  Is allegiance to one person better than an allegiance to the whole?

Hope is a good thing.

 

 

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51 minutes ago, Andy Dufresne said:

On the eve of potentially significant staff changes I raise this issue. 

My impression is that the allegiance to corps has changed dramatically, yet subtly to staff over the decades  

In the 60's and 70's MM's stuck with their hometown corps. 

 

 

 Many of Neighborhood/ Church based Corps in the early 60's, in order to attempt to become more competitively successful ,decided to take in MM's that were non parishioners, non neighhorhhood resident MM's. Naturally, the Church parishioners did not look too kindly on supporting non parishioners, non neighborhood marchers in their Church based Drum & Bugle Corps, so they disallowed it, and with that these Church based Corps, especially the more competitive ones, left their Church Sponsorships, branched out, and took in MM's from everywhere. Once these local based oriented Corps could not compete with the open enrollment, open transfer policies of those  more expansive Corps, hundreds of the " local Corps "" disbanded. The " local based " Corps ( by the 70's ) increasingly then became a distant memory. This change predates the formation of DCI in 1972. Since the 70's, Corps have increasingly all received their marchers from everywhere they could advertise for them. Corps staffers/ marchers come and go all the time between the few remaining Corps  now, and have for decades. As such, there really is nothing new under the sun here ( the last several decades ) of marchers, staffers transferring to other Corps. 

Edited by BRASSO
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1 hour ago, Andy Dufresne said:

On the eve of potentially significant staff changes I raise this issue. 

My impression is that the allegiance to corps has changed dramatically, yet subtly to staff over the decades  

In the 60's and 70's MM's stuck with their hometown corps. 

By the 80's a handful of MM's began to emigrate towards higher ranking corps--chasing the ring. 

The 80's into the 90's and 00's we saw the demise of many corps which opened up the doors for a mass exodus of MM's away from their hometowns to other corps still in existence. 

With the advent of social media, the greater ability to travel; the hotbeds of talent where a hometown drum corps does not or no longer exists, and the limited amount of talent in today's drum corps' hometowns does today MM feel more of an obligation to follow a staff member to another corps then to build the drum corps they started with to become a powerhouse?

My impression is that all corps no longer have a hometown base like it was years gone by.  How many MM's from BD are from Concord?  How many MM's from Bluecoats are from Canton?  How many MM's from Boston are from Boston?  Troopers from Casper?  Colts from Dubuque?

With that being said, how much talent was drawn away from the Cadets and Crown when parts of their staff moved to Boston this past season?  

What if Academy, for sake of argument, happens to take a significant portion of SCV and BK's staff this year, would we see MM's from those corps' make their way to Arizona?

Has the mindset of today's MM changed for the better?  Is allegiance to one person better than an allegiance to the whole?

Hope is a good thing.

 

 

Actually not that many from Cadets or Crown floated to Florida/Boston. At least at Cadets, more veterans sat out the season than moved to Crusaders or other corps.

To your excellent analysis I would add two germane sociological twists:  

a) the lack of allegiance to corps while following either staffs or rings parallels the break-up of the American family unit, the rise and frequency of divorce in American marriages, and the dissimulation of neighborhoods. If allegiance isn't learned there first, it doesn't follow through life. Look how many folks change jobs today due to personal and corporate cultures changing; almost no one retires from the same company one started with. Americans even today speak of fleeing to Canada or elsewhere rather than working out problems. Many in the mental health professions use the term "Fight or Flight" reactions. Our culture has become Flee-bag.

b) GH moved the Cadets from Garfield, New Jersey to Bergen County, NJ to Allentown, PA. He sold off the Crossmen of  near Pennsylvania/Delaware to far, far away Texas. Boston moved its winter operations to outside Tampa, Florida; Blue Stars and Madison Scouts did the same moving to Indiana for camps; Troopers hold winter camps in Texas. Each of these corps can claim "many good reasons" but the sum total is that (with the exception notably of Casper and with new efforts in Boston, Madison, and LaCrosse) affinity to the old neighborhood is now considered a hurdle to be overcome according to some corps' administrations. The Flee-bag culture is in the drum corps world as well.

Edited by xandandl
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35 minutes ago, xandandl said:

. Look how many folks change jobs today due to personal and corporate cultures changing; almost no one retires from the same company one started with. Americans even today speak of fleeing to Canada or elsewhere rather than working out problems. .

 

 Look how many " local based " US Companies closed up their local business operations and began " fleeing " out of the US too. Not much " local loyalty " there either. 

 Some of it is " generational " too regarding what constitutes " loyalty " when " loyalty " runs up against other countervailing values.

 For example, Quick story... true story. I know a guy that lost his job at age 47 when his company moved overseas and closed down. He worked for that company after college for 25 years. One job, one company, 25 years. He went for an interview for a job then with another company and was interviewed there by 2 Human Resource Co. Interviewers, one age 29, the other 54. After the both interviewed the applicant, they compared notes. the 29 year old HR guy asked the 54 year old HR guy what he thought of him. The 54 yr. old HR guy said he was " impressed with his loyalty to his previous employer, as he worked there 25 years . Thats a positive in my assessment ". Then that 54 yr. old HR guy ashed the 29 yr. old HR guy what he thought of the applicant. The 29 yr. old HR guy responded " well, the guy stayed with just one company for 25 years, until they closed on him. He seemed to lack ambition for 25 years to me. Thats a real negative in my assessment on that point "

 So, things change, and with that, even how one defines the term " loyalty " it would appear.

Edited by BRASSO
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21 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 Look how many " local based " US Companies closed up their local business operations and began " fleeing " out of the US too. Not much " local loyalty " there either. 

 Some of it is " generational " too regarding what constitutes " loyalty " when " loyalty " runs up against other countervailing values.

 For example, Quick story... true story. I know a guy that lost his job at age 47 when his company moved overseas and closed down. He worked for that company after college for 25 years. One job, one company, 25 years. He went for an interview for a job then with another company and was interviewed there by 2 Human Resource Co. Interviewers, one age 29, the other 54. After the both interviewed the applicant, they compared notes. the 29 year old HR guy asked the 54 year old HR guy what he thought of him. The 54 yr. old HR guy said he was " impressed with his loyalty to his previous employer, as he worked there 25 years . Thats a positive in my assessment ". Then that 54 yr. old HR guy ashed the 29 yr. old HR guy what he thought of the applicant. The 29 yr. old HR guy responded " well, the guy stayed with just one company for 25 years, until they closed on him. He seemed to lack ambition for 25 years to me. Thats a real negative in my assessment on that point "

 So, things change, and with that, even how one defines the term " loyalty " it would appear.

This is a good assessment. Viewpoints in regards to loyalty are very generational

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The activity is not as regionally limited as it once was.  I remember it used to be that you had to be able to make it to camps, or send in a PHENOMENAL video audition.  Anymore, most groups have "satellite" camps all over the country.  That means corps are able to get more talent from all over the country, where it used to be that talent was much more regional for each group.  Of course organizations such as BD, the Cadets, etc., have been a draw for many of the most talented kids regardless of geography.  

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3 minutes ago, ibexpercussion said:

The activity is not as regionally limited as it once was.  I remember it used to be that you had to be able to make it to camps, or send in a PHENOMENAL video audition.  Anymore, most groups have "satellite" camps all over the country.  That means corps are able to get more talent from all over the country, where it used to be that talent was much more regional for each group.  Of course organizations such as BD, the Cadets, etc., have been a draw for many of the most talented kids regardless of geography.  

the advance of recording technology of videos, skype, etc. has made the distance audition process less difficult and more genuine as well. Your point is well made and spot on. Corps now use technology to communicate charts, scores, sets, and material once handled in weekly neighborhood rehearsals. On-line drum corps learning.

However, the demise of People's Express Airlines and their $19 fares has not made distance participation easier. Southwest, JetBlue, and Spirit (Airlines) do have great fares at times, but far more expensive than travel in the early years of DCI. Some may be gifted to maximize loyalty points (no pun intended) of frequent flier programs, but those are fewer and fewer opportunities as the airlines and car rental companies tighten award requirements and possibilities. (Paying all college tuition costs, corps fees, camp fees, tour fees on the same loyalty reward credit card only helps if you pay off the monthly balance in full.)

Edited by xandandl
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In the drumming world of DCI it has been this way 'for decades': the Dennis Delucia drumners followed him wherever he went, the Tom Float Drummers followed him, the Paul Rennick drummers followed him, etc.... That is nothing new within DCI drumming.

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8 minutes ago, Stu said:

In the drumming world of DCI it has been this way 'for decades': the Dennis Delucia drumners followed him wherever he went, the Tom Float Drummers followed him, the Paul Rennick drummers followed him, etc.... That is nothing new within DCI drumming.

Yep....and not always to a higher corps (using the Float Spirit/BD transition in 81 as an example).

In "Tale of a Drum Line," Lee Rudnicki tells of an SCV snare (center stick in 92, I think), who followed Ralph Hardimon to Blue Knights.

This happens in pro sports sometimes as well...it's not always about the money.

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