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What Would You Do......


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.....different?

 

    Would you choose another corps to march with? Play another instrument? Change an instructor?

 

If you could go back in time to change something about your corps experience, what would it be?

 

 

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Being absolutely honest, and hindsight being 20/20, of course... I would not have marched my final season (1982). 

It was great winning a DCA title that summer with the Sunrisers, and to end my marching years with a win... but looking back, I think I was needed more at home on weekends that year, due a family health situation.  It's one reason I didn't march competitively again after '82.

It took me a while, but I came to realize that family is hugely more important than drum corps will ever be. 

 

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Fran,

 

Great response! I used drum corps as an excuse to stay away from my family. from the time I was 10 I would go to practice religiously during winters and definitely in summer when I was always 30 minutes early. Won't go into my boring story but even later on when I taught Patriots, Renegades and even Rochester Crusaders, I used it as a way to stay away.

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On 12/18/2017 at 7:39 AM, KeithHall said:

Fran,

 

Great response! I used drum corps as an excuse to stay away from my family. from the time I was 10 I would go to practice religiously during winters and definitely in summer when I was always 30 minutes early. Won't go into my boring story but even later on when I taught Patriots, Renegades and even Rochester Crusaders, I used it as a way to stay away.

So Keith, to answer your own question, would you change the fact that you used Drum corps as an escape ?

As for me, I don't tend to review past minor decisions and, everything I did that related to drum corps, I definitely would not change - it was all good!

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Yes it was an escape but to something that I was in love with! Drum corps taught me more than I could learn at home or at school too.

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4 hours ago, Bob P. said:

So Keith, to answer your own question, would you change the fact that you used Drum corps as an escape ?

As for me, I don't tend to review past minor decisions and, everything I did that related to drum corps, I definitely would not change - it was all good!

"All Good":

1958-1966, best years of my life.

No Regrets.

Elphaba     :flower:

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No changes for me. It was "All Good" too :smile: 1968-1976 marched competitive drum corps as guard and DM; non-competing corps 1977-1979 that traveled lots; marched winter guard most years 1968-1977; taught guard 1972-1988; judged a few DC and WG gigs; board director for a winter guard association most years 1979-1988; played cymbals for a few parades in Florida 1979 and learned how to play baritone; watched arrangers write, drummers jam with a baritone that played trombone and more. The experiences, travel and friendships were all good!

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What would I change? 1983- Three particular people who marched with us didn't. Especially one that connived to get to march next to me after I quietly went to the visual staff to avoid the serious issues with that individual and.... said individual made me miserable after I came back from a serious bout of viral pneumonia. Looking back, I should have told them, get me away from them or I'm out the door, I'll turn in my stuff right now. The problem is, when you have a championship contender, people are willing to put up with a lot of inordinate and unnecessary BS to march there. This was the case with 1983 Westshore.

 

Ironically, it was the best freakin' horn line I ever played with, and it was also the most frustrating and miserable season I marched because of those 3 individuals.

 

I liked 1984 a lot better, even though we didn't make finals, dropped from a solid 4th place, and did it to keep Westshore alive, which led to better things later. Everyone got along a lot better. And no coincidence those three individuals ('ringchasers' in modern parlance who only marched with Westshore in 1983) were gone. :satisfied:

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It was with some misgivings that I went back to SCV for my age out year in ‘85. I should have listened to my instincts and marched elsewhere, or not at all. It wasn’t the Finals night result, it was the run up *during* rehearsal earlier that day that “colored the landscape” (so to speak) and by 4 PM Finals Day I just wanted it all to be over. I pretty much performed that night on auto-pilot, and it’s obvious in my facial expression on the field camera closeup. The 0.8 swing in brass score (we were up 0.4 over BD & GC in Semis but 0.4 below them in Finals) and the subsequent High CG caption award announcement gaffe just capped it.

Edited by TRacer
Grammar
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I would tried to get my dad to let me move to the competitive corps in town from the parade corps his VFW Post sponsored a year earlier.

 

I would have found a way to stay in Garfield after 1972 until I aged out. Summer job needs made me leave.

 

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