Has Audience Culture Changed?

[Terri Schehr]

2 hours ago, Bluzes said:

No need to wonder in Birmingham would need to apply glue on the seat. I will get pummeled for this but that was the turning point for the type of audience dci wanted to attract. For me Birmingham was the last DCA type audience. To expand on that an audience less concerned about scores and placements but had a big hunger to be entertained. DCI knew it could not survive on that type of fan and needed to appeal to more of a musically educated audience, great foresight. Like most things in life they go full circle and tastes change. This year I will think I am back in Birmingham but that may be just me...

If I think like I’m back in Birmingham, I’ll be 21.  I think I’ll do that.  

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, SFZFAN said:

It's simple really. Drum Corps has become far less entertaining than it used to be. 

I’ll disagree. It’s just how shows are designed now. Get the crowd up too soon, stuff is missed. Some shows it works with that old school crowd up early. Cadets new ending will probably get that when they get back up here. Bloo could get it if they unleash the hounds at the end. SCV I’m sure will when the end gets on there

Edited July 22, 2018 by Jeff Ream

[Jeff Ream]

3 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Right. One of the posters brought up 93 - at finals (on the video tapes) Regiment got 4 standing Os (or 3 and a partial...) -- early that season the show was just stared at, audiences did not like it. By 3 weeks prior to finals (now) it started to be better received. It was really the 2 weeks prior to Jackson they started to get Os for the ballad - then it just completely caught fire. It was crazy because the top 2 corps were so close and so good (Star/Cadets). But in hindsight if I watched old finals tapes 93 is one example of how more excited the crowd might seem than a mid season crowd at a six hour regional. JMO

Same in 96 and especially with Spartacus 

[luv4corps]

3 hours ago, dcikon2 said:

Several people in the audience were on their cell phones texting people and not paying attending to the performances.  I wanted to ask them why they even bothered to attend the show.  

I have NBA season tickets and I see the SAME thing (and want to ask them the same thing).  It happens in all venues.  Only NBA tix cost WAY more than drum corps tix.  

[Jeff Ream]

53 minutes ago, Tim K said:

 

In 1994, DCI Finals was held in Foxboro, MA. The last time the Boston area had a show of this magnitude would have been CYO Nationals in 1984, the last year that event was held, and while I do not have numbers to back up this claim, the last really large crowd I remember at this event was 1981. I can remember CYO Nationals and World Open, local circuit shows being on my feet the entire time. DCI in 1994 seemed rather subdued though I know I loved the show and I know I could not be contained for 27th Lancers "Once More in 94." 1984 would have been my age out year had I marched. I was still in college and while the college I attended, located across the street from Boston College where CYO Nationals was held, was probably a bit more restricted than most, I was still a young college kid. ten years later, I had six years teaching experience under my belt and I was on the threshold of making the most significant decision in my life.

Fast forward to 2014. Commitments kept me from going to Allentown and Indy, but I was able to go to Atlanta and NightBEAT the following evening. Busloads of high school kids were at being dropped off at both events. College age kids everywhere. A group of kids sat next to me in Atlanta. Every time they got up, they said "Excuse me SIR," as they left. They could barely contain their excitement as the show progressed. It was livelier than Allentown which usually has an enthusiastic crowd. At NightBEAT, a middle school band director and some of his students sat near to me. The director and I compared the 2014 version of "Scheherazade" to the 2004 version. None of the kids joined that conversation. They hadn't even entered Kindergarten yet.

So watch the kids in the audience. If they're excited, chances are the excitement level hasn't changed, we've just gotten older. Audience size is a factor too. The first time I went to Indy was 2012, the last time was last year. Last year had improved attendance and the enthusiasm was higher too. 

Allentown loves you or hates you. I watched SCV rehearse a few days prior the year of that devils staircase mess. The person running rehearsal told the corps “ Allentown will love you or hate you. If you go through the motions, expect a fart in church. If you lay it all out, even if the show isn’t their cup of tea you’ll hear them”.

hes right. They’ve even given it up for BD in recent years 

[wallace]

Unless you were there to hear the music and see the performances, it would be hard to understand why the reactions are so different. The videos just do not do the older shows justice. The emotional builds were more effective. I’ll concede that today’s performances are technically superior, but the raw emotion from those vintage shows is hard to match. In some ways, today’s designers have lost sight of connecting to the audience rather than preaching to them.

[Precious Roy]

1 hour ago, ThirdValvesAreForWimps said:

Back in the 1980s if your first hit didn’t get the audience on their feet you failed as a performer.  Of course 30 years ago it didn’t take three minutes for the horns to start playing.

This ^

Madison Scouts '88, everybody knows and remembers Malaguena. But look at how they started that show. First note -- WHAM!

Crossmen's '91 Pat Metheny show is another favorite example of mine.

I wish this type of opening would become more prevalent again, to balance out the more typical, formulaic, way most shows begin these days.

[chris ncsu]

4 hours ago, oldbandguy said:

Maybe it's because I'M OLD...but I don't consider 2000-2012 to be "older videos."  Older videos, to me, come on VHS and reel-to-reel tape. :-)

More on topic...the TEXAS crowd on Friday certainly seemed to be more excited by the shows.  I'm wondering if it didn't have a lot to do with the fact there were only 8 corps vs over 25 at San Antonio?  Same thing happens at Indy...the Thursday night crowd doesn't get as excited as the Saturday night crowd.  People do get "tired"...especially OLD people.

I'm tired after about 5 corps. Finals night is good because it moves so quickly, and if I'm getting tired by around the 7th seeded corps, I know the top 6 are about to throw down so I perk up.

I've never been to quarters, but I've been to semis several times, and I WILL miss numerous corps that day, I just can't sit through all that. Same at Atlanta.

[IllianaLancerContra]

Perhaps it is no longer ok to "throw babies"

[tedrick]

3 hours ago, BRASSO said:

Finally, do Corps and show sponsors still put out program books that audiences can read a little bit about what the year's show theme is, and what its supposed to convey ? Oh heavens no. Programs books that are handed out to ticket purchasers so that they can read what the themes for that season is  is a rarity these days now. Ironically, as Corps move toward what they would like to be considered as Art and Theatre Productions, they have surprisingly seemed to have forgotten that most Theatre productions, and Art Museums have program books that explain the storyline of the Production or the thought process behind the Art Piece.

there's an app for that...