Paying for Drum Corps

[Dylan Ford]

After talking with my mom for a long time the other night about Drum Corps, my future as a music educator, and the fact that I only have two summers after this summer to march with a drum corps, she fully supports me and really wants me to march with a drum corps! Of course this makes me happy, seeing as marching has been something that I have always wanted to do but have never really had the opportunity to do so. Now that I only have two summers left to march it's essentially now or never and I am 99% certain that I will be auditioning for a drum corps this upcoming year.

The unfortunate part of this is that my mom won't be able to help me pay for drum corps, which I completely understand, and I'm not mad about. However, it's going to be extremely difficult for me to pay for things by myself. At this point I have been saving all the money I get from working with local marching bands and giving private trombone lessons, yet I fear that even if I save as much as I can from these things that this still won't be enough- it's hard enough paying for my college tuition even WITH student loans, let alone everything that goes with marching with a drum corps. I know some people have taken a few years off of college in order to march drum corps, but for me this is out of the question, and I don't really want to sacrifice my education for drum corps, no matter how much I want to march.

So I've heard from a number of people that have marched/are marching now that they have gotten sponsorships from people to march. How exactly does this work? Do corps generally have a limit on the amount you are able to be sponsored, or is it TECHNICALLY possible to pay for everything using a sponsorship? I know a large number of people in Colorado through my work in high school as a drum major, as well as my teaching exposure so far, in addition to the people I have met through the music school at my university. I know I could probably get a lot of people to sponsor me, I just don't really know how this works at all.

At this point, in addition to what I have been personally saving, sponsorships seem like something that could really help me out. I really want to march drum corps and I want to make sure I am doing everything I possibly can in order to make this dream a reality. PHEW. Thank you so much for reading.

Also, does anyone have any advice as to how I should go about talking to my college trombone professor about me marching corps? My professor is extremely against marching band/drum corps and I don't want to do this if I know that he will be upset with me for the rest of my time as his student, but at the same time... I don't want his opinion to get in the way of what *I* want to do. Ugh.

[soccerguy315]

Some corps have sponsor programs where people donate to the corps, and then the corps gives out the money.

Mostly, sponsors work by you talking to person A, and then person A gives you $50. Then you talk to person B, and they give you $25. Maybe 10 of your friends from school like drum corps and they are willing to give you $10 each.

You can definitely pay for everything.

Every time you don't go see a movie, that's $10 to your corps fees. Cut back in things like that to help you save your earnings.

DCP has a sponsor board, so that is one place to post your request when the time comes.

Edited July 1, 2009 by soccerguy315

[Dylan Ford]

Some corps have sponsor programs where people donate to the corps, and then the corps gives out the money.

Mostly, sponsors work by you talking to person A, and then person A gives you $50. Then you talk to person B, and they give you $25. Maybe 10 of your friends from school like drum corps and they are willing to give you $10 each.

You can definitely pay for everything.

Every time you don't go see a movie, that's $10 to your corps fees. Cut back in things like that to help you save your earnings.

DCP has a sponsor board, so that is one place to post your request when the time comes.

Thank you so much for your quick reply!

You've already been really helpful, I wasn't sure or not if there was a limit as to how much you could use from sponsors to pay for drum corps.

And I absolutely agree- I've already started to cut back on things that aren't necessary in order to pay for Drum Corps.

[Peel Paint]

On the sponsorship board on DCP, I think it's important to talk about what you can bring to drum corps, what you want to get out of drum corps, but particularly important and the point I want to make here: talk about what you're doing personally to contribute financially towards your corps dues. And if you absolutely can't, then talk about why.

I think some sponsors want to see that you're working part-time at least during the school year and applying as much of that money as you can towards your dues. Obviously it's hard for some college students to contribute to corps when they also need financial assistance from the college and have to work part-time at college just for that reason, and people can't work while touring. But sometimes I get the sense reading some of the requests for sponsorship on DCP that kids are just trying to reduce the financial burden to their family, without personally paying some of the dues themselves. Or, in some cases (not yours), they're asking for sponsors so they don't have to work to pay part of their way. (Potential sponsors have no way to assess the degree of the family's need, which could conceivably range from needing all of the dues to we don't really have to have help to swing this, but it would be nice. Most sponsors would probably prefer to avoid sponsoring the latter situation.)

If being in a corps is really important to you, you are willing to do what it takes to make it happen financially, and that includes working a part-time job even if you're in school, and saving money from your job that you are putting towards corps dues. When a potential sponsor calls your corps to see where you stand with them, they may not want the corps responding that you still owe 100% of your dues, or that all that's been paid has been what people have donated. A sponsor might want to hear that you've already paid in some part of it yourself, and might want to hear that the corps recognizes that you still really do need help financially.

Not every sponsor may feel this way. Some may be drawn more to requests where there is no money in the member's or family's finances to go towards corps at all. Who knows?

Also, note that the sponsorship board is kind of a catch-22 in that you should be a marching member of a specific corps before asking for help there in the winter or spring, and yet it's hard to make that commitment to the corps until your finances are lined up. You kind of have to go on faith that the money will fall into place, and I don't know that it always does.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Peel Paint

[Peel Paint]

Also, does anyone have any advice as to how I should go about talking to my college trombone professor about me marching corps? My professor is extremely against marching band/drum corps and I don't want to do this if I know that he will be upset with me for the rest of my time as his student, but at the same time... I don't want his opinion to get in the way of what *I* want to do. Ugh.

This old saw <sigh>. Used to be common among "serious" musicians, though not so much anymore, but there are vestiges of it left. Profs worry that you'll blow out your chops, learn unmusical habits. Of course they know only the Beat-n-blast school of marching arts and in most cases have no familiarity with modern DCI.

I would say to him, "Look, I know you're opposed to this. But I need to make my own decision. Here's what I want you to do. Give it a chance. See how I come back next August. And in the meantime, consider that there are many musicians out there who found drum corps to be very helpful to their musical development. How about, for starters, Chris Martin. He's now sitting in Bud Herseth's former seat, now principal trumpet player, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Marched drum corps for many years." There are others, of course. Or let him borrow a DCI CD, if you have one, with Phantom, Cavies, SCV, Cadets, Crown among more musical hornlines, and ask him to listen to one track.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Peel Paint

[Dylan Ford]

Thank you very much for your input and insight.

I agree with you in saying that I'm sure a lot less people are willing to support a prospective member when they realize that the member isn't doing anything to try to help with the funds themselves.

I'm doing my absolute best to make as much money as possible for me to support myself, but my fear is that it will not be enough in order to march, and I suppose that is where I was curious about what sponsors can do.

I'm a music education major in college, and I'm sure many people know that it is not an easy major by ANY means. While the majority of other majors have 4-5 classes a week, I generally have 5-6 classes a DAY, and that's not including ensembles and practice time. This has led me to being unable to have a part time job during college, since I would have to cut into my practice time in order to have a job, and that is just impossible as a music major. Too many of my peers have not been nearly as successful as they could be because of the fact that they don't practice as much as they need to because of their part time job.

However, this doesn't mean that I'm not working toward gaining funds for this. I teach private trombone lessons on the side, and I guess you could consider that my "job", in conjunction with being a student. In addition to the lessons, I work with a number of local marching bands and earn more money from that. I put all of the money I make from doing this stuff toward drum corps, yet like I said I just fear that it won't be enough. So though I don't "technically" have a job, I'm still working hard to make funds so that I can contribute a lot to this experience myself.

And as for my professor... let me just say that he is a very traditional teacher that is very "set in his ways" in terms of how he does things, and this of course stems into how he teaches his students. The way I see it though, if a mindful musician is marching in a drum corps (and I like to consider myself a mindful musician) that teaches proper technique and whatnot, then marching shouldn't be an issue in terms of tone and technique on the horn. However, I don't think that is his only reservation- even though I will be playing everyday in drum corps, I think he's also concerned with the fact that I won't be playing trombone literature throughout the summer. Sigh....

I guess I just need to grow a pair, tell him that I don't think it will hinder me as a musician because it's not like in fifteen years, when I'm a music teacher having 1 or 2 summers off from strictly trombone music will even influence me then, and just tell him that I want to do this. Eek.

[chaos001]

I guess I just need to grow a pair, tell him that I don't think it will hinder me as a musician because it's not like in fifteen years, when I'm a music teacher having 1 or 2 summers off from strictly trombone music will even influence me then, and just tell him that I want to do this. Eek.

Miracle-Gro works! ;)

[kansasDC]

My son just turned 17 and he paid all but $450 of his summer fees and expenses this year. He did it by saving virtually every penny from his job as a Customer Convenience Clerk (bagboy) at our local grocery store. Many times, he stayed home when his buddies from school went to a movie or out to the drive-in burger joint so he could pay his tour fee at the next camp. The rest of the money came from sponsors, such as his grandparents, former teachers, local store owners, etc. He pounded the pavement to get his message out and made sure he never turned down a request to play taps at a funeral or play at special services in the our church. When it comes to getting sponsorships, it helps to remember that "one hand washes the other".

Good luck.

[Lonnieg1906]

After talking with my mom for a long time the other night about Drum Corps, my future as a music educator, and the fact that I only have two summers after this summer to march with a drum corps, she fully supports me and really wants me to march with a drum corps! Of course this makes me happy, seeing as marching has been something that I have always wanted to do but have never really had the opportunity to do so. Now that I only have two summers left to march it's essentially now or never and I am 99% certain that I will be auditioning for a drum corps this upcoming year.

The unfortunate part of this is that my mom won't be able to help me pay for drum corps, which I completely understand, and I'm not mad about. However, it's going to be extremely difficult for me to pay for things by myself. At this point I have been saving all the money I get from working with local marching bands and giving private trombone lessons, yet I fear that even if I save as much as I can from these things that this still won't be enough- it's hard enough paying for my college tuition even WITH student loans, let alone everything that goes with marching with a drum corps. I know some people have taken a few years off of college in order to march drum corps, but for me this is out of the question, and I don't really want to sacrifice my education for drum corps, no matter how much I want to march.

So I've heard from a number of people that have marched/are marching now that they have gotten sponsorships from people to march. How exactly does this work? Do corps generally have a limit on the amount you are able to be sponsored, or is it TECHNICALLY possible to pay for everything using a sponsorship? I know a large number of people in Colorado through my work in high school as a drum major, as well as my teaching exposure so far, in addition to the people I have met through the music school at my university. I know I could probably get a lot of people to sponsor me, I just don't really know how this works at all.

At this point, in addition to what I have been personally saving, sponsorships seem like something that could really help me out. I really want to march drum corps and I want to make sure I am doing everything I possibly can in order to make this dream a reality. PHEW. Thank you so much for reading.

Also, does anyone have any advice as to how I should go about talking to my college trombone professor about me marching corps? My professor is extremely against marching band/drum corps and I don't want to do this if I know that he will be upset with me for the rest of my time as his student, but at the same time... I don't want his opinion to get in the way of what *I* want to do. Ugh.

I had several businesses sponsoring me when I marched back in 86. Paid my dues and had a little left over for tour. That is the best way to go. Good luck to ya. :)

[jpaul]

I guess I just need to grow a pair, tell him that I don't think it will hinder me as a musician because it's not like in fifteen years, when I'm a music teacher having 1 or 2 summers off from strictly trombone music will even influence me then, and just tell him that I want to do this. Eek.

Remember that his job is to help you become the musician that YOU want to be, not the kind he thinks you should be.

Sound like you're on your way.

Good luck!