Dinosaurs (LOL) who go to shows today

[JimF-LowBari]

OK, I discovered DC in 1974 and fell in love with the sound that horns and drums (and only horns and drums) can make. Also impressed by the beautiful and complex music that could be made with those modified signaling devices that were missing a valve. Come 1992/93 I took a break for 10 years for reasons outside of this thread. Came back in 2002 and went to a few exhibition shows that some WC corps put on a few years ago. To me any sound other than acoustic drums and horns gets in the way of the sounds I do like so I just don't find DCI entertaining enough to spend the time and money to go. *shrug* No BFD as that's me and no problem for anyone who disagrees. That and $5 MIGHT get you a cup of something at Starbucks.

So for the dino/old timers/pick a term, what do you enjoy about todays corps? And how has what you enjoy changed? And (just for the Hades of it) do you still enjoy what went on in your day as much as you did then?

Got the idea from another thread so why not.....

Edited March 9, 2010 by JimF-3rdBari

[Perry S]

OK, I discovered DC in 1974 and fell in love with the sound that horns and drums (and only horns and drums) can make. Also impressed by the beautiful and complex music that could be made with those modified signaling devices that were missing a valve. Come 1992/93 I took a break for 10 years for reasons outside of this thread. Came back in 2002 and went to a few exhibition shows that some WC corps put on a few years ago. To me any sound other than acoustic drums and horns gets in the way of the sounds I do like so I just don't find DCI entertaining enough to spend the time and money to go. *shrug* No BFD as that's me and no problem for anyone who disagrees. That and $5 MIGHT get you a cup of something at Starbucks.

So for the dino/old timers/pick a term, what do you enjoy about todays corps? And how has what you enjoy changed? And (just for the Hades of it) do you still enjoy what went on in your day as much as you did then?

Got the idea from another thread so why not.....

I'll never forget that night in 1976 at Georgia Tech (then Grant Field) and my first DC experience. WOW just WOW! And then Spirit of Atlanta 1979 and 1980. I have not heard anything like that since! Not even remotely close. I guess the Hyper Complexity now keeps me coming back. Have I tapered off ? Yes. I Was really put off by the obvious and un needed synth bass added to some shows this past season. Just plain COP-OUT if you ask me. I haven't even bought tickets for a single show yet this year. I have always bought tickets to a show that I wanted to go to on the day they became available in the past. This year I am literally like "meh". I guess I'll make my way to Murfreesboro. We'll see. But I enjoyed the late seventies early eighties shows much more than I do now. I use to get far more goose bumps and tears than I do now. Are there moments now ? Of course. Phantom Winning!! SCV's show last year! gives me some hope. But, It's just not the same. :o(

[Rimba47]

But I enjoyed the late seventies early eighties shows much more than I do now. I use to get far more goose bumps and tears than I do now. Are there moments now ? Of course. Phantom Winning!! SCV's show last year! gives me some hope. But, It's just not the same. :o(

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

[perc2100]

AWESOME! Another thread where people can tacitly ##### about modern drum corps and repeatedly tell us how awesome things were in the 70's/early 80's

But, in the interest of bringing balance to the Force, I'll give you my story.

I aged-out in 1998 (aged-out of WGI PIW in 99), and even while I was marching I wasn't super interested in most of the corps' shows on the field. I went to one show in 1999, and one in 2000 to see friends still marching (or teaching), and largely stopped paying attention or caring about drum corps from 1999 on.

Then I started teaching high school again fall of 2004, and decided to check back in with the activity to see what the current trends were from a design stand point. Like many around DCP who love to express their disinterest with the state of modern design, I wasn't super happy with brass arrangements, thought show designs were fairly boring, didn't like the sounds of non-G brass, and generally had similar issues as some today. The following year I transferred to a different high school in our district, where the Associate Band Director was on staff with a top 6 corps. I decided that I at least owed it to myself to pay more attention to what's going on in the world of the marching arts.

I decided that instead of focusing on things I didn't like, I would push them mentally aside and focus on things I did like: the awesome visual programs, that are LIGHT YEARS better than anything in the late 90's or earlier. The insanely proficient membership, who could player better, faster, cleaner, more notes, with better intonation and sound control than the vast majority of ensembles in the late 90's or earlier. The drum lines were playing a TON of notes while marching their butts off. The guard was such a larger component of show design, more integrated than ever. There was FAR more subtlety show design wise than the shows of decades past: gone are the days of stringing four or five charts together with little thematic 'thread' holding the show together other than "the arranger thought they were real coo"l: every moment of visual and musical design was there for an explicit reason.

Do I love every design choice from my favorite corps? No; but I NEVER have. Do I like every show design/performance from every corps in any given season? No, but I NEVER have. There are as many things I like/dislike now that I did when I first 'discovered' drum corps in 1991. I love just as many shows from 1976 as I do from 2006. There are just as many boring qualities about drum corps shows from the early 80's and earlier as there are now, IMO.

It's all about perspective and choice: YOU can chose what you like/dislike. Don't like the overly-loud amplification? Don't focus on them, and instead focus on brass and percussion only (and I'm sorry, if you have focus problem that can't let you mentally 'tune out' something as small as that, then you must have TOTALLY lost your discipline and mental toughness from drum corps: something I was taught that I still carry with me. I remember performing with tornados literally touching down less than a mile from the show sight, and I didn't really notice it until after we were coming off the field and I was letting my mind think about things other than the task at hand following a performance).

There are still plenty of things to like about modern drum corps, but it's up to you personally as to whether or not you truly want to rediscover them, while ignoring the things you don't.

[NashvillePat]

AWESOME! Another thread where people can tacitly ##### about modern drum corps and repeatedly tell us how awesome things were in the 70's/early 80's

But, in the interest of bringing balance to the Force, I'll give you my story.

I aged-out in 1998 (aged-out of WGI PIW in 99), and even while I was marching I wasn't super interested in most of the corps' shows on the field. I went to one show in 1999, and one in 2000 to see friends still marching (or teaching), and largely stopped paying attention or caring about drum corps from 1999 on.

Then I started teaching high school again fall of 2004, and decided to check back in with the activity to see what the current trends were from a design stand point. Like many around DCP who love to express their disinterest with the state of modern design, I wasn't super happy with brass arrangements, thought show designs were fairly boring, didn't like the sounds of non-G brass, and generally had similar issues as some today. The following year I transferred to a different high school in our district, where the Associate Band Director was on staff with a top 6 corps. I decided that I at least owed it to myself to pay more attention to what's going on in the world of the marching arts.

I decided that instead of focusing on things I didn't like, I would push them mentally aside and focus on things I did like: the awesome visual programs, that are LIGHT YEARS better than anything in the late 90's or earlier. The insanely proficient membership, who could player better, faster, cleaner, more notes, with better intonation and sound control than the vast majority of ensembles in the late 90's or earlier. The drum lines were playing a TON of notes while marching their butts off. The guard was such a larger component of show design, more integrated than ever. There was FAR more subtlety show design wise than the shows of decades past: gone are the days of stringing four or five charts together with little thematic 'thread' holding the show together other than "the arranger thought they were real coo"l: every moment of visual and musical design was there for an explicit reason.

Do I love every design choice from my favorite corps? No; but I NEVER have. Do I like every show design/performance from every corps in any given season? No, but I NEVER have. There are as many things I like/dislike now that I did when I first 'discovered' drum corps in 1991. I love just as many shows from 1976 as I do from 2006. There are just as many boring qualities about drum corps shows from the early 80's and earlier as there are now, IMO.

It's all about perspective and choice: YOU can chose what you like/dislike. Don't like the overly-loud amplification? Don't focus on them, and instead focus on brass and percussion only (and I'm sorry, if you have focus problem that can't let you mentally 'tune out' something as small as that, then you must have TOTALLY lost your discipline and mental toughness from drum corps: something I was taught that I still carry with me. I remember performing with tornados literally touching down less than a mile from the show sight, and I didn't really notice it until after we were coming off the field and I was letting my mind think about things other than the task at hand following a performance).

There are still plenty of things to like about modern drum corps, but it's up to you personally as to whether or not you truly want to rediscover them, while ignoring the things you don't.

Very Well Stated!

[luvs me sum mello!]

[Blackstar]

Right now I'm listening to Suncoast Sound 1984...You want a theme show listen and look at this. Its the way it should be done.

The only time I get to see todays shows is at the simulcast. I go in with an open mind every year. By the time I leave I can't remember any of the music. I didn't have alot of exposure to differeent types of music. But I went out and bought records of Capirico (sic) Espangol. Appalachian Spring, Black Market Juggler and many others when I heard them. I haven't done that since 1999.

[Lance]

Irony #1: Older marchers who constantly demand respect for their generation on here oftentimes show very little respect for the current generation.

Irony #2: If today's marchers spent as much time and effort dissing everything about drum corps of the past, the older marchers would have a collective fit of apoplexy.

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I guess I'm just one of the fortunate few who loves it all.

[Jeff Ream]

i like a lot of the old and a decent chunk of the new

[HockeyDad]

Irony #1: Older marchers who constantly demand respect for their generation on here oftentimes show very little respect for the current generation.

Irony #2: If today's marchers spent as much time and effort dissing everything about drum corps of the past, the older marchers would have a collective fit of apoplexy.

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I guess I'm just one of the fortunate few who loves it all.

I must have missed the poster on this thread who is "demanding respect." Can you please help? I did read some who are remembering fondly what got them hooked, and maybe that they don't prefer the electronically produced sounds. But, I must have skipped over the part where they demand your respect.