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crh5

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Everything posted by crh5

  1. I was at a show last night and one of my kids asked a good question. Who are all the people standing on the track watching the corps perform? I know they are brass techs, percussion techs, etc. But what do these people do during the year? Are they teachers who have the summers off or do they just do a few weeks at a time on tour and keep day jobs? I'm assuming the corps can't afford to pay them too much so they must have other jobs somewhere. They obviously love what they do during the summers!
  2. We just paid for our daughter's summer last year. Really, when you consider how much other summer activities and/or camps cost the cost of a summer of drum corps is really reasonable. Around here, four-five days for a day camp will cost you $300-400 so the $1800 for the entire summer was a bargain! What sort of caught us off gaurd was the cost of all the camps. We dont' live anywhere near a corps, so she had to fly to the camps. Six of those at anywhere from $250-350 a pop for the flights cost us just as much as the summer.
  3. I'd love to hear the answers to that. Personal experience said that the alternates were not treated as full members of the corps. But I think this was already its own thread.
  4. So where does that leave the Cavies? Not chiffon dresses, not military uniforms... And I think you can have it both ways. As long as it is done well, who cares what they are wearing? Actually, what I miss the most is more of the precision involved in the older guard lines, particularly the rifle lines. When I do see rifles today, I see very few of the groups doing routine spins, double times, things that used to be impressive and that show a talent for being "clean" guards. The nature of the rifle work these days looks sort of sloppy, even in a good ensemble. I think there used to be a time when the rifle lines are what added a big "wow" factor to the overall ensemble. Scouts doing Malaguena, Cavliers, Kingsmen, 27 all come to mind.
  5. Wow. That's tough. So the guy who tears an ACL between quarters and finals isn't a real member? Or the guy who replaces the guy who tears the ACL? I know we could come up with "what about the guy who..." scenarios all night which I think points to the fact that there probably isn't one *right answer. It is entirely subjective based on one's personal experiences. I would guess that those who have marched what they consider to be an entire season are a little more black and white about it than those who have not, and I think that's fair.
  6. I agree with the above. There are many college/university music programs and/or applied teachers that don't necessarily look at drum corps as a good thing...or at least who won't let it sway them. You either play well enough to be admitted into the music school or you don't. But as far as entrance into the university itself, an essay about the experience of marching the summer tour and the lessons learned there would likely go a long way for someone who was on the borderline of acceptance. It would also likely help for scholarship scenarios in those schools that offer marching band scholarships. I'm surprised at how many do that!
  7. At the high school band camp last week, some of the boys gave themselves mohawks one evening. The last day of camp, one of the boys (who doesn't follow drum corps) told me he had been confused because several kids in the band kept telling him he looked like he belonged in the Crown guard and he just didn't get it. :P
  8. Thank you so very much. This journal entry is a true inspiration. Good luck and Godspeed to you with your continued recovery.
  9. My kid was an alternate this summer, and did come home for several reasons near the end of July. When asked about drum corps, the response is typically "I went to some camps and was an alternate for a month or so of tour and realized it wasn't quite right for me right now. I'll try again another year." Sounds like a canned response, and it probably is, but it is worth taking some time to explain rather than pretend the year was something that it really wasn't. It was actually a pretty negative experience, and I was just glad that my kid realizes that all the groups aren't like this one and that the activity as a whole is still something worth pursuing someday in the future. Anyway, no claims about "marching in 2007" here unless it has some qualifiers...and that usually takes a while to explain.
  10. I know that Matt Harloff at Crown was referring a few kids to Blue Stars.
  11. I suppose I'll just wait for the dvds. As for next year, I think my daughter will take a year off to prepare for her college auditions, etc. Then she will come back in 2009 with a year of college under her belt and a better idea of where she wants to be. This year, her first in DCI, was a real learning experience and eye opener for her.
  12. So, based on the crowd response, number of age outs, overall thoughts regarding corps management, etc., where do you think there will be performance opportunities for next year? I would bet that Crown, for example, based on the popularity of their show this year will have huge numbers at camp, although I think they always seem to have big numbers. What about Cadets? Will the controversy this year affect their turnout? I would also be willing to bet that Blue Stars will have more kids come out than they have seen the past few years as well. It is hard to believe that it all starts again in just a few months.
  13. Bridgemen...after the last few days, I think some "fun" would be in order! Oh, and I would love to see a guard like 27th again.
  14. That is certainly something to really think about. Sports fans and parents of late, even the little pee wee leagues, haven't had the best press lately. I hope it doesn't get any worse than last night. I'm going to think positively that it was an isolated event.
  15. I'm not sure what qualifies as an "athletic event," but I'm confident in saying that what those kids are doing is athletic! I'm also confident in saying that for the many weeks leading up to finals, they are (hopefully) recieving some pretty intense musical instruction qualifying this as an educational event as well. Like we all differ in which corps we prefer, we will all probably differ on where DCI fits. Marching Music's Major League aside, I prefer to think of these contests as "performances" rather than "games" and would respond to them accordingly. I'm sure others will think of them more as a game and thus find that booing and heckling would be appropriate responses. Not my cup of tea, but after reading a whole lot of posts this morning I'm thinking there are people out there who will likely boo even louder tonight to prove their points.
  16. I guess I'm just trying to figure out which aspect of the activity should be carrying the most weight right now. Is it educational or competitive? Because if it is supposed to be about education of the kids (young adults, adults, etc.) many of whom are in music programs, then I'm not sure that teaching that disrespect for performances is what the college/university music schools have in mind. A university wind symphony plays a Mahler piece and a kid in the audience doesn't like the conductor's interpretation. That audience member may not applaud, or he may bring it up in a classroom setting, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't boo or catcall during or after the performance. However, if this is all purely competition, then I guess the basketball analogy mentioned earlier holds up.
  17. Did any of the other directors ask? If not, then I'm not sure that what happened can qualify as special treatment.
  18. I completely agree. I actually brought my kid home this summer from a group that was having some "class" issues. Her words? "I thought this activity was going to help me grow, but if I followed along with some of these kids all summer, I would have been taking a giant step backwards." Of course this doesn't represent the entire activity...just a tiny fraction of one group and I'm really happy that she wasn't soured to the whole activity and still wants to try again, albeit with a different group. Asfor the booing at the show last night. I'm sure the kids (young adults, whatever you call them) on the field marching with the Cadets knew what they were getting into and realized that much of the verbal displeasure was directed at Hopkins. But I am equally sure that even with that knowledge, it had to hurt. They put just as much sweat equity into their show that anyone else did all summer and deserved to be applauded and justly rewarded by the crowd for their efforts. If I go hear the local symphony orchestra, but really dislike part of their program, I'm not going to boo or even sit on my hands. I will recognize the work that went into the program and appreciate the performers for what they accomplish. I don't like the narration either...not drum corps to me. But I DO appreciate how fast those feet move, and how well those kids play. I just think this activity as a whole should be above that stuff...and so should the fans. You don't like it? Fine....sit on your hands, don't applaud, write diatribes on DCP...but don't "boo" them when they are on the field. It's just not cool, mature, classy...whatever you want to call it.
  19. This is interesting to me because I'm just the opposite. If there is music playing, I absolutely have to force myself to listen to someone who is speaking because I'm drawn to the music instead...the car radio, restaurants, shopping malls, pretty much anywhere. Soundtracks dont' bother me though. But as for the narration in the Cadets show, I admit that I was initially distracted by it. But within the first few minutes, I just sort of got used to it. I would rather they didn't have it, but I understand the purpose for its use in this particular show. I've never been a fan of the Cadets (other than 1983) but I do think this show is amazing and I have a real appreciation for the difficulty level of it. If you take the narration out of it, and lose the controversy surrounding it, I think that show still stands on its own as terrific. This is probably the first time in all the many years I've followed drum corps that I've pulled for them to win it all.
  20. Bridgemen - In the Stone. I loved that!
  21. Hmmm....I think the danger here is that too many "all" words are being used. I think it is probably different depending upon the corps. I started this topic primarily because I have a kid who was an alternate and had a pretty miserable experience...not being made to feel like a true "member" in any sense of the word, rarely playing his horn, pretty much relegated to being a gopher. I wanted to see if I could gauge whether this would be the same experience in other groups as well. I think the answer is that they are all different and the instructors of the group make or break the summers for the kids who choose to stick it out as alternates. It sounds like the corps you worked with valued each member and that's great. Wish my kid had found that group first!
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