thehandsofdevin

I wasn't saying anything disrespectful about people not reading my post in the last post. I was thanking the large group of people that took the time to come up with a take and thought it through. Do I agree with what everyone said? No. But at least a lot of people put some thought into it. (my post is here to get people to respond with some passion and thought even if you don't agree with me and getting people on edge seems to do it. At least we are talking about something other than "What was your favorite corps last summer.") At the same time there have been a lot of people that just put up posts like: This is dumb I don't like this SHUT IT DOWN. Or a lot of people have moved off topic. I would have to say if I just came out and was real nice and PC. I don't think I would have 137 posts in 2 days and 2200 views. But at least I got some people thinking and reading what I have to say and that is the point. You can come up with your own views after that. But please post more than "this is crazy." If you don't like what I say then don't read what I say. As I said before I will only start posts, I will not post on other topics so if you don't like my take you can decide not to read it and if you do decide not to read it don't post on it. Thank you, Devin

The credible proof is that he said he retired from drum corps only to be working with someone else 2 weeks later. Did he retire and all the sudden say "Hey maybe I should un-retire and get back in it in the next 2 weeks."? You can make your own judgment on this. Do you want me to let out the name of the insider that confirmed this? I cannot do that (any good reporter keeps their sources confidential) but I will say it is credible. From what you have seen you can come to your own conclusion on this. Also how do any of you on here know that I haven't worked with any of the people I have spoken of? So lets get back on topic, there are some good things being discussed here. Thank you to all that can discuss things with some thought before you post, Devin

I was reading a interview from Jason Trigg on the WGI web site and wanted to share this: WGI: What should an alumnus of Indianapolis Independent take from his or her experience with the group JT: The best instructor I ever had in The Cavaliers asked me one day "Why are you here? What do you want to take away from this?" I said "To be a better player?" He said "Wrong. You're supposed to say 'I want an education' ". If you're going to be a member of the Cavaliers, you're going to learn how a professional organization runs, how a professional staff acts, and how professional rehearsals run, which is one of the most important elements of any organization. We all know who he is talking about. What gives him the right to tell a member what he does and does not want to get out of drum corps? This helps prove my thoughts. Mabey this great teacher who retires and is teaching the next week because he didn't retire and was let go needs to stay retired. Devin

You need to repeat steps 1-4 except read all the posts and then do the running routine a few times. Your comments make no since concerning what I have said. And no I am not a band director. This will be my last response to you because you have choosen to write before you really read the things that I have said. I do not teach drum corps!! Did I ever say that no one can ever teach a kid anything? No of course not all I have said is that drum corps is not the place to teach kids how to teach. Can't we keep a topic on topic here? Devin

I have had my students march these corps in the past 6 years. Most on snare one on tennors and 3 in pit. Americanos Phantom Regiment Blue Stars Carolina Crown Spirit of JSU Capital Regiment Seattle Cascades Blue Coats Boston Crusaders Spartans Pioneer Troopers Crossmen Glassmen Colts I support the activity and I am still smart enough to know that any experiance in drum corps is better than Marching band at this point. That does not mean that I have to agree with the things that are going on today. Devin

Just to make sure that you are focused now before you post I need you to do one more thing. This is going to sound nuts because they never taught you this in music ed but I want you to do 40 push ups then run around your house 3 times. After you do this some of you may post. A lot of you need to repeat the process because I don’t believe you are focused yet. Since trying to educate all of you didn’t work I had to resort to worn out un-educational tactics. I hope you are all more focused now and thank you for letting me make a point. Devin

#1 Okay I admit that I have failed the DCP community. I tried to give an educational post but people here don’t read what I wrote. Proving that education and lots of direction does not work. I even gave specific instructions: Now lets don’t get stuck on just responding about what I am going to say. Please read and think and stay on topic. Instead most of you just browse and come to your own conclusions with out really reading the post. I keep reading: tell that to so and so girl who marched so and so corps. Tell what? Did I ever say that a girl couldn’t be on a drum line? No, I said this: My point here is that because drum corps is getting softer that it is allowing girls that would not have been mentally strong enough 10 years ago to be able to join. I am not saying that none of the girls marching last summer didn’t have what it takes just like the women before them had what it took. It just seems that having a girl on a drumline is standard procedure now and I think it is possible to do now because of how soft drum corps has become. Here I give recognition to the girls that marched last summer and the ones that came before them. Maybe they are all great and maybe not but there has been a major increase in women in drumlines in the past few years and I believe that it is because drum corps is soft. So I am sorry for thinking that everyone wanted to be educated and could actually soak this in before posting their thoughts. Now I will do it the Old Worn Out Tired Worthless Way that I would never want any one to go through because it does not make anyone a better person way. REPS!!!! I am now going to post this 4 times and I would like you to read it 4 times, I know its not educational but you are not reading what I said so I have to do something to make you focus. So here we go. Devin

I never said drum corps isn't about teaching. We need to stay on task here. The point is that drum corps is not here to teach kids how to teach while they are members. The instructor should be teaching them to be a better player and performer not a teacher because that is not the nature of this activity. Here is exactly what I wrote. Please take the time to read the post then let it set in and maybe even reread it then reply. "When did drum corps become a college course to teach people how to teach? Do kids go march drum corps to be great performers or are they there to learn to teach? I would think that a lot of kids have no desire to teach after they age out and are there to be able to perform at a high level that SHOULD be what drum corps is about. If the kids want to learn how to teach they need to do that on their own time not that of 134 others." Devin P.S. Thank you moderators for keeping the post open and seeing the value in it even if some people would like to resort to name calling and demanding it closed. Once agian thank you

It’s funny how nobody wants to debate current issues in DCI on here. Why can’t we discuss this, because it is controversial? Well maybe we should all be real nice to each other and talk about only the things that everyone likes about DCI on this forum. I am now convinced that the mentality of the DCI band director is in full force in this web forum. Band Directors don’t like controversy and want everything to be soft and happy just like the majority of people here. If any of you support being able to discuss issues on this web site with in the rules of the site (which I have not broke) even if you don’t agree with my views then you should want to keep posts like this open. I have come to believe that when truth speaks the yes man who bows down to drum corps comes out to try to shut you up. Just keep saying yes and believe that everything is okay in DCI and you can be responsible for losing an art because you never stood up for anything. I know that’s not what I learned when I marched in the 90’s not the 70’s like some of you would like to believe. Devin

I’m am back after taking a few days off after my last topic that I choose to quit responding to because people were posting with out reading the point of the topic first. So now on to my new topic: What I am going to talk about is going to be very hard for a lot of people on this forum to swallow but read with an open mind and think before you respond. Drum Corps is a competitive activity where the main goal should be to perform at the highest level possible while trying to win. Drum Corps is not what band directors have turned it into which is an overpriced activity for music majors (future band directors) that is educational and educates the members to help them become future educators. Take a deep breath and allow me to explain: Before drum corps lost its edge and became soft drum corps instructors used to go out and help marching bands get better. Now in the EDUCATIONAL DAYS of drum corps this is no longer true because it is now the highly educated, many degrees, and lots of years of going to school band directors that are teaching the corps. The band director who used to hire the drum corps staffs to help their band has now become the drum corps instructor. So I ask you this: Is the band director teaching drum corps or is the drum corps staff member teaching the marching band? The answer is YES because they are now the same person and it has caused the educational philosophies of college music education classes and professors to infiltrate an activity that should be about competing and performing and has turned it into a soft, keep everyone happy, everyone is a unique special snowflake college course. Here is a quote from a Div 1 drum corps web site on how they do things Excellence through Education Helping you become a great teacher means providing the same positive environment you'll someday provide your students. When did drum corps become a college course to teach people how to teach? Do kids go march drum corps to be great performers or are they there to learn to teach? I would think that a lot of kids have no desire to teach after they age out and are there to be able to perform at a high level that SHOULD be what drum corps is about. If the kids want to learn how to teach they need to do that on their own time not that of 134 others. This educational garbage has been slowly passed down over the years from college institutions and professors to students that marched drum corps and as these students started receiving degrees, working as band directors and working there way into drum corps as instructors they have brought the typical idiotic band director philosophy’s to drum corps with them. I see drumlines today and you can see that they have lost their edge. Most of them look like a bunch of band geeks that don’t have that hardened look that drum corps kids had even in the late 90’s. Everyone is drumming on stands all day they even lug those stands to their warm up with them and it makes them soft. Physical punishment has been labeled a non-educational teaching tool; pushups are now the exception not the rule. Repetition has also been labeled a non-educational teaching tool, in college they teach you to explain over and over they don’t teach you to get the job done. College is based on pieces of paper called degrees, you are looked at in a higher and higher respect based on how much time you wasted sitting in a class room not on the results you get out of your students. I listened to motivational speaker Tony Robbins tapes before and when a highly educated college professor in an interview asked him what he had a degree in he responded “I don’t have a formal college education but I do have a degree in results.” One is a highly respected college professor who makes 80,000 a year. The other charges people like the professor $10,000 to go to a one week seminar and show them how to do their job better. There is a certain drum corps who competitively didn’t do all that well in Div 2 last year who brags on their web site that 2/3 of the staff has music degrees or is getting them. Someone forgot to mention to them that Degree does not = results. They are the same corps with the silly philosophy mentioned earlier. I remember saying to a former Cadets section leader that there was a girl in the snare line in 01. He refused to believe me and said if it was true that drum corps was weak. Now lets don’t get stuck on just responding about what I am going to say. Last year there was a girl in every drumline I saw except the obvious all male corps. I won’t say that it is right or wrong but there was a time not that long ago that there were very few young women that could deal with the hardness it took to be on a open class drumline. And I feel that the softness in drum corps now allows for them to be able to do it in larger numbers than ever. What is going to happen when these women start teaching drum corps drumlines? (It will happen) What are the male drummers going to be thinking about? Drumming or (insert dirty thoughts here)? It was hard enough with all the hot girls all summer but what happens with a hot girl is right in front of you all day? Not to be sexist but do you think that the male member is going to really be listening and taking a girl drum tech seriously? I don’t. My point here is that because drum corps is getting softer that it is allowing girls that would not have been mentally strong enough 10 years ago to be able to join. I am not saying that none of the girls marching last summer didn’t have what it takes just like the women before them had what it took. It just seems that having a girl on a drumline is standard procedure now and I think it is possible to do now because of how soft drum corps has become. That’s all for now lets do this, Devin Please read and think and stay on topic. Thank you

Good points. But how many NFL players pay almost $2000 a season to play? I am still saying this isn't about money and nobody is getting rich doing this. Most of these people are band directors doing this for the joy and maybe to help fuel their egos. If they need extra money in the summer McDonalds pays more than drum corps ever will. Devin

Response to personal attack removed-JAS

Specific examples please.

Once again nobody is getting rich doing drum corps. Most of these people teaching are band directors using drum corps as a summer vacation. That is going to be one of my next topics so I won't get into that now. I will say this: if you are trying to make a living writing books for drum corps you are not very smart because you never will. If these band directors / drum corps designers need more money I know Wal-Mart is always hiring. Devin