j.morgus

If you are coming to the Big Easy for the Big Party, Echoes of New Orleans Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps would like to invite you to experience a Mardi Gras parade with the locals. We have openings in all sections, have plenty of equipment, and plan on having a great time. Complete details can be found on our web site, or call 866-734-5264.

If you are planning to march this summer, applications are still being accepted for the Greater New Orleans Drum Corps Association tuition assistance grants. Any member of any junior corps is eligible to apply. See the story on DCP here. For an application and complete details, visit the tuition page at GNODCA.org.

If you are planning to march this summer, applications are still being accepted for the Greater New Orleans Drum Corps Association tuition assistance grants. Any member of any junior corps is eligible to apply. See the story on DCP here. For an application and complete details, visit the tuition page at GNODCA.org

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Wish you had been here too. It was a pretty good one.

Mike, were are you guys this weekend?

With an often repeated proposal to raise it yet again. This may be best for evolving the activity into hybrid performance art, but is it the best idea for the "kids"?

All of which points out the fact that the national touring "major league" model does not work very well for a "youth" activity. The demise of local corps and local competition circuits have made if very difficult for school aged kids to be involved in drum corps. This is true today of "open" class corps also. BITD many corps had their group of "rook-outs" as well as a wide range of younger kids. This was possible because the majority of the corps' activity was conducted in or near the home town and did not require members to travel and be housed far from home for all rehearsals as well as the performance tour. As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it is often the younger folks who could benefit the most from the corps experience, and with the state of the activity they are mostly left out.

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That is all well and good for "Justin Blow", but what about Timmy from the other side of town who's school isn't able to afford "luxuries" like instruments and additional instructors to field a competitive band? His school program isn't there. In the days of church and scout corps, Timmy would have had a chance at the corps experience, even when his school couldn't provide it. Until every student has the opportunity to choose where he goes to school, and/or all schools are able to provide extra-curricular options like a competitive band, school bands are not the "same experience".

For the elite headliners that manufacturers see as a marketing/advertising opportunity and thus give huge discounts to, perhaps. For less monied or renowned corps, one source of instruments, used horns from the "big boys" has all but dried up, or become less of a bargain. As the market for the used horns now includes thousands of high schools and tens of thousands of band parents, the resale prices are significantly higher than in the G days. One more example of how new rules benefit the highest placing corps much more than those at the other extreme.

Quite posibly I missed the sarcasm. It is sometimes hard to hear the tone of voice in this medium

The thing here, is that size limits were origially created for a good reason. If we add 50 or 100 more bodies on the field, it will start to get pretty crowded out there.

Neither is true Price for most is higher, and the parts are no harder or easier to learn.

'10 Bluecoats, '20 Bluecoats, '86 Bluecoats. How do these sound different? Until we get to the point where some corps are over 100 years old, there isn't much to get confused about.

Definitely. I have 2V DEG mellophones in both "cornet" and "flugle" wraps, and they are very different. The cornet wrap has more back pressure and a slightly brighter sound than the other.

So if you don't live on the northern prairies, your options to see an open class show are: 1) Travel 1000 or so miles for a 5 or 6 corps show, or 2) Shell out 10's of thousands of dollars and try to coax a couple of them to come to you. I am not blaming the OC corps for this, but it sure makes it hard for lots of folks to attend their performances. What I am getting at here, is wouldn't more shows with both classes competing solve some of this? Is there some aspect of the OC being almost completely separate that is to the advantage of the OC corps that I am not seeing? Or is this the wishes of the member corps that keeps the OC off on their own?

Not to any actual data, but some allusions to tests here and here I'd love to see a controlled study on this, too.

That is one whopper of an "if". We do know that it will continue to erode the identity, and move it "further down the road" to hybridization, but will it increase the amount of kids that can participate? These kids can participate now, they just have to chose to participate in this activity, not some new incarnation of whatever. If I wanted to be an ice skater, no one would allow me to compete in that sport wearing roller skates, and I would be unreasonable to expect them to change their sport to accommodate my wants. Why should drum corps have to morph into something different because someone might want to be involved if it were different?

Over blowing sounds like crap even when it isn't "loud". The volume of this group isn't the problem.

LOL, Jim! Thanks! This reminds me of a drum corps comic book I bought in '79 at finals. (I wish I know what has become of it). One section of it purported to be a corps mag (a la DCW) from the year 2000. One cover story was entitled "Instrumentation: Where is it taking us and do we really need bassoons?" Just goes to show ya how long this debate has lasted.

I will agree that you and I will probably never agree on this. I think that some of the reasons that OC is unable to attract audiences involve factors such as where and when OC only shows are located, and how they are presented (without anyone coming right out and saying it) as "less than the rest". What I don't have, are any better ideas on how to improve this.

Wow. Guard Uniforms. I had almost forgotten about those.

AFIK you are allowed bell front valved brass in any key. The question is what would the judges think about it.

GH, in his water proposal, says that the activity needs to continue moving toward becoming a hybrid performance art. Whatever that is. In the electronics proposal he specifically mentions attracting teenagers that read 17 magazine and don't go to the opera.