BRASSO

Yes, a poll result provides the results of those who participated in the poll. Good point. Perhaps I shouldn't have assumed that some people here wouldn't conclude that a poll result doesn't count the people who didn't participate in the poll.

Where should they go ? Perform and compete inside an indoor hockey rink ?

I always thought they made it a point to place the biggest bulges behind the desk in the stadium booth.

Well, it seems to me we've all had a chance to vote and comment on this thread poll here since Feb.5th that asks whether or not the pre show will lead to woodwinds, and it appears that the majority think that it will. Informative poll. We have a pretty good idea now of what most people think regarding this question.

It's true that the " brand " of Drum and Bugle Corps " apparently has been good for DCI. But is curious as to why those who are for change to allow all the conventional Marching Band instrumentation nto this activity would not also be calling to change the name. Why are they so eager to change the instrumentation and to change the way the sound is conveyed to audiences, yet are so resistent to change when it comes to the very name of the activity's governing organization ? If they were consistent, they'd be in favor of changing the name of " Drum Corps International " to something else. Something that will not confuse people about what the activity has evolved into compared to when the branding correctly described both the activity, as well as the positive reaction that gave the activity a positive branding with the public in the first place. Changng the activity in a transformational ( some say revolutionary ) way requires the renaming of the activity's governing organization it would seem to me. One that more aptly describes these musical dancetroupes.

I draw the line at " whole Corps with ticks ". But all change is beneficial and they can always get the bugs out later. So just do it.

and Zamboni.

not to mention ice skates.

More INT ?

So with this logic,... any instrumentation useage that was not a good idea and not beneficial to the activity, is still a good idea and beneficial to the activity because it scrapped the bad indea and instituted a new idea. Thus, with this logic " ALL changes have been beneficial to the activity" ( as you said ) In essence, everything you yourself have personally seen on the field of competition has been good and beneficial to the activity instrumentation wise. Did I get your logic and point right ?

And coincidentally, quite a few of the Boston Crusaders marchers that marched in the 50's and 60's with the Boston Crusaders are retired and now live ( or spend their winters in ) ......... you guessed........... Florida. ( The Crusaders still get most of the dough to run the Corps from the Boston area, so naming rights stiil go to where the fund raising comes from.... thus, it's still the " Boston Crusaders ")

Exactly. It's good to see that some astute observers being able to increasingly apply the dictim of" " follow the money ", when they have a question as to why they do things the way they do in DCI. As for time spent.... Corps actual perfomance competition time is approx. 20% less than when DCI was formed. Corps used to compete with shows that were 11-13 minutes in length, with most going closer to the 13 minute level. Corps today have much less time on the field of competitiion, much less of a competitive season, yet travel further to practice and compete and at much greater expense. But,.... some of us have learned this week from posters on here that ( quote ) " all changes have been beneficial".

Follow the money. Naming Rights go to Franchise Owners of Pro teams from either where they live or where they originated the capital. All the owners of the Yankees, Celtics, 49'ers fit that profile. They either live in the area, or raised their capital from that area. Then they move the talent in from all over. Same thing with DCI. The Directors and Boards of Trustees of Naming Rights Corps either live in the area, or they raised their capital from that area. Then they move the talent in from all over. It's no more complicated than that. The Cadets ( for example ) are from wherever they principally get their dough. Dough drives up ? Move to where the dough is, and that's your new home. The Crossmen are from " San Antonio " for the reasons just cited. This defines most, if not all, the Corps ( and Pro Sports teams ) and answers for us the question of " where are they from ?", and how the community received it's naming honors from that organization.

I love the logic. If " mobile marching tympani's " were an example of " all change has been beneficial ", why was the "mobile marching tympani " scrapped ? Why don't we have " mobile marching tympani " on the field of competition today if it was so beneficial ?

Asian- Americans are an example of a minority group that on average have higher disposable incomes than most other ethnic minority groups in the US. As a result, it is not surprising that as a percentage of overall marchers in DCI, their percentage of participation level is higher now than early Drum Corps years. This does lend some credence that participation levels in DCI is much more income based re. " diversity " than some other factors.

I found it ironic that the Indianapolis Colts lost to a team who's QB ( Drew Brees) played for Purdue in Indiana, and the player that made the defensive play of the game for New Orleans ( Tracy Porter ) was born and raised in Louisiana , but left his home state and played his college football for............. Univ. of Indiana.

And here I am thinking that the" change "of strapping a tympani with cord around a marcher,elevating that tympani up around the marchers nose, and then making that marcher march back and forth around a competition field with his back arched and aching, trying to play that sucker in that position while looking like he was carting the laundry washing machine around, was a very, VERY bad idea. But as I'm learning from posters on DCP...." all the changes have been beneficial" Who knew ?

Well, I do think that the notion that symphony orchestras and rock bands will someday merge with likekind instrumentaton to be a fantasy world that one could live in their dreams. So .... sure. But if we are talking reality here ? Not a snowball's chance in hell the two will morph like Corps and Bands are. Like I said, the fans of these two musical genres would react with more than simple boos if there was any attempt to try and merge the two. It would be both unthinkable and impossible.

There is no permanent merging of these two ( symphony orchestra and rock bands ) at all. If you can show me a single instance where an orchestra did a gig with a rock band and after that gig, they used the rock band instrumentation ( guitars, drums, etc ) before their symphony orchestra patrons on a PERMANENT basis I could be persuadable. However, there's not a professional symphony orchestra in the world that would allow the mixing of conventional symphony orchestra instrumentation with conventional rock band instrumentation. The two genres will get together on occasion and do a concert. But the notion that they will blend the instrumentaion of the two genres on any sort of permanent basis is ludicrous. BOTH the Orchestra Symphonic Band Patrons and the Rock Band groupies would have a fit and would not tolerate the merging and blending of these two musical instrumentation whatsoever.

Good points. As for " gays ", there is more acceptance overall in American society of " gays " since the 1970's to today. And as a result, there is more acceptance of " gays " in Drum Corps as well. Furthermore, I think it's fair to say that DCI has evolved into one of the most accepting of openly " gay " members of any multi cultural youth organization in America, musical or otherwise. As for overall black participation percentages dropping in Drum Corps since 1970 though, this is unfortunate, and there are probably a number of reasons for this. But it is a shame, really.

This will really confuse INT But if all the Corps play their different music at the same time, maybe it will have a nice creative new sound. Since we are in the spirit of " anything goes", I think most fans won't object to this either. Plus, the post show judging critique would make for an interesting read.

Thanks for clarifying. I understand our point now that some blacks formed groups in the 50's not by choice, but because of neccessity as avenues to white groups were closed to them. This is ( as you said ) different than (say ) All Black Colleges and All Black Marching Bands that now choose to afiliate in this fashion today. But not by neccessity now, but by choice.

Most kids in corps that had blacks, whites, latinos, asians, etc...in the 50's, 60's really had no problems along racial lines. These were, afterall, kids from the neighborhood... the parish.... These were your neighbors, your fellow church goers, your fellow baseball, basketball, football comrades. You hung out together, got in and out of scrapes together. You knew their famiies, they knew your family. Knowing this, when you joined Drum Corps with your neighbors, there was never friction along racial lines. They were already your best buds and the color of their skin wasn't grounds to ridicule. Only pimples and acne skin comments might get you into a short pushing and shoving match over issues regarding skin..... ( haha)

Yes, we can agree not to read a post because we don't like "the tone" or whatever. I did it with your reply here too, and as such have no idea what your wrote above. It's not worth either of our time to reply to half read comments. It really isn't. At least not for me... anyway, take care, good luck...

Exactly. Drum Corps, church's, civic groups, etc sometimes were formed and everybody was welcome, but the group took on a particular " color " if you will, because essentially where the group gathered and had practices or meetings tended to reflect the people and their interests from their immediate neighborhoods. Oftentimes, there was not any exclusionary policies at all. They were more than happy to be fully inclusionary, but unintentially the group took on a particular race or enthnicity because similar minded people gravitated to that group. This of course is different from any organization that purposefully is inhospitable to anyone based upon race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc... and so forth.