lucas97

But fans would have complained just because it was Star. :) In fact, there probably would have been an internet petition to outlaw the Star of Indiana.

Hogwash. You must live in one of the towns fortunate enough to have a school music program that includes competitive marching band in it's curriculum. For every such town, there are at least four others that don't have that opportunity. Are those communities "irrelevant"? Oh, and what about kids outside the 14-18 age group? Are they "irrelevant"? Actually, your comment illustrates a component of the "new attitude" of DCI that is worth noting. Amid the DCI marketing focus on marching-band kids, many people are forgetting that drum corps can also serve kids who aren't already in a competitive marching band. So which is more important? Getting a music education, or getting a music education from some sort of marching organization? I never said that those communities without a scholastic music program (or the kids in them, for that matter) were irrelevant. I said that those communities WITH scholastic music programs have ALL BUT taken the place of the local community-based drum corps, making the local CORPS virtually irrelevant. As in, the kids in those communities with scholastic music programs who are interested in music are getting their music education from their schools. (Of course, as ALWAYS, the kid needs to have an interest in music to begin with.) It has made the drum corps activity (at all levels) much more of a hobby than serving a public need. In these situations, the public need for a local drum corps to teach their kids how to play a horn or drum is being met elsewhere to a large degree. From the National Center for Education Statistics (1999-2000): 94% of public elementary schools offer music instruction. 90% of public secondary schools offer music instruction. We can debate the quality of this instruction, of course. But we can also debate the quality of drum corps instruction as well...regardless of the era. This is not to say that a local community-based drum corps cannot be an enhancement to what is being offered at the scholastic level. As has been mentioned before, such a thing costs a lot of money and requires an operational team that is 1) knowledgable in how to run a business (non-profit or otherwise), 2) knowledgable in the area of music instruction, and 3) knowledgable in the area of public relations in order to galvinize public support for their program. Yes, it can be done. It's not easy. Those kinds of people can be difficult to come by. But WITHOUT those people, the odds of these local corps popping up again decreases dramatically.

I think it went away because the winner of 3 championships in a row (Cadets) stop doing them. They kept marching and kept winning. Bye bye concert. Now if some one were to have a concert in their show and won, or at least won music, things MIGHT change. To be fair, there were portions of each of those Garfield shows that could be defined as "standtill," if not total concert productions. Maybe not a full song from beginning to end, but still a significant amount. The difference being, when they moved, they MOVED. b**bs Also, one of the main reasons that shows were shortened from 13 minutes (max) to 11.5 (max), was to allow for an extra corps to be shown on the live broadcast at Finals. At least that's how Bill Cook put it when he was helping to put that show on the air. Doesn't seem to matter now that the live broadcast is a thing of the past. Personally, I don't mind show length as is. Of course, this depends on the show. There are some shows that will never be long enough for me...they are so great that I want them to keep going...gimme more! There are others that I wish could be over much sooner than they actually end. It's amazing how one bad drum corps show can make 11 and a half minutes seem like a half-hour.

(sigh) DCI, and what they have done (and not done) for the drum corps activity, is just a small aspect of a very complex, multi-dimensional, and much larger set of issues. The end. That is the crux of what I've been saying. I've stated what I want to state. You may enjoy the rest of this thread. Have a great day.

You still haven't figured out that I'm not offended if people dislike DCI. DCI has a ton of issues they need to address. They are FAR from being a perfect or model organization. I AM offended when people criticize DCI when they don't even know what DCI is, how DCI is run, how the rules are made, what the rules ARE, what the judges sheets say, or any other of a littany of reasons that have to do with a lack of logical understanding or comprehension. If all they do is complain without having a knowledge base on what it really is they are complaining about, then yes, that's a problem. I'm also offended when people lay the entire blame of the fall of western civilization, or in this case the demise of the entire drum corps activity, at DCI's door when it's a much more complicated issue than that. If you or others want to totally dismiss some of the societal factors which have helped contribute to there being less and less drum corps, by all means...go to town. You'd just be wrong and silly for doing so. If you can live with that, so can I.

Catherine Burr? Hehehe...ok. That's like a Catholic priest being accused of criminal pedophilia using Michael Jackson as a character witness in his defense. But, hey, whatever gets you through the night. Best wishes...

It's not about you stepping on the toes of DCI. It's about trying to place total blame of all the woes of the activity on DCI, when there's a lot more to it than that. Yes, a lot of drum corps have folded over the years. However... 1) There were hundreds of corps who went the way of the Dodo Bird who never even competed in DCI. 2) There were plenty of corps who were run by people who, as well-intentioned as they may have been, should not have been put in the position of managing a large operation like running a drum corps. And I don't care whether a corps is competing for a DCI Championship or they are simply a parade corps...it costs a lot of money to get one of these things off the ground, let alone keeping it active. I would venture a guess that more corps folded due to poor management than anything else, and this is before the corps even gets on a bus. 3) There are tons of drum corps who could not afford to continue operation on ANY level when their major sources of funding were pulled from the churches and service posts who used to sponsor them. 4) With the rise of the high school music programs and marching bands, the local kids who were looking for that base-level education on how to play the horn and drum were still finding it. But no longer were they going to the local drum corps when they could get it for free at their local high school. In essence, the high school marching band has all but replaced and made irrelevant the local community-based drum corps. Putting the entire weight of corps folding at the foot of DCI's door is pretty short-sighted. This is NOT to say that DCI hasn't been partly responsible for some of these corps demise as well. Certainly, the leadership of DCI went through as much growing pains as any circuit did, and things are not run the same way now as they were then. They can't be. Times change. The only thing that hasn't changed is that it costs a lot of money to run a drum corps. The other thing that hasn't changed is that DCI is a competitive circuit. If you're running a drum corps, and you choose to be a part of DCI (1974 or 2004), then you should know that being competitive requires a certain level of committment. If those corps cannot afford that level of committment financially, then perhaps they should rethink their purpose. Is it about teaching kids from scratch? Fine. Would those kids be better served by NOT going on a tour and competing against bigger and better corps? Would they be better served being a community parade corps? Do you know how much corps get for parades these days?? With the proper management, a year-round parade corps could make a nice little chunk of cash in two or three years to eventually grow into a larger and more competitive unit. Of course, they would probably have to draw from several communities in order to operate, but I could see it being a worthwhile endeavor if it was run properly. And to DCI's credit, they are becoming more proactive when it comes to assessing whether or not a new corps is financially prepared to participate in DCI events BEFORE they even go out on the road. DCI is not perfect. But look around at the world in which we live today. In comparison to the other things kids could be doing with their summers, I'm amazed that there are any drum corps left AT ALL. The community need that drum corps used to serve is now being filled elsewhere, and I'm not sure you can ever go back. When the need isn't there, it becomes something done for "want." DCI didn't make that happen. The world made that happen.

Clarke Williams perhaps?

Although the Div II/III corps should have more of a say in how things are done, they do have more say than some people think. Take rule changes for instance. Did you know that rules which are proposed to the DCI BOD won't even see the light of day unless they are approved by the Instructors Caucus? Did you also know that there are many Div II/III corps (every unit that competes at one of the previous year's DCI Division II/III focus shows or the DCI Championships) who get a vote in these caucuses? They actually outnumber the 17 or 18 Div I corps who are eligible. Did you also ALSO know that if a rule change proposal fails in the caucuses, it cannot be re-introduced for another two years? Here's the most interesting part...many Div II/III corps don't even send any representatives to these meetings! Someone from Drum Corps World took a straw poll of Div II/III leadership right around the time the amplification rule was passed. There were 36 active Div II/III units who had such voting rights when this rule was proposed, and there was a considerable amount of anti-amps votes there which (if they actually attended the caucuses and voted) would have stopped that particular proposal from even getting to the BOD. Just some food for thought...

No, the question asked in the title of the post doesn't explain itself...not when it really doesn't have much to do with the text you wrote afterwards. In the 1970's, I would say that there were plenty of drum corps in DCI who took themselves and the activity very seriously (sometimes a bit too much for some people's tastes). Same for the 80's, 90's and today. There have ALWAYS been corps who have taken themselves and the activity seriously. So what. Drum corps can not be all things to all people. Some people will either love it, live it with, tolerate it, be disenchanted with it, or hate it. People's tastes in what entertains them are different...not better or worse, just different. Same as it ever was....same as it ever was....same as it ever was.

I won't vote in the poll because I don't quite understand what you are really asking... Is it "does DCI take itself too seriously?" or is it "has DCI made drum corps less fun, less exciting?" Besides, I don't really care what other people think about it, and big green letters make my eyes hurt. :P

The Bluecoats, and UNdeservedly so. :) (It was the Preview of Champions in Madison, not Midwest in Whitewater.)

The Crossmen, and deservedly so.

I agree about the hornline. Some weak moments indeed throughout the show. Though by the end of the show, the fans didn't seem to really mind there not being any soprano soloists in Malaguena.

From a marching standpoint alone, one of the finest performances I've ever seen. And the whole ending sequence, getting into the triangle wedge, the quick turn-around move, the high step, and most importantly-- the transition getting OUT of the traingle wedge to the curvelinear form and ending sets...THAT'S what championships are made of. That is top level design and execution to generate a maximum of effect that both the audience and judging community can appreciate.