Barifonium

Amen! Enough with the apethy! I say the activity excel in BOTH, but I think this goes a little deeper than that. The shows themselves need to have heart. It's not necessarily more visual less musical and vice versa, but it's about who is designing the shows and are they designed from the heart? The heart of a corps as it comes accross to an audience is really the heart of the designer(s), as expressed metaphorically through the music (aside from the theme). Drum corps shows are metaphors of a theme. Within the metaphor of the theme, is a philosophy, which is shown in the style and impression (visual- uniforms, misc. themes/traditions) and how the corps tradition connects with the show they're doing. The audience intuitively understands the philosophy of the corps through the shows they do. The tradition starts with the founders of the corps and the designers, but the way things evolve is the personal touches that are added to shows/drill/any aspect of design as designers try to mimick and copy each other/ put forth their interpretation of the tradition of the corps.. at least that's how it SHOULD evolve, along with maybe leaps forward in the collective entertainment dynamic of the audience(s). That's my philosophical view of the activity in a densly-packed nutshell. *whew* I've needed to get that off my chest for a LONG time... hope people read it.

Maybe it's because BDs show's the last couple of years (or perhaps just this previous one), IMO, haven't really connected with the audience well.. like EXTREMELY well. Sure it's still loud, performed well, and the technical stuff is achieved excellently BUT... all the work in the world won't matter to the audience (assuming they have only a surface appreciation of the activity or they're just spoiled,) if it doesn't rouse emotion out of the audience. ..it just brings out the tendency in people to pick out flaws- real or imagined (imaged in the context of artistic taste). That's not a problem with the members themselves but possibly just bad luck in picking shows that are adaptable to the audience and by the same tolken perhaps the audience can't appreciate it yet. For example, my first drum corps show didn't really rouse much emotion in me. Honestly to me it was "just another show" but with different instrumentation and accuracy level and higher demand. The show itself wasn't necessarily more exciting (in the way I thought of exciting) as some high school shows I did. However, as I watched our best performance (highest scoring) of the season during this past off-season, I grew to like and appreciate the music and show for what it was, not what I originally expected it to be. I now know that that show had value, but in a different artistic, sub-genre, of Drum Corps music. It's. Just. Different. My High School shows: 2005 Rain 1. Dances From Estancia Nimrod from Enigma Varients IV Pampeana 3. 2007 Inspire (Pat Methany- Crossmen 1991 Opener and Crossmen 1992 Movement 3 for the ballad, Movement 2 for the Closer) VERY emotional and passionate year. [drill.. ] 4. 2006 Khan Teardrop Drum Corps: A New American Classic Now compare the excitement/potential for excitement in my high school shows to my first drum corps show. You can see a marked difference in genre, being the intelligent person you are, but for me the transition was difficult. I can now appreciate what that show was and in hindsight I look fondly back at it and enjoy watching it every time and it brings back great memories of tour and it makes me excited for the coming season because I know my corps is going to be awesome! I'm sure the same thing would've happened if I had managed to join the old VK- with their wacky craziness. The same could go for the audience. They're used to seeing/experienceing certain things but have a difficult time placing BD 2009 in the proper context and may not for a few years. Perhaps jealousy/weariness of BD winning takes away from their ability to reach the audience. Just throwin' out guesses here. Please don't be offended. My disclaimer. I subscribe to the "exciting-but-dirty" is better than "clean-and-mediocre" theory so yes, some marching band performances can be more entertaining than some Drum Corps performances and being in a marching band CAN result in *DIFFERENT* bonds than Drum Corps because, heck you GREW UP with these people.

^^--- I was thinkng more along the lines of this type of reply but if you want to get into a debate about the definition of "contra" then go on right ahead.

So why can't a corps just buy a cheap piece of land somewhere nearby and use it to rehearse on and make a tent city for everydays? Real estate prices should help with that... Invest in a few solar panels and there you have your electricity, and pack some waterless soap that hunters use to wash themselves. Just a few ideas off the top of my head. Nothing too well thought out here and I'm sure it will show; FFTA (Feel Free to Tear it Apart)

So can anyone name for me the types and sizes of contras the corps in Open Class use? I know they probably don't use all the same kind but can anyone shed some light on this for me? I know Impulse uses Yamahas but what about Teal Sound, Surf (before they went World), Citations, SCVC BDB, Dutch Boy, Oregon Crusaiders, etc?

me liiiike

Too bad some stimulus money didn't go to Drum Corps. Why not throw in a half-a-billion in there for Open Class? Oh yeah because we don't produce (manufacture) anything and don't represent a large enough of a constituency :P It was a rhetorical question anyway but people tend to like answering those here

This... ...is my dream. I don't have a SO at the moment. Oooh that could be the sequal This I Believe... "This Is My Dream..?" sorry off-topic. Resume:

get a piece of graph paper and mark off a football field's dimensions and yeardlines where 2 squares = 5 yards (maybe double that scale if you need to and have a ####load of sets like most WC corps do-), and each sqaure being 4 eight-to-five steps. Then, find your dots one at a time and play connect the dots, drawing (small) arrows showing your path. You can even mark with small numbers what number your set is. Then on a separate sheet of paper, as you go, use the count structure and figure out the exact size step (__ to 5 stepsize) for each move and write it on the back of your sheet as a list. For diagonal moves you can use the pythagorian theorem. You can maybe a sheet for every movement. And.. you can get a friend with a video camera and you can go out to a local football field and practice your drill sets and do a runthrough by yourself with him videotaping so you can watch it afterward and see if you hit your dots so you don't ahve to keep looking down. Just some stuff I did my first season.

I'd like to challenge this premise of performing later not being a performance enhancer. For me that's completely false. When I was in marching band, a crisp night with blazing lights and a screaming audience got me PUMPED- or extremely serious, depending on my mood. As I marched toward that stadium, seeing those lights and hearing that crowd and possibly another band performing sent shivers down my spine and made me all the more focused, proud, and brought out my intensity. That was marching band, when I was in a 6A band and we usually always performed at night (didn't matter the order, as long as it was at night). There was just something about the night that made everything better............... Enter drum corps: I'm in an open class corps that usually always performes in the daytime, so the factor of performance time as a hype ceases to exist and I have to rely on other sources. The order of motivation is now thus: 1/2) personal confidence in myself, pride in my corps- and the family that we are 3) the awesomeness of our show- how much I'm into it. 4) The size of the crowd 5) The time of day. Back in marching band, the time of day was simply a factor that enhanced and united, or detracted and divided the order of motivation listed above; to keep the motivation alive in drum corps I simply had to shift my focus to that which I just listed, and couldn't take for granted the enhancing effects of night time anymore. This is also why you see I'm 1 out of only 2 people (out of 16 plus battery and guard) smiling on the Impulse recruitment video (:18- on the left) as it shows us marching back: It was at our home performance.. the crowd was huge and they loved us and went crazy and it was at night and I had a fantastic performance.

A straight line is a straight line, be it in marching band or drum corps. A shield is a shield- be it in your local militia, or the national army. Any ensamble that marches can be taught the same precision as any other ensamble with proper the time and effort put in. I'm also suprised that no one has commented on this one yet: This....

THANK YOU!!!

I think he was simply observing, as I have observed, the narrow scope of the discussions generally on this board in the off season. Not that that's a bad thing as far as subject matter is concerned (IMO), but from a variety standpoint, it's bad. No Variety = DCP not being taken as seriously as it should be since not everyone is interested in the philosophical direction of our activity.

If it's anything like Crossmen '92 I'm game! Haven't listened to this years' music but I have a feeling it's going to be quite the crowd-pleaser!

To get more people passionate about this activity.

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or perhaps a decresing rate of growth in awareness for our activity? Or that people are searching for it under the full title, "Drum and Bugle Corps" instead..

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ouch. Diction is everything my friends. I wrote this. I officially apologize for any kind of damage this misinterpretation has caused to my organization/hornline. This could be a little disjointed considering this is the second time I wrote this because I accidently hit the backspace button and erased all my stuff so forgive me. I'm not advocating mob rule, nor a coup d' etet. That's ridiculous. I wrote that to combat any possible apathy. I wanted to inspire the hornline members to become passionate and be involved with their corps in a manner that is more than just doing their jobs individually. What I meant by the members running the corps mainly had to do with how we manage our reputation, as explained. Sure our reputation can be upheld by simply doing our jobs- performing to the best of our ability but why stop there? Why not go the extra mile and try to make the experience better for everyone if something isn't working? I mean, as I was reading the thread about Citations folding I felt sorry for the people who wouldn't be able to march.. how powerless they must have felt. It's partially why I wrote this... as an inspiration for people to get involved because I am in favor of more checks and balances by Alumni and members to keep the organization healthy. Sure there's probably nothing that could have been done by the members of Citations to keep them from folding and I'm not saying that more oversight by the members could have prevented them from folding (though that IS a theory postulated by some on this board).. it's just the helplessness of the kids in general that got me thinking about ways to try and inspire my fellow hornline members, and the first thing that came to mind was: unity. BUT my conservative side is screaming that it would also make things more inefficient. Trust me I know too much involvement can lead to a giant mess WHICH IS WHY I wrote, Yeah, we don't know everything but why not use that passion and our desire, to take a more pro-active approach to make the corps better? I do not advocate self-righteousness nor and I-know-more-than-you attitude. I would expect people to know their limits but I'm probably in over my head there. What I meant by pushing the staff is part of the symbiotic relationship I'm talking about. Sure some staffs are so pro that this relationship is irrelevant, at least based on the successes they have experienced so far. I'm not talking about them. I want to meld the principles harness passion, integrity and accountability into a symbiotic relationship between the staff and the students, where we all learn from each other, to a greater extent than before. I want the hornline and the staff to be tight. I want there to be less disconnect, you know? Now that I think about it, some might argue that that would undermine the authority of the staff. Some would say that that's not the role of the the staff. That's understandable and the point is well taken, and when taken to the logical extreme it would appear I'm advocating a kind of utopia here. A best-case, if-the-world-was-perfect scenario. Oh well, a person can dream, can't they? Since actions speak louder than words and it WAS a public forum, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Thank you for your time. It is my wish that this thread be closed and removed from the board and all arguments pertaining to this topic be sent to me via PM. I hope I have settled your qualms and once again apologize for any kind of negative exposure that this has had on my organization, hornline, and corps as a whole. They are not the opinions of my corps, merely a single member. Me.

How about Drum Corps shows during half time at major league football games in the off season? I mean it's unrelaistic not to mention too late but could you imagine how Sparticus would go over in a Superbowl game?? Of course the shows would need to be designed differently so that the audience can see what's going on on both sides. It wouldn't be too difficult to prove the entertainment value of drum corps. Of course this would usually only apply to world class or large open class corps. And to make up for the exposure that World Class would get from the public performances, DCI could try to air TV commercials with slogans like, "This isn't your average marching band..." and show corresponding images and clips illustrating that fact. The license for creativity would likely need to be expanded for the general public since what we might consider hoaky or abominable (synths anyone?) in the average drum corps world, the general public might consider entertaining.

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I don't see Impulse on there anywhere

And they all marched happily ever after. --The End---

I say we have Pioneer and the Blue Devils switch members but no one knows it! Ultimate test!! lol I'm kidding but you see my point. Haven't read the entire thread but I'm going to in case anyone replies to this before I'm done.

W00T That was an awesome day