drumcorpsdrummerman2012

***yaaaaawwwwwn*** ***snorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre***

Yes, those pieces of wood that are shaped like a rifle are definitely potentially dangerous. Someone could drop one on their head. Beginning to wonder if this has in fact happened to you.

Oh for all that is holy!!!! As if the gun control argument itself has not been worn out, now we are talking about banning a "fake rifle shaped OBJECT" that is a part of our activity's tradition and not only that, but was originally intended to pay respect to the activity's military roots because you....(no you can't be serious).....because you......(no way, you must be joking)..........because you think that spinning a rifle somehow contributes to gun violence? Dan, get out of the sun. It's frying your brain.

I read the entire original post then half of the first reply, yawned and then stopped reading.

I ran accross the following youtube videos of George Hopkins being interviewed. One from 1984 and one from 1990. I was so shocked by the humble nature of these videos that it almost made me faint. All he talks about is how "winning doesn't matter" and how he would "quit on the spot" if his organization ever became about winning and eletism and how it's all about the kids and the educational value they take away from the activity. I couldn't even believe it was really him. Though, I'm encouraged to know that it really is him because it just proves that there is a good man with a good servant's heart inside that skin who really does care about the kids in this activity, despite the appearing greedy and self serving nature of some of his most recent philosophies. What I want to know is how did he lose sight of his original vision and philosophy? I want THIS George Hopkins BACK! The things he says in both of these interviews are spot on!

Depends on several things. If you are doing 75% to a full summer's worth of touring, it depends on how patient your employer is. In most cases, if you are working in the corporate structure, you are in the real world and I'm afraid most employers won't be very patient with you being gone for three months unless you are a super employee with serious tenure. Which is why, as others have eluded to, most drum corps instructors who do full tours are either band directors or self employed high school instructors or designers who's summer schedules allow for it. The other option is to instruct part time/consult. This actually can be done along side most types of full time jobs if scheduled strategically and if your avaliability meets the needs of the staff coordinator. This is probably the most promising option. These types of roles are becoming more and more in demand in this day of the activity. Long gone are the days where all instructors do 100% of the tour. Most of the primary staff do about 70% of the tour(ish) and that generally means that at times, they need people who can fill in for a week or two during the summer and cover some gaps. This is probably one of the more fun ways to do it because you don't have a lot of the big responsibilities that the primary staff have so you essentially get to "play with the toy" and then go back home to real life for most of the rest of your summer. It's definitely a tough activity to juggle with real life and something that needs to be thought through before just jumping into it. As I've said before, I've seen full time jobs crumble and families fall apart because of people taking on a drum corps instructor role irresponsibly.

Oh, I know. It's insane. You also hear about people quitting great jobs for the sake of that "once in a lifetime offer to teach ______________ drum corps". And thus....divorce happens etc etc etc...it's crazy. BD seems to be the only exception. Go figure...

There are some corps who have "interns" that do volunteer but the vast majority of instructors are paid.........."SOMETHING". However, I think the majority of money is made on the design end with a little less for captions heads and considerably less for techs (unless you are on BD's staff...which is generally better than most as I understand). The reality is, the amount of money you make as an instructor for a corps is very little. As a tech, if you are lucky, your yearly "salary" might add up to about $2 an hour if you consider the amount of hours you put into the activity, not only during the summer but during the off season as well. It really doesn't amount to much. And that doesn't take into account what you might have to cover in expenses. The reality is, you will probably lose more money than you will make. Truthfully, people make more money working with high school programs than with drum corps. A lot more, actually. I don't mean on the "director" level, either. I'm talking as a tech, caption head or designer for a top caliber high school band. The amount of money you make with a high school program makes what you make as a drum corps instructor almost an embarrassment. It's a nice hobby and a worthwhile contribution to an awesome educational activity. But drum corps is not something you should ever consider "a job" (even within the term of "part time"). In short: Don't quit your day job. If you like to teach and want to make some money with it, either instruct a high school or two as a SIDE JOB or better yet...if you are serious about making it a full time carreer, get a teaching degree and become a band director. Otherwise, enjoy teaching drum corps as a great hobby that you will not make much money at (and maybe lose money). I'm sorry if that was not the answer you wanted to hear.

Well......no. Actually, that isn't TECHNICALLY true....though.......errr......uhhhh.....let me elaborate as I respond to one of your other posts.

Yup! You are absolutely right.

Careful, I debated that issue on the front side of this thread and nearly got burned at the stake for it. But, you could not be more correct. All this shuffling around and giving staff members and teams only 2 or so years to get things right or you are out (only to get hired somewhere else and go through that same cycle at another corps two years later) is counterproductive. Note to all designers and instructors: Unless you work for the Blue Devils and I suppose also the Cadets, don't get too attached and sentimental about where you are. You won't stay long (and it's too bad).

I'll stand correctly on that one. You are absolutely right!

Yeah, you might be right. This stuff is getting me pretty wound up. I'll admit it. I'm just tired of seeing people I know get screwed.

I also want to make this point a little more clear. I am in no way insinuating that The Blue Devils do not work hard. So many BD haters think this to be the case and it's completely false. The Blie Devils work their ##### off!!! No question about it, the majority of that corps time is spent on the rehearsal field getting better. The DIFFERENCE.............is that they balance their hard work with enough rest and personal time....to flippen have the ENERGY to CONTINUE working hard. I KNOW! Because I've WATCHED and talked to enough people who would know. And to the person who asked if I was a product of the Blue Devils, go back and read the post where I talked about a "light bulb" that just recently lit up in my head as a result of some things I've "recently" (key word) learned about that organization? Sound like an affiliate of the corps? I'll leave you to decide that.

My Response: You know what? I want to try and make my point a little clearer here so that you can better see how my first post actually ties hand in hand with what I've been ranting about with "staff firings". I'm sick and tired of seeing great instructors (some of which are friends of mine) who just began to establish something great for their corps get fired....and then to ad insult to injury get their name and reputation run through the mud because a certain corps "let them go" due to stupid jealous idiots gossiping about it. Additionally, I'm also sick and tired of seeing great instructors (some of which are friends of mine) who HAVE "left a corps on their own accord" get their names and reputations run through the mud because "RUMOR HAS IT"......(MAN I hate that phrase) that they were in fact fired and didn't leave on their own accord (even if they really did). And furthermore......THIS place is often the biggest offender in the damaging gossip as such! (and people think I am the one with the twisted perspective on this activity)