fep211

Only found out about DCA because my school hosted a corps finals weekend for a few years. Said corps let some of the band (myself included) help move the pit equipment they borrowed from us on and off the field. Most of the kids who helped went on to march later on.

Awesome.

I'm sure I'm going to regret putting my 2 cents in, but here goes: The way I understand it, the purpose of drum corps is to provide entertainment. DCI/DCA/etc. assign rules in order to entice corps to not go on the field and perform something painful to watch/hear/experience. If I understand correctly, the addition of these electronics rules is supposed to help the corps increase entertainment value by giving designers more to work with. Have a wicked synth solo, or have certain parts in the pit more audible, that wouldn't be audible otherwise. Maybe have a synth provide sounds that the corps otherwise would've been unable to produce? I'm sure this added voice amplification would've made the Bushwackers' lives a bit easier this past season. It was near impossible to hear what was being said onfield for most of the season. I recall a few other shows among the years I've been aware of drum corps where the new rules would've been a great help. Please allow yourself to be entertained, because that's what those corps want to do for you. I never enjoyed marching a show I wouldn't want to watch myself.

WNEP did a story on this, and they interviewed a guy who said, "Nobody likes it here, but nobody ever leaves." Not entirely true given my escape, but a great statement nonetheless.

Coming from a college marching band that is student-run (the famous/infamous factor depends on the year), I wish you guys the best of luck. You need to be really organized, and really passionate. What you most need to be is able to inspire that level of passion in everyone in the organization. Not an easy road to establish, but its definitely doable (considering we only practiced 4-8 hours a week, and learned a new show for every home game).

Sounds like fun. :)

Lee, I'd no idea that these were written rules you guys had. It just seemed to be the culture you'd developed. You'd even made the host volunteers feel like a part of the group.

Go figure. I signed up because of a particular service project my chapter was getting started on that really struck home with me. I didn't really care much for the who was doing it, so much as the what that was being done. That's cool to know!

Didn't even cross my mind until I saw this, but is there some sort of thing that goes on with Kappa brothers, like at CMBF in Allentown? Last time I was at finals was before I'd even heard of Kappa, let alone become a brother.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-18-2013/the-rock-block

Hi, I'm Frankie, and I've been a drum corps fan for 11 years now, since my band director introduced me to it. I'm from NEPA, but I escaped there for good almost 2 years ago. :)

Yeah, he let me hold it once when they practiced at my high school the week before finals (idr if it was in 2002, 2003 or 2004). My friends and I were geeking out over it all season (we didn't know such a thing existed before).

Nice to hear the 570 getting in on things. Now there'll be something for people to do that isn't walking around WalMart. Best of luck to you! :)