greg_orangecounty
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Posts posted by greg_orangecounty
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2 hours ago, frachel said:
Late in catching up on this thread, but let me ask this - my HS marching band was small - maybe 4 drummers and 12 other instrumentalists, but we had no woodwind players. Were we a drum corps or a marching band?
Good question. Take the quiz and find out:
Did your high school musical group: have a drill team, involve cheerleaders (during field shows, not after the game) use lyres, have trombones, phase or march out of step regularly, L-O-V-E parades, play and/or do the Macarena, had issues finding a date with people outside of your musical group, do minstrel turns, emote random-intense facial expressions for no apparent reason (opps, bad example)…..?
If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions you were in a BAND.
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1 hour ago, MikeD said:
It absolutely does give me the same levels as in my era. As much as I loved it then, I still love it now.
The best written and performed show I have ever seen is Blue Devil's "Felliniesque". Crown's "Relentless" is right there as well. Bluecoats "Downside Up" was amazing....Blue Knights "Avian" is on my personal all-time favorite show list, as are some of the old shows like 1969 Blessed Sacrament. I loved a LOT of the old shows. 1966 St Lucy's, 1969 Kilties, just about everybody in 71 actually.
Fair enough, Mike. Thank you for the honest answer.
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1 hour ago, MikeD said:
People from the band world have been involved with drum corps since long before DCI ever came along. Why were valves and slip-slides/rotors added to horns? Why were contras added to widen the range of the brass lines? Why were multi-drums permitted, then marching timpani then eventually marching mallets....then grounded percussion? Drum corps has been a form of marching band for a looooong time. I fail to see the problem with that.
I was around for the evolution of drums and bugles too. Obviously the two are related, cousins, sisters, whatever, but when I hear someone say they're both the same....it baffles me. It's like denying reality, or arguing the sky is not blue, or water is not wet. I was there and participated in both, like you I'm sure.
The issue for me is I can barely tell the difference now, and the addition of woodwinds will finish off Drum Corps once and for all.
I see in your profile you marched in Garfield around the same time I was in the Kingsmen. When you watch modern Drum Corps, does it give you the same thrill, punch, excitement, power, make the hair stand on the back of your neck as back then......?
Maybe its just me....
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6 minutes ago, xandandl said:
it's those instrument mfgrs. or what DCI terms "sponsoring organizations" they acknowledge at Finals every year: I think the movies refer to them as "deep government."
There are few things (any?) the love of money does not ruin.
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1 hour ago, Tim K said:
I too heard the woodwind rumor in Indy, but it was a bit nuanced: all instruments, including woodwinds and strings could be featured in the front ensemble. The response ranged from they’ve been saying that for years and it hasn’t happened to it’s going to happen sooner or later.
Why can’t “Bandos” leave us alone? Who let them in and gave them all this decision making power the first place? They have their own activity and we have our ours. If they want to join us, great, welcome - but don’t try and make us you. You adapt and change your style to us!
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12 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:
No. It will be sold as “absolutely necessary for the survival of the activity”. It must be allowed to “evolve”. Ironic, isn’t it, that in preserving its survival the brain surgeons turned it into summer band? Yawn. Oh, and no, it wasn’t “always summer band”. Just anticipating that old worn out response.
If it is “absolutely necessary“ to add woodwinds for the survival of the activity then Drum Corps should be euthanized.
Death with dignity, and not turned into some sort of awful artsy-farts circus with the phrase “Drum Corps” attached.
Gag.
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16 hours ago, garfield said:
tic-tock, tic-tock...
It does seem to be on that trajectory.
Follow the money. Money will always trump tradition. And the worst of all it will be sold as “a wonderful innovation in the marching arts.”
Brace.
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####. 12 women are accusing him? Those are Bill Cosby numbers. Hope justice is served by whatever the outcome is.
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58 minutes ago, garfield said:
tic-tock, tic-tock...
It’s hard enough for me to get used to color guard dudes in bright tights and purple eyeshadow but woodwinds.....!!?? That’s my line in the sand.
If it does that will be the real day the music dies.
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2 hours ago, LabMaster said:
My son calls it a cult. At a corps event all the alumni sang the corps song and he turned to my wife and said "see, it IS a cult". I guess it kinda is.
My adult children know how to push my buttons. When the subject of Drum Corps comes up they roll their eyes and cough *bandgeek*
I cough back *reverse-mortgage* and that shuts them up quick.
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1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:
my reply was not specifically to you. it's to all pissing and moaning about corps vs band.
It’s all good. We all came in in different eras but we’re all still fans of drum corps.
(until woodwinds are introduced)
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5 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:
the general public sees bands like USC or Ohio State or (insert favorite college team's band here) as the big time. And to be honest, other than their band, they don't care.
I mean how ####### stupid is it in 2019 that we are still hashing out the band is better than corps or corps is better than band arguments? I realize it's the offseason and there's not a plethora of topics to choose from, but Christ Almighty, isn't it time for this argument to die like those complaining about electronics etc? Drum corps isn't going back to (insert year here). it's going to keep changing into whatever those in power want it to be. Ergo, you have to options.......watch it and look for stuff you enjoy, or quit wasting bandwidth on ####### arguments from 1972
Jeff,
You made an unsolicited comment to me. If I disagree and make a comment back to you don’t cry about it. If I upset you dont read or respond to my posts.
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On 10/18/2019 at 7:37 AM, xandandl said:
The above posts might be great for the pre-DCI dinos, but for the last several decades of DCI most social sharing has been at the airports "lounging" out waiting either for the corps vans for pick-ups or the connecting flights enroute to the significant others back at home. Skype, Facebook, and other computer social sites have become the new "neighborhoods" for this century's drum corps.
Sounds sad and boring, but I believe it. Shame for them social interaction now requires an electronic device. No wonder I see so many single 20 and 30 year olds.
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9 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:
to the majority of the planet drum corps was the minor leagues
How can that be true when two posts above you say:
“and the general person on the street could give two #####” (in relation to the public’s knowledge between drum corps and band)?
How can the general public feel drum corps was the “minor league” compared to band when they don’t know or care about the difference?
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2 minutes ago, MikeD said:
The quality of the total experience provided by corps today is, IMO, unmatched. Drum corps back in the day was a very shoe-string and unregulated activity the further back you go.
That was not my experience at all. But your comment interests me as I wonder what the touring experience is like for kids today? I.E. do they still sleep on gym floors?
iIf the answer is “no” then they DO have it better.
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1 hour ago, GUARDLING said:
We I believe are most of us involved in the activity today. WE, as in most bitd , including me felt we were so superior and made fun of the band geeks, learned 1st hand where our bread was buttered starting in the late 80s early 90s. Our own snobbery wasn't helpful, respectful or true by then. If you want to define major league is another thing. It is our branding BUT there are some corps that would not be considered that if we actually put some guidelines or parameters attached to that assessment or branding.
There was also another side to this . Many band directors felt Drum Corps ruined serious music students and some forbid their students or tired , who wanted to march drum corps. Im sure there are still some of them today as there are some who still feel superiority within the many facets of our activity somehow actually makes them superior and have the right to look down on this so called other world that actually feeds ours. JMO
We never thought, made fun of, or cared about marching bands as they were not on our radar. They were a different species. And the snob card was only used against the Velvet Knights if they started chit with us.
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48 minutes ago, GUARDLING said:
we have grown way past that over the years. we all felt that way at one time but have learned. BUT 1st thing one has to ask themselves is WHY is it an insult.?
Who is “we”?
Bands were the minor league, Drum Corps was the major league. The very fact I have to spell this out tells me the contagion has spread and it’s too late.
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23 minutes ago, Spatzzz said:
No it isn't because it's true. For you to pretend that it isn't is what is asinine. How is/was drum corps different than marching band other than instrumentation? Its marching and music on a football field. You are basically saying a pecan isn't a nut because it doesn't have the word nut in it.
ETA: And why is it an insult being called a band? I mean there are MANY MANY bands that are better than some DCI groups today and that has been the case for decades. At the top? No....but get down to the middle of the pack and there are HS bands that are today better than what is put out by some in that area. Sorry....
I see little difference between drum corps and bands today, so let’s get that straight.
My perspective come from marching in the Anaheim Kingsmen in the 1970’s and you had to be blind to not see the difference between drum corps and bands in music, attitude, style, precision, military bearing, drill, drum line (no comparison), color guards (bands had drill teams), degree of difficulty, and intensity.
Kids from high school and university bands joined us for a reason. It wasn’t because we were the same as them.
And by your logic football and soccer are the same because it involves a ball and running around on a field.
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1 minute ago, cybersnyder said:
That you used “alleged” is also an issue. It’s not good enough to be a fan. You must have been in a corps for X number of years to be a real drum corps person. It’s why drum corps won’t pick up many new fans - it’s mostly a closed group.
oh brother,.........this is an open forum for those that marched and fans of the activity. I understand that, and from my point of view to call drum corps “band” is an insult even though that’s where I started too.
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4 minutes ago, cybersnyder said:
But to 95% of the population, it’s marching band.
To the general population, yes, I agree.
But for an alleged drum corps person to say that to another drum corps person.......and to imply it’s “always been that way” and we’re not to think any different is asinine.
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10 minutes ago, Spatzzz said:
Drum Corps has ALWAYS been marching band....just different instrumentation....stop trying to say otherwise.
In 2019 that’s probably a true statement but to say it’s “ALWAYS” been marching band is absurd especially to those of us that did both.
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43 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:
Or to "evolve" itself out of existence, by merging into another pre-existing art form.
The most concise and honest assessment I’ve heard yet regarding the state of modern drum corps.
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8 hours ago, FlamMan said:
We were allowed to load up our coolers and drink Beer, and smoke cigs in uniform. Guys smoked joints on the bus and blew into pillows, and black beauties were the friend of many a snare drummer...so I'm told.
VERY surprised to hear smoking and drink beer was allowed while in uniform, but not about weed and uppers.
Time to Say Goodbye, after 15 years
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
You’re making my point for me. Drum Corps is no longer special. Why go see something that looks like any other garden variety marching band with over-produced flamboyant pseudo off-Broadway props?
Im holding out hope though! Maybe it’s just like a disturbing fashion trend that will work its way out - like crocs.