olddrummer

You want louder? Use bugles.

I think the fact that the activity is still going on--drum corps is surviving, though smaller--is a testiment to DCI's success. Some of drum corps is much better than it was in the past, and some is much worse. I was initially tempted to say it's been a failure, considering the quality of shows, number of corps, and break's from traditions. But aside from voice and drum sets, aside from seeing people out of step on championship night, despite the weak horns and dirty snares, drum corps still exists. Will it have done so without DCI? Who knows? Maybe, maybe not. When I marched in the 70's, kids didn't have the chioces they have today. Drum corps did not have to compete with internet, video gaming, year-round baseball, travel soccer teams, 24-hour 200+ channel television, etc. Yes, we lost a lot of corps--DCI's fault?--and yes, drum corps could be a lot better than it is today, but the fact that we're even having this conversation today says that DCI's has, at least as far as keeping it alive, been a success.

I'd take a strap for my snare drum anytime over a harness. Those things are killers on the lower back.