On the Idea of Western State Seceding from the Union...

[LoveKathyG]

The conversations about west coast’s limited exposure to drum got me thinking... What would happen if California decided to pull out of DCI? How about the whole western part of the US? California was represented by four Div I and eight Div II and III corps this year, which is slightly but not terribly higher than previous years. Eight of the 22 Div I corps...over a third of Div I...are from states west of the Rockies. Division II/III is even more dramatic with over 1/3 of the corps coming from CA and almost 1/2 coming from western states. At first I thought this had to be an anomaly since finals were in CA, but the numbers aren't substantially different in Boston '06.

Of course, the first question that comes to mind is, How fair is it that a region that is a region that is so largely represented in numbers of corps gets finals so infrequently and won't be even close to a drivable distance for the next decade. But that's not the purpose of my post. I assume that western states directors were on-board with the Indy thing, and the issue of the infrequence of west coast finals has been debated here enough.

The question I started to ponder today was sparked by a passing comment made by someone else in a buried post...

* Could DCI survive if the western states corps pulled out? Could it survive if California only pulled out?

* More importantly, would creating a CA and western states corps alliance that kept those corps touring exclusively in the west be good for those organizations? Would they be able to concentrate on growing the activity in the west? Would fan interest and participation actually increase? Would it be financially advantageous for these corps?

Frankly, if I were a director on the west coast with an eye on innovation, a penchant for hair-brained ideas, and an interest in the expansion of the activity, I'd be proposing such a thing. I'd probably propose a true national finals every four years but push for more localized western states approach as the standard. There is so much talent, so much money and so many kids in the west. If you look at population patterns, percentage of high schoolers and college aged people vs. the general population is considerably higher in the west than in the Midwest and east. The interest in and proliferation of youth programs is no more acute than in the west as evidenced by membership in civic, faith-based and non-profit youth programs increasing by 162% in California over the last five years. However, just as more and more youth are choosing to stay close to home for college, I can imagine that drum corps may become more attractive if it became a weekend activity. Just anecdotally speaking, I can attest to the fact that the seven teenagers I took to finals this year expressed a real interest in doing drum corps if they just didn't have to spend their entire summer sleeping on gym floors.

Yes, western states fans would miss seeing the occasional corps from other regions and not being able to compete with corps from other regions would definitely take some of the fun out of competition for the members. You have to wonder, though, how long it would take before the western states were so strong that the absence of other regions wouldn't have much impact.

I think this idea bears out in other institutions that depend on membership, recruitment and involvement. There are a lot of instances of church communities that become way too geographically spread-out, and membership begins to stagnate or suffer. In a number of cases, splitting the church and starting more localized congregations has been really successful.

On the flip side, I think fracturing DCI would seriously hurt Midwest and east corps drum corps. My uneducated observations lead me to believe that especially Midwest corps have many more factors in their favor. Taking away the presence of popular corps from the west could do nothing but harm these regions.

I know it’ll never happen…but the idea is kind of interesting to me. While DCI has made some great marketing strides, we’re not seeing a huge increase in participation. Maybe it’s time to look at something radically different.

[usmcontra]

Not sure how long you've been around the activity, but there used to be regional circuits. The first part of the summer was devoted normally to staying within your region. Every once in a while a corps would visit another region for first tour (summer was divided into two tours and not the one long one today), but even then they would stay in that one region for first tour. BD competed with SCV all first tour, Cavies, Phantom, Star and Madison all competed together, Cadets and Crossmen used to compete together, etc. You'd have the championship for each region before the corps split up and went to DCI shows wherever.

For example, a typical 1992 Drum Corps Midwest show might include Cavies, Madison, Blue Stars, Pioneer and the Railmen.

I believe DCM was the last regional circuit left, and they were dissolved just a couple of years ago.

[mfrontz]

Cadets and Cavaliers would put aside their ancient emnity, march west, and restore the Union.

[madscout96]

Cadets and Cavaliers would put aside their ancient emnity, march west, and restore the Union.

Then, General Sherman would march Spirit of JSU from Atlanta to Savannah.

[Michael Boo]

Cadets and Cavaliers would put aside their ancient emnity, march west, and restore the Union.

Remember that The Cavaliers are from the Land of Lincoln. (Official motto of the State of Illinois.)

[mikekhs]

Shouldn't Carolina Crown secede first? It worked well the last time around.

Mike

[dccorpsfan]

Shouldn't Carolina Crown secede first? It worked well the last time around.

Mike

hehehe...*smug yankee laughing*

[GGarrett]

without intending to make fun in any way, I will ask: Was this a practice paper for a Writing Course or Law class, presenting an argument and then stating your case?

[skajerk]

Shouldn't Carolina Crown secede first? It worked well the last time around.

Mike

I think you mean to say it worked for a little while and then not so good. B)

[sneakypete]

Perhaps other corps would want to go join the drum corps west circuit --

Pioneer would retrace the Lewis and Clark trail and relocate out in Oregon and the Phantom Regiment would follow them but in taking a short cut over the Sierra Nevadas their food truck would break down at Donner's Pass and we'd never hear from them again.