atlvalet Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 My tour fee for Bluecoats in 1992 was (I think) $500. I heard other corps around that time were $800-almost $2000. If Cadets is only $600ish, then tour fees have gone down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legalhack Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 (edited) My tour fee for Bluecoats in 1992 was (I think) $500. I heard other corps around that time were $800-almost $2000. If Cadets is only $600ish, then tour fees have gone down. Sorry I was unclear. I didn't mean to write that the Cadets tour fees are currently $600ish; they are much more. Instead I was adjusting the 1980 fees for inflation to make the point that, although fees have increased in real price (and nominal price), it's been a long time since upper echelon junior corps charged very low fees (i.e., next to nothing). Edited September 22, 2007 by Legalhack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legalhack Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 (edited) if you want to compare that to other inflation, in 1980 that $250 was a year's tuition at the Catholic school i attended. now it is close to $4,000 i believe. everything costs more today. food, gas, insurance and instructors. while keeping things financially reasonable so everyone can participate is a great goal, it really is impossible to see fees return to a level of yesteryear. not trying to swat a hornets nest ~ just trying to put things in an honest perspective. I wasn't railing against inflation, I was simply trying to point out that tour fees have been expensive in real dollar terms for quite some time. Since the corps now provide food and housing for a higher percentage of the summer (and tend to provide more food per day when compared to the 80's), it's not clear (to me given the paltry bit of data I have) whether or not nominal fee increases over time have exceeded inflation. Edited September 22, 2007 by Legalhack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 I wasn't railing against inflation. i didn't think you were. i was attempting to provide you with an additional example. i do not believe that they have exceeded inflation. in fact, for all that a touring drum corps provides, i consider it a bargain still. a perfect example would be to look at what a sleep away camp charges for a 2 week session. yes it may be that the "more privileged kids" get to go, but how many of them aren't really kids anymore in the true sense of the word? how many of them work during the rest of the year to contribute to their dues? my guess would be many, if not the majority. maybe being a bit younger than some here i see it differently. i don't see where kids starting in band and finding corps through band is a bad thing either. that doesn't automatically lump me into the "bring woodwinds into corps" crowd. what it does mean is that given what kids and young adults have to work with today, very few local corps in their area, their only ability to understand a marching and competitive performance group comes from marching band. why should anyone look down on them for where they got their start? it doesn't sound like back in the day people looked down on the hoodlums who came of the street to join corps or were ordered by the authorities to join a drum corps. yet to read some posts, here and in other threads, it sounds like that is exactly what people are doing to marching band kids. it makes no sense to me. if anyone is working hard to do their part in any organization, should it matter where it is they came from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 i didn't think you were. i was attempting to provide you with an additional example. i do not believe that they have exceeded inflation. in fact, for all that a touring drum corps provides, i consider it a bargain still. a perfect example would be to look at what a sleep away camp charges for a 2 week session. yes it may be that the "more privileged kids" get to go, but how many of them aren't really kids anymore in the true sense of the word? how many of them work during the rest of the year to contribute to their dues? my guess would be many, if not the majority. maybe being a bit younger than some here i see it differently. i don't see where kids starting in band and finding corps through band is a bad thing either. that doesn't automatically lump me into the "bring woodwinds into corps" crowd. what it does mean is that given what kids and young adults have to work with today, very few local corps in their area, their only ability to understand a marching and competitive performance group comes from marching band. why should anyone look down on them for where they got their start? it doesn't sound like back in the day people looked down on the hoodlums who came of the street to join corps or were ordered by the authorities to join a drum corps. yet to read some posts, here and in other threads, it sounds like that is exactly what people are doing to marching band kids. it makes no sense to me. if anyone is working hard to do their part in any organization, should it matter where it is they came from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOReason Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Maynard had narration. . . just saying.Maynard also had saxophones.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Maynard also had saxophones.... Maybe that's what killed him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martybucs Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 I agree that there has been a coincidence of the increase in corps dues (and/or tour fees, tuition, etc.), a shift from some traditions and an increased relative involvement on the part of band kids. However, I think increased monetary requirements and an increased percentage of band kids marching in corps are symptoms rather than causes. The nationalization of drum corps and corps' indpendence from parent organizations may be more likely causes.When corps divroced themselves from local organizations whose goals centered on the betterment of immediate communities, it "freed" corps to become a meritocracies in selecting members but it also may have made such a shift inevitable. As the corps' identities shifted from "arm of XXXX serving the people of YYYY" to "an organization that exists to compete with the best on a nation-wide basis," the incentive to select the best trained members increased as did the pressure to spend more on staff, travel, equipment, etc. Nation-wide exposure to drum corps (through PBS and the VCR) also increased the talent pool from which the most prominent units could draw. The result was a crowding out of local talent that accellerated as corps at all levels folded. Thus, national touring, national exposure and independence may have been a triple whammy for underprivileged kids. If it existed, this triple whammy came from decisions that corps staffs made in the in the 70s and later. If this was so, band kids who marched in corps incidentally benefitted but were only a cause in the sense that directors and caption heads could draw on them. This point of view, to me, kind of indicates that DCI had a role in the demise of neighborhood or local drum corps. Expect a reply from MikeD stating that local corps just folded because no one wanted to do it anymore. I've been back, (I'd say, "and forth", but MikeD only has one direction :P ), to this issue many times. I still believe, as I've stated hundreds of times that DCI killed neighborhood drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martybucs Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 All of the goodness is offset by.....Haggis. :P Now, have you ever tasted Haggis? It's quite tasty. I've been waiting for the introduction of, "Stove Top Haggis"mmmmmmmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Have you worked with teens lately? They are all troubled. More drama than all the TV shows and movies. They all want to be adults at 12. No disrespect intended.My point is drum and bugle corps use to consist of troubled teens being taken off the streets. Being guided and taught discipline and respect. Taught from scratch how to play an interment. For free! Taught by instructors who did it for practically nothing. Just for the love of it. Now those kids aren't afforded this opportunity any more. That loss pains me! Now junior corps consist primarily of kids who've been in bands all thru school. Kids with families with resources. Financial support. FINANCIAL ! Don't get me started on that one! It's all about the almighty score! Not enough variety in instrumentation! Lets incorporate some woodwinds and saxophones! What is that? This is drum and bugle corps! We are slowly loosing, what drum corps is/was, all about. It's history and traditions. The underprivileged kids! Every single one of us in here has an opinion on this subject, so don't go disrespecting me for having one of my own. For feeling passionately about what's been lost. BTW This is a cool subject for debate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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