How much higher can fees go?

[bishtom]

..what would the value of 2800.00 be in let's say 1970's money?

[liebot]

WHO can get through tour with less than 1000 spending cash?).

Uhhh... I've definitely never spent anywhere close to $1000 on tour.

[silvertrombone]

I wonder if they are so expensive because of their break from YEA

Bingo! And I'm not talking about the game...

Please, I'm begging you...come to my home and tell my parents that.

Seriously.

PM me.

..what would the value of 2800.00 be in let's say 1970's money?

$582.25

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

OK, that's using 2006 and not 07 or 08--most recent year usable. So say about $600 +/-. How much you guys pay for corps back in the day?

OK, folks...simple fact--it takes a bookoo of dough to run a corps. Don't think that's an arguable fact. Crossmen just moved 1500+ miles to a place where DC is basically still new. Next to none of our parents whose kids marched or are marching support--tend to ask questions like, "You want to do what?" Or the ever-popular, "Why don't you work and earn money for college?"

Well, while Texas is not DC history rich, we certainly have a higher disposable income than the average! And since real estate is cheap here, the job market is white hot here, and we the State of Texas gets 6 % of all the oil money that comes out of the groud (!), we have no personal income taxes here! Which means that for all of you who have to work to march, you don't pay personal income tax in Texas like in Oklahoma and elsewhere! So while Texas has a whole slew of property and other taxes, to the hourly teenager, it doesn't impact them unless they are covering family expenses.

Crossmen has to retire some debts--fantastic! This allows them to do that--kind of odd for a DC to do that historically, you know? Kudos to them. They had 400 audition last year, they'll probably have that or more this year I'm guessing. Demand, people, works just fine in DC. Crossmen has auditionees, and those who CAN pay get the spots!

Are some talented kids going home? Yeah--but some talented kids who don't want to march anywhere but "XYZ" corps go home already. C-ya! Pay your dues and then go march where you "want" to. Otherwise, go to "THAT" band camp and try bragging in marching band next fall about that to all the guys who have corps jackets on at all-region--yeah, that will go over just grand!

Let me see: 1,000 hours of intense rehearsal time (maybe not THAT many) vs. 80 hours of less-than intense rehearsal time? Outdoor, work-on-your-tan rehearasal time with movement AND music vs. 80 hours of air-conditioned blah playing Sousa? Let me state that a bit more accurately now: Would you rather go to the beach in Maui or the city pool in Watts, South Oak Cliff, Gary, or Harlem?? Hmm...gotta think about that for a second.

We've got enough kids who can go to Rockford, Allentown, SF Bay, Rosemont, and a dozen other places every month and pay ungodly dues + travel to those places. Why not eliminate the travel and just charge the kids the amount they would pay anyways--bring the corps to the kids???

Geez, that's a great idea! Why not just bring every single DCI corps to Texas for audition weekend? We've got the kids, we've got the money, we've got the facilities--oh, god, have we got the facilities!--we've got the transportation infrastructure. I mean, if you can fill every corps in DCI in one friggin state, why bother with the rest??

OK, that's a little bit over the top, but do you get my point? I know, some of you die-hard, lifetime northerners will blast me for being some hick southerner (which we are not, thanky! we're Texans, thanks), or you'll go off on all the Texans who so proudly boast/brag about what a great place we have, and tell me that I can have it. Well, not that we needed your input in the first place, but thanks--I'll keep it. And so will your neighbor who just moved down here. And their kids, who decided that, for example, a vibrant job market in Dallas or Houston or Austin or San Antonio or 20 other metropolitan areas here are better than Socialism in Michigan! End of story. Again, over the top--sorry.

So back to the topic at hand. I suggested this very move to a certain corps and was roundly laughed off I'm sure. That's fine. Their members will be spending an average of $1,000 EACH paid to American Airlines that could have been going to said not-for profit organization. Now let me ask this brilliantly obvious question: Do you THINK that any drum corps--insert your favorite name here--could use an extra $150,000??? Again, let me think about that one.

My attitude is this: The corps are concentrated at the extreme points of the country furthest away from where the most potential members are. That is why I said right from the start that Crossmen moving here is the greatest thing ever. Because now an organization that has had financial struggles for many years now has two really, really obvious benefits on its side:

1.) The kids here have money, even if it's earned $7 at a time working at Wal Mart;

2.) The corporations that are based here danged sure have a whole bunch of the same! AT&T in San Antonio, SW and American Airlines in DFW, geez, the entire petroleum industry in Houston! Gee where do I move DCI? Corn fields with a really, really big racetrack? (OK, that's admittedly not fair) Or some place with oodles of cash that just happens to have the 2ND BIGGEST race track on the planet. Me? Forget the race track--we don't use it--too sharp a bank to march on. But the members and the cash...great idea!

Here's the deal: How many marching members, both auditionees showing up to gain "experience" as well as those actually going to march, fly to where they are going to march? Pretty big number of folks. I'd bet good money you could work out a really sweet deal with AAir and SWAir on reduced fares coming to all points Texas if they knew they would get all the business. Cheaper fares for members flying here to come down, and access to all the members who are here anyways!

Voila! You still have members having to fly in, just different members, and they get reduced fares. You have four times as many members come out for auditions because you have 1,000 times as many marching band members here, and since...

WE DON'T PAY TUITION FOR OUR HS MARCHING BAND PROGRAM PARTICIPATION, THANKS TO PROPERTY TAXES, YOU CAN CHARGE MEMBERS MORE MONEY IF YOU JUST HAVE TO!!

Oh, and facilities and weather...not much snow down here. 90 degrees last January 1st? Just insane. I mean, only SF Bay has better weather during spring/summer, but they get pretty chilly in winter, yes? How about full-out rehearsals in the outdoors from day 1--anybody interested??? November in the stadium in shorts/t's.

C'mon, guys. Crown auditions here. BD auditions here. Cavies audition here. Why not just bring the whole shootin match here, and have a whole plane come in from Columbus, OH to wherever Bluecoats audition. Bring in a couple flights from Chicago for Cavies, PR and Scouts. A couple from SF Bay for BD and SCV. Cadets from Philly and/or NYC. Fly into wherever for whichever corps you want to audition for, and boom--the whole activity benefits.

OK, I'm sure the small-minded Texan is forgetting something. Spell it out for me.

But if corps are charging $2,000 all-inclusive, they're giving up $800 times 150, plus all thos 800 times $150 audition camp dollars. Lots of money to be made. And heaven forbid, if you have 800 show up to audition for each of the top 8 or 10, have other corps at the next-closest HS and shoot folks over there: "You really need to go march 'ABC' corps so you can come back and audition for 'XYZ' next year--they're right up the street at Rival High School."

Hell, DFW and Houston either one could host the entire activity for auditions and then spread out over the entire state for rehearsal camps if you want to stick around.

I'm babbling now, and I'm sure you've all got lots to add.

[comeonfhqwhgads]

there's a difference between Canton and Columbus... namely a two-hour drive i'm going to have to take. ._.

and toledo/lexington is 3 1/2.

why can't Capital be back already ._.

[Imafrayedknot]

--FYI-- Sponsorship Tax information

This is from the Phantom Regiment website:

"First Option: The first option allows you to select someone from the member listing page and designate a donation directly to that member. That member will be your ambassador for the upcoming season. Per IRS Publication 526 a donation given in this manner is not tax deductible.

Second Option: The second option is to send a donation which will be put into a fund for all members of the Ambassadors Program. Your donation will be allocated to a member from the member listing page (and to one in a specific section if you so choose). Per IRS Publication 526 a donation given in this manner is tax deductible."

[Tank]

Eastern Music Festival

Tuition & Fees

2007 fees

Tuition $1880

Health Services & Activity Fee $150

Security Deposit (refundable) $90

Cleaning Fee $10

Private Lessons $200

Quaker Card Fee $15

Room & Board $1950

http://www.easternmusicfestival.org/admissions.php

Will Wynton Marsalis be giving master classes to the Crossmen? Can we expect dynamite, top-rate literature, including major works by Stravinsky, Hindemith, Elgar, et al.? Will each member of the Crossmen be receiving a one-hour lesson each week?

[SACMellos2010]

WOW how times have changed and I agree with most that is very expensive. Add on that the loss of opportunity to earn an income, even if it is part time, and you have a very significant cost to march.

The experience is unlike anything else you will ever experience but I can see why the number of corps and thus number of participants continues to fall off.

[rudi man]

Bingo! And I'm not talking about the game...

PM me.

$582.25

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

OK, that's using 2006 and not 07 or 08--most recent year usable. So say about $600 +/-. How much you guys pay for corps back in the day?

OK, folks...simple fact--it takes a bookoo of dough to run a corps. Don't think that's an arguable fact. Crossmen just moved 1500+ miles to a place where DC is basically still new. Next to none of our parents whose kids marched or are marching support--tend to ask questions like, "You want to do what?" Or the ever-popular, "Why don't you work and earn money for college?"

Well, while Texas is not DC history rich, we certainly have a higher disposable income than the average! And since real estate is cheap here, the job market is white hot here, and we the State of Texas gets 6 % of all the oil money that comes out of the groud (!), we have no personal income taxes here! Which means that for all of you who have to work to march, you don't pay personal income tax in Texas like in Oklahoma and elsewhere! So while Texas has a whole slew of property and other taxes, to the hourly teenager, it doesn't impact them unless they are covering family expenses.

Crossmen has to retire some debts--fantastic! This allows them to do that--kind of odd for a DC to do that historically, you know? Kudos to them. They had 400 audition last year, they'll probably have that or more this year I'm guessing. Demand, people, works just fine in DC. Crossmen has auditionees, and those who CAN pay get the spots!

Are some talented kids going home? Yeah--but some talented kids who don't want to march anywhere but "XYZ" corps go home already. C-ya! Pay your dues and then go march where you "want" to. Otherwise, go to "THAT" band camp and try bragging in marching band next fall about that to all the guys who have corps jackets on at all-region--yeah, that will go over just grand!

Let me see: 1,000 hours of intense rehearsal time (maybe not THAT many) vs. 80 hours of less-than intense rehearsal time? Outdoor, work-on-your-tan rehearasal time with movement AND music vs. 80 hours of air-conditioned blah playing Sousa? Let me state that a bit more accurately now: Would you rather go to the beach in Maui or the city pool in Watts, South Oak Cliff, Gary, or Harlem?? Hmm...gotta think about that for a second.

We've got enough kids who can go to Rockford, Allentown, SF Bay, Rosemont, and a dozen other places every month and pay ungodly dues + travel to those places. Why not eliminate the travel and just charge the kids the amount they would pay anyways--bring the corps to the kids???

Geez, that's a great idea! Why not just bring every single DCI corps to Texas for audition weekend? We've got the kids, we've got the money, we've got the facilities--oh, god, have we got the facilities!--we've got the transportation infrastructure. I mean, if you can fill every corps in DCI in one friggin state, why bother with the rest??

OK, that's a little bit over the top, but do you get my point? I know, some of you die-hard, lifetime northerners will blast me for being some hick southerner (which we are not, thanky! we're Texans, thanks), or you'll go off on all the Texans who so proudly boast/brag about what a great place we have, and tell me that I can have it. Well, not that we needed your input in the first place, but thanks--I'll keep it. And so will your neighbor who just moved down here. And their kids, who decided that, for example, a vibrant job market in Dallas or Houston or Austin or San Antonio or 20 other metropolitan areas here are better than Socialism in Michigan! End of story. Again, over the top--sorry.

So back to the topic at hand. I suggested this very move to a certain corps and was roundly laughed off I'm sure. That's fine. Their members will be spending an average of $1,000 EACH paid to American Airlines that could have been going to said not-for profit organization. Now let me ask this brilliantly obvious question: Do you THINK that any drum corps--insert your favorite name here--could use an extra $150,000??? Again, let me think about that one.

My attitude is this: The corps are concentrated at the extreme points of the country furthest away from where the most potential members are. That is why I said right from the start that Crossmen moving here is the greatest thing ever. Because now an organization that has had financial struggles for many years now has two really, really obvious benefits on its side:

1.) The kids here have money, even if it's earned $7 at a time working at Wal Mart;

2.) The corporations that are based here danged sure have a whole bunch of the same! AT&T in San Antonio, SW and American Airlines in DFW, geez, the entire petroleum industry in Houston! Gee where do I move DCI? Corn fields with a really, really big racetrack? (OK, that's admittedly not fair) Or some place with oodles of cash that just happens to have the 2ND BIGGEST race track on the planet. Me? Forget the race track--we don't use it--too sharp a bank to march on. But the members and the cash...great idea!

Here's the deal: How many marching members, both auditionees showing up to gain "experience" as well as those actually going to march, fly to where they are going to march? Pretty big number of folks. I'd bet good money you could work out a really sweet deal with AAir and SWAir on reduced fares coming to all points Texas if they knew they would get all the business. Cheaper fares for members flying here to come down, and access to all the members who are here anyways!

Voila! You still have members having to fly in, just different members, and they get reduced fares. You have four times as many members come out for auditions because you have 1,000 times as many marching band members here, and since...

WE DON'T PAY TUITION FOR OUR HS MARCHING BAND PROGRAM PARTICIPATION, THANKS TO PROPERTY TAXES, YOU CAN CHARGE MEMBERS MORE MONEY IF YOU JUST HAVE TO!!

Oh, and facilities and weather...not much snow down here. 90 degrees last January 1st? Just insane. I mean, only SF Bay has better weather during spring/summer, but they get pretty chilly in winter, yes? How about full-out rehearsals in the outdoors from day 1--anybody interested??? November in the stadium in shorts/t's.

C'mon, guys. Crown auditions here. BD auditions here. Cavies audition here. Why not just bring the whole shootin match here, and have a whole plane come in from Columbus, OH to wherever Bluecoats audition. Bring in a couple flights from Chicago for Cavies, PR and Scouts. A couple from SF Bay for BD and SCV. Cadets from Philly and/or NYC. Fly into wherever for whichever corps you want to audition for, and boom--the whole activity benefits.

OK, I'm sure the small-minded Texan is forgetting something. Spell it out for me.

But if corps are charging $2,000 all-inclusive, they're giving up $800 times 150, plus all thos 800 times $150 audition camp dollars. Lots of money to be made. And heaven forbid, if you have 800 show up to audition for each of the top 8 or 10, have other corps at the next-closest HS and shoot folks over there: "You really need to go march 'ABC' corps so you can come back and audition for 'XYZ' next year--they're right up the street at Rival High School."

Hell, DFW and Houston either one could host the entire activity for auditions and then spread out over the entire state for rehearsal camps if you want to stick around.

I'm babbling now, and I'm sure you've all got lots to add.

Could you please repeat that ?

[Taylor]

Will Wynton Marsalis be giving master classes to the Crossmen? Can we expect dynamite, top-rate literature, including major works by Stravinsky, Hindemith, Elgar, et al.? Will each member of the Crossmen be receiving a one-hour lesson each week?

I learned more about how to be a dynamic and effective teacher in the Crossmen than I did as a music ed. major in college. Besides, the music festival linked above is 5 weeks. Drum corps tours last longer.

Do I think this is a number that is too high? Yes. Would I pay it to be in the Crossmen again if I were young enough? Yes. It's hard to put a price on my experience with this corps.

[drewbugler]

Will Wynton Marsalis be giving master classes to the Crossmen? Can we expect dynamite, top-rate literature, including major works by Stravinsky, Hindemith, Elgar, et al.? Will each member of the Crossmen be receiving a one-hour lesson each week?

You get Al Chez...you get good lit...and you get a 15 hour lesson each day.