Fans Not Clapping at the End of a Corps Show ?

[markdewine]

Okay, to all those who posted who enjoy "the clap"....Does clapping really help prevent corps from disappearing? And if so, is clapping retro-active? Because if it is, I say we all clap a whole bunch, and let's see if we can get 27 to come back. Or the Muchachos...

Next, mandatory clapping, regardless of the quality or quantity of those who are performing. Kinda like smiling and hugging your kid, and saying, "Why, that's just wonderful Johnnie!", when he comes home with a handful of "Fs" on his report card.

And finally, if we can somehow get everyone to clap for every corps....will there be a "minimum number of claps per person, (per corps)"? MNCPP(PC)

We may as well set the parameters now, so we're all on the same page. Otherwise, some snot-nosed cry baby, pee pee pants, will whine if the other corps gets 6 more CCP(PC) than their corps. b**bs

[Dale Bari]

If the corps was good enough that you sat thru their entire show then you got something out of it.

When you say "sat thru their entire show", Jim, do you mean that I didn't get up and leave in the middle of their show? Or turned my back to them? Or struck up a conversation with the person next to me?

Wouldn't those be also considered ... rude?

Etiquette requires that we not disrupt anyone during the performance. So, once we're in our seats for the start of the show, we stay there for the duration, whether we want to stay or not. So, if the corps was really bad, how did we still get something out of it?

I suppose that if someone was so "rude" as not to want to clap for the corps when it finished, he would also be so rude as to walk out of the performance. ^0^ (That is the equation for some of you, is it not?)

[rudi man]

Clapping for the the work performers put out even when it's show one doesn't like is NOT being dishonest nor is it a sign of condescension. It's a sign of genuine appreciation, and it's the least they've earned. I'm just presupposing that the performers put their all into their performance which is the most I could ever ask from them. They earn every bit of the applause I give even if the show isn't my cup of tea.

Your avatar scares me I had a dream that the demon Santa was chasing my old ### and I only have one leg b**bs

Sorry off topic couldn't resist .

Edited October 23, 2007 by rudi man

[JimF-LowBari]

When you say "sat thru their entire show", Jim, do you mean that I didn't get up and leave in the middle of their show? Or turned my back to them? Or struck up a conversation with the person next to me?

Wouldn't those be also considered ... rude?

Etiquette requires that we not disrupt anyone during the performance. So, once we're in our seats for the start of the show, we stay there for the duration, whether we want to stay or not. So, if the corps was really bad, how did we still get something out of it?

I suppose that if someone was so "rude" as not to want to clap for the corps when it finished, he would also be so rude as to walk out of the performance. ^0^ (That is the equation for some of you, is it not?)

OK, that's what I get for posting before my 12th cup of coffee :P

Scratch "sat thru their entire show" to "paid attention to their entire show" or better yet "enjoyed parts of their show". Yep, been there, done that Dale still remember watching the mayflies kill themselves at the lights at Hershey in the early 90s as the shows on the field bored me to tears. Wellllll... make that bored me enough I stayed away for 10 years. B)

Edit (after more coffee :sshh: ) : My earlier post was directed towards the people who said they don't applaud if the show "wasn't great" or "didn't move them". Hey, I can enjoy corps that aren't that great and show my appreciation for the entertainment by applauding. I don't sit there and think "they're not going to score above a .... so screw 'em".

Edited October 23, 2007 by JimF-3rdBari

[A27Lancer]

There is one top 12 corps that bores me to tears. Don't get their music, hate their silk designs, drill is unexciting. I applaud the kids' efforts. Their staff can take a hike. Give a golf clap at least. Your palms can take it.

[sday88]

i understand that its within people's rights to not clap. i just dont see how many can have that much of a lack of empathy, for the sake of, as others have said "applauding kids' efforts."

youve followed the activity for a good while now, have a specific mental standard set for the mandarins, and were underwhelmed, so you dont clap so as to go about "voicing" your disapproval with what you were presented.

tripleforte, people like him.....thanks. i perform for people like you to the best of my mental and physical abilities on a nightly basis, and im appreciative of people like yourself who reward me for my efforts with audibly and visibly returned appreciation. i see people like you in the stands every time i perform, and my summers truly wouldnt be the same without it. among the many other reasons i march, how many people can say that they've gotten thousands of people to cheer for something theyve done? not many, and its a thrill to be able to accomplish this on a nightly basis. my '06 show is a representation of the significance of this. :)

as a performer, what do you want me to think of people who say that they dont applaud drum corps? ive been in a top drum corps for a few years now, but marched in a div 1 semifinalist, and a first-year div 2 semifinalist. ive performed at shows where there were 50 people in the stands (dca shows in '03 in the south, on the worst grass imaginable....rough), and 35 of them bothered to respond at all after me and 89 other members entertained you as much as we could that day. it sucks. it doesnt feel good to get the impression that youre wasting your time, when YOU SPEND EVERY WAKING MINUTE OF YOUR TIME FOR THREE MONTHS trying to clean something that your staff deems as entertaining and competitive.

Jared, you and I obviously disagree on this, and that's cool. Maybe my reason for not clapping is a little different than others. As I have said before, I just do not like to outwardly express my feelings that way. I do not have a "lack of empathy" nor am I "voicing my disapproval" with what I saw and heard. I find it interesting that some performing members feel the need to be "validated" for their performance. That is why I said earlier that I could care less if I ended a performance to the sound of silence. I guess I just didn't need that validation that what I just did was to the best of my ability after three months of solid practice. Just like after a day's work I don't expect my boss to come up to me before I leave and praise me for a good job. Or when I was in school I didn't expect the professor to shake my hand after every class and tell me I had an excellent class.

Here's a hypothetical situation for all of you clappers: Let's say there is a top tier drum corps that comes out one season and has a completely offensive show? I mean everything from Nazi symbols in their drill, to "burning" crosses effects, to someone tearing up and stomping on the American flag, to very offensive language being broadcast using narration, to whatever else that would simply offend every single person in the stands. But yet they perform the show literally flawlessly on finals night. The drum line plays stuff that one would think impossible, tenors players playing like they have four arms, snare lines playing stuff so fast you'd think they were in fast motion. Horn lines that were playing stuff so high, fast and loud, along with musically perfect stuff. The guard is doing stuff so amazing you can't even believe your eyes. And drill that was so perfect that if you slowed it down with closeups you still couldn't see any dirt. Would you then still give them applause? Yes, you would HAVE to, you command it. After all, the kids just performed a flawless show. I realize that my example is pretty much ridiculous, but so is the fact that you are demanding that I clap even though I choose not to for whatever reason. I understand that both sides of this argument is just beating a dead horse, I just don't like to be told that I HAVE to do something when I don't.

[bluublood]

Jared, you and I obviously disagree on this, and that's cool. Maybe my reason for not clapping is a little different than others. As I have said before, I just do not like to outwardly express my feelings that way. I do not have a "lack of empathy" nor am I "voicing my disapproval" with what I saw and heard. I find it interesting that some performing members feel the need to be "validated" for their performance. That is why I said earlier that I could care less if I ended a performance to the sound of silence. I guess I just didn't need that validation that what I just did was to the best of my ability after three months of solid practice. Just like after a day's work I don't expect my boss to come up to me before I leave and praise me for a good job. Or when I was in school I didn't expect the professor to shake my hand after every class and tell me I had an excellent class.

Here's a hypothetical situation for all of you clappers: Let's say there is a top tier drum corps that comes out one season and has a completely offensive show? I mean everything from Nazi symbols in their drill, to "burning" crosses effects, to someone tearing up and stomping on the American flag, to very offensive language being broadcast using narration, to whatever else that would simply offend every single person in the stands. But yet they perform the show literally flawlessly on finals night. The drum line plays stuff that one would think impossible, tenors players playing like they have four arms, snare lines playing stuff so fast you'd think they were in fast motion. Horn lines that were playing stuff so high, fast and loud, along with musically perfect stuff. The guard is doing stuff so amazing you can't even believe your eyes. And drill that was so perfect that if you slowed it down with closeups you still couldn't see any dirt. Would you then still give them applause? Yes, you would HAVE to, you command it. After all, the kids just performed a flawless show. I realize that my example is pretty much ridiculous, but so is the fact that you are demanding that I clap even though I choose not to for whatever reason. I understand that both sides of this argument is just beating a dead horse, I just don't like to be told that I HAVE to do something when I don't.

In regards to your second paragraph. A corps would NEVER do ANYTHING like that. That has to be the worst hypothetical situation I've ever heard. I'm for applauding effort, but God knows no one would applaud that. We, by your logic, should applause Hitler for the Holocaust... sure he offended everyone... but #### did he put a ton of effort into it.

Maybe if audiences consisted of anti-Christs and spawns of Satan would your hypothetical situation be viable.

Edited October 23, 2007 by bluublood

[sday88]

In regards to your second paragraph. A corps would NEVER do ANYTHING like that. That has to be the worst hypothetical situation I've ever heard. I'm for applauding effort, but God knows no one would applaud that. We, by your logic, should applause Hitler for the Holocaust... sure he offended everyone... but #### did he put a ton of effort into it.

Maybe if audiences consisted of anti-Christs and spawns of Satan would your hypothetical situation be viable.

That's why I said my example was ridiculous. But according to the "clappers", you'd have to clap after the performance because the kids put in the effort.

[bluublood]

That's why I said my example was ridiculous. But according to the "clappers", you'd have to clap after the performance because the kids put in the effort.

That's the idea. Unless you genuinely they're out there half-a**ing it.

[glory]

This thread proves something most of us believe implicitly: DCP isn’t representative of the drum corps community.

In all the shows I’ve been to through the years, I’ve yet to sit next to someone who didn’t clap at least politely after each corps. Sure, there was a friend to absented himself for the BD Dance Derby show. And there was someone last year who made an exit before Cadets. And there’s always someone who in her haste to make it to the bathroom and back might not take the time to applaud. But in all these shows in all those cities in so many states, through all these years sitting next to so many different people, I can’t remember a single person near me who chose not to acknowledge the effort in some fashion as a matter of course.

And here on DCP all these volunteers for silence will raise their hands where they won’t clap their palms. We have here all these guardians of the first amendment, these defenders of conscience fighting for their right to self-expression by choosing to miss the bigger picture of performance and accomplishment on the field.

All I can say is I’m glad that DCP represents more the extreme and narrow edge of our community. Because if that view prevailed, the drum corps experience would be a lot less rewarding for the performers and for the rest of us.

HH