Vanguard07 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I personally loved retreats and when it was done away with in 2005 I felt ripped off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob J Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 As an "old" guy, I gotta tell you that one of the highlights of my days in drum corps, was marching into the Olympic stadium in Montreal, next to all my drum corps "heros". 27th Lancers, Phantom, Madison, Spirit, all the rest! They even had that cool music playing from the '76 Olympics! Kind of sad that today's kids are missing out on that. Sure they have retreat at Finals, but the frame of reference is different without never having done a retreat the whole season long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skewerz Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 (edited) I agree there. Would it help if there was no equipment? Would that defeat the purpose? If no one plays victory concerts, could it work? If you had to get retreat over in 15 minutes, what would you do? it would defeat the purpose. MY reason for liking retreat is the corps playing their corps song, and then the drumline playing cadence as they march past the winner...Do people nowadays that march even know about "Conquest", or "Danny Boy"? An important part of drum corps is the tradition. (oops..there's that bad word again) Another important part of drum corps is the fans. It seems a lot of people are forgetting these 2 little words. Without tradition, it isn't drum corps. Without fans...well...it's band camp. Edited February 15, 2008 by skewerz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 it would defeat the purpose. MY reason for liking retreat is the corps playing their corps song, and then the drumline playing cadence as they march past the winner...Do people nowadays that march even know about "Conquest", or "Danny Boy"? An important part of drum corps is the tradition. (oops..there's that bad word again) Another important part of drum corps is the fans. It seems a lot of people are forgetting these 2 little words. Without tradition, it isn't drum corps. Without fans...well...it's band camp. For this, I was thinking about in-season retreats. Not anything at finals, of course. That said, I don't mind the objection. Since the elimination of retreats has generally been associated with a logistical change, it might have mnore weight if a logistically-improved option existed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Do we really have proof that the kids need more sleep today than they did ten years ago? Are they really traveling further between show and practice sites than they were ten years ago? I can remember getting into practice sites at 4 AM when I marched. We didn't cry about it. We slept for 3 more hours and then got on the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 (edited) Do we really have proof that the kids need more sleep today than they did ten years ago? Are they really traveling further between show and practice sites than they were ten years ago? I can remember getting into practice sites at 4 AM when I marched. We didn't cry about it. We slept for 3 more hours and then got on the field. Same thing happens now and the kids don't cry about it. Thing is, exhaustion was a bad idea then and it's a bad idea now. It's probably a worse idea now as the drill demand increases. I can get behind changes that have a tangible benefit for the members. Used properly, cutting retreat can do that. My question is - is it being used properly? Edited February 16, 2008 by kusankusho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 (edited) My question is - is it being used properly? I suppose that is my question as well. I've heard contradicting claims made from people that are currently inside the activity. Like so many of the other incremental changes that have taken DCI to a bad place, this change is supported by rhetoric and is short on hard data (that I have seen). If the removal of retreat truly has to do with travel distances/times, there should be ample evidence to support it. Without that, it looks and feels like just one more self-serving change for the activity without regard for the fans. When I was at Finals in 1993 and 1994, I would've stayed all night for each corps to play off and watch the champions take the field one last time. It shocks me when I find there are "hardcore drum corps fans" that don't even know what retreat is. Edited February 16, 2008 by Tekneek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I suppose that is my question as well. I've heard contradicting claims made from people that are currently inside the activity. Like so many of the other incremental changes that have taken DCI to a bad place, this change is supported by rhetoric and is short on hard data (that I have seen). If the removal of retreat truly has to do with travel distances/times, there should be ample evidence to support it. Without that, it looks and feels like just one more self-serving change for the activity without regard for the fans. When I was at Finals in 1993 and 1994, I would've stayed all night for each corps to play off and watch the champions take the field one last time. It shocks me when I find there are "hardcore drum corps fans" that don't even know what retreat is. Whether the corps make smart decisions is up to the corps. The biggest factor was not sleep time. The biggest rationale for eliminating retreats was for corps that would go on at 5-6pm didn't have to be unproductive for 4 hours. You can't rehearse on site. A corps can then leave, move on to their next site, and be ready earlier, and practice earlier. As for sleep, as a TD, the rule was (and I didn't make this, it was the director) 7 hours of sleep. Bus sleep counts for half. Thus a 6 hour drive, and you get 4 on the floor. A 2 hour drive got you 6 on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euponitone Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 One reason i miss retreat, is that when finals comes around, its the first time any corps has ever done it. Watch the end of retreat from 2005 - its pretty embarrassing that a corps that broke all the records didnt know where to put their horns half the time... Obviously we worked on it a little, but without any real show experience, its just not the same.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuriousMe Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Retreat has never been my favorite moment of drum corps. I do like the idea behind plyaing to the winner and all that stuff, but I must admit as a MM the only retreat I wanted to do was at finals. As an audience member, I'm not a huge retreat fan either but have less of an opinion as I don't have to stay for it if I don't want to . That being said, even as a MM I think I would agree that retreats were a good thing for regionals as well as finals. It's one more thing to make regionals a bigger deal than the other shows and would give the members a chance to practice retreat before finals. As far as the idea proposed about retreat without equipment. One of my favorite retreats (a very short list, I assure you ) was one we did without equipment. I think we had a longer than usual bus ride or something that night so they wanted to pack up the truck during retreat so we could get out of there right after we came off the field. Anyway, instead of playing something before leaving the field, we sang our corps song. I thought it was great, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it as well. Peace, Cathie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.