Are We Becoming a Family Un-friendly Activity?

[Michael Boo]

The only difference here is that Garfield hasn't yet quit, like Star. By the way, loved the 93 show, and didn't agree with the idiots booing it then, even though I marched under your director and couldn't stand the mere mention of his name.

He sat right next to me at my table at a wedding reception today. I was sandwiched between him and Tom Blair, with Donnie VanDoren across from us. It was nice to be around so many who have done so much for drum corps.

I don't agree that Star "quit." Star evolved...into Brass Theater and then Blast. What Star became has reached millions of people around the world, introducing top-level marching pageantry to the masses. I've spoken with people who have started coming to drum corps shows because they were turned on to drum corps through Blast.

[Legalhack]

In responding to another thread about the hashmarks incident, I become aware of how saddened I was by the mob mentality that seems to be more and more accepted and, to some degree, the rule at DCI events. This should be a friendly disagreement and discussion about what drum corps is and should be, but it has become unfriendly to a point where fans for unfavored corps feels fear for supporting them and supposed grown-up, "adult" males think it will be clever of them to insult 135 kids with a taunting sign.

So, let's pretend I'm the mother of a new member of Pacific Crest and I'm all excited to watch Div I finals with my son ... and all of this is going on around me!!! And I experience a corps getting booed, geered, insulted, gossiped about, etc. Do I come back? Do I allow my son to return to Pacific Crest next year knowing this is what he might experience if his corps does something unpopular?

All these same supposed "adult" males (there certainly are some females involved as well, but the majority and loudest are primarily males) are also the first ones to point at everyone ELSE when it comes to the reason that there are less corps and it's hard to find kids to march. Maybe if YOU made it a more friendly place where different opions are allowed and discussions about them are civil then, maybe, more first-timers and "checking it out for next year" parents will encourage their kids to participate.

Act like adults out there DC fans!!!

Any time you perform in front of crowds, getting booed is a possibility. Dylan was booed when he went electric, Parisians booed when the "Rite of Spring" was first performed and, of course, the occassional marching unit has been booed.

On the other hand, even the most boorish drum corps fan is choir boy when compared to soccer hooligans.

If a parent is thinking about letting their kid go on tour, my guess is that they would be (and should be) more concerned with safety and supervision rather than with how people that will never get close to the kid react to the performance. If the possibility of getting booed is an issue, what about the possibility of getting called out by instructors?

[RonnySCV22]

If the possibility of getting booed is an issue, what about the possibility of getting called out by instructors?

Don't instructors call you out to help you improve? Booing isn't exactly constructive...

[Piper]

Don't instructors call you out to help you improve? Booing isn't exactly constructive...

I'm not so sure about that one. Instructors tend to have very strong vocal chords. If you do something that puts them in a twist, it doesn't take long to find out.

[onceuponatime]

I think that rehearsing until you drop in pursuit of excellence constitutes preparing for life.

I think that learning to think about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how the lessons being learned are applicable to your future constitutes preparing for life.

I think that exercising the self-discipline, motivation, and self-sacrifice necessary to march drum corps constitutes preparing for life.

I think that learning to accept personal responsibility for whatever you do or don't do constitutes preparing for life.

I think that accepting responsibility to a group, and the necessity to pursue personal excellence to serve both yourself and others in the group, constitutes preparing for life.

I think that knowing how to conduct yourself with dignity and self-respect constitutes preparing for life.

I think that learning to be mature and thoughtful in your interactions with others constitutes preparing for life.

Yes, I think that in some unnecessary and distasteful way young people trying their best to do their best while being disrespected for any reason learn a life-lesson as well. I think they learn there are people in the world who don't respect others, and who believe through some kind of twisted logic that they are "preparing young people for life" by conducting themselves in a manner that would indicate that they themselves need to learn some lessons.

Neither differences of opinion, nor "we're not as bad as" comparisons, nor outlandish arguments that bad behavior is kindly intentioned as a "life lesson," can camouflage the fact that disrespect for others is wrong. It's that simple.

Yes, it's a hard world out there full of unpleasantness, and we need to prepare our young people to not only face it...but hopefully, to make it better. Our goal, I would like to believe, is to ensure that the lessons they're learning during their years in drum corps will help to make them better people than those they will be replacing in the world. Somehow I doubt that bad behavior from spectators in the stands at any drum corps show will provide the "preparation for life" that will help to accomplish that purpose.

[Dave]

On the contrary: that sort of behavior is a part of life, and it's not going away any time soon. Better that kids learn how to deal with it than that they become sensitive hothouse flowers that wilt at the slightest negativity.

[CuriousMe]

On the contrary: that sort of behavior is a part of life, and it's not going away any time soon. Better that kids learn how to deal with it than that they become sensitive hothouse flowers that wilt at the slightest negativity.

What a crock, I'm sorry but when in your life have you had to deal with a hostile crowd booing you?

I've worked for everything from international corporations to local nonprofits, I've worked in multple countries and with very diverse socio-economic groups. I've never had to stand in front of a booing mob to accomplish these things. Since the members are not football (soccer) players in Italy, in the real world, that's not acceptable behavior.

Do kids need to learn that there are people in the world that don't like what they do....sure, do they need to stand in front that kind of disrespect to learn that....no.

[thirdcoast]

In responding to another thread about the hashmarks incident, I become aware of how saddened I was by the mob mentality that seems to be more and more accepted and, to some degree, the rule at DCI events. This should be a friendly disagreement and discussion about what drum corps is and should be, but it has become unfriendly to a point where fans for unfavored corps feels fear for supporting them and supposed grown-up, "adult" males think it will be clever of them to insult 135 kids with a taunting sign.

So, let's pretend I'm the mother of a new member of Pacific Crest and I'm all excited to watch Div I finals with my son ... and all of this is going on around me!!! And I experience a corps getting booed, geered, insulted, gossiped about, etc. Do I come back? Do I allow my son to return to Pacific Crest next year knowing this is what he might experience if his corps does something unpopular?

All these same supposed "adult" males (there certainly are some females involved as well, but the majority and loudest are primarily males) are also the first ones to point at everyone ELSE when it comes to the reason that there are less corps and it's hard to find kids to march. Maybe if YOU made it a more friendly place where different opions are allowed and discussions about them are civil then, maybe, more first-timers and "checking it out for next year" parents will encourage their kids to participate.

Act like adults out there DC fans!!!

I personally feel people want to see -------- ------ live from 84 instead of what they have become now. It in my own opionion, mine not anybody elses, is 100percent better than anything they do now. I hope he gets it one day. We do.

[Dave]

What a crock, I'm sorry but when in your life have you had to deal with a hostile crowd booing you?

I've worked for everything from international corporations to local nonprofits, I've worked in multple countries and with very diverse socio-economic groups. I've never had to stand in front of a booing mob to accomplish these things. Since the members are not football (soccer) players in Italy, in the real world, that's not acceptable behavior.

Do kids need to learn that there are people in the world that don't like what they do....sure, do they need to stand in front that kind of disrespect to learn that....no.

I perform for a living, and I've been in front of all sorts of crowds. It's not simply "dealing with booing crowds = dealing with booing crowds," it's "dealing with booing crowds = dealing with any kind of hostility in a professional manner." I'm not saying all kids need to be booed to learn this, but it's hardly going to damage them for life. It's a part of being a performer, like it or not.

[HoltonH178]

snip

Great post!