K-Swiss Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Both of my directors are corps alums (director from madison, asst. director from Southwind), so they're always talking about corps. During transitional times (going from marching to concert), we just watch the finals DVD and Blast and all that. Everyone in my band knows about DCI, and our color guard and drumline both compete in WGI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColtFoutz Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I'm going into a local high school the day after tomorrow after making arrangements with the band director to spend the period talking about drum corps and WGI. I come from an area of the country that, to say the least, is very behind the times in the pageantry activity. DCI, WGI, and BOA are pretty much nonexistent. I know for a fact that the kids I'll be talking to have never heard of WGI or BOA, and very few have heard of DCI. Just wondering if anyone else is taking advantage of their knowledge and helping to spread the word? I think it's one of the best ways to help out the activity, other than donating money to a corps. I'm hoping that at least one of these kids might find it in them after I go in there to go audition for an open class corps, since it's getting late for world class. I'm getting to this post too late to help you directly for your classroom presentation -- how did it go? But I wanted to say, in the future, if you -- OR ANYONE ELSE -- has presentations like this, please let me know, and I'll send along flyers, biz cards, etc. about my book, Building the Green Machine. The book, if you haven't checked it out already, gets behind-the-scenes in drum corps and related activities (such as WGI and BOA) from the 1940s through today. My goal when writing it was: show what drum corps kids, parents and fans are like, how hard they work, and how much they love the activity and have fun doing it. Focusing on the Cavaliers was my way of getting up close and personal, but really, as a marching band kid myself, anybody in any group should identify with the stories collected in the book. That's the aim, anyway. And in my personal effors to "spread the word," I've found that kids get really excited about reading about the activity they love. You know, football and baseball, etc., have their literature, why not us? Anyway, feel free to e-mail me at author@cavaliersbook.com to request electronic files of posters, contact info, etc. And check out the web site: www.cavaliersbook.com for more. One of the things the publisher is doing is starting up a MARCHING MUSIC BOOK CLUB to get schools and other music organizations involved. A great learning experience, and I'm happy to have more and more people be a part of it. OK, that's my spiel. Go drum corps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Slocum Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I think it's important to get ONE KID to at least audition for a corps - that can make a huge difference. Our high school color guard has a Madison Scouts alum as its director/choreographer. He took some of the kids to Pasadena for DCI semi-finals last year, which was a great eye-opener for them. Going to a live show definitely has more impact than watching videos. After that, he talked with my son at length about at least auditioning for the Scouts this year, for which we'll always be grateful. My son has more motivation now than he did before, both with school work and color guard skills, as he looks forward to his first season with the Scouts. Once my son was accepted into Madison, other kids in both band and color guard caught the bug and decided to audition for local corps. Some made it, some didn't... but all were happy with the experience. The kids who made it will have lot of experiences and new skills to share with their fellow students after they return from Indy, and their instructors are hopeful that this will increase the overall quality of the band and color guard for the years to come. It's not just about the summer, it's about changing attitudes forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToferVis Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Lol. I tell as MANY people involved with other music performance groups all I can about DCI. Although, I was introduced to DCI by my band director...after the first show I was completely hooked... 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.