HoltonH178 Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 (edited) There are many, many reasons why creating a summer marching band circuit is an unreasonable course of action, and most of them are the same reasons that this thread exists... Everyone wants the DCI (or moreover, "drum corps") brand so that they can use its establishment as a platform to further their views in the activity. Whether it's that you want DCI not to call itself "drum corps" anymore so that you can claim the "true" banner of the activity, or whether you want DCI to eventually include instrumentation similar to those seen in the marching band realms of our activity, it's ultimately for the same reasons. DCI stands as the pinnacle of excellence in the world of the marching arts, and furthermore, DCI enjoys a practical monopoly on summer marching for performers and instructors with premium skill levels. Who wants to pit the odds of their success against that? You're not going to get most band directors to dedicate even more time to marching. I work in Hillsborough county schools, one of the largest school districts in the nation, and you can barely even get the directors around here to commit to an entire fall season (most of them don't). Moreover, success stories for new units are few and far between--in DCI finals, how many of those ensembles were founded in the last 20 years? Answer: one. Carolina Crown. To me, "drum corps" has never really been instrumentation, as I have said before. To me it is a certain irreplaceable spirit, a rigorous summer tour, and the traditions of a particular corps. I would argue DCI has a legacy of innovation and change that far surpasses its history of any specific instrumentation. That legacy, no matter what shape it takes, is the rightful claim of the people who have, do, and will participate in the circuit, whether or not it's any individuals direct interpretation of what "drum corps" is. Edited February 10, 2008 by HoltonH178 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Personally, I think the solution is for those interested in summer marching band to go make it happen - outside of DCI. And I have suggested it numerous times here on DCP.If (or when) there is sufficient interest in summer marching band to make it happen, a separate agency should be formed to promote and serve it, like DCI does for drum corps. The band circuit could even partner with DCI to stage joint events and share resources to whatever extent both circuits deem mutually beneficial. No infighting over money or governance, and no 15-year repetitive rule change proposals to slow down the progress of the band effort. And no destruction of the unique activity that we still call drum corps. Sounds like a solution to me. Within two days of this post, however, someone will be replying with vague excuses as to why this solution is no good, and that we should morph DCI into a band circuit instead - or create a separate division within DCI for bands. Well, DCI already tried that in 1999. It didn't work, and it never will - there's only room for one division to thrive (or even obtain any kind of membership) under DCI's governance structure. Basically, it comes down to two options. Band advocates can wait for 20 years, commandeer DCI for their purposes, and destroy drum corps in the process - or they can create instead of destroying, build their own agency, promote summer marching band much sooner, and quite likely achieve better results. Give this man an "AMEN BROTHER!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 To me, "drum corps" has never really been instrumentation, as I have said before. To me it is a certain irreplaceable spirit, a rigorous summer tour, and the traditions of a particular corps. I would argue DCI has a legacy of innovation and change that far surpasses its history of any specific instrumentation. That legacy, no matter what shape it takes, is the rightful claim of the people who have, do, and will participate in the circuit, whether or not it's any individuals direct interpretation of what "drum corps" is. Since when has innovation meant copying what the other guys do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 There are many, many reasons why creating a summer marching band circuit is an unreasonable course of action, and most of them are the same reasons that this thread exists... As I predicted....let the excuses begin. Everyone wants the DCI (or moreover, "drum corps") brand so that they can use its establishment as a platform to further their views in the activity. Whether it's that you want DCI not to call itself "drum corps" anymore so that you can claim the "true" banner of the activity, or whether you want DCI to eventually include instrumentation similar to those seen in the marching band realms of our activity, it's ultimately for the same reasons. DCI stands as the pinnacle of excellence in the world of the marching arts, and furthermore, DCI enjoys a practical monopoly on summer marching for performers and instructors with premium skill levels. Who wants to pit the odds of their success against that? DCI has never had a "monopoly" on summer marching arts. The continued operation (and growth) of DCA is ample evidence of that, as are MACBDA and WAMSB for the remaining summer marching bands. You're not going to get most band directors to dedicate even more time to marching. You don't need "most" of them. There must be well over 10,000 band directors in this nation, 4,000 of which direct competitive marching bands. It only takes a couple hundred to fill every DCI judging, arranging and caption head position for the music captions. To me, "drum corps" has never really been instrumentation, as I have said before. To me it is a certain irreplaceable spirit, a rigorous summer tour, and the traditions of a particular corps. I would argue DCI has a legacy of innovation and change that far surpasses its history of any specific instrumentation. That legacy, no matter what shape it takes, is the rightful claim of the people who have, do, and will participate in the circuit, whether or not it's any individuals direct interpretation of what "drum corps" is. That doesn't explain why summer marching band advocates can't form their own circuit, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captncontra Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I'm confused, Michael... you support all the huge changes that effectively destroy what many people think makes the activity unique, but you balk at changing the name? So this is the only thing that can't change for the 'modernization and progress' that us dinosaurs are fighting? The instrumentation is the largest contributing factor to the show... its what we hear! No one has yet successfully explained to me why we need this crap. Show designers have been putting out incredible shows that fit within the limitations for YEARS. The boundaries that define Drum Corps have been removed... is it really so wrong to want acoustic brass and percussion? To use the karate analogy: Fighting with hands a feet is so twelfth century, we have guns now. So why not open up competitive karate competitions to the use of firearms? It would be more appealing to the NRA folks and grow its fan base, right? And we can still call it karate to keep the name recognition for those old fans of karate... oh wait they're not watching it now... oh well, who needs them? If they truly loved the sport they'd support it blindly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 That doesn't explain why summer marching band advocates can't form their own circuit, either. Why should they? Nothing wrong with doing it within DCI, esp if some DCI ensembles want to go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm confused, Michael... you support all the huge changes that effectively destroy what many people think makes the activity unique, but you balk at changing the name? So this is the only thing that can't change for the 'modernization and progress' that us dinosaurs are fighting? A different Michael replying.... Since DCI is not 'destroying' anything, why should the name be changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Why should they? Nothing wrong with doing it within DCI, esp if some DCI ensembles want to go that route. There's nothing wrong with screwing up an entire art form? Cue the standard "they aren't screwing up anything" response because of course, everything DCI does is perfection. [/sarcasm] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcat Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 To use the karate analogy: Fighting with hands a feet is so twelfth century, we have guns now. So why not open up competitive karate competitions to the use of firearms? It would be more appealing to the NRA folks and grow its fan base, right? And we can still call it karate to keep the name recognition for those old fans of karate... oh wait they're not watching it now... oh well, who needs them? If they truly loved the sport they'd support it blindly. Now that's ####### hilarious!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm confused, Michael... you support all the huge changes that effectively destroy what many people think makes the activity unique, but you balk at changing the name? So this is the only thing that can't change for the 'modernization and progress' that us dinosaurs are fighting?The instrumentation is the largest contributing factor to the show... its what we hear! No one has yet successfully explained to me why we need this crap. Show designers have been putting out incredible shows that fit within the limitations for YEARS. The boundaries that define Drum Corps have been removed... is it really so wrong to want acoustic brass and percussion? To use the karate analogy: Fighting with hands a feet is so twelfth century, we have guns now. So why not open up competitive karate competitions to the use of firearms? It would be more appealing to the NRA folks and grow its fan base, right? And we can still call it karate to keep the name recognition for those old fans of karate... oh wait they're not watching it now... oh well, who needs them? If they truly loved the sport they'd support it blindly. Have I ever stated that I support ALL the changes? (But none of them could happen if they weren't supported by a majority of board members.) As for changing the name...You can talk about it until you're blue in the face. It isn't going to happen. Lots of people who were proposing the rules changes for the allowance of certain instruments have explained it. If they haven't explained it "successfully" to you, perhaps it's because no amount of explanation will suffice because you've made up your mind. By the same token, no amount of you explaining to them why it shouldn't happen won't work because they've made up their minds. It's not wrong to want anything. The boundaries that define drum corps are in constant evolution. Guns in karate competitions? I think the satire is lost on me. I still hold that what divides fans isn't as great as what unites us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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