Question for current/hopeful future DCI members

[JimF-LowBari]

Questions have come up on other threads so should just ask the people most affected.

For current members or people who hope to march DCI in the near future.

1) How did you discover Drum Corps and DCI in particular.

2) Recent rule changes have added amps, vocal and electronic instruments. Would any of these items make you change your mind about joining a corps. ie "I just going to join but won't now" or "I want to join because DCI corps have...."

Asking because discussion has been hot and heavy on theses issues and how they affect Junior corps future. IMO, one of the biggest groups involved in that future is the members so here's your chance to be heard.

s/ A real olde pharte who's sadly outta touch with todays youth...

[AlanAndreasen]

I met two guys on a weekend retreat who had just got back from Atlanta DCI finals in the early 80's. They couldn't stop talking about it and the size of American beverage cups. In 1983 I toured with the Emerald Knights of Cedar Rapids for the last three weeks of the season. My first show was Key to the Sea (one of the most amazing days of my life). I can honestly say I saw every corps finals week; that's a lot corps. That was also the year that Dagenham Crusaders came over from England, it seemed like you couldn't go any where without bumping into a Brit. Only down side to whole experience was missing most of the Olympics. I love the olympics- so we'll be off to England in 4 years time.

[trmp ryan]

1. I have been around drum corps my whole life my grandfather marched sky around 1948 and 2 uncles marched DCI in the 80's and i have had several aunts and uncles march with the sunrisers from the span of 1972 - 1996, and one of my uncles actually works for the DCI corps that he marched with, which will get me into answering question #2, i just auditioned and made the corps that i have been dreaming about my whole life, amps and new rules dont turn me away from the corps, i look at it as a family tradition and i love the work ethic of the corps (i pretty much grew up around it), i dont mind all the new rules anyway i think changes need to be done to keep the activity intresting, of course some stuff might be uncalled for or extreme but everything changes with time, i quite honestly would not be intrested in drum corps if it was the same as it was in the 70's, i think the activity has changed for the better, but if woodwinds are ever intorduced into the activity i will be on your side lol

[Madison'08]

If the Scouts ever use electronic instruments or something more, I won't march junior corps. I feel like they would be one of the last to anyway.

[DrinkinOuttaCups]

1. I found out about drum corps in October 2006. There was a video playing in my high school band room of Cavies '04. I went home later that day, looked them up, managed to find SCV '89, and I was hooked from that point on.

2. I'm not necessarily against any of the rule changes...I just don't see why we need them at the moment. However, these changes won't stop me from marching. No way.

[Kekkles]

my first experience with drum corps that i remember was watching 2004 quarterfinals in the movie theater. i was fairly disinterested until a few years later, when i just became a drum corps freak out of nowhere :)

have new rules changed my opinion of certain corps? god yes... i would march with the cadets if they paid for me for the summer, otherwise i wouldn't bother. and i can tell you that a vast majority of the kids who marched/still march with my old high school band will never have any respect for the cadets, ever.

from what i can tell, the future of dci doesn't seem all that excited about dci's future.

[JDWEX1117]

I joined my high school marching band in 2005, and we competed in the USSBA championships in Allentown, PA that year. When we recieved our competition DVD there was bonus footage of Cadets and Crossmen 2005. I watched both shows, and ever since that day I was hooked to the activity. I looked for videos of all corps, did research, and I realized how much I want to be in a world class drumline.

I dont mind vocal amplification, but instrument amplification seems stupid to me (unless of course, they amplify the pit. THAT makes a ton of sense). Woodwinds...ugh....I dont know what Ill do if woodwinds are passed. That to me isnt drum corps. Its a band. Woodwinds arent marching instruments, and they never will be. Brass and percussion has been marching forever, but the only woodwind instrument that I can really think of that makes sense marching is the fife (drum and fife corps). You might disagree and think my ideology is stupid...but it makes sense in my mind.

Oh and, electronic instruments....No way. I love electronic music and instruments. I even compose my own electronic music with some of the most prominant electronic producers as my influences because I love it...but please, keep electronic instruments off of the drum corps field. (too late now).

[Huntington Mallets]

1) How did you discover Drum Corps and DCI in particular.

PBS Broadcast 2004

2) Recent rule changes have added amps, vocal and electronic instruments. Would any of these items make you change your mind about joining a corps. ie "I just going to join but won't now" or "I want to join because DCI corps have...."

Nothing will change my mind about joining a corps. If given the oppurtunity I am going to march.

[crashhelmi36]

1) How did you discover Drum Corps and DCI in particular.

I saw 02 Cavies at a bando party in 2003, then got a friend to take me to Pacific Crest workshops and I've been hooked ever since (though ironically, I never even marched PC).

2) Recent rule changes have added amps, vocal and electronic instruments. Would any of these items make you change your mind about joining a corps. ie "I just going to join but won't now" or "I want to join because DCI corps have...."

Nothing would make me not want to march corps. For a member, it's about the experience, not about what kind of show you do. My college band uses singing, amps, woodwinds (duh), and all that jazz... and I still enjoy the heck out of performing shows with them.

Now watching DCI after my age-out with all of these changes... that's another story. But I dunno, I haven't aged out yet.

Edited February 17, 2008 by crashhelmi36

[MagicBobert]

1) How did you discover Drum Corps and DCI in particular.

Bootlegged videos of shows. Lot's of my friends discovered drum corps that way, too. As much as I understand the legal need for DCI and its member corps to drop the copyright hammer nowadays, I still think they don't realize how much it might be hurting them in turns of membership. A lot of people don't get it or don't fully understand until they see a video.

2) Recent rule changes have added amps, vocal and electronic instruments. Would any of these items make you change your mind about joining a corps. ie "I just going to join but won't now" or "I want to join because DCI corps have...."

Thankfully I don't have to make that choice, since I'm aging out this year. I have to admit, though, if a corps told me that they were going to make use of lots of amplified voice and electronic instruments (I'm fine with amping the pit) I'd probably look for another corps. And just a note to any corps directors or "higher-ups" that may be reading this, please inform people about that as early as possible, because I don't want to come to the Memorial Day camp and get surprised with the news that your adding a whole electronic saxophone line to the horn section...