Penn State Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I have to agree that the music education or lack thereof in inner-city schools has a great deal to do with why we see a lack of diversity in drum corps.I worked at a public magnet school in Philadelphia that takes kids from grades 5-12 (Masterman). They have an orchestra that does a few concerts and plays for the school musical. That's about it, and it's more than most Philly schools have. A few Philly schools have jazz bands. There's a great program at one of the middle schools that has a competing guard and dance team. They've partnered with a community group that puts out a junior percussion line and a novice dance team. But once those kids are out of middle school, they have nowhere to go. There are next to no competitive high school programs in the city. The only school that I can think of that has a marching band is a Catholic school. Another Catholic school has an indoor drumline. Drum corps would be a great thing to take the place of what inner-city kids should be getting in the schools. When Masterman, the number one ranked public high school in the state and 53rd in the nation, doesn't have enough books for all of the kids and the building is falling apart, you know that what little money is available is going to go for things other than music. Since the state took over the Philadelphia schools, there has been a strong push from administration to bring music programs back into the schools. http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/communi...ernization.html I really have found dc to be a very elitist activity over the past few years. It is at the point were there is little diversity in the actual product that is put on the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Since we're into responding to questions with questions, why is it so important that they shouldn't remain all-male when there are so many other places that are coed? Pardon me, but is that the right question to ask? Shouldn't the question be: Is there a specific advantage single-sex corps offer future members? I'll concede the positive experiences of past marchers in single-sex corps were positive. That's not is dispute. The issue to my mind is whether we can show positively that future members would benefit from the gender exclusion. I suspect the answer to that is no. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 (edited) The easy answer is that Cavaliers and Scouts need to change with the times. Stop holding onto traditions from the old days. This is a new, fresh activity, and they need the artistic expression and creativity that only being coed will provide them. Edited February 21, 2008 by Tekneek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 So it's ok for the argument in drum corps, but not for The Cavaliers?Because I'm cool with having that argument for both. Edit: Grammar. No you missed it a bit. I was pointing out the flaw in his argument against keeping corps accoustic by using his own defense of Cavaliers against him. Bruce Lee would call it "responding like an echo". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meaghatron Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 No you missed it a bit. I was pointing out the flaw in his argument against keeping corps accoustic by using his own defense of Cavaliers against him. Bruce Lee would call it "responding like an echo". Ah, ok. My final points- I believe The Cavaliers should remain an all-male drum corps, and DCI drum corps should have no electronics. Ok, I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 How does placing kids into a situation that in no way parallels real life prepare them for real life? You know, you're right. My experience in an all male corps did not prepare me for real life after all. What a waste of 4 summers. [/scarcasm] And again, is this supposed to be the reasoning behind an all male corps? That they will be too busy checking each other out to clean the show? Because if it is you'd have to also exclude gays. Then you'd have to exclude gays from every corps because there's NO place they could go without having a corpsmate they could check out, unless it was an all female corps and they were the only guy. You can't exclude gays. I'm not saying it's flawless. But that is generally one of the ideas behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I don't mean to put you into the same category, but this is the sort of thing people said about letting Blacks into the tennis club. Take out the word "women" - insert "black" and if you're not comfortable saying it, it's time for a re-think. Ethnicity, religion, and gender are NOT the same thing. I'm not the first person to say that in this thread either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 No you missed it a bit. I was pointing out the flaw in [boo's] argument against keeping corps accoustic by using his own defense of Cavaliers against him. Bruce Lee would call it "responding like an echo". You don't see the flaw in your own argument then? You, like me, are staunch anti-electronics/woodwinds/amps etc. You don't want integration in drum corps' instrumentation, but integration of genders in the 2 all male corps are totally cool with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euponitone Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 You don't see the flaw in your own argument then? You, like me, are staunch anti-electronics/woodwinds/amps etc. You don't want integration in drum corps' instrumentation, but integration of genders in the 2 all male corps are totally cool with you. Thats actually not his argument. His argument is that people who believe one should have to accept the other. I dont think most of the people arguing for this are really against all-male corps. For the record, I havent been a cavies fan for years, and not only do i think they have the right to stay all male, but i hope they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 No you missed it a bit. I was pointing out the flaw in his argument against keeping corps accoustic by using his own defense of Cavaliers against him. Bruce Lee would call it "responding like an echo". Well, at least you admit the linkage. And my argument isn't against keeping corps acoustic, but to recognize that the decision has been made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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