skewerz Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 (edited) here is my bizarre, warped thoughts on this subject... I played men's and co-ed softball for over 20 years...when I first started playing...(I was 16) I wanted to be on the winning team. I hated losing. I didn't want to be the "good" player on the "bad" team. In my early 20's, I played 4-5 nights a week. After a couple years of that, I was getting to the point that I just hated softball. It was then that I realized that I wasn't playing because I wanted to have fun...I was playing to win. The following year, I played maybe twice a week, on a couple teams that weren't Champ of Champ calibre, and had the most fun I'd had playing softball in my playing career. A lot of today's kids trying out for drum corps want that instant gratification of being in a top 6 or top 12 corps. It's either the best, or nothing. You see that attitude everywhere. These are the same kids that are rude to adults, and can't hold a job for more than a month. Dual working parents and the advent of new technologies have changed the role of family and responsibility. They don't have to stack 20 cords of wood during the summer, so you have heat during the winter. They don't have to push mow 4 acres of grass every week. They don't show up at the supper table, and have to eat last night's leftovers. (granted, I'm painting with a wide brush, but you can see where I'm going) The work ethic of yesteryear is gone. Back in the day, a kid would play a year or two with the local drum corps. There are several reasons for this. It was cheaper. It helped develop the basics needed for drum corps. Then, when they were older, they would then try out for the bigger "local" corps, aka, a top 25 corps. Nowadays, that model is gone. There are only 20 world corps. Open class corps don't get the advertisement world class corps do. If a kid doesn't make top 12 X corps, he goes home. Now...why does he go home? 1. He was a big fish in his high school band, but when he failed to make Top12, he became bitter, and gives up. 2. He was a local to Top12, and having failed to make the close to home corps, had to give it up due to finances. 3. He actually didn't know about the fairly close open class corps, and having failed to make Top12, gave up, because he thought his avenues were extinguished. How do we deal with these? 1. Kid needs maturity...might not be anything that can be done. This one can only be cured by parents, friends, and possibly the high school band director. 2. Another tough one...money makes the world go round. Scholarships help, but sometimes it's just not feasible. 3. Here is the one that can be dealt with in a myriad of ways. a. Drum corps recruitment- Are the lower ranked world class corps and open class corps doing enough locally to enlighten high school band kids? When recruiting, are the corps "preaching" the correct sermon to the kids? b. Have DCI set up a table at every top12 tryout. Have a list of all the other corps, world and open, for the kids to look at. Have pamphlets...have videos playing. Don't give the kids a chance of brooding on their recent rejection. Give them something to latch on to...to bring hope back. Show them the history of Pioneer. Show them the history of drum corps in Racine. Have representatives of open class corps at the world class tryouts. Heck, have representatives of DCA corps at world class tryouts. Have someone their to express how much that cut person could learn at an open class corps, and that after a year or two, they would be ready for Top12 corps...Anything, to keep them interested, and not go home brooding. c. When a kid is cut from, let's say Phantom, or Cavies, have the Cavies and Phantom direct those that were cut to Racine, or Kalamazoo, etc. When kids are cut at the Texas tryouts for whatever corps have tryouts there, direct them to Revolution, or Crossmen, or Frontier, or Gulf Coast Sound... edit...another thing I'd add...Get the parents in on the recruitment process. Show them what drum corps can do for a child. Show them the responsibility and maturity that comes with touring with a drum corps. Show the parents the history of drum corps...of how they got unruly kids off the streets and made men and women of them. Show them that kids that participate in music get better grades and are less apt to take drugs, etc. The hard part is getting the cut person inside the door. Once they are in the door, they aren't gonna leave... Edited June 26, 2008 by skewerz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 3. Here is the one that can be dealt with in a myriad of ways. a. Drum corps recruitment- Are the lower ranked world class corps and open class corps doing enough locally to enlighten high school band kids? When recruiting, are the corps "preaching" the correct sermon to the kids? b. Have DCI set up a table at every top12 tryout. Have a list of all the other corps, world and open, for the kids to look at. Have pamphlets...have videos playing. Don't give the kids a chance of brooding on their recent rejection. Give them something to latch on to...to bring hope back. Show them the history of Pioneer. Show them the history of drum corps in Racine. Have representatives of open class corps at the world class tryouts. Heck, have representatives of DCA corps at world class tryouts. Have someone their to express how much that cut person could learn at an open class corps, and that after a year or two, they would be ready for Top12 corps...Anything, to keep them interested, and not go home brooding. c. When a kid is cut from, let's say Phantom, or Cavies, have the Cavies and Phantom direct those that were cut to Racine, or Kalamazoo, etc. When kids are cut at the Texas tryouts for whatever corps have tryouts there, direct them to Revolution, or Crossmen, or Frontier, or Gulf Coast Sound... Along those lines, I have posted something like the below a number of times in DCP...this is from a recent Soundmachine post I made: There is no doubt that the Open class experience can be a great one. You know that...I know that...all of us who experienced drum corps know it. However, I look at this from the POV of a potential member...how do THEY know it would be worth the time and $$$? It's really an age-old issue, not even tied to DCI. I marched in what was then a class 'B' corps in 68/69, and that is the level I taught and judged at in the mid/late 70's to 1980 or so. Those corps were always struggling to attract bodies, even when the competitive HS band scene in my area was not even a blip on the radar. In today's world...it's even a larger problem. To march in an Open corps that is not 100% touring, the members primarily have to live in a commutable distance, otherwise where do the kids live? It defeats the purpose if large portions of the membership have to have full-time housing all summer long...and have to spend $$$ on travelling costs to get to the Open class camps. It means that a kid from, say, NJ, who misses the cut at, say, Regiment, would have to know about the opportunities in the NJ area, such as the Raiders, Surf, and Spirit of Newark. It makes less sense for them to know about the Open class non-touring corps in the Rockford area. I have always thought that at winter camps there should be an opportunity at the START of the camp for an Open class director to come in and make a generic "hey here we are" presentation to the potential members of the World class corps. Play some video...pass out literature on ALL of the open class corps available around the country, so that the kid cut who travelled 1500 miles knows about the Open corps near his/her home. Don't do it at the END of camp...the kids cut are already very disappointed...hardly the proper time to mention "Plan B" to them. REgarding this.... The hard part is getting the cut person inside the door. Once they are in the door, they aren't gonna leave... Agree 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 A lot of today's kids trying out for drum corps want that instant gratification of being in a top 6 or top 12 corps. It's either the best, or nothing. For some reason this reminded me of another thing I read on the thread that no longer exists. Some people said they would only march in a top level corps because they could only do corps for one season, so "Why spend your one and only season in a lesser corps". Just #### glad I could spend 6 years competing so I could see my corps go from last plase in Prelims to Top 6 in DCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedicadet05 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 the Wii is cheaper than tour fees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euponitone Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 the Wii is cheaper than tour fees Lol...but by the time you by the guitar, and 4 steering wheels, and the fit board, and the drumset.... yeah, ok,its still cheaper <= playin my wii this summer (actually playing my girlfriends...how cool is that?!?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skewerz Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 For some reason this reminded me of another thing I read on the thread that no longer exists. Some people said they would only march in a top level corps because they could only do corps for one season, so "Why spend your one and only season in a lesser corps". Just #### glad I could spend 6 years competing so I could see my corps go from last plase in Prelims to Top 6 in DCA. add up the Wii, the food, the clothes, the gas the kid is gonna use in mom/dad's car, the money for dates-other activities... I bet drum corps is actually cheaper, or at least awful close. Oh...MikeD...quit agreeing with some of my stuff...It scares me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishbonecav Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 From an outsider’s perspective, it appears decisions are being made by a few influential people for the benefit of THEIR corps, and not the overall health of the activity. I’m guessing within five years, or less, DCI finals will consist of only 8 corps, not 12. Gregg, You have the benefit of seeing things clearly and using deductive reasoning to form the right conclusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucbari Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 For some reason this reminded me of another thing I read on the thread that no longer exists. Some people said they would only march in a top level corps because they could only do corps for one season, so "Why spend your one and only season in a lesser corps". Just #### glad I could spend 6 years competing so I could see my corps go from last plase in Prelims to Top 6 in DCA. "top 12 or nothing"....I've said this before about the DCI Model....marching top 12 with all its music majors is a resume builder that will help them nail that local high school band director job. The days of marching for the sake of marching are over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rut-roh Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 (edited) "top 12 or nothing"....I've said this before about the DCI Model....marching top 12 with all its music majors is a resume builder that will help them nail that local high school band director job. The days of marching for the sake of marching are over. Not true. You're exaggerating a great deal here. I'd venture to say that most participants in the top 12 these days do NOT become HS band directors as opposed to the many who do. And even with the many who do, to imply that they don't love marching in the activity as much as you or I or anyone else did would be foolish. Edited June 26, 2008 by rut-roh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vferrera Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 From what I have seen, most of the World Class corps have utilized most if not all of the additional spots this rules change created. This gives each corps the opportunity to provide the drum corps experience to 15 more kids who otherwise would likely have been home for the summer. I can't see how creating opportunities for kids to march in drum corps is a such bad thing.CT Several D1 corps are inactive this year. How does that factor into "creating opportunities for kids to march." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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