How has winning a ring changed your life?

[beavs]

I left a corps I marched with for two years that didn't feed me well or let me sleep normal hours, and made me march every day for a month and a half of pre-tour/hell weeks/nine-to-nines in Texas heat with limited water breaks playing on two-valve G bugles, getting 19th in brass Div. 3 championships....i could go on... anyways, i left that corps, and all the close friends and family I made, to march a 'better' corps.

Since it didn't take much to find a corps better than the one I came from had no trouble picking somewhere else to march. In fact, I chose to march anywhere my friends from school decided to audition so I could march with them. They chose the one corps that had the best chance of getting a ring - the corps I probly had the least chance of getting in - and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't really object. I mean, winning is cool n' all, but their corps of choice wasn't really known for their hornline (at the time) and I really had a few other corps I wanted to march...heck...i wanted to march any Div. 1 corps. and beggars can't be choosers so I was up for whatever. I told a lot of people I marched with my plan for the next summer. Most the members of my old drum corps were supportive of the whole thing. .... even though some of the staff always told us "its more important and fulfilling to 'bring up' a corps than to join an 'established' corps that you know will make finals..." I never understood that...i mean if it were that easy to make finals, how come our show still sucked and theirs was still awesome? Whatever made our staff sleep better at night I guess....

So my friends and I went to the audition, I made it, they didn't, and I was stuck in a corps that did things the complete opposite of pretty much any drum corps I had ever heard of, 17 years old and surrounded by college music majors, and needless to say I was scared.

The sustained state of fear didn't last long. 10 minute water breaks, waking up at 10am or later on tour, the constant flow of music education, and countless other forms of awesomeness including a 3-valve Bb hornline that had more than 19 members, reminded me of how my decision (actually my friends' decision) to march there wasn't a bad one. Everything the corps did seemed to make sense. Its funny, a lot of those members have never marched anywhere else. They couldn't believe the stories I told them from my previous drum corps experience... and they would never appreciate marching there anywhere near as much as I did.

Winning the first time was pretty cool. It’s weird; I had become the very person I was idolizing only a year before. Marching a summer there really took out the *magic* from my earlier perceptions of the corps. It’s a lot harder than it looks. Of course, like someone said before, after finals I took a bus to the airport, slept on the floor for a while, then flew home on a plane (next to some troopers member that insisted on talking about his WHOOOLE summer to me on the plane ride back) like everyone else. I went home to my first year of college, so there was a lot of changes going on in my life aside from winning a DCI championship (having a gold medal doesn't make freshman music ed classes any easier...). Some students followed drum corps, but since I didn't know anyone in that college it was nice. None of them knew I marched drum corps, so I didn't have to worry about super-fans or nay-sayers for a while.

Once students started finding out that I marched a pretty good drum corps (I held off for a long as possible but the band director marched BD and won a ring so he didn't waste any time teasing me at marching band rehearsals) I’d like to think nothing changed. I made a close friend at band camp who found out I where I marched and told me how much he hated that corps.... that was weird...we're still close friends. Nay-Sayers and super-fans started to pop up. Mostly kids fresh out of high school like myself, but some older students too. Seriously, as soon as college started the only time I thought about my previous summer achievement was when people reminded me of it. From comments like "Yeah, you think you can do whatever you want cuz you won DCI..." to "So what’s it like.... ya know... winning n' stuff." It was entertaining I suppose.

The second time was different. I had moved to a college with a heavy population of drum corps members from many different drum corps, most of which marched in the same corps as me or had marched there before me, and they were all mature and great and I loved hanging out with them and performing at football game half times with them. The marching band director was involved with my corps in a big way though, so he never let us get away with too much. Sure a lot of the people didn't think too highly of my corps, but we all had an equal amount of respect for each other (and we all knew how to party).

The third time was pretty much the same. Seriously, after the first it makes you think of how silly it would be if you based your whole summer's success off of how you placed at finals. Just because a few people in green shirts gave you a number that’s supposed to represent your level of achievement and blah blah blah. It’s all BS. You still go home to the "real world" and get back in the daily grind. Drum corps is still one of those things where unless you marched or were involved you'll never know.

Unfortunately many members march only one drum corps and don't know what it’s like in any other drum corps. They assume theirs is the best because that’s where they march and have this blind loyalty to their group because they spent 3 months on tour with them. Too many drum corps tell their members what they want out of the drum corps experience. I know a lot of people would say "Not true. These are adults out there who can make up their own mind about what they want." but drum corps has a very military background which, thanks to tradition, keeps members from expressing their feelings about bad situations to their leaders, and forces them to experience things they shouldn't. Yes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and no one has died on a drum corps field, but there are some things you should never have to experience while marching a summer of drum corps.

Now i'm not saying I regret marching the first corps I joined. I learned a lot from that experience, and was very proud of them when they won the Div. 3 championship the summer after I left (I guess I was holding them back!). I'll never forget my summers with them, and still to this day spend much time with members I had marched with those years (all of which also left that corps to march other corps). Heh, it was pretty funny in finals retreat for my corps members to see me huddled around a group of people from about 6 or 7 other top drum corps. They all thought we went to school together or something. They were shocked to hear they all marched with me before.

Oh, and like a previous poster wrote, i agree I'm much more interested and involved in the score and recap now than I ever was when I marched. I don't know what it is now, I just get all caught up in the competition!

[Dale Bari]

I marched with a guy who decided he was going to Cadets in 83, because, in his words, " they are going to win it next year". He practiced unlike anyone I ever saw. NONSTOP. He wanted to be a champion, BUT he EARNED it. He went on to march in their threepeat. I see nothing wrong with it, but I do wonder, how many of you who say you switch corps for a different experience, have switched to a LOWER placing corps. Just curious.

Well, DCA not DCI, but I think that's close enough.

I was with one corps for several years, but my experience that last year was not very good, not enough to justify the time and expense of traveling there. I switched to another corps just a bit further away, but now I was catching a ride and not driving myself. It just so happened that this corps was the defending champions (just coming off its 4th title in a row). And, it just so happened that many other fellow members from the prior corps went there too. (I did not know that at the time I made my decision.) We ended up 2nd that year in Finals. (Also, we lost the last regular season show - the first time some members of that corps hadn't won a show - 46 in a row.) I had a blast - and made lots of new friends. I didn't go back because I couldn't afford it.

A couple of years later, I had moved to the Wash, DC, area, and decided to join another corps - a pretty good one. They hadn't won in a long time, but they seemed ready for the jump up. I was there all winter, spring, and summer until the first two shows. For various reasons that I won't get into, I quit mid-season, and I joined another title contender (actually the defending champion). The first corps didn't complain at all, btw. My new corps got beat by the other one every show for the rest of the season. I never had so much fun not winning. I relished serenading the other corps on Finals retreat after they won the title, a ring I could've had - but chose not to.

My wife has a DCA ring. She loved wearing it for a few months after she got it. Now, it sits in the jewelry box. Didn't change her life any. I say, "Yeah, that and $3.50 [or whatever] gets you a cup of coffee at Starbucks." It's the experience, not the hardware. Hardware is nice, but not necessary. As the others have said, my wife agrees - for a while it's special, then it wears off, and nothing else has changed.

[SACMellos2010]

It didn't change my life a bit and to be honest I think I have worn my ring maybe 5 times ever.

Outside of the great friendships and memories the most satisfaction has come from listening to the CD's or watching the DVD's and not just of 1991. That is not even the year I listen to most when I do break out the CD.

[84skyrydr]

It didn't change my life a bit and to be honest I think I have worn my ring maybe 5 times ever.

Outside of the great friendships and memories the most satisfaction has come from listening to the CD's or watching the DVD's and not just of 1991. That is not even the year I listen to most when I do break out the CD.

Then sell it. I saw a Blue Devil ring ( from a deceased member) go for around 1000.00 on ebay.

[kyushujet]

Sometimes I think that I should have gone to a different corps because someone would put his dirty, stinky show socks in my face and ask me if they were either clean or if they smelled. (Time has dampened the memory of the exact words, but not the action or intent.)

I'm not going to name any names, but you KNOW who you are.

Kim,

You must be talking about my seat partner? And if not, I was very young and immature then, as opposed to now (old and immature). But we are talking about winning rings!, not my stinky socks. Stay on topic!

Love,

BB

[PWNED]

I marched Cavies 2000, 2001, and 2002, BD 2003, Cavies 2004, Cadets 2005, and Cavies 2006. I have won the most rings of anyone ever associated with the activity. Every year after I returned from DCI, I got a new hot chick to be my girlfriend and I generally feel awesome at all times. So has it changed my life?....I would say yes.

PWNED

P.S. - I also marched Cadets 2000

[WOOHOO]

I left a corps I marched with for two years that didn't feed me well or let me sleep normal hours, and made me march every day for a month and a half of pre-tour/hell weeks/nine-to-nines in Texas heat with limited water breaks playing on two-valve G bugles, getting 19th in brass Div. 3 championships....i could go on... anyways, i left that corps, and all the close friends and family I made, to march a 'better' corps.

Since it didn't take much to find a corps better than the one I came from had no trouble picking somewhere else to march. In fact, I chose to march anywhere my friends from school decided to audition so I could march with them. They chose the one corps that had the best chance of getting a ring - the corps I probly had the least chance of getting in - and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't really object. I mean, winning is cool n' all, but their corps of choice wasn't really known for their hornline (at the time) and I really had a few other corps I wanted to march...heck...i wanted to march any Div. 1 corps. and beggars can't be choosers so I was up for whatever. I told a lot of people I marched with my plan for the next summer. Most the members of my old drum corps were supportive of the whole thing. .... even though some of the staff always told us "its more important and fulfilling to 'bring up' a corps than to join an 'established' corps that you know will make finals..." I never understood that...i mean if it were that easy to make finals, how come our show still sucked and theirs was still awesome? Whatever made our staff sleep better at night I guess....

So my friends and I went to the audition, I made it, they didn't, and I was stuck in a corps that did things the complete opposite of pretty much any drum corps I had ever heard of, 17 years old and surrounded by college music majors, and needless to say I was scared.

The sustained state of fear didn't last long. 10 minute water breaks, waking up at 10am or later on tour, the constant flow of music education, and countless other forms of awesomeness including a 3-valve Bb hornline that had more than 19 members, reminded me of how my decision (actually my friends' decision) to march there wasn't a bad one. Everything the corps did seemed to make sense. Its funny, a lot of those members have never marched anywhere else. They couldn't believe the stories I told them from my previous drum corps experience... and they would never appreciate marching there anywhere near as much as I did.

Winning the first time was pretty cool. It’s weird; I had become the very person I was idolizing only a year before. Marching a summer there really took out the *magic* from my earlier perceptions of the corps. It’s a lot harder than it looks. Of course, like someone said before, after finals I took a bus to the airport, slept on the floor for a while, then flew home on a plane (next to some troopers member that insisted on talking about his WHOOOLE summer to me on the plane ride back) like everyone else. I went home to my first year of college, so there was a lot of changes going on in my life aside from winning a DCI championship (having a gold medal doesn't make freshman music ed classes any easier...). Some students followed drum corps, but since I didn't know anyone in that college it was nice. None of them knew I marched drum corps, so I didn't have to worry about super-fans or nay-sayers for a while.

Once students started finding out that I marched a pretty good drum corps (I held off for a long as possible but the band director marched BD and won a ring so he didn't waste any time teasing me at marching band rehearsals) I’d like to think nothing changed. I made a close friend at band camp who found out I where I marched and told me how much he hated that corps.... that was weird...we're still close friends. Nay-Sayers and super-fans started to pop up. Mostly kids fresh out of high school like myself, but some older students too. Seriously, as soon as college started the only time I thought about my previous summer achievement was when people reminded me of it. From comments like "Yeah, you think you can do whatever you want cuz you won DCI..." to "So what’s it like.... ya know... winning n' stuff." It was entertaining I suppose.

The second time was different. I had moved to a college with a heavy population of drum corps members from many different drum corps, most of which marched in the same corps as me or had marched there before me, and they were all mature and great and I loved hanging out with them and performing at football game half times with them. The marching band director was involved with my corps in a big way though, so he never let us get away with too much. Sure a lot of the people didn't think too highly of my corps, but we all had an equal amount of respect for each other (and we all knew how to party).

The third time was pretty much the same. Seriously, after the first it makes you think of how silly it would be if you based your whole summer's success off of how you placed at finals. Just because a few people in green shirts gave you a number that’s supposed to represent your level of achievement and blah blah blah. It’s all BS. You still go home to the "real world" and get back in the daily grind. Drum corps is still one of those things where unless you marched or were involved you'll never know.

Unfortunately many members march only one drum corps and don't know what it’s like in any other drum corps. They assume theirs is the best because that’s where they march and have this blind loyalty to their group because they spent 3 months on tour with them. Too many drum corps tell their members what they want out of the drum corps experience. I know a lot of people would say "Not true. These are adults out there who can make up their own mind about what they want." but drum corps has a very military background which, thanks to tradition, keeps members from expressing their feelings about bad situations to their leaders, and forces them to experience things they shouldn't. Yes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and no one has died on a drum corps field, but there are some things you should never have to experience while marching a summer of drum corps.

Now i'm not saying I regret marching the first corps I joined. I learned a lot from that experience, and was very proud of them when they won the Div. 3 championship the summer after I left (I guess I was holding them back!). I'll never forget my summers with them, and still to this day spend much time with members I had marched with those years (all of which also left that corps to march other corps). Heh, it was pretty funny in finals retreat for my corps members to see me huddled around a group of people from about 6 or 7 other top drum corps. They all thought we went to school together or something. They were shocked to hear they all marched with me before.

Oh, and like a previous poster wrote, i agree I'm much more interested and involved in the score and recap now than I ever was when I marched. I don't know what it is now, I just get all caught up in the competition!

It sounds like you marched Cavaliers, and it sounds like you go to University of Houston

[kyushujet]

It sounds like you marched Cavaliers, and it sounds like you go to University of Houston

I was guessing Cavies and Univ of Oklahoma, but the OP probably didn't want us to use our CSI training to figure that out since he was being nonspecific.

And sorry for that Trooper guy talking your ear off. It can get kinda lonely in the wide open spaces of Wy.

[Kimberly]

Kim,

You must be talking about my seat partner? And if not, I was very young and immature then, as opposed to now (old and immature). But we are talking about winning rings!, not my stinky socks. Stay on topic!

Love,

BB

No, not your seat partner.... YOU! I thought we were talking about moving to different corps - my bad!

Sorry I won't be seeing you tomorrow or Saturday. :-(

Miss you, my friend!!

KimBERLY

[84BDsop]

Back in the 80's, BD would spend several days leading up to the Denver show in Glenwood Springs, CO (there was a small exhibition show there judged by fan reaction - VK always seemed to win). Elevation there is 7700 feet. Being conditioned at almost 2500 feet higher elevation made the Denver show a breeze.

Heh...in 84 there was a temperature inversion in GS and we spent a few minutes trading chords with VK.....across town!!

And you're right about the crowd response!

I didn;t win (came OOOOOOoo so close!), but I truly don't think my life would've changed any more than it did had we won...the ring is a nice momento of winning....and MAN did I want one to wear...but the ring isn't what made those cvhanges in me that made me a better person....a season in BD did that.