Does Drum Corps Build Character?

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Besides learning about winning and losing, what other things has the drum corps experience taught us all that has helped us in life? I keep thinking about the Madison Scouts during the 2007 season where the corps faced some major obstacles. They changed the show, persevered, never gave up, and this hard work paid off this year with their reappearance in finals. All of these qualities are going to help during life- I know there are other ideas out there where the experience helped us during our post drum corps life- any examples?

It built confidence in me. That's a part of good character. Drum corps was the first thing I recognized as being successful at. That is something I still draw on in my life.

Edited August 13, 2008 by DrumCorpsFan27

[JOHNNY_A]

1)Teaches you to be a part of a team that works as a cohesive unit towards a common goal.

2)Leadership

3)Responsibility

4)Time management

5)I also find many people who march corps mature quicker (in most cases)

So my answer is , it is an emense character builder.

[mad_scotty]

i learned many lessons in drum corps i use in running a business today. how to put in real work. how to maintain focus all day instead of for a little bit here and there. how to put my best foot forward when it counts. how key preparation is to developing consistent results. how to seperate the world into the things i can control and the things i can't, and not to worry about anything but what i can actual have an effect on. how to break a problem into its component parts and deal with them separately. how to anticipate trouble and have a plan before things go wrong so i don't panic under pressure. you know, i don't really get a chance to interview drum corps vets in my neck of the woods, but i'd look at it as a pretty serious resume builder.

[DrumCorpsMom]

It's been a long journey & I'm now retired, but so often through life I've had to draw on my team building skills, my leadership skills, my discipline, my judgement, my sense of commitment and my friendships. The friends that I made during the 5 years I marched are still my best friends today, although we have spread out to other places in Canada, Texas, California and Arizona.

I saw my kids grow in a similar manner from their drum corps experiences. One day I hope to cheer for grandchildren & see them grow from their experience.

[LancerLegend]

Positively. Drum corps reinstilled the values I was given at home - reinforced a strong work ethic - that nothing in life is free, you've got to dig down deep to get over adversity - that we are stronger as a unit than we are individually........

Because of drum corps, I travelled to over 40 states by the time I was 25 - all on a GMC bus - and all on a gym floor. I now live in a state (Maine) where people have never crossed the border over to NH.

If my coworkers ever marched, they would understand the team concept, the leadership model, the "stick with it" attitude. Regretfully, none of me coworkers marched.

Edited August 13, 2008 by LancerLegend

[notelvis]

So many great lessons learned from drum corps have been mentioned already so I'll add only the two which have made a difference in my life -

First would be perseverance - the don't ever give attitude.

Second would be maintaining my dignity no matter the situation (though I'm slip on that one sometimes still).

These values.....learned through drum corps.......got me through Basic Training when I later enlisted as an Army Bandsman. More importantly, these values........plus the Basic Training experience.....got me through an unexpected deployment to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War.

I mean, it's one thing to realize that you're going to miss Christmas at home with family and friends. It's quite another thing to realize "Hey, there are people here who would kill me simply for being an American......how in the &%@@ did a trumpet player get himself into this." It was a tough time........and I would not have been up to it without drum corps.

[rayfallon]

Vince Lombardi is reported to have said, "The only thing you learn from losing is how to lose." I take issue with that, and think that Drum Corps helps to teach young and old alike that there is a balance in the universe - that you can't enjoy winning if you don't learn to tolerate losing, that you can't accept praise until you can accept criticism, that it's about the journey, the total experience, more than the results as they're read on retreat at finals.

There was a show in Western PA in 1994 - after the show the gracious hosts had an enormous party for all the participants. It was a beautiful clear night, but warm - like low 80s after the show - there were young people everywhere, eating and listening to music and sharing time with both corps-mates and competitors alike. There was a huge full moon - it had to feel perfect for a young person. I was just sort of walking around taking it all in (I was already pretty old, being 43 back then). I asked a few kids whether they were having a good time, and everyone seemed psyched until I asked one young man who was from VK. He answered, "I don't know yet." I said, "How can you not know if you're having a good time?" He said, "I'll know in 3 weeks." I was really puzzled and asked, "what can happen in three weeks that has an effect on whether you're having a good time tonight?" He replied, "In three weeks I'll know if we made finals." I was incredulous. I asked, "Do you mean that if you don't make finals in 3 weeks you didn't have a good time tonight" and he said, "Yeah, that's about it."

I never forgot that youngster. I wonder how he's adapted since then. I don't even remember now whether it turned out he was having a good time that night. It simply CAN'T all be about making finals, where you finish, or did you win. There is so much more to our activity, and to our lives, than that.

I believe that that's a good portion of what Drum Corps teaches us.

Edited August 13, 2008 by rayfallon

[Dave]

To paraphase a remark by a famous head football Coach.....

" Football ( Drum Corps ) doesn't BUILD character.... it REVEALS it ".

This is definitely true. But, being cut off from your support structures at least for the most part does have tendency to change the way you look at the world. I am not a fan of rules banning cell phones, but I can see the logic in that a kid can't call mommy and daddy every night to whine about how mean the staff is or whatever, he has to deal with it himself.

For me, drum corps has had major impacts in many ways. I work as a touring musician, so obviously drum corps gave me the thick skin needed to survive in less than comfortable situations, to make do with less cheerfully, and to survive riding and driving on long trips. It taught me how to see the big picture, to look past my immediate pain or fatigue to something bigger and better that's beyond wherever I am at the moment. It also developed my love of performance and helped me to realize that a traditional musical career was not what I was intended for.

[steelchops]

I have to say how amazed I am at the thoughtfulness of these amazing replies! There definitely is some personal depth on DCP!! I was in the Scouts in 1974, and I'm still wild about drum corps 34 years later!! Sleeping (or trying to sleep) under bus seats on all night trips or on hard gym floors, and then starting practice on little sleep day after day makes one pretty adaptable to adversity later in life, which is a pretty important trait.

[phido06]

Without a doubt.

I remember the first couple of days after the moving in the summer of '02 and thinking to myself "there is no way I am going to be able to do this drum corps thing all summer." I remember the pain and sweat and how good a gym floor could feel at the end of the day. Two seasons of drum corps later I decided to try out the military thing, and there is no doubt that being in Bluecoats and competing in DCI had something to do with my success so far. I learned after only one season how powerful leadership by example is. Do your job with all your effort possible, and other people will see it. I remember it in corps and it led to me commanding my unit as well as allowing me to be drum major for a military drum corps my senior year. I learned a bit about time management, which helped me graduate from a military school with academic distinction in a difficult engineering program. I learned a lot about self-reliance (and how not to be homesick), which put me miles ahead of my colleagues in basic training. The second-most important thing I learned is to trust people I work with and to know that they are going to put forth 110% every day despite the heat or humidity or injury or lack of creature comforts, and that the mission is more important than how I feel at any given moment. And the absolute most important thing I gained was a further understanding of honesty. You couldn't BS people in the corps. They knew if you were doing your job or not. They knew if you weren't playing (I'm a brass guy) because you thought you just didn't have the breath to go on. They knew that you would do your job to the utmost of your ability and that if they faltered, you would help them along because someday you would need it too.

Drum corps has undoubtedly helped me succeed in my field. I am now on the brink of beginning one of the world's most difficult pilot training courses, and I know that the lessons learned on football fields in small towns across the country will transfer directly to the cockpit. There isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful for the pure grit in my soul that I gained through marching DCI.