Economy and Drum Corps revisited

[84BDsop]

The 100 figure is " grounded " and readily available ( for one source ) at the "Corpsreps " website providing the names of Corps going back to the inception of DCI that were once afiliated with DCI but are no longer with us today. I've actually underrepresented the number. The number well exceeds 100. Most of the these once afiliated DCI Corps went under due to financial reasons. And the overwhelming majority of those financial woes can be traced directly to the high cost of travel and transportation expenses that these corps incurred, and which ultimately, and principally, led to their demise.

You forgot to factor in the cost of G brass...until 2000, that would've been the biggest physical barrier...kinda hard to raise teh funds to buy even a small brass line with no product to sell.

The any-key rule for 2000 threw open those doors....first for DCI and later for DCA...both by allowing a corps to come out of a school program, and by the sudden flood of G bugles onto the market.

Transportation and associated costs were certainly a major financial factor....but a lot of corps first went into the hole just acquiring brass...the transportation costs simply deepened the hole...that and the "must go to finals" mindset in general.

[BRASSO]

You forgot to factor in the cost of G brass...until 2000, that would've been the biggest physical barrier...kinda hard to raise teh funds to buy even a small brass line with no product to sell.

The any-key rule for 2000 threw open those doors....first for DCI and later for DCA...both by allowing a corps to come out of a school program, and by the sudden flood of G bugles onto the market.

Transportation and associated costs were certainly a major financial factor....but a lot of corps first went into the hole just acquiring brass...the transportation costs simply deepened the hole...that and the "must go to finals" mindset in general.

You make a valid point that the cost of the change of instrumentation, particularly in the time frame you mentioned, was the nail in the coffin for a lot of Corps the last decade.

Still in all, Travel and Transportation costs, in sheer numbers going back to DCI 's beginnings in the early 70's, buried more Corps over the last 35 or so years.

Few Corps folded around Memorial Day. But lots did between Labor Day and Halloween. And those were mostly summer travel cost loan bills and promissory notes that came due in those weeks.

Edited February 10, 2009 by BRASSO

[84BDsop]

You make a valid point that the cost of the change of instrumentation, particularly in the time frame you mentioned, was the nail in the coffin for a lot of Corps the last decade.

Still in all, Travel and Transportation costs, in sheer numbers going back to DCI 's beginnings in the early 70's, buried more Corps over the last 35 or so years.

Few Corps folded around Memorial Day. But lots did between Labor Day and Halloween. And those were mostly summer travel cost loan bills and promissory notes that came due in those weeks.

Your point's valid as well, and is the one most often quoted as the main factor in killing corps...I just wanted to point out that the start up costs due to the requirement for a specialty instrument put just about every corpsin the hole from the get go -- Star of Indiana being the notable exception, of course.

You could always borrow a drum line....Nightfire was going to do that with Ayala HS's line in 97, before we fell apart...G horns were another matter entirely, especially considering how rarely I saw used and FUNCTIONAL contral come on the market. Even when the USAF Academy went to 3 valve brass, thus making thier 2 valve line available (I should know...Rocketman and I were the ones who GOT those horns fire Nightfire), the contras were NOT...they were going to run them until they died due to the cost of even a single horn.

[Tom Brace]

The 100 figure is " grounded " and readily available ( for one source ) at the "Corpsreps " website providing the names of Corps going back to the inception of DCI that were once afiliated with DCI but are no longer with us today. I've actually underrepresented the number. The number well exceeds 100. Most of the these once afiliated DCI Corps went under due to financial reasons. And the overwhelming majority of those financial woes can be traced directly to the high cost of travel and transportation expenses that these corps incurred, and which ultimately, and principally, led to their demise.

you mean corps management and leadership lacking foresight and planning to acomodate increased travel expenses and the high costs associated with travel.

See, since before DCI was even thought of...the Casper Troopers traveled to Illinois and Wisconsin. That's a heck of a trip. Someone had to plan it, and pay for it. It wasn't DCIs doing. They weren't even invented yet.

I'm so tired of this lousy argument blaming DCI for travel. Face it...it's management's fault and failure. Guys who were used to running backyard local drum corps couldn't adapt in some cases. Not every corps pre-DCI has failed. Why? Because some managers were better than others.

DCI even put the best ideas to paper and shared with corps and their managers. Some followed the advice, others...well, they stuck to the same old ways versus the changes thrown their way. Failure to adapt...failure to think...failure to change. Spelled the doom to some organizations.

[PCSoprano9702]

I blame the abandonment of the regional model. Now corps are supposed to go to every regional. Why not just call one of them finals and be done with it? What's the point in calling it a regional? It isn't, it's a national tour - and corps have to fund their travel around the country, not just the road to *sigh* Indianapolis.

[Tom Brace]

I blame the abandonment of the regional model. Now corps are supposed to go to every regional. Why not just call one of them finals and be done with it? What's the point in calling it a regional? It isn't, it's a national tour - and corps have to fund their travel around the country, not just the road to *sigh* Indianapolis.

Yeah...the regional model. Explain how that would work for the South region? Who would be at the show? Or the East region? Cadets versus Cross....oops. Nope.

Midwest...I buy it. West Coast....well we really are talking about the same show week after week...night after night aren't we?

Nothing changes from what we have now except you have smaller shows night after night after night.

See...nothing....zero...nada....can be done to bring more corps into the mix. Nothing. DCI has no mechanism or funding to start a corps here or start a corps there. It wasn't designed that way.

It's up to corps to start. When was the last such upstart? Brand new....not talking about a Blue Stars deal...big corps went small and now big again...when?

See, the problem is NOT losing corps. As has been pointed out countless times....drum corps has always suffered the loss of corps. The city of Racine had like 50+ drum and bugles corps in it at the same time. Way before DCI. And they lost a lot of these corps before DCI was ever thought of. However, it used to be easier (for a lot of reasons including the financial ones people usually cite) to get a corps started. Like was mentioned...older corps would start a junior corps and the horns and drums would get used twice instead of by one group.

This is not the answer anyone wants to discuss but....things change. People, organizations, companies, nations, governments have to recognize and then adapt to the change.

Without being overly political....study Howard Dean's 2000 campaign strategy and compare it to Obama's 2008 strategy. They are almost identical. Dean was probably a good 4 years ahead of his time. Obama used an 8 year old strategy and raises 73 gazillion dollars on the internet at an average per giver of about $90 each.

Change and the adaptation to change. That's what drum corps teaches its members everyday. Too bad some folks on DCP haven't yet learned that lesson.

[BRASSO]

you mean corps management and leadership lacking foresight and planning to acomodate increased travel expenses and the high costs associated with travel.

See, since before DCI was even thought of...the Casper Troopers traveled to Illinois and Wisconsin. That's a heck of a trip. Someone had to plan it, and pay for it. It wasn't DCIs doing. They weren't even invented yet.

I'm so tired of this lousy argument blaming DCI for travel. Face it...it's management's fault and failure. Guys who were used to running backyard local drum corps couldn't adapt in some cases. Not every corps pre-DCI has failed. Why? Because some managers were better than others.

DCI even put the best ideas to paper and shared with corps and their managers. Some followed the advice, others...well, they stuck to the same old ways versus the changes thrown their way. Failure to adapt...failure to think...failure to change. Spelled the doom to some organizations.

It is of note that of the 6 Corps that started DCI, 5 are still with us.

So for them, DCI has been an overwhelming success.

But the national touring model that DCI adopted and which the Corps that followed accepted was a disaster for the vast majority of the other Corps. I'll agree that these Corps have only themselves to blame for going bankrupt as nobody took them kicking and screaming into the all summer national touring model that DCI wanted it's corps to embark on.

Edited February 10, 2009 by BRASSO

[KeithHall]

It is doom and gloom and it's a reality of life. This is not the "energy crisis" of the 1970's. This is as close to 1929 - 1939 as we can get (by today's standards). Franklin Roosevelt fixed in 5 to 6 years of his Presidency. This is not over by a long shot and we can thank the past 8 years for this. It's not about a Democrat or a republican, it is about greed and selfishness. I feel very good that Obama is our President because I see and hear strength from him.

As far as drum corps....I have to say that DCI is not "white collar" but for everyone, poor and wealthy.

Tom says, "eah...the regional model. Explain how that would work for the South region? Who would be at the show? Or the East region? Cadets versus Cross....oops. Nope.

The idea of regionalizing DCI is something that I have been for for years. Yes today we don't have many corps BUT by regionalizing, we can bring new corps into the mix and not force them to travel. Lets say "New Drum Corps" forms in Sarasota, FL. This new corps is allowed to join DCI for a probationary period as a parade and exhibition corps. DCI can evaluate at the end of the first season to decide if the corps can compete as a "part-time" corps. "Part-time " could mean they are allowed to compete in at least three competitions the next season. Based on that 2nd season DCI can allow them to compete on a larger basis. All the time, DCI can evaluate their instruction and management too to make their decisions.

I would break North America up into 3 regions until more drum corps are added...Pacific Region (Troopers, SCV, BD, Mandarin, Pacific Crest,Crossmen,Blue Knights, Velvet Knights, etc), Great Lakes Region (Cavaliers, Madison, Blue Stars, Bluecoats, Glassmen, Pioneer, etc) and then the Atlantic Region (Holy Name, Boston, Spirit, Teal, Jersey Surf, etc.). Regional Championships can take place in Denver for Pacific, Indianapolis for Great Lakes and Charlotte, NC for Atlantic. Corps that compete at DCI World Championships would have to show by June 1st that they are financially capable of lasting the summer and could travel to World Championships to compete.

Tom, we have discussed who is to blame and my view is that it was DCI fault and the corps' managements fault. DCI (the top 12 to 15 corps brought travel on themselves as the disregarded the Mom and Pop drum corps that did the weekend gigs and the US Open, World Open and AI Open swing (most did only two of those). The big trip was to DCI if they could afford it. Corps directors of smaller corps or corps who had financial problems could have banded together and said, "Hey DCI, don't forget about us!"

[PCSoprano9702]

California had its fair share of shows with one Div I corps in the 90s (whenever BD went East or SCV went north) and drum corps survived. No, it flourished. More Div II corps came into existence because there were enough shows in the West to support a tour. Three of those corps (Mandarins, PC, and the Academy) are now World Class.

The Southern California Drum Corps Show Consortium existed for a number of years to support 2-3 weekends worth of shows in southern CA, while BD and SCV managed a weekend or two in and around the Bay Area. This preserved the DCW circuit. Considering the growth of drum corps in California, I am amazed that this model isn't being duplicated.

[crfrey71]

California had its fair share of shows with one Div I corps in the 90s (whenever BD went East or SCV went north) and drum corps survived. No, it flourished. More Div II corps came into existence because there were enough shows in the West to support a tour. Three of those corps (Mandarins, PC, and the Academy) are now World Class.

The Southern California Drum Corps Show Consortium existed for a number of years to support 2-3 weekends worth of shows in southern CA, while BD and SCV managed a weekend or two in and around the Bay Area. This preserved the DCW circuit. Considering the growth of drum corps in California, I am amazed that this model isn't being duplicated.

Great post! California isn't just about SCV or BD. Far from it. Typical shows in SoCal have around 11-12 corps performing. Even when BD and SCV go east, you still have shows which draw well (Long Beach for example) and still have around 8-10 performing corps. California folks really love their drum corps and show their support just as strong for the open class corps as it does for the world class corps.