Drum Corps As It Was

[MikeD]

You'll get over it.

Is that aimed at me? Nothing to 'get over'...I just find that a huge bunch of baloney, that's all.

[MikeD]

I agree with Mike, most of this is crap. Particularly that line "we got better, they get worse". I can guarantee you that 90% of the people who marched "back in the day" would not last a week of spring training at any of the World Class corps today. My son does more marching and plays more notes in one day of rehearsal than we used to do in several weeks.

It's always nice to look fondly back on your triumphs, but it's just ignorant to bury your head in the sand and ignore the fact that the members today are much more skilled than we ever were. And whether we "old folks" like it or not, today's members still love the activity as much or more than we did, and they get the same life lessons we did too.

Thanks! I loved my marching/teaching/judging era, but to use that experience as some sort of club to beat the modern era over the head with is just plain silly, IMO.

You said it VERY well!

[MikeD]

That's why I love The United States of America....freedom of speech, freedom of expression!

Not that freedom of speech applies to a private forum, but the spirit of the above is true...and it runs both ways.

[Fran Haring]

Particularly that line "we got better, they get worse".

This "old-timer" is with ya here. Good point.

The overall quality level of today's corps is off the charts, IMO, compared to days gone by. And I LIKE the stuff from those days gone by.

Heck, that's the era in which I first was exposed to drum corps, and that's the era when I marched, in junior and senior/all-age corps. It was a great time to be involved in drum corps.

But to say today's corps are getting worse instead of better......nope.

Fran

[rb325th]

Did they get better? Perhaps in some ways it has, in some ways I think the changes are not for the better.

Yes, the activity has evolved, and in the evolution a lot of good came out of it. But not all of it is.

Sure, play Bb Horns, but not electrical instrumentation or amplification. Dancing? Just not my thing, and does not entertain like a Color Guard of old doing precision drill with rifles and flags. Narration? That just has me shaking my head.......

The "Pit" is out of control, what's next down there? A string section? I shouldn't ask, that has probably been suggested.

Am I "Old School" and object to any change whatsoever? Yes, and No, not at all objectionable to change. Thing is though, evolution is all fine and well, but when you make such a dramatic shift from what Drum and Bugle Corp was to the present day.... Just a little too much of a shift.

I sure will not knock the talent of the kids out there today though, whether it is percussion, brass, or even the dancers which I so dislike on the field. They are all performing, and putting their hearts and soul into it.

Sometimes change is not always what it is cracked up to be.

[Puppet]

I agree with Mike, most of this is crap. Particularly that line "we got better, they get worse". I can guarantee you that 90% of the people who marched "back in the day" would not last a week of spring training at any of the World Class corps today. My son does more marching and plays more notes in one day of rehearsal than we used to do in several weeks.

It's always nice to look fondly back on your triumphs, but it's just ignorant to bury your head in the sand and ignore the fact that the members today are much more skilled than we ever were. And whether we "old folks" like it or not, today's members still love the activity as much or more than we did, and they get the same life lessons we did too.

Wow, dude.

I don't go with that altogether.

I don't think your son would be able to get through weekends of winter travel - like from the Bronx to Brooklyn, a two plus hour commute - to a rehearsal in a freezing cold Military Armory for several hours on a Sunday night.

No, we were not non smokers. No, we were not all that healthy. No, we were not able or available to take "Spring Training."

We were mostly inner city kids who worked 2 real seasons (Fall & Winter) to bring a performance to the field in the brief few weeks of summer. When we got to the field for our first show, we were ready - 12 minutes of a show that never had to be "fixed" during the middle of the season as we see today.

Do not deny our love of the activity or try to compare what the kids of my generation had to do to - Usually 8 months or more of work to hone a show - hours of travel, 2 or 3 times a week and no personal music instructors and certainly no money out of our parent's pockets. That's right, none.

Yes - uphill 10 miles in the snow both ways!

As to skill, yes they are more trained - they are practically professionals for goodness sakes! I was one of only a few who could even read music in my Corps. Most kids - and they were kids not college students - never held a horn or strapped on a drum before walking into our rehearsals. It was that way for dozens and dozens of Drum Corps in the New York City, New Jersey and otherwise "Tri-State" area.

As to "Life Lessons" I don't think that in 2008 your son has had a restaurant owner in Jacksonville Florida turn him away simply because there might have been some Black kids on the same bus.

(As an aside, I think it's rather cruel for your son and current young marching members to have to sleep in school basements and eat meals that the only good part is the Gatorade - perhaps one of the reasons Wes Hobby called St. Rita's the "Cinderella Corps From Brooklyn New York" was that we never slept anywhere but a Motel or Hotel room when we traveled - were we spoiled? - c'mon we were from Brooklyn! our Bingo program even in 1971 brought in more than $55,000 a year!)

Even these days, your own child doesn't have to put up with being treated like a second class citizen if he is marching in a first class organization - that is not a "Life Lesson" and after spending thousands just to wear the uniform of the corps of his choice, it is an insult!

We are supposed to want more for our children. I'm just saying.

Puppet.

[pearlsnaredrummer77]

I have to admit that I find DCI much less entertaining these days. I dislike excessive narration, miss the rifles, am underwhelmed by the Bflat brass sections, and I am really dreading the synths (I actually have played synths for years!). The music of today often seems obscure and as much as there was a certain sameness of shows in the pre-Zingali era, it seems like this generation of drum corps is just in a different rut. Most of all, I rue the fact that DCI has gentrified (more of a middle-class, rather than working-class activity), and now far fewer young people are getting those valuable life lessons of drum corps.

If given a choice between going to a DCA or DCI show on an average weekend, DCA generally wins. That said, I don't think it's necessary to attack today's DCI kids (DCA has gotten much younger!) or depict them as spoiled. On the other hand, I don't believe that today's kids are any more dedicated, or talented than the Old School. So I guess that I don't find today's corps vs. yesterday's better or worse: just different.

[kansasDC]

Wow, dude.

I don't go with that altogether.

I don't think your son would be able to get through weekends of winter travel - like from the Bronx to Brooklyn, a two plus hour commute - to a rehearsal in a freezing cold Military Armory for several hours on a Sunday night.

No, we were not non smokers. No, we were not all that healthy. No, we were not able or available to take "Spring Training."

We were mostly inner city kids who worked 2 real seasons (Fall & Winter) to bring a performance to the field in the brief few weeks of summer. When we got to the field for our first show, we were ready - 12 minutes of a show that never had to be "fixed" during the middle of the season as we see today.

Do not deny our love of the activity or try to compare what the kids of my generation had to do to - Usually 8 months or more of work to hone a show - hours of travel, 2 or 3 times a week and no personal music instructors and certainly no money out of our parent's pockets. That's right, none.

Yes - uphill 10 miles in the snow both ways!

As to skill, yes they are more trained - they are practically professionals for goodness sakes! I was one of only a few who could even read music in my Corps. Most kids - and they were kids not college students - never held a horn or strapped on a drum before walking into our rehearsals. It was that way for dozens and dozens of Drum Corps in the New York City, New Jersey and otherwise "Tri-State" area.

As to "Life Lessons" I don't think that in 2008 your son has had a restaurant owner in Jacksonville Florida turn him away simply because there might have been some Black kids on the same bus.

(As an aside, I think it's rather cruel for your son and current young marching members to have to sleep in school basements and eat meals that the only good part is the Gatorade - perhaps one of the reasons Wes Hobby called St. Rita's the "Cinderella Corps From Brooklyn New York" was that we never slept anywhere but a Motel or Hotel room when we traveled - were we spoiled? - c'mon we were from Brooklyn! our Bingo program even in 1971 brought in more than $55,000 a year!)

Even these days, your own child doesn't have to put up with being treated like a second class citizen if he is marching in a first class organization - that is not a "Life Lesson" and after spending thousands just to wear the uniform of the corps of his choice, it is an insult!

We are supposed to want more for our children. I'm just saying.

Puppet.

Puppet;

When was the last time you actually traveled with one of today's corps for a week or a month? How can you know what their drum corps lives are like if all you do is see them perform? I marched 16 years during the "glory days" in another corps from NY, but I have also traveled with and worked as a volunteer for several different corps at many levels for the last 28 years. I know first-hand what the differences are, and what the similarities are. If you have not actually done the time, you can't really make a fair comparison.

(BTW, my son works harder than anyone in my corps ever worked. He is actually at work right now until 11:00 PM raising his own tour money, but still has to be at school at 7:45 AM. Don't ever state that he couldn't do anything you once did. He is one tough SOB).

[gigiandjim]

My intent wasn't to really tradh current member

there is NO WAY i could play most of what they play today

I just dont like the way that DCI is moving to being Bands

and I thought is was a kinda funny poem

No Disrespect to the ability of members

just the direction the activity is going

[MikeD]

Did they get better? Perhaps in some ways it has, in some ways I think the changes are not for the better.

Yes, the activity has evolved, and in the evolution a lot of good came out of it. But not all of it is.

Sure, play Bb Horns, but not electrical instrumentation or amplification. Dancing? Just not my thing, and does not entertain like a Color Guard of old doing precision drill with rifles and flags.

I certainly loved the guards of those days....they were great for those of us who started in that era. However, todays guards have gone light-years past what those guards did, esp in the area of total body involvement with their performance. Yes, it's 180 degrees from the old days when the point was to NOT let your body get involved with the performance, but IMO the guards of today do an incredible job of performing and interpreting the music, and that includes equipment as well as body.

Narration? That just has me shaking my head.......

Anything an be used well...or not so well...be it brass, drums, narration, etc...within one corps there have been excellent uses of narration (e.g. Cadets 07) and not-so-excellent (e.g. Cadets 08).

The "Pit" is out of control, what's next down there? A string section? I shouldn't ask, that has probably been suggested.

The pit is to me the best change made since I marched...the colors it provides to enhance the music being presented have transformed the 'drum show' into a 'percussion show'. One thing I always DISLIKED was the way mallet parts had to be written when they were carried, esp bells. Orchestra bell are best used as a color instrument, not the incessant clanging for the entire show, as had to be done back in the 70's, as one example.

As for strings...yes. Let a corps place an amplified string section someplace; I'd love to hear Regiment do some Shostakovich with a string section.

Am I "Old School" and object to any change whatsoever? Yes, and No, not at all objectionable to change. Thing is though, evolution is all fine and well, but when you make such a dramatic shift from what Drum and Bugle Corp was to the present day.... Just a little too much of a shift.

It's not as if drum corps changed from what it was in 1971 to what is it in 2009 overnight...it HAS taken 38 years. What was drum corps like in 1933, to go back as far from 1971 as 1971 is from today.