The Economy Has Tanked; Time To

[soccerguy315]

And as I (and many others have said) , nobody said you couldn't march DRUM CORPS. You just can't take part in the JUNIOR CORPS portion of the activity. You can always go and march in the ALL-AGE corps.

with all due respect to DCA corps, the experiences are completely different.

Reading and comprehension are important.

more on this later.

Now, let's take what you said in bits:

If you are 24, it doesn't matter how money you have. You can't march. Period. But in order for you to march in a junior corps, you'd have to RAISE THE AGE LIMIT, so they are advocating it. And yes, DCI already tells you what you can do with your money. When you reach the age limit, you can't march anymore in a DCI corps. Regardless of what you have in your bank account.

Wasn't that the thought proposed in the beginning of the thread? To raise the age limit? I am fully aware of what the current rules are. Remember, reading and comprehension are important.

O.K. ...

Here's a question REAL adults can answer: What are you going to do for money from April to September?

Ask mommy and daddy? Yeah right.

This might surprise you, but there are people who can bank $80,000 (or significantly more) from September to April. I am 22, less than a year out of college, and there are people who I graduated with working 4 days a week bringing in more in salary than the average household income in the United States. The ability is not there for very many, but it is there for some.

I am doing volunteer work, so obviously I don't have money to be throwing at drum corps. Sorry for being a fake adult.

edit: Just for the record, I am against raising the age-out rule at all

Edited March 9, 2009 by soccerguy315

[JOHNNY_A]

I firmly believe if open class corps can recruit in their own areas rather than rely on "imports" that open will survive easier than world class. if you can recruit members within hometown areas, you can rehearse once or twice a week all year. making an excellent investment for parents. Where else can you go all year for that price. hockey, lacrosse, soccer, dance etc etc costs just as much but they are seasonal.

[CrunchyTenor]

I think that drumcorpsfan4567 is trying to say like... say you are 24 and you win the lottery. You have $100 million dollars. Why couldn't that person spend $3000 to march drum corps? I don't think s/he is advocating raising the age out limit, but just saying that other people shouldn't be able to tell you what to do with your money. Or, if you have a job and are switching to a new one that starts in September... you quit your current job in April. Why shouldn't you be allowed to march then?

possibly I am completely wrong though, I'm sure drumcorpsfan4567 will be back to clarify.

If you're 24 and you win $100Mil in the lottery, go start your own corps. Sure, you won't be able to march, but think of all the young people who will.

Garry in Vegas

Edited March 9, 2009 by CrunchyTenor

[bananaboyz]

For all those who got cut... don't lose hope, there will probably be an unusual amount of holes come May.

Well for those who cannot do tour etc, the Bridgemen are a great bunch to hang with and keep your chops up. Good charts and a lot of fun.

[drumcorpsfan4567]

Nobody said you couldn't march DRUM CORPS.

If you want to march after you're 21, then DCA is there. Point blank, end of story.

You make the point of noting unemployment is high, but it's o.k. to give up a job if you have one to march drum corps. Now here's how a RATIONAL adult hears that statement: "True, unemployment is high, but I as a working adult am going to give up my job so that I can continue to participate in a youth activity."

Not only is that asinine, but it's downright selfish.

Had the original poster said "With the economy being so bad, what can be done to ensure that more kids can march drum corps?" That would be a discussion that really needs to be looked at. However, to say that raising the age limit so that adults can keep a spot that could have gone to someone else, hurts the activity more than the economy ever will. We've gone through periods in which the economy was bad and the activity is still here. It adapted to the situation and moved on. However, when you start to muck around with the age limit, you can and will cause problems. Even if the limit was raised to 25 tomorrow, corps like the Blue Saints and Racine Scouts are not going to suddenly field a 150 member corps this coming summer. But what you will have are thousands of adults trying to get a spot with the Devils or the Cadets. Why? Because as it has been discussed a thousand times on this board before, a lot of people that say they want to march drum corps don't want to march drum corps, per se. They want to march in a particular corps, and if they get cut, then they refuse to even look at a lower placing corps or an Open Class corps.

Moreover, to say just because you can afford to do it, you should be allowed to is even crazier. You can eat rat poison, but it strongly recommended you don't. Believe it or not, there is life after drum corps. This isn't Logan's Run and you aren't going to die at your age out ceremony.

I didn't say I was personally advocating a change in the age-out rule, I just said that arguing against it based on the state of the economy makes no sense. I believe, as apparently the original poster does, that if anything the state of the economy gives you more reason to change the age-out rule because there are a whole bunch of other people out there who need jobs more than some people who march DCI might. I'd wager that even the people who struggle to pay membership dues are in better shape than a lot of other people who are without jobs in America today.

I'm not advocating that if the age out rule were changed, one "should" do this; as a matter of fact, I am taking a year off so I can save up some money for myself. I just feel that there are plenty of people who could march an extra year or two and still be resourceful enough to do well financially.

You might feel that there tons of reasons for not changing the age-out rule, such as the fact that it is a youth activity, the fact that there is DCA already, etc. What I'm trying to say is I don't think it's fair to tell someone that they're not allowed to march just because you think that they should be doing something else like working during the summer. I'm baffled that so many people have used this argument.

As for the ramifications of this potential change, I actually think it could (could, but not necessarily would be) be beneficial in some respects, even possibly to DCA. Yes, most of the adults would be going for the top corps, but if corps would just encourage people who get cut to march elsewhere such as Open Class Corps or DCA corps, it could increase membership in those corps. I don't know much about DCA, but doesn't most of their membership consist of DCI-eligible members? I really think there could be positives that would come out of this for DCA but I don't know if they would outweigh the negatives (how many 22-23 year olds march DCA anyway?) Not to mention, I think raising the age-out rule would increase the level of performance in DCI. But like I said, there are obviously a lot of aspects to the situation...DCI is supposed to be a youth activity after all.

[drumcorpsfan4567]

Junior Drum and Bugle Corps = Youth Activity.

If you still want to participate in a YOUTH activity at 30, you've got some problems. And I'm not talking about fantasy baseball camp or whatever. Go march a Senior Corps.

Junior Drum and Bugle Corps is and hopefully will always be an activity that youth participate in. Not 30 year olds still hanging on to the water-wagon so to speak.

30 would be ridiculous...if anything it only should be raised a year or two, but like I said there are a ton of aspects to this that would need to be addressed. I am just taking issue with some of the reasons people gave in opposition to raising the limit.

[CoHmempho04]

It cost less than half of a junior tour almost closer to a third of junior tour (you could march 3 years before you break the $3000 mark) to march Corpsvets this year with a Brand New set of King Ultimate Horns, one year old drums AND new pit equipment and you can work Monday through Friday job to pay it off with people commuting from as far as Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, Carolinas and Tennessee to our camps each weekend!

We will be traveling to many out of state shows, and also performing at DCI Southeast Championships!!!

Back to the age topic...

1. WHY HURT DCA???? There are nearly 30 corps in DCA around this country that people go after they age out!

2. If they are suppose to march this year they will march. From what I've heard in the past few years including 2009 auditions... Cavaliers, Crown, Cadets, Blue Devils all have more than they can have in kids who audition each year to fill up nearly 10 other corps besides themselves.

Edited March 9, 2009 by CoHmempho04

[CoHmempho04]

with all due respect to DCA corps, the experiences are completely different.

yes you are right, DCAs have adults who can't do what a 19-21 year old can do. DCAs do weekends ONLY.

You also need to know, drum corps is drum corps is drum corps. It's experience inside an ensemble of that caliber during the summer, getting better and preparing for your Junior Tours. I know of many people who used DCA to jump to a junior corps and contribute a lot for that year in DCA. You have a good chance to have a few band directors in the line or on staff and if you're going to be a band director for your job..... it's a great thing to know 10-15 band directors in your state and talk to them about what it's like.

[Jeff Ream]

no. for a youth activity, we add on any more adults, and dci will have to redo their charter, mission statement and non profit status

[TeeDubbs]

I think that drumcorpsfan4567 is trying to say like... say you are 24 and you win the lottery. You have $100 million dollars. Why couldn't that person spend $3000 to march drum corps?

How about you pay for someone else's dues? Give them the opportunity you have already been given.