camel lips Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 (edited) Bottom line is your going to have to build it yourself.No one is going to do it for you.And be sure to "ask" for the rule book. If your not ready for mini corps you need to start with a parade corps.If your not ready for Class A you need to be in mini corps and if you are not ready for open class you need to be in class A. Local performances are essential to your growth.START THERE.The more you can get your corps before the public the better your recruiting base is going to be.Also find "stuff" for your corps to do in December,Jan and February other than just visual block and horn arch.Its hard for someone coming into your organization to stick around if their first performance is not till June.Do some Christmas parades in blue jeans and corps shirts if you have too.Anything to get these folks involved and get their roots invested in the corps.Once someone has performed with the group its going to be hard for them to leave. Best of luck and I hope to see you guys on the 50 someday. Edited April 7, 2009 by camel lips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Beat Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Just a quick clarification:DCA does NOT go out and start circuits. Our resources and personnel are VERY limited... That being said, in the past Ohio has had a rich drum corps history... It is also in a geographic location that really works well... allowing any corps forming in Ohio to go either direction for shows - Traditional DCA shows in the near northeast (Erie & parts of PA and upstate NY) or DCA Central shows as near as MI... Let's form ONE successful competitive corps in Ohio before we talk about Ohio Circuits... And there was a GREAT DCA show in Salem, Ohio, with midwest, er, central corps and eastern corps together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Beat Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 My wife and I where the recruiters for Cincinnati tradtion last year. We tried to recruit at local Wintergaurd shows and band competions but its not that people dont want to do it its when its comes to comittment thats when people bail on you. there where times last year when we had almost 25 horns. Then after we started learning drill thats when they realized they had to make a choice and they took the easy way out they quit. we tried so hard to get the 35 members to compete in DCA Class A last year but when you have tried everything you can think of to recruit people and there is nothing eles you can do its time to throw in the towl until the next season. You have to reach that magic point, organizationally, where, after a few seasons, your members have no idea what they would do without those summer weekends with their best friends (fellow members), forget what golfing is, realize that yard-work can wait until Mondays, and go into "withdrawl" September-December until first winter camp. And Fridays at work are hell because all you can think about is, "Ewwww... did I empty the ham sandwiches out of the cooler after last weekend?" That is a big hump to get over. To go from members that think "Hmmm... nice day... I think I'd rather..." -- to a mentality of -- "What else would I do?" I agree with William -- Check out Kilties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Beat Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 When I look at the DCA Schedule, it's obvious to me that if someone could make it off the ground in the Ohio area - schedule would be no problem and amount of travel would be on a par with what most DCA corps do... how long do you think it takes (or how much money) for Cru to go to Boston or Bridgeport?Yesterday, I drove home from WGI and was reminded what a big state Ohio is, but even coming from the Dayton/Cinci area clear across the state, travel is far more "do able" than it is for one of the midwestern or southern corps... For those in Eastern Ohio, you now have an option in nearby Erie... But the real question is does anyone in Ohio have the "Vince Bruni" type mentality to just go out there and make it happen? It seems to me that the Columbus - Dayton - Cinci area is loaded with potential members to someone who reached out to the band/drum line/guard people... I remember fondly, (as a kid of course) being told by Brad Longdo what great drum corps people there were in Ohio and how much he enjoyed working with them (Satan's Angels - if anyone is old enough to remember)... Ohio would be a welcome addition to the DCA "fold" and as I said before, would have the advantage of straddling the NE to the East and the Midwest to the West... My friend who was affiliated with Capitol Regiment tried to convince Rick Bays to bring back Cap Reg as a DCA corps. But he wouldn't even go to a DCA show to see what it's about. That would have been a killer idea! Can you imagine that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDrum247 Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I have to say, lots of high school kids would come out for an all age corps and even us older people. And even though Coats, Glassmen,CR and Southwind are in the area, many more kids then what ends up is in those corps did not march because they simply could not afford the tour and camp fees. Also, a lot of you may not know this, but many school programs here charge $400-800 to be in marching band. Not as much as Coats, but its a lot of money. So add the two seasons worth of fees each year and "You can't do it." is what the kids hear. Plus, some bands out here start their competitive season the same weekend as DCA, this affects kids marching because most directors would want their kids at the show. This was a problem for me and my high school, but I chose to march anyway since we had kids marching junior corps during the whole summer missing everything, while I only missed the first show of the season. Another reason is that most all age corps are far away. Parents I know, will not let their kids travel that far every weekend. Even though they do way more travel in junior corps. I don't completely understand that myself, but I can respect it because that's their right as a parent. With having said that, I think the Dayton or Columbus area would be a good place to do a "competitive" all age corps. You have a lot of colleges with marching band programs, almost every high school has a marching band of some sort and they all know about drum corps at some level. I know it takes a lot of ground work to start a corps, I was around Cozy Baker quite a bit through the beginning of Mirage. He offered a package with a staff that people wanted to come play and play for. I remember the first practice, we had 10 snares 4 tenors and 5 basses with who knows how many horns. I know every instrument he had was taken. They competed at a few DCMidwest shows and a DCA show. But the point is, they made it, and I suppose money and maybe the fact that most members had stuff going on during DCA was the reason why they didn't make it to DCA. I don't know that answer........ Another thing, this goes back to having a show and a staff people want to play for. Many of the kids I've seen here want to know who is running it and where they're from and what they have done etc, which I'm sure it's that way most everywhere. But I think this is partly so here because a lot of bands are very competitive and in numbers. Some areas I've lived in only had one, maybe two circuits that could thrive. Here there are at least 3 different circuits to choose from. Some run shows so close together you can do 2 shows a day at two different schools or choose one that has a prelims and finals show. You can even mix and match if you like, it's like Arby's pick five for five. If you can run a corps off of $600 a member, and offer a $10 a camp meal charge with fund raising opportunity, you would have a corps. I really believe this. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so if you look at the numbers, and I don't even know what those numbers would be. But I can imagine they are pretty large. Maybe someone looking to start and all age corps in the area could host or partner host a show that is DCI/DCA and work on trying to get a couple top DCA corps out here and have an all day show starting at like 4pm with 5 or 6 all age corps and however many juniors you can get. It could help start the fire here once again. People are waiting, I really believe so and so did Cozy. It'll only be a matter of time before someone comes out from left field and knocks everyone out. Who's going to be that person? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.