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Synthesizers in drum corps


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We keep hearing this tired old argument from time to time. I guess you weren't aware that when the VFW/AL established the drum corps activity, they also established a parallel division of competition for marching bands. Apparently, they knew drum corps and marching band are different.

Um..that doesn't mean they were not bands, just that the VFW created two divisions with different instrumentation. So no, it's not a 'tired old argument'...it's the truth as I see it. Feel free to disagree...but don't denigrate someone else POV just because you disagree.

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Again, I don't like synthesizers or mics either. There are simply different lines that people draw for what constitutes "real" drum corps. For some, it's way before the shift from acoustic to electric. For some, it's way before the change from big shift from G to Bb. And for yet others, it's simply woodwinds. It's a fluid line that goes in both directions time-wise, and it depends entirely on personal taste, not some special fact that exists simply because some people want it to.

It's tiring to see people on here act like they and those they agree with are the ones who are somehow entitled to draw a "super duper special" line that is 100% immutable.

You'd better build your stamina, then, because there are at least a couple of valid reasons.

1. Regardless of how many different places that line can be drawn, if enough fans draw that line in the same place, the loss of their $upport could impair the feasibility of the DCI operating model in unanticipated ways.

2. Because there are other similar activities alongside drum corps, there is the possibility that drum corps could actually morph into one of these other activities....essentially, the loss of a species. If DCI added woodwinds, how many people here would claim that the result would not be marching band at that point?

Don't you agree that those are issues of greater weight than one person's individual taste?

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OK - seen this one many times too. All we need is a few million dollars and we can start our own circuit. Helpful. Thanks so much....

Fact is we had our own circuit - DCI. It's now being morphed into a band circuit. If you wanted a summer band circuit, why not start that yourself rather than co-opting an existing, seperate art form?

No, you never had your own circuit. DCI just happened to be aligned with your tastes for a while...and now it isn't. Why should someone who is still in synch with DCI start their own circuit, since the circuit that is there pleases them?

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Does it matter? He cited historically facts. You were wrong.

Um...no, I was not wrong. He may find some small area where a glockenspiel was used...but it was not something in general use through the 60's, anyway.

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Isn't that against the rules?

From what I've seen at shows, it looks like anything is fair game with the synths. Carolina Crown has a "music-box" section in their show played by the synth that I'm sure could be done with a percussion instrument.

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You'd better build your stamina, then, because there are at least a couple of valid reasons.

1. Regardless of how many different places that line can be drawn, if enough fans draw that line in the same place, the loss of their $upport could impair the feasibility of the DCI operating model in unanticipated ways.

2. Because there are other similar activities alongside drum corps, there is the possibility that drum corps could actually morph into one of these other activities....essentially, the loss of a species. If DCI added woodwinds, how many people here would claim that the result would not be marching band at that point?

Don't you agree that those are issues of greater weight than one person's individual taste?

Of course, your item 1. is merely something you are postulating...there is NO way to know such a thing.

As for 2...you have it backwards...drum corps would remain as much drum corps as it is and was, as it is and was already a marching band. So, no, nothing would be lost.

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What's wrong with going to any key? Does that make it not real drum corps?

Mike said something to the effect that the only recent change that added a new instrument to DCI was the electronics change. My point was that the "any-key" brass change was another such change. That is all.

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