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I am at the DCI show in Atlanta on Saturday and I was bored out of my mind. I've marched for years in corps from the 60's up to 2002 plus I attended music college.

To me these corps want to run faster than ever on the field , with no power, since corps back in the day with 30 horns were louder than 70 person lines today.

The music to me seems like a bunch of guys wanting to get their masters in composition. They take a melody and mix it up and twist it so that it hardly if ever resembles what they say it is suppose to be. If I want to hear west side story then play it... Next thing they will do porgy and bess, but make it a happy one, with country and symphonic overtures, with various key changes, Brilliant. Back when drum corp was in the business of entertaining (I know a bad thing) people came to shows to enjoy it and they did not have to be a middle, high or college marching student to understand it, they just came to be entertained. Most at the show were students, people who have marched or parents of kids in corps. People around me said this would be their last show, since they did not recognize one musical piece.

Bring back the entertainment of playing loud and having regular people get excited about watching drum corp.

So stop going to drum corps shows.

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Maybe if those corps insisted on payment to cover their time, effort and expenses then they'd still be around. No?

Actually corps were paid back then. For competitions they were paid according to their placement. One of the reasons why the local shows died off was because the competing corps needed a higher payoff because of greater expenses. Edit: Parade corps are paid in the Northeast as well. Reason why corps (including Teal Sound) make the Baltimore 4th of July parade. Also reason why there are a lot of Alumni-type corps in the Northeast.

What corps were doing in the 70's stopped being entertaining. That's not meant as a dig, that's meant to be true. Even DCA produces shows that are light-years closer to what DCI is doing now than what DCI was doing in year one. If there was a market for that style, you'd have seen someone rise to fill it by now, don't you think? From my (admittedly limited) knowledge, drum corps changed as much from the 70's to the 80's as it had at any point previously. And as much as you might be against the change to amplification and electronics, the fact is that you identified this problem as beginning in the 80's. That's a good 30 year window where someone who truly believed that 70's drum corps could still entertain had every opportunity to start up a new circuit and try his idea out. It hasn't happened.

When in the 70s did it stop being entertaining? And where did you get the idea that I want to go back to a 1970s style circuit? On other threads I've posted that IMO rising expenses in the late 70s was a corps killer than anything else, including change of style. Oh yeah, why didn't someone start a new circuit.... expenses.... for that matter why aren't there more corps of any type today.... expenses...

An entire generation has passed since the era you are talking about. Can you imagine any drum major today with muttonchops? Hell, even Hopkins' Hulk Hogan 'stache from 1984 draws laughs. And don't even get me started on leisure suits or cross-dressing hair metal bands. What entertains us has changed, and I'm not speaking of any particular group when I say "us" but rather society at large. Your favorite era was the 70's. But if you read posts on here then you'll hear from many who say that their favorite era was the mid-80's. Others say their favorite time was the early 90's. Still others think that the past couple years have been the best yet. You say that you began hearing the complaint that DCI is "music majors playing for other music majors" in the 80's, yet I could name a number of DCP members who believe that time was the height of the activity. I'm not trying to offend with this - tastes are personal and we all like what we like - but if you're no longer entertained by drum corps then perhaps it's not drum corps that has a problem, perhaps it's just you.

I brought up the 70s because that was the era I'm most familiar with. I also brought up the changes since then to show what has happened in the DC community (at least in PA) as comparison to today. As for "having a problem"..... If there is something that doesn't entertain you, do you consider that a problem? I've walked away from all DC for about 10 years because I got less entertained and more important things started in my life. I'm back but the direction DCI has gone is not entertaining to me. I don't consider that a problem and I don't wish that DCI would change for my benefit. But Drum Corps today is less visible to the general public than in the past and that was the main point I was making.

Yet another edit :worthy: : For the record..... In the DC/MB area I'm entertained by the sound of horns and drums without other sounds getting in the way. And to me synths and vocals are the "other sounds" and are as irritating as someone talking in the stands during a show.

Edited by JimF-3rdBari
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I would love to see a corp today, use the marching style and musicianship they have, but really put on a fun entertaining show anyone could enjoy. Be true to the melody, do it thier style, but be true to the melody. They might fill small show stadiums.

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I would love to see a corp today, use the marching style and musicianship they have, but really put on a fun entertaining show anyone could enjoy. Be true to the melody, do it thier style, but be true to the melody. They might fill small show stadiums.

You mean a corpS like '09 Santa Clara?

Edited by skajerk
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I would love to see a corp today, use the marching style and musicianship they have, but really put on a fun entertaining show anyone could enjoy. Be true to the melody, do it thier style, but be true to the melody. They might fill small show stadiums.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the shows this year and it seems to me that the corps with the least chopped up program is Blue Stars. If this show didn't make an impression on you regarding being "true to the melody," either you got a hot dog when they were on or you have other issues than melody.

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For anyone who wants to play the "fewer drum corps now" card, I'll continue to play the "total number of competitive marching musicians" card... jus' sayin'. Competitive high school marching bands have taken the place of the smaller community drum corps, for better or for worse, but there are more kids now learning the lessons that this and similar activities can offer. To me, that's the important part.

I guess my point is that a fewer quantity of drum corps isn't necessarily indicative of the death, or even the decline of the activity. Just a shift to a different model.

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I would love to see a corp today, use the marching style and musicianship they have, but really put on a fun entertaining show anyone could enjoy. Be true to the melody, do it thier style, but be true to the melody. They might fill small show stadiums.

I'm wondering if you've seen any shows this year.

Santa Clara is doing something that borderlines on a transcription of "Appalachian Spring". Cavaliers are playing a Debussy piece that's been edited for time, but is otherwise pretty much the piece as written. Say what you want about Devils' "Piano Variations" arrangement, but it gets at the spirit of Copland's piece. There's no question that Crown is playing "Somewhere/Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - the arrangement is totally clear. In every case, anyone who's familiar with the source material could easily identify what it is that's being played.

So I'm not sure what you consider "melody." Contemporary pop music in drum corps was common in the 60s and 70s, but it's dead as a concept now (and given the state of American pop music today, that's a good thing). The standards from the 40s and 50s are classic, but by and large, not suited to the medium any more.

Re attendance, I've been to three shows this year in stadiums that seated 3,000 to 6,000 people, and in each case, concert side was packed. They ARE filling small stadiums.

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Re attendance, I've been to three shows this year in stadiums that seated 3,000 to 6,000 people, and in each case, concert side was packed. They ARE filling small stadiums.

Yeah, the one small show I went to, Windsor, CO, was packed to the gills, that that's a show in its first year, one hour from a huge and well established show.

Oh, and Invesco Field's was pretty full the next night, too. :worthy:

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For anyone who wants to play the "fewer drum corps now" card, I'll continue to play the "total number of competitive marching musicians" card... jus' sayin'. Competitive high school marching bands have taken the place of the smaller community drum corps, for better or for worse, but there are more kids now learning the lessons that this and similar activities can offer. To me, that's the important part.

I guess my point is that a fewer quantity of drum corps isn't necessarily indicative of the death, or even the decline of the activity. Just a shift to a different model.

If you only look at the performers end Keith I'd concede part of your point. As far as audience is concerned I'd say it's a whole different ball game. Know very few corps fans who go to MB contests unless they know someone. And as far as the participant is concerned once they get out of HS or college, their playing days are over. And their options are limited to IF (my MB doesn't anymore) their band even competes. Yes there are a lot of competing MBs, but also a LOT do not....

Of course that's t personal backgrounf talking as I joined a Sr corps because it was the only way I could continue playing after HS.

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For anyone who wants to play the "fewer drum corps now" card, I'll continue to play the "total number of competitive marching musicians" card... jus' sayin'. Competitive high school marching bands have taken the place of the smaller community drum corps, for better or for worse, but there are more kids now learning the lessons that this and similar activities can offer. To me, that's the important part.

I guess my point is that a fewer quantity of drum corps isn't necessarily indicative of the death, or even the decline of the activity. Just a shift to a different model.

The statements of Mr. mobrien were “Much higher profile” and “Moving in a net positive direction” for “drum corps”. The statements “Much higher profile” and “Moving in a net positive direction” for “drum corps and high school marching band” are not the same.

By the way, MikeD (who should be along any moment now) has the patent on the equivalence of marching band and drum corps argument. You might owe him royalties.

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