JimF-LowBari Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 So, nothing's changed. Except for more people not paying attention (and not just because of the increased population). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Oz Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 But guess what; the vast majority of America wasn't paying attention to drum corps 30 and 40 years ago either (and it was considered downright disreputable by most serious musicians). Considering what's being achieved now and the much higher profile it has over anytime in the past*, it would seem to be moving in a net positive direction. If that's not enough for some folks, there are always old recordings and the Legacy series DVDs. Just for my education, could you please justify some of your assertions? “It was considered downright disreputable by most serious musicians” [my emphasis]. Can you give me some statistics? And please define “serious musicians”. I guess that would have to exclude those musicians who played in drum corps and those who went on to a “serious” professional music career outside of drum corps. And what should I think about those periodic threads on DCP discussing someone’s high school music teacher who discourages students from joining drum corps? Or their college trumpet professor? Maybe the activity is only less disreputable today. “Much higher profile” and “Moving in a net positive direction”. 700 corps years ago. Less than 100 today. I guess it all depends on your definition of positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 (edited) Somehow I missed that "much higher profile" line.... Used to be almost every local parade in my area had enough corps in it that they had to compete for the prize money. No appearance money like at field shows today, it was "ya want the money, ya gotta work for it". Now in over half of our parades, we're the ONLY corps there. And as Oz could testify Cenral PA had a Senior show about every other weekend. Now we're down to two and one show restarted a few years ago (Lewisburg/Bucknell). Also every year the Harrisburg paper runs a "Welcome to Central PA" section that lets new people know what's availible. At least one year in the "Music/Concerts" area was the line "Drum and Bugle Corps is very popular on our area". Well you can kiss that #### good bye <$1 to my dad>. Yeah it is nice to say that DC has a higher talent level, etc, etc, etc. For that matter, why don't we get rid of almost all the youth program teams so we can say their talent level is higer too. And T.S. if hardly anyone gets to participate or see it anymore. And On Topic: Used to be the corps played for the crowd and audience response they would get. In the 80s seemed DCI moved to trying to impress the crowd instead of hitting them with something exciting. And the general public usually wants to be entertained more than be impressed, especially when they are paying for it. Sometime in the 80s I heard the line: DCI is moving to "music majors playing for other music majors". can't really argue after seeing some of the posts on DCP. Edited July 28, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmurrey74 Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 If the accoustics are as bad as the BOA people say in Lucas Oil it could be a big dissapointment -- I know the shows are good, but I hate bad accoustics--like the old Hoosier Dome-- it was great in Bloomington last year, perfect stadium for drum corps. I only heard good things about the acoustics at BOA. A lot of drum corps staff members that I know were really surprised on how great it sounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmurrey74 Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 And from what I have seen from the ticket pre-sales, there is going to be a huge number of people in Indy this year . Exactly....I don't know if you can base it off this, but go to ticketmaster and choose best available for Finals night. At least for the $75 dollar tickets, the best available are outside the goal line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry S Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 es⋅o⋅ter⋅icunderstood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest Couldn't one argue that the entirety of the drum corps activity is esoteric? :) NO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry S Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 (edited) Missed almost all the 90s, but yeah the volume is missing from what I remember from the 70s and 80s. But... let's not forget the "more like a bugle" type construction compared to todays "#### near a concert" MB horns of today. (What I wouldn't give for my old P/R Bari so I can compare volume to my current key o' G 3v horn.)Seems like the philosophy is: play in control and in blend with everyone else at the expense of volume and/or excitement. #### you'd think with the level of talent and training in todays corps, they would be able to achieve volume with both control and balance. Best example of doing it all I can think of is about a minute into 2005 SF Renegades. At Prelims we were OUTSIDE the stadium and it was louder than Hades. Then after listeneing to it on CD about a hundred times, the balance still amazes me. During Finals the guy next to me just kept saying "Oh man, this is nuts... I love Drum Corps". There's no Arguement to my mind about Volume. The Horlines (especially in the late 70s early 80s ) produce much more volume than today. Today the sound is filled in on "loud" sustains by the pit, especially with cymbals rolls. On the rare occasion that a hornline holds it's own sustain without "augmentation", it just not as loud as the "old school" hornlines. PERIOD! Just not. Edited July 28, 2009 by Perry S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hup234 Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Yes...all current drum corps is terrible, boring, and nothing is loud. There is zero entertainment. I think this is the last year of DCI unless they bring back the 60's show design. I heard they might cancel championships this year because it's so bad.No, no, that's all in the future, after the Broadway-wannabes emasculate the activity with spandex and whoopie-ding ballerina twirls! Right now there are kids regardless of experience joining any of the almost-1,000 drum corps in North America, and there are so many entrants at Nationals they have to hold prelims over two days and there isn't a hotel room in a twenty-mile radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_S Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Somehow I missed that "much higher profile" line....Used to be almost every local parade in my area had enough corps in it that they had to compete for the prize money. No appearance money like at field shows today, it was "ya want the money, ya gotta work for it". Now in over half of our parades, we're the ONLY corps there. Maybe if those corps insisted on payment to cover their time, effort and expenses then they'd still be around. No? And On Topic: Used to be the corps played for the crowd and audience response they would get. In the 80s seemed DCI moved to trying to impress the crowd instead of hitting them with something exciting. And the general public usually wants to be entertained more than be impressed, especially when they are paying for it. Sometime in the 80s I heard the line: DCI is moving to "music majors playing for other music majors". can't really argue after seeing some of the posts on DCP. 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. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3vo Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 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. I agree, all drum corps should play the same exact composition of every piece of music. No no no!!!! It would not get boring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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