The Future of Drum Corps?

[Tom Brace]

So what you're telling me is that you'd rather succumb to a business model of a "few profitable corps" rather than the MLB model of "a ton of profitable teams"...

ah...ton of profitable teams...MLB = national pastime DCI= niche activity within another niche activity.

That's where your comparisons end my friend. DCI ain't ever going to be where baseball is now. Never.

And, again...and it is unable to be argued against...the single best thing OC corps could do for themselves is find an audience. It's really that simple. Many options open up if there is an audience...they would get more attention from DCI or DCA or they could better call their own shots....if there was a paying audience for their performances.

[txorchdork013]

Travis ... Hammer. Nail. Head. Hit.

In "the good old days" of the '70s, DCI did hold regional seminars, where experts from the stronger corps would give training on all subjects: "How to score a song for drum corps voices", "How to feed a corps on tour", "How to do souvies", etc. And the smaller corps (such as the Blue Devils at that time) could learn from the "masters". I don't remember when these seminars stopped, but I think it was sometime in the late '70s, early '80s.

This is a good point...here is a thought that might go with that.

It would be great if this could be done the state music convention. In Texas, TMEA has a state convention for Texas music teachers every year (public, private and universities. During this time, they have many seminars about numerous issues and trends in music education.

DCI or Corps. which ever is more willing, could either bid to speak at a seminar and just teach what you just stated because that works with any music teacher who has to support theor school program and I assume, many of those corps directors have some tie to music education so they could just go to the convention to get the training...

Or DCI could open shop as a vendor and not only sell corps souvies and DVD, but hand out phamplets and recruit. The attendance at these state conventions is tremendous. This is a quicker, easier way to get the info out there. The cost of the plane ticket, convention entry and hotel for the weekend would be less than trying to do a mail out to every musical entity in the state of Texas. They could even have some forms out so that people could be put on a mailing list for more info. Offer a raffle at your booth and people will sign up more willingly. Raffle off a DVD or something similar. They could even put out a donation can stuffed with a couple of $20's to get the ball rolling.

What is nice is that TMEA has students there as well. There are the kids who made the all-state bands, orchestras and choirs running around doing their thing and would probably be drawn to a booth that has great music and videos coming from it. Those kids could bring back the stuff the get and hear back to their schools.

What is nice about TMEA is that teachers and students are represented from many of the states regions and districts and not just the big cities. When I return back from TMEA I am excited to bring back and share all the stuff I got.

Diane

Edited August 3, 2009 by txorchdork013

[SF2K4]

ah...ton of profitable teams...MLB = national pastime DCI= niche activity within another niche activity.

That's where your comparisons end my friend. DCI ain't ever going to be where baseball is now. Never.

And, again...and it is unable to be argued against...the single best thing OC corps could do for themselves is find an audience. It's really that simple. Many options open up if there is an audience...they would get more attention from DCI or DCA or they could better call their own shots....if there was a paying audience for their performances.

I see your point... another problem with DCI is the huge lack of parity... there's a reason why, sans a couple exceptions, it's always BD, Cavies, or Cadets that win a crown and that's that we haven't been able to convince the members of all talent levels to go EVERYWHERE... the best flock to a small group of corps and the small guys, sadly, are getting left behind. In pro sports that's not a problem because of drafts and trades, those things obviously don't happen in drum corps. I think maybe, that in mind, we need to focus on shaking up the membership rather than the fan appeal.

[Tom Brace]

I see your point... another problem with DCI is the huge lack of parity... there's a reason why, sans a couple exceptions, it's always BD, Cavies, or Cadets that win a crown and that's that we haven't been able to convince the members of all talent levels to go EVERYWHERE... the best flock to a small group of corps and the small guys, sadly, are getting left behind. In pro sports that's not a problem because of drafts and trades, those things obviously don't happen in drum corps. I think maybe, that in mind, we need to focus on shaking up the membership rather than the fan appeal.

I think very soon parity will need to be more of a discussion for DCI. I don't know how it gets traction though. DCI's top instructors and arrangers really make pretty good coin above their marching band gigs. The best corps seem to get the best instructors/arrangers and they have the best choices at auditions.

Crown winning this year would certainly shake things up a bit. Maybe get the parity discussion started...that could be in DCI's best interest overall. It's just so difficult to put the brakes on when this whole activity has been built so much on competition.

[txorchdork013]

Excellent statements, Travis. The primary goal of every corps should be a positive, live enriching experience through their performances and interrelationships with their peers and staff. It was for me. The only thing I played before I was in BD was the accordion! Jim Ott, Wayne Downey, and Mel Canales taught me how to play the bari from scratch and I was a lead after one year, and gave me the confidence to become section leader, which led to many successes in my life. I wish everyone that opportunity.

The thing that makes Drum Crops "relevant" to todays society is this unique life enriching experience. It's not the big tours and the big shows, it's the life experience. I got this experience through Jerry Seawright right from the start. And I got this experience mainly, not as a "DCI Winner", but through the process of getting there. Jerry set the tone of the organization in "the good old days" when we were still loosing to the Audobon Bon-Bon Girls!

It does require sacrifice ... but not only that, it requires leadership to provide the strategic business planning, and the tactical follow-through, at all levels: DCI, Regionally, Board of Directors, Executive Director, and Staff.

Sorry for rambling ... my 2 centavos!

And that is why the kids and the fans keep coming back year after year. My daughter whines about the runs, the block drills, the circle drills, what parts of her body hurt, how hard the staff was on them...the list goes on. But, everytime I ask her if she is going to do drum corps again, she says, with an incredulous expression on her face, "yes."

For her to be able to participate, we sacrifice. Since we don't live close to any corps, we travel every year. This requires travel costs, maintaining two households (need housing) and then corps costs. I work extra tutoring programs and Saturday school to get extra cash and my daughter hoards all her birthday and gift monies as well as any other monies she may earn from doing odd jobs. I liken it to paying for a private prep school...LOL. I do it because of the excellent musical and character education she gets from the BDB organization. She does it because she loves it.

Whether it is DCI or the corps themselves, they need to really take a look at their leadership and make sure business is taken care of otherwise that life enriching experience won't happen. Planning and finances have to be solid (and a solid backup plan should also be available).

IMO, I think that some kids/parents choose certain corps because they know the corps are run well and financially stable. I don't want to entrust my child (or money) to an organization who may be "flaky."

Edited August 3, 2009 by txorchdork013

[blueorginal]

Having been in the trenches I'll throw my 2cents into the pot.

1. I think it's in every corps best interest to reconnect with community they call home. I know it isn't like the old days where a championship calibre corps could come from a "city" but maybe its time for the corps to reconnect with the boys & Girls Clubs, PAL's etc and offer to teach a one day a week music/dance program and take those kids to parades, community events to perform. The benefits are socially huge on getting the kids off the street and into a enviroment they can grow, this also would build good strong community ties like most corps have or had which would enhance local fund raising opportunities. Additionally to areas that cut music programs maybe presents a great opportunity for corps to step in and provide the education that could benefit the activity in the long run.

2. DCI was a brain child of corps to help organize, oversee a tour schedule help to create a standardize scoring system. It would be representative of the top 12 with associate members being 13-25 place corps, in the early days there was a constant flux of "member corps" But as time went on it stabilized, now we are at a point where similar to the NCAA does DCI need to reorganize into its own entity and governing body and pull the corps out of it. Sort of has the organization outgrown the fraigle membership it has.

3. DCI inherited Ken Kobolds recording and I know there are alot of stipulations that went with them. I would suggest DCI work out an agreement that would make all the recording availabile for downloading for say $3.00 - $1.00 to DCI and $2.00 would go into a corps rainy day fund if they are still around or startup fund for new corps,, would be alot more to that just a idea thrown out. There's so much history in those recordings that would be a great learning tool for corps members today to hear the history of the corps that were good but not top 12 good.

4. Will drum corps survive in the next decade....I don't know but if we look at the economy and the social ills of the country it's a good possiblity that only a few will survive, what have the corps done to make themselves sustainable? I don't think they've been able to do much, the reality of drum corps with a few exceptions is Drum Corps run on a shoe string budget and are one or two major repairs from not having funds.

5. Staff salaries, I think there will have to be a discussion on how much should staff get paid, should there be a salary cap? In drum corps its just like sports big market teams spend more to get the good players while small market have to spend wisely. When is it time to limit a budget for drum corps to make sure that the activity survives.

6. I also see the royalty issue becoming more of a detriment to the activity and in the long run could be what kills the activity as it could stop DVD/Audio recordings from being made/sold. The music industry is out to get as much profit that they can.

7. We know that DCI works in the best interest of the corps, but at what point do they price themselves out of the average persons budget, to go to Indy from say Wed - Sun it would cost me $3,900for the trip, meals, tickets, rental etc. I know its an event but I could travel to Australlia for $2,200 and have $1,300 for food and fun it's all perspective and what its worth to me, but i'm sure as us baby boomers get older we look at things like that also, families are having hard times paying for schools for their kids and sooner or later its going to be do you want to go to college or march.

8. Here's another worry I have, what happens if for say the cadets, blue devils and cavies fall out of the top 12, (they've all been out of the top 12 at some point then would they loose their postion on any committee and BOD within DCI then what happens is DCI able to run without its strongest leaders would there be a power struggle to get into their positions. Which brings me back to when does DCI become it's own entity and goverening body making the rules that corps abide by and who will police them at that point.

jsut some more points to ponder

[morganhill]

Simply stated I do not include DCA in my over all response to this post. IMO, unless certain DCI units make their shows more accessible, entertaining and fan friendly, the future does not look bright. I know we have been through this time after time, however, this is exactly how I feel. Flames rejected.

[bmroth1]

The one point I will make here and that nobody seems to like to discuss much. IMHO DCI member corps did not understand the impact of losing the smaller corps. The segregation of the larger corps from the smaller corps market has in large part created the very discussion we are having now. DCI attempted to shred itself of what they viewed as a drain on their system and ended up creating such a vacuum in the activity they had to redefine who they were in order to survive. My following statement is one that many do not understand and many will completely blow off as nonsense:

World Class drum corps has always been dependent upon the smaller corps for survival.

I'll say it again.... World Class drum corps has always been dependent upon the smaller corps for survival.

As the smaller corps disappeared DCI had to redefine its very existence. I will be writing about this in much detail soon. Especially as DCI prepares to redefine itself again in conjunction with MENC. This has been a process that is not yet complete! I believe that some of the changes we will see from DCI over the next few years will make even those we saw as leaders in the drum corps "evolution" look and act like so called "Legacy Fans"!

Edited August 3, 2009 by bmroth1

[txorchdork013]

I've always felt that DCI needs to pay more attention to the Open Class division. The reason I say that is because we could sure use some more World Class corps and where else are we going to get them from?

Blue Devils B, Vanguard Cadets take top spots after Open Class 'seeding' events

By Justin Herberger | jherberger@dci.org

Monday, August 3, 2009 - 10:45 AM

Blue Devils B drum majors Andrew Wood and Eddy Pineda said the corps is pleased with Sunday’s performance as well as their progress this season.

“Everyone really pushed through the show tonight,” Wood said. “Everything we worked on in practice really showed up in our performance.”

Wood says the corps’ drive for perfection has paid off this summer. “We’ve been working hard and I think the members really enjoy the opportunity to perform for a great crowd. This is an Open Class corps, but we rehearse like a World Class corps.”

DCI NEWS

[blueorginal]

World Class drum corps has always been dependent upon the smaller corps for survival.

I'll say it again.... World Class drum corps has always been dependent upon the smaller corps for survival.

I tend to agree with that there's more smaller corps than there are top 12 corps :) but kinda reinforces my comment that corps need to start local efforts even if the kids the teach and help in a girls/boys club aren't up to the world class standards they could be guided to an Open Class corps where the teaching continues. The expansion of "draft a corps" by multi-region recruiting has helped and hurt many corps. Regional corps I see as a future of the activity, as schools systems shrink the summer, here in Palm springs they are talking ending school on the 18-20th of June and Starting on August 10th that would leave a 5 week season, so the only solution will be the Upper Corps will recruit the colleges leaving the HS kids to find a Open Class or regional tour corps to join. but what would a show in Oklahoma look like 3-4 corps? Would there still be 12 world class touring corps? would there be 30 small regional corps....if you don't have a foundation you can't get to the penthouse