Woodwinds in Drum Corps?

[Triple Forte]

Woodwinds in drum corps. There's one thing that boggles my mind, and it's in a question, or two... maybe three, that I can't really answer for myself for the drum corps community.

Will Woodwinds kill the drum corps activity?

Will drum corps fan still go to watch drum corps even if there are woodwinds?

What kind controversy will be expected to spark if having woodwinds in drum corps did get passed by the BoD?

Will anyone in drum corps ever respect the activity again?

Please be mature about it. I may be 19 and will be a drum corps fan when i'm older obviously, but I hate the way the BoD are killing the activity and making modern DCI a big joke to today's old classic drum corps fans and current drum corps advocates and members. I hate to see such an honourable challenging sport go down the drain because of some stupid irrational decisions being made by the BoD. Someone got to step up to the plate and say change it back, I might as well do that when I age out and take a stand at DCI, but something's got to be done NOW before it's to late, and it starts with YOU, the drum corps fans.

I think woodwinds will be implemented in DCI......and it will probably be (Coupled with the crazy costs of running a corps) the final nail in the coffin. So many fans would quit going to shows.......believe me. If you chase away the "Legacy Fans"......you chase away your best (Most loyal) customers. And again....I took a good look around my seating area during DCI week (50 yard line 15 rows up) and saw an average age of 30. Where are all these young ins at ? Oh....there in the upper deck on the 20 yard line.

[atlvalet]

Take that into account when talking about marketing. The only way for people outside marching music to "get it" is to go to a live show and experience it. Most people don't want to be barraged with a detailed explanation of just how different DCI (or any drum corps org) is from regular marching band...good luck even getting them to pay attention long enough to understand they aren't school affiliated.

One of the first things I would tell people when talking about drum corps is "It IS NOT marching band. Drum corps is cool. Marching band is not." Those days, it seems, are coming closer to an end.

And I still think the Marching Music's Major League is a lame line. I could write DCI a better one (since that's what I do for a living), but my day rate ain't cheap :)

Then again, that line is the least of DCI's problems.

Edited August 20, 2009 by atlvalet

[Lance]

One of the first things I would tell people when talking about drum corps is "It IS NOT marching band. Drum corps is cool. Marching band is not." Those days, it seems, are coming closer to an end.

That must be a weird discussion.

Friend: "I'm not so sure I want to go to this drum corps thing tonight with you. What's the difference between it and marching band?"

You: "It is NOT marching band. Drum corps is cool. Marching band is not."

Friend: "Wow, let's go then!"

??????????????????????

Is there a spell that goes with it?

-----------------------------------------------

It would be nice if that, alone, worked on most people. But anymore than a sentence or two explaining, and most people kind of doze off. It's wasted effort to try to "explain" how it's different from the preconceived notion they have of marching band. DCI would be really stupid to complicate it anymore than the one phrase they came up with. The only way to understand it is to experience it.

[Hrothgar15]

In 2005 I took two French foreign exchange students to a drum corps show. I didn't have to explain it to them beforehand, mainly because they sucked at English. They ended up liking it anyway.

[WWonka]

In 2005 I took two French foreign exchange students to a drum corps show. I didn't have to explain it to them beforehand, mainly because they sucked at English. They ended up liking it anyway.

There's just so many ways I can think of to derail this into OT land with that comment. I will pass though.

[Hrothgar15]

There's just so many ways I can think of to derail this into OT land with that comment. I will pass though.

No, share. Online forums are meant for discussion...take the discussion where it leads.

[Lance]

In 2005 I took two French foreign exchange students to a drum corps show. I didn't have to explain it to them beforehand, mainly because they sucked at English. They ended up liking it anyway.

And that's the way it will pretty much always work. Get them there if you can, and make it personal if they don't. lol. If they like it, cool. If not, darn. But trying to give a detailed explanation of how it's different from marching band is a good way to turn people off immediately.

DCI could try to put together a marketing campaign trying to get people who aren't into marching music at all to understand that it's just sooooo different from regular half-time band stuff. I guaranteee anything more than 2 sentences trying to do it, and the person reading it or listening to it will only kind of nod off and maybe hear the truly salient details to them: that it's people marching around on a football field spinning things, banging on things, and tooting on things better than any other band they've EVER SEEN!

For people who have no idea what it is, short and to the point is best.

Head On is a good example: if they had tried explaining what it's made of and what it does in depth, nobody would remember it. But one phrase "HEAD ON: APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD" got it to where it was a household hame.

Trying to market drum corps as different from band is not the way to go. It's not the same as Nike letting people know they developed a new running shoe that is lighter and more efficiently transfers energy than any other before...plus there's this cool sale on socks, hats, and headbands! They already have a customer just waiting for them to come out with that type of announcement. Same with NOT TRUE FOR DRUM CORPS.

[Mason Dixon]

There was some talk earlier in this thread about the shift being to current marching band members and prospective corps members (basically teens and sub-age-out young adults) being the primary audience. To that, I say: Does collegiate athletics market primarily to high school and college-age patrons? No. Save for the actual students at the college (and even they are often and afterthought in the overall financial picture) the focus is not towards luring those fans at all. It's the older, dyed-in-the-wool fans who can afford to make a lifestyle out of it, as well as local fans of the activity. Why would drum corps do differently?

[DWEST]

Because they're completely different. Maybe it's just me, but if the Blue Devils called and told me to catch a flight to Concord because they need a sax player, I'd pack my bags right now. Why? It's the Blue Devils. It's Phantom Regiment. It's whatever corps you're interested in. It's drum corps. I know what people are going to say as a rebuttle. "It isn't drum corps if you have your saxophone." Why is that? As it stands, DCI/DCA is the only major marching "league" in the country. If there were a MBI, I'd join that. But since DCI is the big daddy, and since they have the most room for creative gain, then I'd like to go there.

Note: I'm learning Baritone and I fully plan on auditioning once I'm out of high school. I just think that if there are kids out there that don't have the chance to learn a new instrument, should they be left out of the opportunity of a lifetime? And if X corps director wants them in their corps, should they be left out of the opportunity for a sound that perfectly aligns with their imagination?

I wanna join the NFL as a punter. I kick pretty good. But I don't have a ball. Please, let me kick a rock.

If you want something bad enough. You go for it.

I played sax. Didn't have money. I bought myself a soprano(trumpet) mouth piece (30$). I Learned how to do a C-G lip slur. Then C-E, C-E-G, C-E-G-Bb.

Learn Attacks and releases. It takes time.

Great moments in life are not easy to come by. You strive for them.

I got my moments.

Now it's your turn.

[Jeff Ream]

For the general population, all of this stuff about differentiated whatever doesn't mean a thing. Differentiating food service at different stores works well because it's something that just about everybody uses in daily life, and like somebody else said, it's been that way for decades. Same with computer companies and such. There's already a huge portion of citizens who have their ears already pricked up for any cool new little feature that differentiates Dell from IBM, or Microsoft from Apple, or whatever. That's simply NOT true with things like Drum Corps.

Again, as a reminder, people running around on a football field is geeky to most people. To people who are really into marching music stuff, DCI is the creme de la creme, but to everybody else, it's geeky marching band no matter what you call it.

Take that into account when talking about marketing. The only way for people outside marching music to "get it" is to go to a live show and experience it. Most people don't want to be barraged with a detailed explanation of just how different DCI (or any drum corps org) is from regular marching band...good luck even getting them to pay attention long enough to understand they aren't school affiliated.

It takes one little phrase to get people to know you're talking about Nike, McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, etc. That's what DCI was trying to do with Marching Music's Major League, and in my opinion, it's the best thing they could do to try to get the attention of John Citizen.

true but....

how many people pay a ton of money to see drum corps shows, and how many people that dont have kids on the field pay to see marching band shows?

yet they keep trying to make it marching band