Did the "Import Membership" Model Kill Local Recruiting?

[corps-mudgeon]

So. did importing members kill off the local corps concept, or did lack of local recruits force the distributed membership paradigm?

I vote for the latter. If corps didn't start recruiting more widely, even more of them would be dead. It was a matter of survival.

[wturner901]

I don't recall many of the top 6 getting primarily local recruits. Prospects come from EVERYWHERE. (Memphis Sound had a tenor player from Japan)

Latter. Not enough local recruits to fill in spots.

Also: Talent is more important than how close the people live to you.

Edited December 30, 2009 by wturner901

[Dave]

I don't think it's exclusively one or the other. To be sure, local recruiting efforts have been problematic as of late, but along with that there's also the relative ease in this day and age of traveling around the country or even the world, compared to years past. I could probably count on one hand the number of La Crosse locals that were marching Blue Stars when I was marching, and it wasn't because we weren't trying to recruit, they just didn't want to march for whatever reason. The old days where everybody did everything in life within roughly the same twenty miles are over, for better or worse.

However, in this day of metropolitan areas I think that a corps that can grow at least some connection to its home stands a much better chance of surviving and thriving than one that doesn't foster such a connection. There's a lot in terms of potential recruits and fundraising beyond the typical stuff corps do that can be done within such an area, but usually it will require things like local performances that most corps either don't have the people in place for, or just regard as "beneath their dignity" or some such nonsense. When your members don't show up but once or twice a month and then move in for summer, it's hard to cultivate those sort of things, but they can be fruitful.

[corps-mudgeon]

I don't think it's exclusively one or the other...

You make a lot of sense. There may not be much left for anyone else to add.

[Mello Dude]

I don't recall many of the top 6 getting primarily local recruits. Prospects come from EVERYWHERE. (Memphis Sound had a tenor player from Japan)

Latter. Not enough local recruits to fill in spots.

Also: Talent is more important than how close the people live to you.

It depends. I would dare say that most corps today come no where near the talent level they can actually play at. That being said, having those local people around can do wonders at parades and other events for exposure and dare I say $. Being edged out of a position because someone can play a 1/2 step higher than you in Dec and they live 1000 miles away whereas you are local seems weird.

[silvertrombone]

You guys are serious, right?

OK, here goes. I'm just walking down a logical path...don't know if it is accurate or not. Blast me where appropriate.

DC used to be totally local, especially in the VFW/AL days, right? You elder statesmen chime in--before my time. At some point, some kid from somewhere sees a corps from somewhere else performing a show that was obviously something else and they decide they HAVE to march THERE. Out-of-state recruitment is born.

DC was created as a local activity. Parades are local essentially...some obvious exceptions. Grew into a touring deal, weekends, etc, then some weeknights, then weekends with one regional or national tour leading to championships model. That grew to what we see today. As regional/national touring models became more common, I'm guessing members began coming in from further away.

Notice, in all of this, the LOCAL kids have not been mentioned. I'm guessing they were forgotten as a wider net progressively drew in the proverbial "Bigger Fish." Not a new concept or phrase. So suddenly the activity that was intended to "catch" local ruffians and tame them through participation with their neighborhood ruffian buddies became more focused on attracting better and better performers. I'm guessing this probably takes us up to the period of the 60's through the early 80's, with the local model passing away and the national touring model developing and maturing, if that is an acceptable word to apply to it.

During this entire time period all of that off-the-field stuff I'm always talking about was being pushed to the side in favor of running these not-for profit BUSINESSES like the musical ensembles most essentially looked on them as. Local kids continued to be the ruffians that they always were, with out-of-towners being more musically trained and more inspired to perform. Etc plus time brings us to today where next to NO local corps exist and next to NO members come from local areas, with a few exceptions.

So I seriously doubt that the band directors and other asorted music staff minded terribly the fact that their auditioning members were becoming better and better year after year. Nor did they weap one tear the first year they had ZERO members from the local market.

Locals lost out because everyone wanted to build the Santa Clara Vanguard, et al, in their "local" drum corps. Not picking on SCV...I use them b/c they maintain one of those local corps in the B corps. I mean my comment respectfully and hope that I hack off fewer people than if I mention the fact that PR essentially has people coming to the sticks from all over creation and refuse to hold auditions in a sensible location like Texas.

DC started out local, and maybe it was destined to become non-local. The performance model was destined to draw in the truly hard-core (corps?) performers, which would then crowd out locals.

I'm not bashing, attacking or demeaning either local or national concepts/models/veterans. And I'm not even sure how accurate my analysis is since so much of the local era was prior to my time. I think by the time I marched PR (94) we already had more Texans than Rockfordites in both the auditions as well as membership. I'm sure the 91 Finals being in Dallas probably had something to do with that.

Let me know if my hunches are anywhere close. But the locals are still there. Just...nobody is trying to recruit them any more.

Edited December 31, 2009 by silvertrombone

[MikeD]

So. did importing members kill off the local corps concept, or did lack of local recruits force the distributed membership paradigm?

I vote for the latter. If corps didn't start recruiting more widely, even more of them would be dead. It was a matter of survival.

I'm not quite sure it's either. One contributing factor: The deregulation of the airline industry made it much easier and cheaper to fly (relatively speaking), which meant people were more able to get around the country to march with their favorite corps, as opposed to just joining the closest ones.

Factor in the dropoff in the numbers of corps during the same time-frame, and the fewer members joining...and we end up where we are today. It wasn't a sudden thing, of course, but a gradual move from the local model to a national model. I do think that had corps remained strictly local, it would have died out even more than it did. IMO it's been a great change since my day.

[ScottPREuph]

Drum corps want to win and will put competetiveness ahead of local recruiting. If a corps can attract the top tier of talent from across the country why not take it? I would like to see more local recruiting but that will not happen in today's environment. This does come at a cost to the corps though because they have less exposure to the local community and less local support.

[Jerseyboy]

You guys are serious, right?

OK, here goes. I'm just walking down a logical path...don't know if it is accurate or not. Blast me where appropriate.

DC used to be totally local, especially in the VFW/AL days, right? You elder statesmen chime in--before my time. At some point, some kid from somewhere sees a corps from somewhere else performing a show that was obviously something else and they decide they HAVE to march THERE. Out-of-state recruitment is born.

DC was created as a local activity. Parades are local essentially...some obvious exceptions. Grew into a touring deal, weekends, etc, then some weeknights, then weekends with one regional or national tour leading to championships model. That grew to what we see today. As regional/national touring models became more common, I'm guessing members began coming in from further away.

Notice, in all of this, the LOCAL kids have not been mentioned. I'm guessing they were forgotten as a wider net progressively drew in the proverbial "Bigger Fish." Not a new concept or phrase. So suddenly the activity that was intended to "catch" local ruffians and tame them through participation with their neighborhood ruffian buddies became more focused on attracting better and better performers. I'm guessing this probably takes us up to the period of the 60's through the early 80's, with the local model passing away and the national touring model developing and maturing, if that is an acceptable word to apply to it.

During this entire time period all of that off-the-field stuff I'm always talking about was being pushed to the side in favor of running these not-for profit BUSINESSES like the musical ensembles most essentially looked on them as. Local kids continued to be the ruffians that they always were, with out-of-towners being more musically trained and more inspired to perform. Etc plus time brings us to today where next to NO local corps exist and next to NO members come from local areas, with a few exceptions.

So I seriously doubt that the band directors and other asorted music staff minded terribly the fact that their auditioning members were becoming better and better year after year. Nor did they weap one tear the first year they had ZERO members from the local market.

Locals lost out because everyone wanted to build the Santa Clara Vanguard, et al, in their "local" drum corps. Not picking on SCV...I use them b/c they maintain one of those local corps in the B corps. I mean my comment respectfully and hope that I hack off fewer people than if I mention the fact that PR essentially has people coming to the sticks from all over creation and refuse to hold auditions in a sensible location like Texas.

DC started out local, and maybe it was destined to become non-local. The performance model was destined to draw in the truly hard-core (corps?) performers, which would then crowd out locals.

I'm not bashing, attacking or demeaning either local or national concepts/models/veterans. And I'm not even sure how accurate my analysis is since so much of the local era was prior to my time. I think by the time I marched PR (94) we already had more Texans than Rockfordites in both the auditions as well as membership. I'm sure the 91 Finals being in Dallas probably had something to do with that.

Let me know if my hunches are anywhere close. But the locals are still there. Just...nobody is trying to recruit them any more.

some very good points.

I believe that if corps gave the local students a finacial break it would benefit the corps.

local kids attract local companys to donate $$$ . helps the community and helps the corps. helps the support staff.

the problem lies when corps take a kid from 1000 miles away instead of a local because of minimal talent increase.

[ScottPREuph]

I remember in Casper it seemed like the local kids just were not interested in marching which is why I was excited the year the corps tried to bring back the cadet corps in 2006. I thought it was a great idea to give the younger kids a taste of what drum corps is in an area where there isn't the huge emphasis on competetive marching like in Texas or the midwest. We maybe had one or two local kids a year usually they were not the most talented in the corps.

As far as local support the Blue Stars are doing some great things to be visible in the community of La Crosse and partner with local businesses. I was very critical at first of the move of rehearsals to Indianapolis but the Blue Stars have just as much or more local exposure and involvement than the corps I marched with.