Rifuarian Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 On the other hand, most long-time Bloomington residents I talk to have fond memories of "Bill Cook's marching band team." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 (edited) .... and I really don't care if more people think today's corps are "marching bands."What is a marching band anyway? Are drum corps a type of marching band?.... yes. And they are very similar to high school competitive bands such as the ones at BOA. But many people are more familiar with marching bands such as the ones at southern colleges such as Grambling (or the Hollywood version a la the movie "Drumline"). That is a completely different type of marching band. Or how about the traditional Big 10 marching bands like The Ohio State University TBDBITL? Also completely different. In fact, I would say that many marching bands out there (especially college ones) perform shows which much more closely resemble drum corps in the 70s than today (I was in such a band). Well, a " marching band " does conjure up different images in one's mind all the way from DCI marching bands, to high school and college marching bands, to military marching bands. Within DCI, there are marching bands that use guitars, others that do not. Teal Sound is different in style from ( say ) Troopers. Some units are distinquishable by their own style of marching ( Cadets step off, Cavaliers step off for example) and by several other identifiable characteristics. And just as you said, there is a wide swarth of differences even within in the bands within the college realm, with different styles as well, from Ohio State, Riverside Comm. College, Texas A& M, Stanford, and FAMU Marching Band, and Military Academy Marching Bands, and so forth. Lots of style differences in the " Marching Band ' realm for certain. " Marching Band " is a diverse group. Edited January 21, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Believe it or not, I'm pretty cognizant about what I write. Talk whatever nonsense you want about what is or isn't drum corps IN YOUR OPINION, but please let my opinion speak for itself, and not change my meaning to fit your own agenda. I'm sorry... I liked this post... because what it was in reply too kind of ticked me off too... and it wasn't even my post. Okay, in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I love how easy this thread is to be on topic... and I like the conversation still going on. I love how every debate in the history of drum corps just about, has been brought up. I can't even decide what to comment on. Lucky for me... I currently go to school in a town where drum corps was a VERY popular thing at one point. However... it is a very small town... My experience, around the country is when I am asked what I do all summer I say "I marched drum corps" They reply, "OH cool.... so you play the drums all summer?" (or I just get a blank stare). "No, no, no... I play euphonium!" "WTF is a euphonium???" (####) "It looks like an oversized trumpet" (Other person with minute musical knowledge joins in) "I thought euphoniums just looked like miniature tubas?" "Yes... that is a euphonium, but I played the marching euphonium." "Well what's the difference?" I explain... then "So what do you actually do?" "Oh.. we perform in football stadiums around the country!" "Oh wow that is cool! Kind of like marching band!" "YES a lot like marching band... but A LOT cooler... in fact many people call it a sort of "professional marching band". "Oh WOW that is cool. How much do you get paid?" "Well... in the end... I end up paying over $3000" "WHAT!?!?!?! That can't be worth it!" "Trust me... it is." And then if they want to talk more... I wow them with what stadiums I've been in... where I've been... and I tell them to go to a local show to check it out... BUT this is all if I come up to a person who is actually somewhat interested... most people aren't. Then the conversation goes "I march drum corps" "Oh! That's cool...." You see... no one in the outside world really gives two ##### about what we do.... and when they see it... they think we are just a weird marching band. Oh I didn't even tell you the conversation when they ask how do we travel and sleep... the faces I get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INSIDETHEFORTY Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I love how easy this thread is to be on topic... and I like the conversation still going on. I love how every debate in the history of drum corps just about, has been brought up. I can't even decide what to comment on.Lucky for me... I currently go to school in a town where drum corps was a VERY popular thing at one point. However... it is a very small town... My experience, around the country is when I am asked what I do all summer I say "I marched drum corps" They reply, "OH cool.... so you play the drums all summer?" (or I just get a blank stare). "No, no, no... I play euphonium!" "WTF is a euphonium???" (####) "It looks like an oversized trumpet" (Other person with minute musical knowledge joins in) "I thought euphoniums just looked like miniature tubas?" "Yes... that is a euphonium, but I played the marching euphonium." "Well what's the difference?" I explain... then "So what do you actually do?" "Oh.. we perform in football stadiums around the country!" "Oh wow that is cool! Kind of like marching band!" "YES a lot like marching band... but A LOT cooler... in fact many people call it a sort of "professional marching band". "Oh WOW that is cool. How much do you get paid?" "Well... in the end... I end up paying over $3000" "WHAT!?!?!?! That can't be worth it!" "Trust me... it is." And then if they want to talk more... I wow them with what stadiums I've been in... where I've been... and I tell them to go to a local show to check it out... BUT this is all if I come up to a person who is actually somewhat interested... most people aren't. Then the conversation goes "I march drum corps" "Oh! That's cool...." You see... no one in the outside world really gives two ##### about what we do.... and when they see it... they think we are just a weird marching band. Oh I didn't even tell you the conversation when they ask how do we travel and sleep... the faces I get. Now, there's a person who understands where I am coming from! People who have never marched drum corps number in the hundreds of millions in the US alone! How can DCI get some more of these people to try our activity! We need the infusion of fresh blood, fresh ides, and $$$$! Over the years, I have had many, many conversations with people who don't know what drum corps is. I used to do my best to explain, but my explainations always fall short. Then, I got an idea. Why not introduce someeone to drum corps the way it I was introduced? So, since that day, I have talked with and taken quite a few people to drum corps competitions. Peopoe who are like I was. Not music majors. Not into the performing arts. Just ordinary people. People like my young grand-daughter, who asks me, "Gran'pa, when are we going to go to another "band-show"? People who, when they see drum corps for the first time as WE see it, are transfixed and brought a little closer to this thing we know as "drum corps heaven", the DCI Championships! World Classs tickets are expensive. So, what do we do to get more non-drum corps people to try drum corps? 1) We can try my idea, take them kickin' and screamin' to a show. 2) We can give them tickets to a show, like I do every year now. Try giving away your Open Class 1/2 finals or Finals tickets! 3)Donate tickets to a youth organization. Try the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or pick one of your favorites. 4) Stand outside the gate sometime and check out the people who pass by. Notice who seems interested in what's going on. When the opportunity presents itself, give a ticket or two to a child, an adult, a couple, some friends, some passers-by. Then, watch and see if 10-20 years later you see them marching or volunteering, or simply attending competitions and dragging people kicki' and screamin' into the show! I got started in drum corps because a stranger cared enough about me to give me a ticket! What is missing from drum corps today? Can you figure it out now? Be pro-active! Give a stranger a ticket to a drum corps competition! Just my 2 cents worth, Ron Gunn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 You make a good point, but I think there are two interpretations of 'design' being used. You seem to be talking about anything which affects the product on the field as being part of the design (which is valid) No one said "design" in what I was responding to. The premise was "look at drum corps in year x vs. year x+10, and how much of a difference do you notice". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drum Korps Fan Man Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I love how easy this thread is to be on topic... and I like the conversation still going on. I love how every debate in the history of drum corps just about, has been brought up. I can't even decide what to comment on.Lucky for me... I currently go to school in a town where drum corps was a VERY popular thing at one point. However... it is a very small town... My experience, around the country is when I am asked what I do all summer I say "I marched drum corps" They reply, "OH cool.... so you play the drums all summer?" (or I just get a blank stare). "No, no, no... I play euphonium!" "WTF is a euphonium???" (####) "It looks like an oversized trumpet" (Other person with minute musical knowledge joins in) "I thought euphoniums just looked like miniature tubas?" "Yes... that is a euphonium, but I played the marching euphonium." "Well what's the difference?" I explain... then "So what do you actually do?" "Oh.. we perform in football stadiums around the country!" "Oh wow that is cool! Kind of like marching band!" "YES a lot like marching band... but A LOT cooler... in fact many people call it a sort of "professional marching band". "Oh WOW that is cool. How much do you get paid?" "Well... in the end... I end up paying over $3000" "WHAT!?!?!?! That can't be worth it!" "Trust me... it is." And then if they want to talk more... I wow them with what stadiums I've been in... where I've been... and I tell them to go to a local show to check it out... BUT this is all if I come up to a person who is actually somewhat interested... most people aren't. Then the conversation goes "I march drum corps" "Oh! That's cool...." You see... no one in the outside world really gives two ##### about what we do.... and when they see it... they think we are just a weird marching band. Oh I didn't even tell you the conversation when they ask how do we travel and sleep... the faces I get. Honestly, I don't even bother to go through the rigamaroll of explaining drum corps. I just say I was a member of 'a professional level marching band-type thing'. usually people THINK they know what I mean (even if they don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 (edited) Because when I would visit them and spend a week or so at their place, they would introduce me to their friends and neighbors in social type settings. I of course in my haste should've have used the phrase, "none of my family's friends or neighbors that I encountered and talked to about drum corps" instead of the broad generalization "none of." It's of course possible that someone they know is familiar with drum corps. But in my experience visiting, the usual small talk comes up:"what do you do?" "I teach music" "I hear you went to Ohio State. If you're a musician were you in the band?" "No, I marched drum corps instead" "What's drum corps?" etc. etc. Cool that in your experience people who are not a part of drum corps in any way have heard of it. In my experience, it's the exact opposite. And in my experience outside of visiting my family in Boston (in the mid-west and now living on the west coast), the majority of people who have zero experience with drum corps wouldn't know the difference after you explain it to them and typically walk away equated drum corps to "marching band on steroids." They've seen drum corps videos or recordings I've played them and comment on what a talented bunch of bands they are. Of course, it might also be in the presentation. I have no problems accepting the fact that drum corps is a very close relative to marching band. It comes off as a lot less condescending to newbies when you present it in terms anyone can understand, and I've found they come to appreciate it sooner that way. When I marched I of course was very possessive of drum corps, and liked feeling like me marching in a drum corps made me better than just marching in an "average" marching band; in those days I would get apprehensive when the subject came up, and probably turned some people off getting defensive about it in conversation. But now I realize it's not that big a deal to "ease" people into the concept of drum corps by drawing the parallels to marching band. I mean really, we're talking about musicians on a football field marching in formations. The real differences are things that the average newbie wouldn't understand in a brief conversation anyway. As for ID'ing the differences on video, I've had family over and played them drum corps videos as well as marching band videos, and the only difference they could tell is "that marching band sure does seem a lot more proficient than the other marching band." And that was in the early 90's showing drum corps videos from the 80's. And of course it is one's region and experience. I grew up in a community ( in Massachusetts ) that had a population of approx. 50,000 people. With the age demographic of over 45 ( that we are using ) it would be inconceivable that ANYONE did not know of " Drum and Bugle Corps " that grew up in this community. If the percentage is 98-99% in this community, and just about every other community in the surrounding region likewise had a " Drum and Bugle Corps" it is very easy to understand how 50% or more familiarity figure can be easily attained in this geogrraphical region and among this age demographic. Taking it one step further, approx.every household within a 3 mile radius of my house growing up had someone familiar in some fashion with " Drum and Bugle Corps". Again, I understand others experiences are quite different than mine. I consider myself fortunate to have been surrounded with so many Drum Corps people familiar with Drum Corps in my formative years. Edited January 21, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 No one said "design" in what I was responding to. The premise was "look at drum corps in year x vs. year x+10, and how much of a difference do you notice". Of course we're talking about design - we don't have to play semantic games here. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salad315 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 (edited) we don't have to play semantic games here. that's news to me Edited January 21, 2010 by salad315 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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