Could the new pre-show rule lead to woodwinds?

[JimF-LowBari]

I have encountered a number of people at shows who had no such affiliations....not often at a DCI major event, though. DCI Championships and focus shows seem to draw a higher percentage of activity insiders.

Considering the cost of tickets to regionals and Championships I can dig why you'd have to very DC savvy to want to spend the bucks.

Trying to remember details on the Hershey, PA Jr shows. Always thought that would be interesting place to track attendance since Central PA has always been a dead area far as Jr corps are concerned. Used to be four Sr corps within an hours drive (five if you drive fast to Reading) but no Jrs. Show no longer held because of stadium owners but IIRC the ticket cost kept going up which was another reason why peole I know quit going.

[Rimba47]

sorry Mike, but as the Cavies proved prior to amps, you can use good technique and good mallets and not "beat the ####" out of the equipment

"Good technique" for Drum Corps maybe but if you want to have any kind of career in music you need to play with a technique that’s good for the other 99% of music that includes solos, orchestra, small ensembles etc. The amps in the Pit have really made drum corps a practical application of Classical Percussion Technique and overall helps students (like me) improve on techniques that they can very readily use in other realms of the music world. Amps by far improve the musicality, technique, and sound of a drum corps that pre-amp days would never be able to achieve. Without amps drum corps was not a progressive medium for mallet percussionists which is why it was often looked down upon in the 80's and 90's but amps have given more credibility to mallet percussion instruction in recent years.

And for the students who aren't looking at music as a future career at least the amps allow for them to learn proper mallet technique and be proper musicians rather than just solely drum corps musicians.

Edited February 26, 2010 by Rimba47

[BRASSO]

First of all, see my post above. Second of all, you might want to reconsider some of what you're implying about DCI and its nefarious conspiracy against the righteous.

Look. At DCI in Jackson in 1993, I had the chance to discuss the event with a DCI official. I asked her who are the people in the stands. She gave me that figure. As much as some might like try to connect this exchange to hurt feelings and paranoid conspircacies, it really was just an innocent Q&A. It's not as if she was looking ahead to a time when her organization would ruin the lives of drum corps fans everywhere with amps and woodwinds so she invented a plausible number knowing that Al Gore was inventing the Internet and that her wily improvisation would turn the tide on DCP 17 years later.

It's actually possible DCI did some sort of survey. Maybe it was half-cocked. Maybe it was legit. I don't think it really matters. I'm satisfied that my own decades of polling have provided the answer: Few fans start with no personal connection to drum corps. If you doubt me, try it yourselves next summer - if you actually attend shows, that is.

HH

Well, I'm glad you got this stuff off your chest re. conspiracies, paranoia, ruination, Al Gore, who goes to shows or not, and all that jazz.

I simply commented that the DCI official citing a " 55 % " figure is ludicrous. I stand by it. You can believe or disbelieve whatever you want re. that comment by the DCI official to you 16 years ago.

Edited February 26, 2010 by BRASSO

[Jeff Ream]

First of all, see my post above. Second of all, you might want to reconsider some of what you're implying about DCI and its nefarious conspiracy against the righteous.

Look. At DCI in Jackson in 1993, I had the chance to discuss the event with a DCI official. I asked her who are the people in the stands. She gave me that figure. As much as some might like try to connect this exchange to hurt feelings and paranoid conspircacies, it really was just an innocent Q&A. It's not as if she was looking ahead to a time when her organization would ruin the lives of drum corps fans everywhere with amps and woodwinds so she invented a plausible number knowing that Al Gore was inventing the Internet and that her wily improvisation would turn the tide on DCP 17 years later.

It's actually possible DCI did some sort of survey. Maybe it was half-cocked. Maybe it was legit. I don't think it really matters. I'm satisfied that my own decades of polling have provided the answer: Few fans start with no personal connection to drum corps. If you doubt me, try it yourselves next summer - if you actually attend shows, that is.

HH

I dont remember if it was DCI or DCW, but I remember being asked in the marketplace in 94 if I would answer the questions. I dont remember the specific questions, but the first half of the survey were great questions concerning fans feeling about DCI,, and the 2nd half was fluff I felt would be used to pad stats if they didnt like what they got for answers in the first half.

and I do remember DCW giving considerable space to it that fall. I also remember seeing like 20 people asking the questions

[Jeff Ream]

Considering the cost of tickets to regionals and Championships I can dig why you'd have to very DC savvy to want to spend the bucks.

Trying to remember details on the Hershey, PA Jr shows. Always thought that would be interesting place to track attendance since Central PA has always been a dead area far as Jr corps are concerned. Used to be four Sr corps within an hours drive (five if you drive fast to Reading) but no Jrs. Show no longer held because of stadium owners but IIRC the ticket cost kept going up which was another reason why peole I know quit going.

show no longer held because Herco cancelled it in favor of Beyonce. but the show averaged 6-8k fans annually.

and funny enough...in 96 when they had no DCI corps, they had one of their biggest crowds ever for 10 DCA corps

[Jeff Ream]

"Good technique" for Drum Corps maybe but if you want to have any kind of career in music you need to play with a technique that’s good for the other 99% of music that includes solos, orchestra, small ensembles etc. The amps in the Pit have really made drum corps a practical application of Classical Percussion Technique and overall helps students (like me) improve on techniques that they can very readily use in other realms of the music world. Amps by far improve the musicality, technique, and sound of a drum corps that pre-amp days would never be able to achieve. Without amps drum corps was not a progressive medium for mallet percussionists which is why it was often looked down upon in the 80's and 90's but amps have given more credibility to mallet percussion instruction in recent years.

And for the students who aren't looking at music as a future career at least the amps allow for them to learn proper mallet technique and be proper musicians rather than just solely drum corps musicians.

ok...and why must drum corps change what it is for someone else's possible career aspirations?

I didnt join drum corps to learn proper jazz set drumming. I know hundreds of people that didnt join drum corps to learn how to play for the symphony.

People joined drum corps to be in a drum corps. See...this is where DCI's education tag fails...

great musicians learn to adapt to many styles. DCI is too busy trying to be like everyone else and not themselves.

[84skyrydr]

"Good technique" for Drum Corps maybe but if you want to have any kind of career in music you need to play with a technique that’s good for the other 99% of music that includes solos, orchestra, small ensembles etc. The amps in the Pit have really made drum corps a practical application of Classical Percussion Technique and overall helps students (like me) improve on techniques that they can very readily use in other realms of the music world. Amps by far improve the musicality, technique, and sound of a drum corps that pre-amp days would never be able to achieve. Without amps drum corps was not a progressive medium for mallet percussionists which is why it was often looked down upon in the 80's and 90's but amps have given more credibility to mallet percussion instruction in recent years.

And for the students who aren't looking at music as a future career at least the amps allow for them to learn proper mallet technique and be proper musicians rather than just solely drum corps musicians.

I would say that this is a good answer, but for the love of God. TURN THEM DOWN. I could hear them before amps, now ALL we get to hear is the amped pit. Unless your in Lucas Oil, then you get to here this.... WJUDSEBYVWEVHJ^YSWY&GVDZTRVSYBUHGFWAGACK.....

[MikeD]

sorry Mike, but as the Cavies proved prior to amps, you can use good technique and good mallets and not "beat the ####" out of the equipment

Sorry, you are not correct, as many others have posted. Why you'd EVER want players to perform with other than the best technique possible is something I can't understand. Amps have certainly permitted that. I have even seen it in the MB I teach and others I watch in the fall, as well a corps. IMO it's a losing argument to try and claim otherwise, but it's MY opinion, I guess, along with many others who teach and perform.

[MikeD]

Today, there is no summer band tour comparable to what the expanded DCI world-class tour has become. But the summer band activity of 20-25 years ago was analogous to drum corps on the local, regional and national levels.

Are you really going to try and say that the summer marching bands were the equal of the DCI finalist world class corps?

Outside of you, I can't recall seeing such claims. Local? Regional? Yes...but most of the corps at that level died out as well.

[audiodb]

The 55% figure reflects former marchers and the families of current and former marchers. Again, I have always doubted that number as an underestimation of the percentage of insiders at finals.

But was it a "finals crowd" number or an assessment across multiple shows?

What got people started in drum corps has long been an interest of mine. I go to two or more shows a year plus finals. And at each I ask nearly everyone who sits near me what got them started. I've heard all variety of stories - famous guards, obscure hornlines, daughter marched, parents marched, marched in Europe, marched in Japan. The rarest story by far is mine: heard about it, checked it out and loved it enough to come back. I bet over the past two decades I haven't sat next to 10 people who couldn't trace their affiliation back to this corp or that. And I've sat next to hundreds of people. What does that say?

That you really do try to avoid sitting near younger fans, like you said earlier. Many people are introduced to the activity via their marching band experience....being shown videos of drum corps by their band director, or taken to a show and/or clinic. My first exposure to the activity was in 1980, when my band director showed us videos of several of the corps our band's field show was emulating.