Is DCI trying to eliminate the older fans?

[GUARDLING]

and...WGI has made it work. well. DCI hasn;'t.

AHHHH NO.. That why WGI "A " list of judges took a mass exit a few years ago.. WGI is FARRRRRR from an example...

[megadrive]

"What's that you're saying, old-timer? Ninety-five percent of America's D&BCs have folded? Ah, but look at the QUALITY of what's left! You just don't get it, Gramps. Now get lost because we're in charge and we're cool and you're not, and ... hey, where'd everybody go?[/b]

You're cool and we're not? Quality? Are you kidding? I can think of 5 people right now that teach brass lines in DCI that could rip your face off with a G horn right now, no valves, valve/rotor, two valve, three valve.... pike one! So exactly where do you think you got that "quality and coolness?"

I know of a few people teaching drill that got there start with those 'unqualified old-timers'. You're cool? Really! You know what quality is? Really! I suppose you're an expert on talent too! And 95% of those old-timers helping you being so cool were in those 95% of D&BCs that folded (and they had a bunch of friends that were just as good too, sometimes better, but hey, what do I know?)

Ahhhh sarcasm on the internet

[Jeff Ream]

AHHHH NO.. That why WGI "A " list of judges took a mass exit a few years ago.. WGI is FARRRRRR from an example...

ok, we're talking about percussion, not guard which I don't follow. and Percussion in WGI has it growing and going right

[GUARDLING]

ok, we're talking about percussion, not guard which I don't follow. and Percussion in WGI has it growing and going right

AGREE !!!! the guard side could learn from the percussion people

[Jeff Ream]

AGREE !!!! the guard side could learn from the percussion people

well that gets said on the local level too

[lindap]

AGREE !!!! the guard side could learn from the percussion people

it always did. winter guard started with no sound, then percussion, then taped music...I'm a fan from way back.

I don't want to be eliminated 'cause i'm old; want to go to a contest somewhere. I'm not sold by ya'll! market me, svp :-)

[Hup234]

"What's that you're saying, old-timer? Ninety-five percent of America's D&BCs have folded? Ah, but look at the QUALITY of what's left! You just don't get it, Gramps. Now get lost because we're in charge and we're cool and you're not, and ... hey, where'd everybody go?[/b]

You're cool and we're not? Quality? Are you kidding? I can think of 5 people right now that teach brass lines in DCI that could rip your face off with a G horn right now, no valves, valve/rotor, two valve, three valve.... pike one! So exactly where do you think you got that "quality and coolness?"

I know of a few people teaching drill that got there start with those 'unqualified old-timers'. You're cool? Really! You know what quality is? Really! I suppose you're an expert on talent too! And 95% of those old-timers helping you being so cool were in those 95% of D&BCs that folded (and they had a bunch of friends that were just as good too, sometimes better, but hey, what do I know?)

Indeed. :-) And thanks for proving my suspicions, Mello, about most people here jumping to reply after reading maybe six words of the previous post. Then again, we realize it's a fast-moving world out there where irony is increasingly an endangered species. ("GAAH! RUN! Hup234's resorting to IRONY! What's next ... SARCASM? Nooooo .... (choke)...")

Ahem. Now then, you other busy and/or short-attention-span types may wish to pass the following up, as it may demand linear thinking ...

It's too late now to save the system. It's nearly over. Maybe ten years ago it could still have been turned around. I posted on RAMD then a lengthy strategy to save D&BC. It was quietly ignored, and nobody even got angry at my presumptiousness. Today, though, you remaining hardcore loyalists do get angry when we I-told-you-so outsiders post our thoughts. That tells me you're finally catching on, and that now you're running scared. Understandable.

Yep, the Mod Squad that worked to change D&BC around so that it's totally unrecognizable from its roots has won its point. But look around ... what have they won, really? Where are all the corps, the members, the audiences, the shows, the fans? The Mod Squad and their progeny hijacked the activity in 1971 and laughed at the past while they tried to reinvent the wheel. (And I don't even blame them for trying ... I just blame those sheep who let them run on unchallenged.)

Sure, the activity continued on for some decades under their rule, but only because of the momentum that had been built up during the Golden Age. But the engine's finally out of gas now and it shows, and like Pete Seeger says, you're "knee-deep in the Big Muddy, and the Big Fool says to push on."

I also like the words of Edward R. Murrow, when he'd sign off with "Good night, and good luck."

[Jimisback]

i agree, Hup234, I agree.

[ContraFart]

I think the premise of the argument is DCI physically trying to alienate fans....and my answer to that is no. Did DCI kill drum corps? again no. (unless the G7 thing happens but that technically wouldnt be DCI killing drum corps, it would be the G7).

What DCI has been trying to do is improve the product on the field, and I believe it has been successful in doing that. Has that alienated some fans? of course because there are always going to be some fans who believe that G bugles no amplification is better.

The reason that 95% of the corps have folded cannot be summed up in one thing. A large part of it was most corps could not support the touring model, another part is that some corps tried to support the touring model and sucked at doing so financially. Part of it was parent organization such as the VFW, American Legion, Bot Scouts and catholic diocese pulled the plug on the corps concept because of lack of local support and local interest. Part of it was national auditions and the more talented students trying to get into the elite corps rather than the local one. Although most of these corps folded after DCI was founded, I believe the groundwork was laid before 1972 for a large number of corps to fold regardless of who the governing body was.