State of drum corps manifesto

[hank13579]

Anyone who was at the Akron show last night could refute this entire thread.

The audience in Dublin was qiuet mostly because it was 95 degrees when the show started and they had stood in the sun buying tickets for over an hour.

The audience in Akron saw, appreciated and enjoyed a state of the art drum corps show in a state of the art facility and the crowd reaction to EVERY corps at the show was suberb.

Congratulations to the Bluecoats for an outstanding performance and an outstanding event that will be around for years, because there ARE people who really do appreciate and enjoy the best drum corps performances in the world!

[JimF-LowBari]

Honestly, with all the wars we've been in lately, I'm sure the AL and VFW memberships will rise again.

Hardly, WWI and WWII had milions of men and women in uniform. And in the smaller towns where a lot of Posts were, the Post was a big thing to belong to like Elks, Moose, Shriners Today there are thousands in uniform but it's nothing near the WWI/WWII levels. And many Posts, like Elks, Moose (one closed last week in my area) and Shriners are hurting for members. Just too many other things going on which also hurts local corps.

[zig zig ZAG]

Very well written post and it surely speaks to the feelings of many. I would like to explain my view of WHY this is happening. Those who teach, direct, and judge drum corps live in a cloistered world of high school and college marching bands. They seem to have lost any sense of what is enjoyable, or considered cool, to the general public. It is a very inwardly directed activity, inbred in so many ways that I expect to see corps with crossed eyes and buck teeth. I believe this trend will continue, as it has for decades, until there is some serious infusion of teaching talent from a world other than drum corps. Their idea of innovation is incorporating elements which were, in the larger scheme of things, innovative 50 years ago (see amplification among others).

The corps still in existence are here solely because they have been willing to play the game by the rules of the perennial winners. This in itself is stifling and will not change any time soon, until they allow others to determine how the game will be played.

I'm going to use my one post this year to agree with the OP and the above explanation.

I've followed DCI for 20 years, and especially in the last decade, watched it turn into dorky, boring, even comical high school like geekiness. By that I mean synths, stupid looking body movement, and mics for singing, narration, and unnecessary amplification of brass. I find myself cringing again and again, something I never did, for example, when seeing Cadets '89 (a show in NE Ohio that I bet the OP attended too), or any number of shows in the 80s and 90s.

Are we supposed to think it's amazing when a hornline sets its instruments down to do push ups, shift their legs on chairs, or awkward, geeky 'dance' moves? I hated seeing horn players try to do choeography or dance in middle school and hate it now. It's so...middle school. Body movement smells and even sounds like a bowel movement.

I was at the Dubuque IA show a few weeks ago - Cadets, Colts, Cavaliers, Blue Stars, etc. Took the whole family.

For the first time in my life, I was bored. So was my family. So was the entire crowd, which gave not a single standing ovation during a performance, something I saw very often over the years, and during almost every corps' performances.

I honestly doubt I'll ever attend a DCI show again.

Mostly, people clapped and yelled because their Johnny or Jenny (from the Colts or Blue Stars or Cavaliers, all based within a 2 hour car drive) was out there. Most crowds are parents and friends of marching members these days. Going to a DCI event is like going to the kids' swim meet or gymnastics meet. No one else cares outside of family and friends. And it seems (judging by tepid reactions) many parents only half want to be there.

Why? This activity is run by the judges and the corps directors and they've lost a sense of what is entertaining, authentic, and relevant. So DCI is dying - less corps, less shows, much less people. Heck, PBS doesn't even show the top 12 at finals anymore, which is what got me into DCI in the mid-80s to begin with.

But no one will listen to this, or to any other post on here. DCI is too centrally run, cloistered, and, to be honest, dorky. No fault of the kids who are putting in more effort and at a higher level of performance than ever. I really feel bad for them seeing what they're being asked to do, and what the judges' standards determine to be 'good' these days.

I'd like to see all the judges and corps directors put down their clipboards and do pushups on the field in a fight club formation, or stand on chairs, and see if it gets a rousing standing O, like, say, a Z-pull or dissolving company front or the final chords of Madison's Malaguena at finals, and 40,000 or 50,000 people on their feet.

[oldskl3rings]

I think many of you are confusing performance excellence with entertainment excellence. Certainly a majority of today’s corps achieve performance excellence. The shows are complex and difficult and about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

Of course for the most part, the people who populate this board are music majors or music aficionados and you have the background to appreciate the current programs. Unfortunately you represent a very small percentage of the general population. To me most of it sounds like their playing from an exercise book. Runs up and down, play a couple of chord progressions and then back to the races.

Performers thrive on public reactions. I was fortunate to win three titles, yet the show that stands out in my mind was an early season performance where we got a standing ovation thirty seconds in to our opener. The crowd remained on its feet for virtually the whole performance. When the show was over the PA announcer kept shouting, “Wonderful show, wonderful show! When was the last time a corps received a standing “O” during its performance?

[Matt_S]

I think many of you are confusing performance excellence with entertainment excellence. Certainly a majority of today’s corps achieve performance excellence. The shows are complex and difficult and about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

I think you're confusing drum corps with watching paint dry.

[HockeyDad]

I think you're confusing drum corps with watching paint dry.

There's a big juicy pitch, right down the middle.......

[Mello Dude]

I like waffles.

That's just ridiculous; everyone knows pancakes are better! Waffles waffling shape distorts the denture line when biting and thus prevents a complete and healthy chewing experience one gets from pancakes.

/insanity of this thread

I am surprised the banana crew isn't here to derail another thread.

My sig pretty much covers this.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Mello Dude

[HockeyDad]

But no one will listen to this, or to any other post on here. DCI is too centrally run, cloistered, and, to be honest, dorky. No fault of the kids who are putting in more effort and at a higher level of performance than ever. I really feel bad for them seeing what they're being asked to do, and what the judges' standards determine to be 'good' these days.

Not only will no one listen, but I expect you'll be attacked for your views:

- you want it to never change from when you marched

- drum corps needs to continue to "evolve" / designers need to be able to use "the whole palette"

- posters on dcp do not represent audiences as a whole (although there's no way of knowing if this is true)

- then don't go to anymore shows, c'ya

- complaining on a web board does nothing, call the director instead

- you're hurting the kids

- kids Like the synths because they use it in their marching bands (replace "synths" with "body movement" etc.)

Have I omitted any?

[GMichael1230]

Not only will no one listen, but I expect you'll be attacked for your views:

- you want it to never change from when you marched

- drum corps needs to continue to "evolve" / designers need to be able to use "the whole palette"

- posters on dcp do not represent audiences as a whole (although there's no way of knowing if this is true)

- then don't go to anymore shows, c'ya

- complaining on a web board does nothing, call the director instead

- you're hurting the kids

- kids Like the synths because they use it in their marching bands (replace "synths" with "body movement" etc.)

Have I omitted any?

Sounds about right...I stay out of threads like this cause those that sit behind the computer and can be more aggressie than me equate that to their opinion being the "best" one or the "true" one and dont feel like battling them.....The truth is out in reality, not here on DCP.

G

[JimF-LowBari]

Not only will no one listen, but I expect you'll be attacked for your views:

- you want it to never change from when you marched

- drum corps needs to continue to "evolve" / designers need to be able to use "the whole palette"

- posters on dcp do not represent audiences as a whole (although there's no way of knowing if this is true)

- then don't go to anymore shows, c'ya

- complaining on a web board does nothing, call the director instead

- you're hurting the kids

- kids Like the synths because they use it in their marching bands (replace "synths" with "body movement" etc.)

Have I omitted any?

"You're afraid of change".

Hilarious when that got thrown my way as I work with computers (programming/database/sys admin) and everything I learned from college is obsolete (durn 30 yr old degree). IOW, I totally reinvented myself in regards to what I do for a living.