State of drum corps manifesto

[Jeff Ream]

Two quick things as the OD on this topic.....1) I'm glad it has spurred such lively debate...that's always good if change is ever going to occur and I respect everyone's POV. 2) I think I'm finished with my side of the argument and recieved enough info in response to satisfy me. It has been OVERWHELMINGLY in support of my POV, so I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one.

For those that mentioned that DCP is a "running joke" among members and staff of current drum corps...I'll give you a few straight up stats from messages sent to me via this topic: 3 current staff members from 3 separate top 12 corps messaged me to tell me I was "spot on", 5 current members from 3 current top 12 messaged me that they agrred with me, and 32 alumni representing more corps than I actually counted (just didn't want to has this one out) wrote in support of the manifesto.

I would appear that DCP, or perhaps just this topic, isn't such a "running joke".

DW

I love how a lot of "people" supposedly on tour now make fun of DCP...yet they always check it out.

[ducttapedgerbil]

Since this diatribe was addressed to me, I feel I should respond. Then again, why bother? Anything I could say would obviously be lost on someone who mocks my education yet, in the very same sentence, misspells "college."

Sincerely,

Robert E. Lee

Yep....I think he proved your point for you.... ;-)

In general, it seems as if the resistance to the msg the OP presented is simply "shoot the messenger". An argument that attempts to marginalize and ridicule any viewpoint which you oppose is not an argument at all. But that approach really is indicative of this younger generation now isn't it....we see it happening in politics and society all around us don't we. We see it in the media in a lot of the news reporting and people have become accustomed to "whoever screams and yells loudest wins the argument". The problem with that is just because you think you won the argument does not mean you are right ;-)

My suggestion to anyone that disagrees with the OP go back and read the column from Frank Dorritie. He has taught 5 decades of Drum Corps kids (including me) which includes most of the directors and staff in DCI (and DCA). The man knows what he is talking about....you might learn something.

Edited July 14, 2010 by ducttapedgerbil

[The Other Mike]

I wasn't condescending towards you for wanting to see G horns make a comeback, but because your big fix for the activity was bringing back G's and playing louder. Any argument that essentially goes back to "Bb horns ruined drum corps" 10 years after the fact is kinda ridiculous

Many facts seem ridiculous to someone.

[The Other Mike]

I wasn't condescending towards you for wanting to see G horns make a comeback, but because your big fix for the activity was bringing back G's and playing louder. Any argument that essentially goes back to "Bb horns ruined drum corps" 10 years after the fact is kinda ridiculous

Many facts seem ridiculous to someone.

[Mello Dude]

Many facts seem ridiculous to someone.

I have noticed that quite a bit lately be it here, politics or job.

[parkbench]

I have noticed that quite a bit lately be it here, politics or job.

I'd love to see how this place might go nuts if somone introduced a discussion or a poll of ones, ahem, politics and sources of opinion beyond drum corps :)

[DarrenE]

Every year the older generation gets phased out more and more....little by little and suddenly, the "GREAT DEATHS" of drumcorps suddenly don't seem so bad anymore (like you know Bb's were going to kill the activity in 2000) Fast forward 10 years....its not so terrible now is it?

Well, the corps don't put out nearly as much sound as they used to even when you add in the bigger numbers and amplification so I would say that it is a terrible change. I went to the Kalamazoo show and only one corps came even close to having as big of sound as the top six or seven groups would have had back on the G horns.

You argue that it isn't something to worry about but I would contend that the big brass sound was the number one attraction followed by the drums and then everything else. It just isn't as exciting without the big sound. It doesn't stand out from run of the mill marching bands. If you want to add all the other stuff I say great but don't take away the number one draw in the process.

[saxfreq1128]

You argue that it isn't something to worry about but I would contend that the big brass sound was the number one attraction followed by the drums and then everything else.

That's the keyword in this discussion, I think. Was. That simply isn't the biggest pull for many new fans to drum corps, nowadays, although it's certainly one of the big pulls. And new fans aren't going to have a memory for those prior brass sounds heard live, so the loss that you're sensing isn't an issue for many people -- for better or worse.

I have a naive question.

In the age of Youtube, Fan Network, live quarterfinals shows in movie theaters, and the other, increasingly varied ways of experiencing drum corps as an audience member / fan that weren't around in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, is it really possible or useful to make overarching arguments about how many fans are being lost / gained to the activity based on show attendance and crowd reaction? It would seem that, in the digital age, measuring the success of anything by the number of bodies present would be pretty difficult and woefully insufficient... And trying to get a handle on how this collective we're calling "the fans" feels about the activity would, accordingly, be pretty impossible, I think.

I wonder if what we're also witnessing in all this is a difference between fans brought up in a tradition of going to live shows (because there were fewer alternatives), who might be a little older, and fans for whom being present at a show isn't the primary way to experience drum corps, who might be a little younger (and would include myself). That would mean that live shows would tend to have more of the fans attached to drum corps of the past, and might help explain some of the audience reaction phenomena people keep citing.

Just a thought?

[Perry S]

They knew it was a drumcorps show but were looking to be entertained. Every year I go hoping to get excited and yes 08 was amazing for phantom because they used a show back from the days when drum corps was amazing and crowds went crazy.

Imagine that Hmmmm

[DarrenE]

That's the keyword in this discussion, I think. Was. That simply isn't the biggest pull for many new fans to drum corps, nowadays, although it's certainly one of the big pulls. And new fans aren't going to have a memory for those prior brass sounds heard live, so the loss that you're sensing isn't an issue for many people -- for better or worse.

So it is just marching band then?

It's not like these old corps we talk about were crap musicians. The musicianship was just as good if not better but it also had an element of majesty that isn't there anymore. It's probably getting to the point now that a majority of the people in the stands have never heard a brass line of g horns played by a top corps and so they say that what they hear now is just as good even though they've never heard the other version. I think a lot of these people would crap themselves if sat down in front of any of the top 3 corps from 1988. Even Star of Indiana with their Medea show which many people hated because they thought it was too artsy fartsy just about pealed the skin of your face at the end.

What kind of an upside world have we come to when all the old fogies are sitting around telling the teenagers to turn up the music.