State of drum corps manifesto

[BRASSO]

Because you hang out with “Friends” that all agree with you just means you have boring friends. The truth is, your old, you losing your hearing, and you think designers should write for your taste. How F&*^ing arrogant.

. If you haven’t noticed many many many fans are digging what is going on. They tend to be younger and are more important to Drum Corps. They will be around much longer that the sad old farts that marched in the 60 and 70”s.

Enjoy your civil war reenactment weekend. Drum Corps will be just fine

Hey, relax. You've WON the " battle". The " War " is over. No need for any " reenactment" either. We've pretty much killed off " the sad, old farts that marched in the 60's and 70's." By and large, they're gone. Long gone.

As for your comment that " if you havn't noticed , many many fans are digging what is going on. They tend to be younger and more important to Drum Corps", I 'd only say that we didn't find this at the DCI sponsored Drum Corps Cinema show some friends and I attended a couple of months back.. In the theatre we were at, there were more employees under 25 ( about 7), than there were under 25 'ers looking to be " digging what was going on in Drum Corps " . There were maybe 4 people in the entire theatre that looked to be of DCI eligibility marching age. There were maybe 60-70 people in the theatre. There were more ticket takers than ticket givers under the age of 21 in the theatre we were at to watch Drum Corps.

If, as you say, the " young is more important as a fan base to the future of DCI ", than based upon the paid attendance of late at DCI sponsored shows regarding youth interest, all I can think of is........ " Houston..... we have a problem "

Edited July 14, 2010 by BRASSO

[Jeff Ream]

and Brasso...it's not like the show featured a ton of 70's corps on the big screen

[dbc03]

Many facts seem ridiculous to someone.

Because it is certainly a "fact" that Bb's ruined drum corps and not just an opinion

[saxfreq1128]

So it is just marching band then?

...

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.

Maybe y'all are just growing deaf? Happens, you know...

In all seriousness, though, surely you acknowledge that there remains a very, very large distance between what high school groups are doing and top DCI groups are doing. The gap hasn't closed; let's all stop crying wolf, at the very least.

A young person today standing in front of a top corps from 1988 might be blown away by the sound, compared to today's shows. Fine. They might also wonder why, compared to today's shows, the drill from those prior years was so static, why the guard was always backfield and emphasized uniformity over a greater variety of excellence and expression, why the musical responsibilities of the drumline felt a little more limited, why opportunities for exploring a show's 'theme' felt more stilted ...

I love those shows from the 80s and earlier. But we have / had the 80s; I don't need corps doing those same things again, today.

There's give and take. Drum corps isn't dead. It's changing.

[SFZFAN]

Did I mention I like waffles a lot?

[Tez]

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.

Here is one thing I have never "gotten" about the G vs. Bb debate...... Why do we always compare Bb hornlines now (2008, 09, 10) with G hornlines of the 80s and prior? So much time is in between these events, I don't see how one could accurately compare or even remember. It is like we forget that all hornlines were G up through 1999 and many still were into the 2000s. What about comparing those years? Were the Cadets and Blue Devils significantly quieter in 2000 than the other corps?..... I didn't see them live, but I remember some people saying that the first hit in the Cadets show was one of the most powerful they had witnessed. If this is the case, and they were directly comparing them to the G lines of Cavaliers, SCV, Phantom etc.... then there is no way that G vs. Bb makes that big of a difference in volume.

Sometimes I really think that the volume debate is nothing more than seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. I could see there being a 3-4% difference, but some of you act like the G's were like twice as loud. I simply cannot believe that is really the case.

[Jeff Ream]

Did I mention I like waffles a lot?

no

[Jeff Ream]

Here is one thing I have never "gotten" about the G vs. Bb debate...... Why do we always compare Bb hornlines now (2008, 09, 10) with G hornlines of the 80s and prior? So much time is in between these events, I don't see how one could accurately compare or even remember. It is like we forget that all hornlines were G up through 1999 and many still were into the 2000s. What about comparing those years? Were the Cadets and Blue Devils significantly quieter in 2000 than the other corps?..... I didn't see them live, but I remember some people saying that the first hit in the Cadets show was one of the most powerful they had witnessed. If this is the case, and they were directly comparing them to the G lines of Cavaliers, SCV, Phantom etc.... then there is no way that G vs. Bb makes that big of a difference in volume.

Sometimes I really think that the volume debate is nothing more than seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. I could see there being a 3-4% difference, but some of you act like the G's were like twice as loud. I simply cannot believe that is really the case.

ok remind me in 2000 who went Bb right away...BD, Cadets, Cavies, SCV?

if so, BD and Cavies were not as loud IMO

[BozzlyB]

Honesty time. I don't care for 70's drum corps. I'm impressed by what it is but it isn't my cup of tea. I love the music from most of 80's drum corps, but there is nothing happening there I need to be able to see. Drum corps started getting visually interesting in the 90's, and visually exploded in the last 10 years, but the MUSIC, has gone backwards in "enjoyability". There are musical things happening today that create cool moments, but they are fleeting and impact oriented, or designed to enhance a visual priority. If they could marry the music from 80's drum corps with today's visual programs, hell to the yes.

[Tez]

ok remind me in 2000 who went Bb right away...BD, Cadets, Cavies, SCV?

if so, BD and Cavies were not as loud IMO

From my memory it was only BD and Cadets who went Multi-key in the first year.

If I am right (and please correct me if I'm wrong), then your memory helps to prove my point. You claim BD and Cavies were not as loud, but Cavies were still on G's. If there really was an enormous difference than wouldn't it have been apparent which corps were using the new horns?