Why adding woodwinds won't work in drum corps

[MikeD]

Let me put it this way. How would marching band directors feel about putting someone on the field marching viola? You'd be lucky to find a director who'd do it. They'd say, it's not a marching band instrument, it's not loud enough! I don't see how woodwinds in drum corps is any different, besides the fact Hopkins is pushing for it bigtime.

I am featuring a micced cello in this year's field show I am arranging.

[MikeD]

The difference is, a bugle and their valved counterparts sound almost 100% the same. Same material, Same family, Same Idea. And it's not about not liking woodwinds, just about the fact that DCI is no place for them to be. Electronics were a bad enough addition. Let's not entirely crap on the face of DCI by adding woodwinds.

If DCI decides to legalize them, then how is it crapping in their face? IMO they are long overdue, but I also don't see them anytime soon, sad to say.

[docachna]

Drum & Bugle Corps once were just that. Now we have marimbas, guitars, synths, & narration. Yet still Drum Corps have been able to maintain their identity as "Corps". Woodwinds change that forever; No "Corps", just another "Band". The day I see a Cavalier playing a clarinet or sax is the day I finally give all my Corps gear to Goodwill & abandon this "activity" forever!

I agree 110%. Once woodwinds are added, the essential base of the medium is changed. You may like what you see (or not) - but it no longer is a D&BC.

However, the guy who said woodwinds don't project -- put the Ohio State University Marching Band and the Michigan State University Marching Band side by side, then tell me that. The alto and tenor saxes in the Spartan Marching Band give a "flavor" that an all-brass ensemble (tOSUMB, SCV, PR, whoever) simply cannot duplicate. A kicking-butt sax section is the difference between a great group, and a so-so group.

Agree wholeheartedly for flutes & clarinets. They belong in concert groups..........

I've already almost sworn off drum corps, given the most recent "trends". Bringing in woodwinds would certainly do it for me. They are no longer corps - period.

"If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck....."

[mikita21]

It's kinda like barbecueing and grilling. We use the words interchangeably, but they are two different things. Drum Corps and Band are two different things, and what sets the former apart is the absence of woodwinds and strings. That seems a no-brainer to me.....no offense to anyone, cause that is not intended as a slight on any previous posts!!!

So when you have designed all the high school marching bands to look like drum corps (which is happening at an earth-shattering pace, it seems), and then you include band instruments in drum corps -- well, what is left? It's all band.

I stopped calling the most recent changes within DCI "drum corps" at the time they happened: spoken word, amplification. I call it, just for my own piece of mind, "Field Theater". And it is good. It is incredible. It is stunning, both musically and visually.

But it ain't Drum Corps.

Not any more.

[ejsymonds]

If DCI decides to legalize them, then how is it crapping in their face? IMO they are long overdue, but I also don't see them anytime soon, sad to say.

The crapping in their face refers to the concept of Drum and Bugle corps. Not just the corporation. And of course you want woodwinds. You have a Cadets logo on your profile. Woodwinds do not belong in DRUM and BUGLE corps.

[HighBrass09]

Who wants to hear a flute? Good god that sound is horrible

[Lance]

Who wants to hear a flute? Good god that sound is horrible

I like to hear any good musician on any instrument. I just prefer to hear ww instruments inside which is what they were really made for. Categorically saying any instrument sounds horrible is....well, it is.

I never want flutes on the DCI field.

[Lance]

The crapping in their face refers to the concept of Drum and Bugle corps. Not just the corporation. And of course you want woodwinds. You have a Cadets logo on your profile. Woodwinds do not belong in DRUM and BUGLE corps.

I wasn't aware that all people who like The Cadets were in favor of WW.

When did this happen?

[seinphan]

Drum Corps is marching band already. AND, it's watering itself down so bad that you can't really tell the difference. As a teacher, I take students to DCI shows every year. 10-12 years ago the kids went and FREAKED out at what they saw. The past two years I saw yawns and had kids wanting to leave early. "It's no different than what we do..." was a common statement.

I say this to make this point....... When all you had to deal with was a percussion section and brass, the designers HAD to be creative and were forced to think outside the box to come up with something new and exciting or to create the sound they wanted. With electronics there is very little creativity needed. You want a sound you find it in the library or sample it and hit a button.

How cool was the 1991 SCV helicopter effect?!? That was incredibly effective! How lame would it be to see someone do a show with that sound needed and having a "poindexter" hold down the key on the synth that creates a helicopter rather than a group of kids CREATING a sound? Would that effect still be talked about today if it was a computer? Absolutely not!

I absolutely love the activity AS IT WAS. I don't even mind the pit amplification. I'm all for progress and moving forward, but taking the easy way out by having sounds HANDED to you (electronics, woodwinds, bagpipes, etc) and not being forced to use your mind is simply dumbing down the activity.

[Lance]

"It's no different than what we do..." was a common statement.

What was different from what they do 10-12 years ago that isn't now?

It's fricking marching band. It's just a bunch of people running around on a football field twirling things and tooting on things.

This serious red-faced back in the day stuff....ugh.