You know drum corps is dying when.............

[MikeN]

Drum corps is dying when people stop attending. That's my metric.

Mike

[Plan9]

Drum corps is dying when people stop attending. That's my metric.

Mike

and......?

[Catan]

The challenge is to find innovative music that engages the crowd rather than alienating it. Blue Devils were fantastic this year - their execution was a thing of beauty. But the show didn't really reach out and grab you.

I remember a time when I had to make sure there were no young kids near me when Blue Devils came on, because there was a good chance that at some point during the show I would reflexively jump to my feet and start screaming profanity involuntarily. They hit you with so much fire you couldn't help yourself. This is similar to the all-but-forgotten concept of "throwing babies."

This year, the primary response of the audience was polite applause.

To me a large part of drum corps is about grabbing the audience and giving them those explosive moments. That seems to happen less and less.

Just my opinion, but besides Bluecoats, BD's music (and entire package really) "grabbed me" moreso than any other corps this year.

[Blackstar]

Yawn....

Here's how I see it. You can feel drum corps is dead. But most of the stuff you complain about, you're whining that drum corps is too much of a broadway show. Well, maybe that's the goal? The most successful drum corps ever to reach the biggest audiences, most of which know NOTHING about music and drum corps and our stupid little niche activity? Blast!. The group that found a way to win that Tony you talk about. Blast! reached out to a incredibly broad audience, and was highly successful. Why shouldn't and wouldn't drum corps want to try and find themselves in a similar model? Because people like the OP feel drum corps has to be what it was 20 years ago? Sounds like bad logic to me. We've seen drum corps reach it's pinnacle in what Star, Cook, and the cast of Blast! were able to do. If I was running a drum corps right now. I'd be trying to reach a similar attraction, while doing it in my 11 minute show in an outdoor venue. Guess what? They had synths. They had mics. They danced. And you know what, it was fantastic. Drum corps of the past bores me and I wouldn't support it or have ever been a part of it. I love having an activity like this, where I can give back my money and time.

the kids have a say..."stop sucking Stars and Cooks *&^%...please for the love of God, Blast is not drum corps. Star left because they didn't want to do drum corps. Blast is a broadway production. Its as close to drum corps as I am to a skinny person. Star left over 20 years ago...

[garfield]

Here's the fundamental difference. There really is no "Bando Complaints".... those of us on the other side of the argument aren't beating up Madison for being traditional...we love it! BUT..we also love other stuff as well....new ideas, new sounds, new visual concepts, new ways of exploring music. We appreciate it all, and don't grumble everytime someone tries something new. And most of us don't think DC is dying, but "some" of the dinos need it to appear to be dying so they can use that as leverage to stop some of the new things and get DC back to the way it was.

Very true, my friend. But it cuts both ways. "Some" of the n00BS and Bandos need "classic" drum corps to be old, tired, and boring (or better yet, attempt to mock it as "just marching band") in order to justify the introduction of "avant-gard", smoke machine, Miley Cyrus crap. Because, like, you know, all that military, boring stuff my DAD did, like, just BORES me, like, as much as, like, you MARCHING BAND! Eeewww!

We're just one, big happy family with young kids tearing open packages, Dad sleeping off lunch, and gramps trying to remember where he put his dentures. But somehow, despite the differences, nobody pokes fun at any one else.

Wouldn't that be nice?

[dans]

OP, the DCA Alumni Spectacular is where you belong.

[chaddyt]

People are sick of BD winning and they want "anyone" else to win. If you listen to the "unmentionable" site videos of the 2010 finals presentations, you actually hear, "anyone but BD" said from the videographers over and over. So....taking the 2011 BD production "Moses crosses the Red Sea" complete with parting water would produce the same result. The truth is... you won't love BD again until they lose for a while....it's how it's done around here. And BTW, BD knows that and it doesn't change a thing....in fact, it inspires them!

As far as the topic is concerned....DC isn't dying, it's evolving.

You're still on this....?

Why is it so hard for you to comprehend that some folks just didn't like their show?

[Catan]

Here's the fundamental difference. There really is no "Bando Complaints".... those of us on the other side of the argument aren't beating up Madison for being traditional...we love it! BUT..we also love other stuff as well....new ideas, new sounds, new visual concepts, new ways of exploring music. We appreciate it all, and don't grumble everytime someone tries something new. And most of us don't think DC is dying, but "some" of the dinos need it to appear to be dying so they can use that as leverage to stop some of the new things and get DC back to the way it was.

Exactly! I am young (marched this year, 4 years till my ageout), but I love many shows from the "old days" (admittedly via FN): BD 76, Guardsmen 79, Bridgemen 80, 27th 80, Suncoast 85, etc...

That being said, I also love shows that push the activity in new directions: BD 2010, Cavies early 2000's, etc...

I don't see what the problem is other than human stubborness. Plenty of members/fans enjoy both new and old.

[Tom Brace]

You know drum corps is dying when……………

You replace your marching instructor with a choreographer.

You try to improve your front line sound by buying a new amp

You publish your repertoire and you play no RECOGNISABLE songs from it

You feel the need to amplify your soloists

You have to make room in the food truck for the 30 tons of props you are hauling around the country

The fans are in the stands complaining that they have to wait for an “exciting” corps……..And they are at the World Finals!!!

You have to make room in your corps budget for MICROPHONES

It stops being about the corps members and becomes all about the corps administration ego

It stops being about horns, drums and pageantry and more about a stage production

You cancel a show because your singer lost her voice.

Your "The Who" theme show involves smashing your amp at the end.

You ditch your Navy oxford shoes for jazz slippers.

You have more brass on the field than ever and still need amplification.

Your field show cures insomnia.

Your drum line cannot execute a single rudiment but moves like Cirque du Soleil.

Your color guard makes male figure skaters look brawny, rugged, and manly in comparison.

Jazz Running?

Your drum major doesn't use a baton or a mace but yells, "Plug it in!"

to start the show.

Your drum corps auditions includes a voice lesson

Your music is not recognizable ……….. by anyone

High mark time marching is unique and original

someone hears DCI and thinks of old Titleist irons.

there are more people in the pit than on the field.

rain cancels a show for fear of electrical problems.

judges give recaps like Bruno Tonioli critiquing a celebrity on "Dancing With the Stars."

drills look like a strand of DNA.

the music you play is so obscure the composers forgot they wrote it.

You hear comments like “I play third violin for the Troopers.”

You think WGI is the bomb but never heard of drum corps.

A soloist blames cracked notes on his #### reed being too dry.

They give I&E medals to flute and saxophone performances!

They start referring to drum corps as BAND!

You are a lifelong drum corps nut and you actually question whether you want to go a competition

You mention the 27th Lancers, North Star, Freelancers, or the Muchachos to “a drum corps fan” and they say “Who?”

The goal of the corps directors is to win a Tony Award

Your show requires an MC to explain what is going on.

The crowd as a whole does not yell and scream anymore during the performance.

People start to compare drum corps sound to that of a concert band

The corps is concerned with conveying nuance rather than giving “that chill”

Can any one think of more?

this is cute! Been saving them up for awhile. And some of this stuff is just made up to fill space.

[Blackstar]

I don't think its about the choice of music. I think its the arranging. While I guess people would consider me a Dinosaur (I marched in 84) my issue is play the dang song. Play the whole song. Not snippets and then bleeps and blaps, but the whole thing. Take Troopers 2009. Take the Blue Devils after 2002-3. Play the dang song.