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

[garfield]

There is a difference between casual observation and irrefutable data.

Youth interest in traditional sports has plummeted over the past 20 years, dilluted by things like wrestling, skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX and video/computer games.

The NFL, for example, has been losing youth interest like mad and youth merchandising purchase volumes are a fraction of what they were in the 1980's.

Years ago, I had NFL Players Association and Wilson Sporting Goods as clients, working on a joint project to try to revive youth interest and participation in football by creating a magazine, comic book series, animations, etc. with the goal of generating crossover interest with non-traditional sports and video games.

NFL was, and is, in a world of hurt in the youth market... and football in general has tried all sorts of variations of image, presentation and even rules to try to step up interest (remember XFL?).

Drum corps is facing a similar fragmentation and dilution of interest as there are a lot more ways kids can spend their freetime now than decades ago. It is as simple as that.

There is no issue of money or greed (if you factor in the number of hours required against annual salary, drum corps directors are making less than minimum wage).

There is no issue of ego (if someone is truly ego driven... they would be attracted to semi-pro marching band? really?).

About your point related to the shift of the number of music educators supporting drum corps now, compared to years ago... this is also a very simple and non-sinister equation.

A lot of the kids pulled of the street years ago that were given a horn or a pair of sticks decided that they really liked playing music and decided to pursue it further. They went on to get an education in music and went back to corps and become instructors.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Years later, instead of attracting kids off the street to be taught by former kids off the street... drum corps is now made up of experienced youth with a solid foundation in music that are taught by credentialed educators... who previously marched in corps and were taught by guys became educators... after being pulled off the street and taught by instructors who were previously marching the corps... after being handed a horn from some guys at a VFW post.

There is no sinister plot here, only a very natural evolution.

Seriously, there is no drum corps conspiracy. There is no greed-driven coup d'etat or ego mad ploy with anything going on here.

From what I see, there are a hell of a lot of very talented people working their ### off for very little money, sacrificing much of their personal life and leisure in order to keep a non-profit youth activity going.

Any of these people could be making more money and getting more ego lift from doing just about anything else you could possibly imagine. People need to take two baby steps back, get a broader view, and realize how cool it is that there are people that are actually not driven by money or ego or comfort that agree to work for so little and dedicate so much time to the arts and youth activities.

perception ≠ reality

That's right, no greed here. That's why the "elite" proposed cutting out OC from all support and giving themselves a bigger piece of the DCI pie. Minimum wage? Oh please. Go read the 990 reports and tell me how many people would scramble to make that kind of money for 9 month's work.

No ego here. That's right. Please, do your inquiring mind a favor and hop on over to the G7 threads and read the "presentation".

No conspiracy here. Move along. Nothing to see. Fire the ED of DCI, claim 3/4 majority voting for yourselves, and install a payout method that lavishes 75% of the net profit on 7 corps. Because the rest are not worthy. Nothing to see. Move along...

I agree, your perception does not equal reality.

I like waffles...

Edited August 26, 2010 by garfield

[The Other Mike]

Serious question for the retros:

If what you want is more slowly progressing drum corps then why don't more of you go to DCA?

Because I'm stuck at school supervising the children at the Friday night game.

Reasons I LOVE DCA

a) no snot nosed kids yapping through the show about how much they think they know

b) beer is served

c) more history can be learned about drum corps while waiting in line for a beer at one show than you can learn at 10 DCI shows

d) NanciD

e) the show may be a little slower than top 6 at DCI, but the amount of goosebumps is more than I can count

f) You can see some shows that are good enough for lower placed DCI finalists and inbetween see the Alumni groups

g) drum corps and beer goes together well

h) no sdults trying to hide behind "kids"

Reasons I hate DCA

a) too many beer drinkers blocking the entrance to the seats

b) too many old men drinking beer = long lines for beer & long lines for restrooms

[Bob J]

Mike, that doesn't make sense. Your most favorite and least favorite things about DCA are both beer?

[Jeff Ream]

I am grateful to have been exposed to a lot of new music through drumcorps.

That being said, there needs to be some sort of balance. This summer, I took two people to a show who had never seen drumcorps before. They were completely bored. They did not recognize one thing that any of the 11 corps at the show played. And it's not that they're musically illiterate either, because I was only familiar with a few myself. And then to end with BD whose show had no melody and came across as just a bunch of noise.... (sorry to beat that dead horse to a pulp - but that was our perception).

I was embarrased to have convinced them to go to the show. I feel like I wasted 4 hours of their life.

I don't have a problem with corps doing new stuff or experimenting with different material/concepts etc (like BD). But remember - you have to do something to connect with the audience. There wasn't much audience connecting going on this year in my opinion.

I'd say it was about 50/50 in terms of connecting. but with the emphasis on visual, it does leave people wanting at times

[danielray]

Respectfully, I would like to know where you would draw the line at innovation in drum corps. Are there lines that you wouldn't cross?

Are you sure you want to ask me that question? :)

To be honest, there is so much that has yet to be explored in the medium... a whole world of fascinating possibilities.

For example, uniforms don't really make a hell of a lot of sense to me, just the same as fixed instrumentation (particularly in the battery) and things like rifle or sabres.

By dismissing the conventions of actual uniforms for musicians and costumes for guard, and just going with costumes for all... this not only more properly integrates the guard and musicians into a more cohesive and fluid ensemble, there is a much wider range of possibilities.

This is the next great leap forward for the corps bold enough to do it. Blue Devils could pull this off right now, in fact, I think they actually need to do something like this... and Scott and Jay are exactly the right ones to be able to break through on this effectively the first try out of the gate.

There is also a lot of wasted talent and opportunity in most top-level corps in the sense that there are loads of guard members that also play instruments, loads of musicians that are also doing winterguard, loads of musicians that play a variety of instruments.

How cool would a show with performers moving fluidly between different combinations of instruments and equipment as the show might call for it?

It also makes zero sense to have fixed instrumentation in the battery for the duration of the entire program. Sure, you might lose a bit of the cleanliness you'd have with guys playing on the same surface all season long, but you'd more than make up for it in performance value and breaking up the homogeny.

The surface has only barely been scratched on the interrelationship between individual movement, form movement, staging, and equipment (think picking things up where Alwin Nikolais left off).

Along these lines, there has only been modest exploration of the possible decoupling of the movement of the performer and independent movement of the instrument (BD explored this a bit awhile back with the tenor line).

About the actual instruments played... who really cares as long as it is effective in the context of the performance venue? I've performed concerts on things like a typewriter, a six-pack of budweiser, a clawfoot bathtub, a pack of raw spaghetti, etc. among a wide range of explorations. While fun, challenging and interesting, they'd probably not be so effective in a large stadium.

Similarly, I doubt the effectiveness of entire sections of woodwinds in a stadium. It seems like a waste. Though, I don't rule out the possibility that a sax solo or flute or something in the right context of the right program could actually be effective. If it works, it works.... if it doesn't... then don't do that. No need to be religious about it either way.

Amplification of the pit, I definitely get. These are expensive and delicate instruments that do add a lot of color, but can get damaged easily by playing on too hard of mallets and performers can mess themselves up by over playing.

Regarding electronics... I find it odd that it is a sort of defacto standard now. It seems a bit like dumping pepper on every dish on the menu.

If it is something that could really enhance the flavour of that particular program, why the hell not? If it's solid without it... why the hell are you doing it?

Thinking about lines I wouldn't cross... hmm... I'd say probably anything that could be potentially unsafe or that would come at the financial cost of anything else necessary to provide a safe and quality experience for the performers. Other than that... if it is brilliantly effective... why not?

[Jeff Ream]

What does this actually accomplish? The activity will never move back to where it was even 5 years ago, let alone 30.

The reason for it never moving back has nothing to do with DCI or G7 or anything of the sort. It has to do with keeping kids interested.

Drum corps used to be the leader that other groups followed. Drum corps would innovate, push boundaries, and bands and WGI would scramble to follow.

Because of listening to a very vocal segment of older fans, drum corps fell behind the curve and bands and WGI were innovating and drum corps were copying these programs. Kids are not only attracted to excellence, but with what is new, bold and fresh.

Anyway, complaints solve nothing, and only generate negative feelings, and negative feelings never result in positive action.

The reality is that junior drum corps is a youth activity, and must continually appeal to youth, whatever form that may take in order to appeal.

If there becomes a time where that becomes so far out of alignment with what you dig... move on... find something else you dig.

youth opinion > your opinion

I'll disagree on listening to a group of older fans. Drum corps has always pushed and gone into brave new worlds. but at some point in time, band and WGI took over...not because of older fans...but, IMO, because old arrangers stayed in the tried and true, and the younger set got involved iwth bands and WGI.

However, not those same people are involved with DCI as the bands and WGI, and we just see rehashed ideas from those worlds, as opposed to seeing drum corps break new ground.

[Jeff Ream]

I've regrouped some of these by category.

Here I'm in generally in agreement with Mr. Loving and opposed to all forms of amplification and electronics. Yes, sometimes it creates a nice effect, but I'd throw that baby out with the bathwater. Down with prefab! Figure out an acoustic way to approximate the electronic effect. And if you want better sounding marimbas and tympani in the pit, design marimbas and tympani that sound both better and louder. The brass instruments corps use aren't the same one used by concert ensembles; why should the percussion be any different?

But a question for anyone: were mic'd vocals banned this year? Or simply not used by choice? While I heard some prerecorded voice samples, I can't recall any live mic'd speaking or singing. (Am I forgetting something?) It's hopeful either way: an indication that corps can come to understand what's not working and reject supposed "advances". Maybe the "thunderous goo" and other synthesizer effects aren't an irreversible trend after all. Remember what G.K. Chesterton wrote:

Obviously a man ought to be saying, "I have made an electric battery. Shall I smash it, or shall I make another?" Instead of that, he seems to be bewitched by a sort of magic and stands staring at the thing as if it were a seven-headed dragon; and he can only say, "The electric battery has come. Has it come to stay?"

Suncoast Sound in 1985/89 and 1988, as well. Their "Florida Suite" is full of memorable melodies. As to corps playing music the audience doesn't know: more please. I didn't know "Malaguena" before seeing Madison's 1988 performance on VHS, ten years later (and the radio station I most often listened to then played mostly big bands! but Glenn Miller pre-eminently). As to corps rearranging familiar music so that it becomes less enjoyable. Sometimes it happens: Star's take on Respighi only sometimes evokes the original for me. But many arrangements, including more than a few this year, I thought, keep the spirit of the original very well.

While I think corps would benefit from thinking a little more about how to allow for crowd reaction, I didn't find the Allentown audience to be bored, and it wasn't just Madison who was cheered mid-show. Lots of thrills. As for chills: Phantom's ending, for sure.

And corps have incorporated singing into their shows for more than 20 years.

Well, sometimes they played in the rain: most famously Madison in 1993.

I'm thinking the problem here is that "band" means different things to different people. In the 1980s, drum corps was explained to me as a superior marching band, which should be emulated by scholastic marching bands. For others, the two were obviously at odds.

Music City in OC did mic'd vocals

[Jeff Ream]

Serious question for the retros:

If what you want is more slowly progressing drum corps then why don't more of you go to DCA?

or go to both!

[Todd Tanji]

No, I understood. The reason more of us don't go to DCA is because...(see my answer above).

Because DCA is like lunatics running an asylum?

If that means you don't like adults in drum corps, the average age of a typical all-age corps

is only a few years higher than a top DCI corps.

[Todd Tanji]

or go to both!