Has Drum Corps Lost Its Soul

[ColDan]

Many have said that drum corps is a wholesome activity that teaches our youth discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness. Is this still true, or has drum corps lost its soul.

Drum corps began as a community support activity to instill values, discipline, respect and stressed physical fitness. American Legion and VFW posts as well as churches sponsored drum corps and helped to organize and support local shows as fund raising and competitive event. As a community-based organization, corps recruited members locally and the community responded by helping to generate funding and other support for events and activities. Corps marched in local parades and participated in local events to raise funds and generate more community support. Hundreds of drum corps, large and small, were organized throughout the country and tens of thousands of young Americans that were blessed with the drum corps experience with the opportunity to learn music and marching. In my local area of 250,000 people, 10 drum corps grew, two to gain national recognition. Corps competed in circuit and regional competitions. Nationally, there were a multitude of championships in which the top corps competed. Drum corps was an active part of American life. Hundreds of drum corps shows were held each weekend. The music was planned to please the crowd and usually included music that the audience could recognize. The fan-base included people who had never been a part of the drum corps tradition but came to believe in the contributions to the youth in their community.

Things have changed. Today the drum corps family consists of a much smaller base, 23 World Class and 22 Open Class corps. Five years ago, there were only 350 drum corps shows over the entire summer instead of the hundreds each weekend. In 2010, that number was only 115 shows. Corps recruit nationally and find a wealth of members in university and college music departments, and color guard recruits from the music and dance departments. High school bands now provide that music and marching experience for the local youth.

Drum corps today are operate as independent organizations. Corps raise funds through bingo, membership fees, event participation fees, their own local shows and other means. Wealthier corps travel nationally for the entire summer and compete several times per week and in each regional competition against the same grouping of corps. Less fortunate corps travel and compete when they can . Many corps have folded due to their inability to raise adequate funds. Many local shows have been discontinued due to the lack of local support and ticket sales. A national championship is held, but most top corps have competed against each other and the rankings are no great surprise except the top position. Drum Corps is not what it once was.

But the differences do not end with organization, the context has also changed. Traditionally, a Drum Corps consisted of bugles, drums, and a color guard, even an American flag section. The corps marched and played music on a football field, and the challenge was to put the best music and marching show possible with the assets available. Truly music in motion! Bugles were classified in their drum corps terminology as sopranos, baritones, and contra-base. Today they are called trumpets and tubas just like an orchestra. Today’s drummers include the “pit” which includes xylophones, timpani drums, gongs, bells, jazz drums, guitars, and even use recorded music and voice! The members of this “orchestra pit” do not march, but stand on the sidelines to play. Vibraphone solos from the sidelines are quickly replacing the famed drum solos. The marching shows now include props and dance routines. The horn line put down their instruments to join in the dance routines. The music uses complex arrangement of often-obscure classical pieces and original music specifically arranged to fit the marching show. The music score is designed to impress the judges with its complexity and generate high scores. The audience is often left out of the equation. In all honesty, today’s drum corps show has more in common with a Broadway show than it does with traditional drum corps. Music in Motion has been replaced with pageantry.

Certainly drum corps has lost the magnitude and participation levels it once had. The framework and context has changed, but change is not always a bad thing. Many inventive ideas have emerged over the years, but not all change is good either. Community support is not what it once was. What has not been lost is the enthusiasm of its marching members and the loyalty of former members.

Has drum corps lost its soul? Is it still the wholesome activity that teaches our youth values, discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness? Maybe. I would like to hear what you think. More importantly, if its soul has been lost, how can we get it back?

ColDan6@gmail.com

[mophilda]

The "soul" would be what the members take away from their time in drum corps, right? If so, the soul is still very much intact.

[THeShadeOfNight]

Many have said that drum corps is a wholesome activity that teaches our youth discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness. Is this still true, or has drum corps lost its soul.

Drum corps began as a community support activity to instill values, discipline, respect and stressed physical fitness. American Legion and VFW posts as well as churches sponsored drum corps and helped to organize and support local shows as fund raising and competitive event. As a community-based organization, corps recruited members locally and the community responded by helping to generate funding and other support for events and activities. Corps marched in local parades and participated in local events to raise funds and generate more community support. Hundreds of drum corps, large and small, were organized throughout the country and tens of thousands of young Americans that were blessed with the drum corps experience with the opportunity to learn music and marching. In my local area of 250,000 people, 10 drum corps grew, two to gain national recognition. Corps competed in circuit and regional competitions. Nationally, there were a multitude of championships in which the top corps competed. Drum corps was an active part of American life. Hundreds of drum corps shows were held each weekend. The music was planned to please the crowd and usually included music that the audience could recognize. The fan-base included people who had never been a part of the drum corps tradition but came to believe in the contributions to the youth in their community.

Things have changed. Today the drum corps family consists of a much smaller base, 23 World Class and 22 Open Class corps. Five years ago, there were only 350 drum corps shows over the entire summer instead of the hundreds each weekend. In 2010, that number was only 115 shows. Corps recruit nationally and find a wealth of members in university and college music departments, and color guard recruits from the music and dance departments. High school bands now provide that music and marching experience for the local youth.

Drum corps today are operate as independent organizations. Corps raise funds through bingo, membership fees, event participation fees, their own local shows and other means. Wealthier corps travel nationally for the entire summer and compete several times per week and in each regional competition against the same grouping of corps. Less fortunate corps travel and compete when they can . Many corps have folded due to their inability to raise adequate funds. Many local shows have been discontinued due to the lack of local support and ticket sales. A national championship is held, but most top corps have competed against each other and the rankings are no great surprise except the top position. Drum Corps is not what it once was.

But the differences do not end with organization, the context has also changed. Traditionally, a Drum Corps consisted of bugles, drums, and a color guard, even an American flag section. The corps marched and played music on a football field, and the challenge was to put the best music and marching show possible with the assets available. Truly music in motion! Bugles were classified in their drum corps terminology as sopranos, baritones, and contra-base. Today they are called trumpets and tubas just like an orchestra. Today’s drummers include the “pit” which includes xylophones, timpani drums, gongs, bells, jazz drums, guitars, and even use recorded music and voice! The members of this “orchestra pit” do not march, but stand on the sidelines to play. Vibraphone solos from the sidelines are quickly replacing the famed drum solos. The marching shows now include props and dance routines. The horn line put down their instruments to join in the dance routines. The music uses complex arrangement of often-obscure classical pieces and original music specifically arranged to fit the marching show. The music score is designed to impress the judges with its complexity and generate high scores. The audience is often left out of the equation. In all honesty, today’s drum corps show has more in common with a Broadway show than it does with traditional drum corps. Music in Motion has been replaced with pageantry.

Certainly drum corps has lost the magnitude and participation levels it once had. The framework and context has changed, but change is not always a bad thing. Many inventive ideas have emerged over the years, but not all change is good either. Community support is not what it once was. What has not been lost is the enthusiasm of its marching members and the loyalty of former members.

Has drum corps lost its soul? Is it still the wholesome activity that teaches our youth values, discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness? Maybe. I would like to hear what you think. More importantly, if its soul has been lost, how can we get it back?

ColDan6@gmail.com

Too long didn't read.

To answer your first question (or a statement, as you typed it): Kids learn discipline through their hard work, respect for the activity, and physical fitness is handed to them in a gift wrapped bag because of the long hours and tough shows that are being put on now-a-days. Some may say (due to certain events from time to time) that kids can act classless in public while in uniform, but that's the unfortunately mentality of "one bad apple spoils the batch". In general, kids are good.

[FHdork]

Dan (may I call you Dan?...) You've written a good piece. It seems more a history review than a wholesale knock down of corps today. Three points:

<Drum corps was an active part of American life.>

I'm not so sure that, even back when drum corps was a larger piece of America than it is today could this statement be true. I will agree: there is LESS drum corps today than it was then...and we're still a virtually unknown activity...though there could be a solid argument that corps is MORE known today due to the length of its existence (generations informing new generations, etc.) combined with the ability of Youtube to spread the word about what corps is, and what it does. There was no Drum Corps Europe or Japan in the 1950s...

<he music score is designed to impress the judges with its complexity and generate high scores. >

I submit that while this is true today (most especially for the few corps who 'can' win...see Bruckner8's Competitive Inertia theory...) - it was also true then - perhaps even more so than today. Back then, there were some very rigid rules about shows. Around and within those rules, designers created the art of drum corps. It was not some homegrown entertainment thing to which was later added adjudication (in the very beginning, it was un-judged, of course). The judging propelled the activity forward. The competition added a measure of excitement to the whole affair...and that has not changed to this day.

<wholesome activity that teaches our youth discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness.>

Drum corps today is even better at this than many groups from the past. With the huge emphasis on fast drill, modern drum corps is FAAAAAAAAAAAAR more physically demanding that even 1980s drum corps. BITD, many in corps were smokers (as was the society...) - not so today. Sure there are some - but most if not all corps ban smoking in, around, or even near their facilities - either owned by the corps or rented from others. No one 'rumbles' with other corps anymore. It's far more cordial than even the 1970s. With the greater physical demand - and the much much greater musical sophistication, the members (those lucky enough to participate...) learn MORE discipline than those who marched in decades past. The activity is simply a great deal more difficult and challenging than it used to be.

Contrary to the idea of drum corps having lost its soul...I would say it has expanded and grown larger the soul it has always had...

[skywhopper]

Has drum corps lost its soul? Is it still the wholesome activity that teaches our youth values, discipline, respect, and the need for physical fitness? Maybe. I would like to hear what you think. More importantly, if its soul has been lost, how can we get it back?

I would say that modern drum corps continues to be a wholesome activity that teaches young people discipline, respect, and fitness. Not sure what that has to do with a "soul".

I've been struggling with how to even respond here. Do you attend drum corps shows in your area? Do you actively support your local corps? If you want to grow the activity, that's the first place to start. If you don't like the current rules or judging practices, well, I don't know what to say. I'm frustrated with a lot of changes over the past decade, and it's fun to argue about them here and whether they are good or bad for the future of the activity, but at the same time, I still love watching drum corps.

You're starting from a historical point of view, and all the changes that you don't like from the entire DCI era, but all we can have an effect on is the present. Instead of railing against 40 years worth of changes, how about getting in there, supporting what's good in the activity, working to make it grow, and when opportunities arise, argue for the changes you think would make the activity better.

[supersop]

I'll respond in a different way.

I think the best way to find the soul of the activity is in the Open Class.

I also think that if there is to be a defining moment in the future of DCI, it will take place in the Open Class ranks.

I think there will come a day when there will be 3 or 4 powerhouse corps who maintain a regional presence without doing a national tour. When that day comes, they will be on the same level as the top 12 corps in the country right now. It might be 10-15 years off, but with the top 7 wanting to branch off, I feel the OC will be the ones to carry the banner of fraternal order within DCI. I think they'll also start drawing crowds that rival WC attendance.

What's stopping this from happening? People to lead the charge. Corps who are willing to stick to the commitment of the OC model and show DCI a different way to do business. The other element keeping it from happening? Support. This means all of us! Support financially, support with your bumm in the seat at their shows, support in volunteering for them, support in assisting new corps during their development stage. This is where the growth of the activity lies. This is where the soul of drum corps lives at its finest. Sadly, it IS dying right now. There's just so much elitism in the past 10 years coming from the fans that it boggles my mind when they complain that drum corps is dying or shrinking or whatever.

P.S. I didn't take a ton of time to think out this post like I usually do. Taking my kids bowling with their cousins so they get some physical activity on this 92 degree day in Michigan. I'm sure there are some holes in what posted ... or some things that might need more explanation. Feel free to reply and I"ll do my best to get back on later today.

[BigW]

Previous posters made fine points. I think maybe what Dan's getting at might be that he wishes there were more opportunities for maybe some of the city kinds who flourished in programs like those he mentions at one time to have that kind of opportunity.

If that's where he's angling, South Africa has it for certain.

The problem is money. I wish I could do something myself, but again, how do yah raise the dough? Not easy.

Edited August 31, 2010 by BigW

[Stu]

Drum Corps 2010 teaches:

Wholesomeness: They learn that health of mind and health of body is vital to their well being; that personal character matters; that putting drugs into your body is a grave offense, not just legally, but also morally; that there is a sense of value which is greater than self-indulgence; that leaving a housing site cleaner than you found it shows honor.

Discipline: Every member today is taught that smart hard work yields greatness. They are taught that it takes unrelenting focus, stamina, and tenacity to accomplish any form of success. At any given rehearsal you will see members dropping to do push-ups after running a set. They are not told to do so; they do it out of self-discipline to push themselves to do better the next cycle. Many members utilize this training and either apply it to their scholastic work or their careers.

Respect: Every member today is taught to place others, the team, other teams, the audience, the housing site, the housing site people, ahead of the individual. While the crowd might boo a certain corps, the members of every corps are taught to support all corps; while there is healthy competition between units, members of various units become life-long friends.

Need for physical fitness: This one sort of baffles me. All you have to do is look at the human conditioning of the Cavaliers of today compared to those twenty years ago and you will see the physical demand has skyrocketed.

Any other questions which attempt to knock the current state of our drum corps youth and instructional staff will be addressed in the same manner.

[Todd Tanji]

Drum corps' soul is as healthy as ever. The OP, however, could use a little work in Paragraph Development.

Edited August 31, 2010 by BDUFLS

[oldbandguy]

I think you should consider the fact that the high school marching band has replaced many of the smaller "community drum corps" in achieving the goals you mentioned.

Back in the 50s and 60s when small drum corps could be found by the hundreds, especially in the east and upper midwest, high school marching bands served a totally

different purpose...that being to, more or less, be a support unit for the football team.

In the late 70s and into the 80s the role of high school marching band began to change

nationwide to one more focused on competition and performance excellence. I believe that to some degree this provided an outlet for young musicians that, for many, had been available only through drum corps.

While the growth of the marching band may have hurt small drum corps, I feel that overall it has allowed MANY more young people to participate and has only made the quality of the remaining corps reach much higher levels.