Has Drum Corps Lost Its Soul

[rayfallon]

Holy Crap!!!

Short answer - No.

Geez.

[Michael Boo]

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Edited September 1, 2010 by Michael Boo

[adub]

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.

This is the most intelligent thing I've read so far in any post concerned with the modern state of drum corps

[Stu]

Has Drum Corps Lost Its Soul? Hmmmm; Blue Stars says it can be purchased for a mere $3100 per year!

[byline]

Yes, because thats what this is all about. If a guy can't use proper paragraph development, he can't possibly have a valid point.

I don't think that was the point. The point was that unfortunately, people who are expressing a valid idea may unintentionally lose a lot of readers by not taking the time to break up those thoughts into nice, bit-sized packages. People reading message boards, newspapers, etc., tend to instinctively pass over an article that appears to ramble on (even if, in substance, it doesn't). The more "white space" there is, the more it encourages people to keep on reading.

It's one of the first things I was taught in news writing: If you can say it in two sentences instead of one long, run-on sentence, do it. And if you can break up a long paragraph into two paragraphs, do it. These things ensure that a lot more people will make an effort to read your story.

[pearlsnaredrummer77]

DCI has certainly lost it's way. It used to provide a musical experience that touched many, many American or Canadian communities either through sponsoring a corps or show. DCI used to be affordable so that working-class kids or poor kids could have that experience. DCI corps taught vast amounts of kids-now it is mainly for music majors. DCI is no longer relevent through actions of its own and some of the larger society.

DCA still retains a better connection to drum corp's traditions. Let us hope it can continue along that distinctive path.

[WOOHOO]

DCI has certainly lost it's way. It used to provide a musical experience that touched many, many American or Canadian communities either through sponsoring a corps or show. DCI used to be affordable so that working-class kids or poor kids could have that experience. DCI corps taught vast amounts of kids-now it is mainly for music majors. DCI is no longer relevent through actions of its own and some of the larger society.

DCA still retains a better connection to drum corp's traditions. Let us hope it can continue along that distinctive path.

It is absolutely not just music majors, I don't know where you get this impression

[glory]

Can I play devil's advocate here on the OP's behalf? ...

Why the devil's advocate? You don't believe what you're saying?

Because you shouldn't. There is no basis for the contention that today's drum corps is a soulless undertaking. It's presumptiousness at its worst to assert that the relative affluence of today's members makes their drum corps experience less significant than it was for those who marched with lesser means.

HH

[Jeff Ream]

I dunno. Some of the Rookie Games/Talent Show/etc. things I've heard in this past decade from various corps.... Not wholesome.

so then not much has changed

[glory]

Not to speak for ColDan, but I would be offended by all the snarky snarks who replied to him by taking him literally word for word (with regards to definition of soul).

I think you all missed the point.

From his historical perspective, drum corps purpose was to give the tools to kids who did not have those tools already. The tools the historical members were missing in order to be successful adults? Discipline, respect and a need for physical fitness.

DCI today requires this of their members as a prerequisite to marching. Kids now march drum corps because that's what they're passionate about coming into the activity. They weren't suckered into coming to a camp by hitching a ride with 10 guys in a station wagon ... only to figure out later that this wasn't a trip to the beach when someone shoved a bugle in their hands.

I never read the OP as questioning whether the current members possess those tools, but rather if there is a portion of the population who is lacking those tools and no longer gets them from drum corps = loss of soul.

Make sense?

No it doesn't make sense at all unless you're willing to make some quantum leap into generational generalization.

You suggest offense even as you lump all marchers of distinct generations into conveniently homogenized characterizations. The soul of drum corps lived in the golden years of yore because the deprived marchers of the past needed a bugle and drum tonic to pass into successful adulthood. Yet today's marcher needs no such help as he's been pampered and priviledged. Drum corps is a luxury he can afford rather than gauntlet to pass on the way to salvation.

It's a convenient model if your bent is against drum corps' modern iteration. But it ignores the obvious and necessary diversity that has always characterized drum corps. Not every marcher of yore was deprived or deviant. Even among the great average of the middle, many if not most came from good homes and good examples where a positive pattern was set despite the poor condition of the family bank account. And today, there are poor kids who march among the rich ones. There are kids from affluent suburbs and yet broken or dysfunctional homes. They need the discipline and respect of drum corps every bit as much as yesteryear's disadvantaged no matter how much money is in the checking account.

It's not just one, and it never was. Drum corps soul is born in the group, not the individuals. It's a product of experiences shared together not apart. Addresses and accounts don't determine the soul of this activity. They never did.

HH