If DCI were to allow woodwinds, would you continue to support the acti

[mgarside83]

I also don't think drumcorps disrminates against outside instrumentation nearly as much as the educational world of music discriminates and disrespects the drumcorps activity. You want to include ww in drum corps? Fine. I want to get my music ed degree with my emphasis being in marching percussion..........................oh wait I can't. In fact, even though to master marching percussion takes years of hard work, time and dedication (often times just to master one instrument) it isn't even respected, or acknowledged as a musical instrument to most, if not all colleges and universities. You can major in percussion, and most schools will not even acknowledge modern marching percussion. They will cover that topic by reading through rudiment books that are 40 years outdated, if they even make any mention of it at all. I spent my time as a percussion major playing Bach etudes on a marimba, because that makes any sense.

Point being, maybe the tables need to be turned on the educational system instead of on the drumcorps activity. I find that system much more elitist and unnaccepting than drumcorps is.

[mgarside83]

Absolutely.

Hi Dennis. Could you please clarify?

[audiodb]

2. Projection. WW do not project like brass do. To accomodate that, corps would have to increase their size limits to 250 to get a balanced ww to brass sound. OR cut down significantly on the number of brass players, which would significantly cut down on the volume and music effectiveness of the corps. The other alternative is to amplify WW to match the brass sound.

No....the other alternative is to have the brass restrain themselves at all times to balance with the woodwinds, as is common practice in most competitive band circuits.

[mgarside83]

No....the other alternative is to have the brass restrain themselves at all times to balance with the woodwinds, as is common practice in most competitive band circuits.

And that solution is going to get more fans? People are already complaining about how controlled and held back corps are these days. Fans enjoy having their faces ripped off. That's one element that corps brass can give us that they can't in any other activity, and you want to eliminate it?

[WOOHOO]

And that solution is going to get more fans? People are already complaining about how controlled and held back corps are these days. Fans enjoy having their faces ripped off. That's one element that corps brass can give us that they can't in any other activity, and you want to eliminate it?

You know what also rips your face off? A jet engine. Maybe all the angry fans should go to the airport instead of the stadium.

I kid, I kid.

[mgarside83]

No....the other alternative is to have the brass restrain themselves at all times to balance with the woodwinds, as is common practice in most competitive band circuits.

When they do that, they can cut down the size of the percussion to half of what it is too, because they will be overbearing now. I'd say no more that 5 snares would be needed, 3 tenors, 5 bass, 7 or 8 in the pit (which may not even be needed, since woodwinds can cover all the fast moving parts that were covered by keyboard percusion). The audience will love that too.

[mgarside83]

You know what also rips your face off? A jet engine. Maybe all the angry fans should go to the airport instead of the stadium.

I kid, I kid.

Hahahahahaha, now there's an idea!!!!

[Jeff Ream]

At this point, it's too simplistic to say that the product is the only reason people are leaving, and there is no credible statistical analysis to support that claim (polls on DCP do not count).

word of mouth is something in the business world that is taken into consideration a lot. I have been in sales now in some form or another for 17 years. Word of mouth can do more damage to your business than an article in USA Today. I agree without statistics, it can be hard, but I've heard and seen it enough on here, in stands, on the phone, etc to believe there is an impact.

I do agree it's long time DCI does some real surveys to gauge the feelings out there. I'm feeling pretty good they will bear the arguments on here. Top 3 will be entertainment value, cost, and the rule changes.

[pearlsnaredrummer77]

Personally, I don't want to exclude ww players from corps because they play ww. More so, because ww don't make any sense in the activity. Here's why I feel this way.

1. Uniformity of look. Drum corps is a visual activity, sometimes more so than a music activity. Anyone who had taught competitive marching band knows the struggles of making all the different shapes of ww instruments look good. They ruin the effect of hornsnaps, visual clarity, horn pops, pretty much any instrument visual contribution to a show. All uniformity in that regard is not attainable to the level of an all brass corps. The hornline just looks a lot cleaner and is more visually effective. A marching band could be just as clean as a corps, but the corps will always appear cleaner because of the similarity of the instruments, regarding the visual element.

2. Projection. WW do not project like brass do. To accomodate that, corps would have to increase their size limits to 250 to get a balanced ww to brass sound. OR cut down significantly on the number of brass players, which would significantly cut down on the volume and music effectiveness of the corps. The other alternative is to amplify WW to match the brass sound.

3. Durability. As another poster has already stated, ww can't be cleaned in the shower, cant be out in the rain, need constant upkeep with pads and reeds.

4. Expense. repairs (there are many more moving parts requiring much more maintenance), pads, and reeds would be a major cost to any corps with a significant amount of ww

Jazz bands generally don't use french horns or violins, and that is totally acceptable. An symphony excludes the marching snare voice, and no one questions this. But drum corps excluding ww is unnacceptable??? ww don't even make sense in the activity. It would make much more sense to me to model the competitive marching band's instrumentation after that of a drumcorps (and many do, I have seen high school's compete with only sax and brass, or very minimal ww presence at all, these programs tend to do very well) why don't we go at it from that direction? It would be much harder t accomplish, and maybe unrealistic, but given what the activity is, it would make a lot more sense. If not, maybe I'll take my marching tenors and try to get a spot in the local symphony. Maybe that will work.

Sheesh... I just don't want to hear a bunch of squeaky clairnets.

With the music educator crowd-you can play with wws all you want in the beloved band scene. You can realize your dream of flute quartets and clairnet soloists in your band gigs. Why mess-up drum corps? Really, I don't get it... Why destroy a distinctive activity (well, it was before all of the synths, rock bands and whatnot, lol) and sound to reproduce what's already done in HS and college bands. It doesn't make any sense.. Does every marching music have to conform to BOA standards or it's 'no good'????

[MikeD]

You're right. However, just 11 short years ago, it was a unique art form in that it utilized mostly instruments that were designed specifically for drum corps and only drum corps. There were no drum corps that utilized brass instruments that high school/college marching bands did, nor vice versa. So it was unique in its instrumentation...now, not so much.

Hardly 'unique' 11 years ago. Why? Just because they used G trumpets instead of Bb?