Would you walk away if DCI shows were like in the 80s and 90s

[Jeff Ream]

thats why I went back and mentioned the arranging style. I think tgat may be a bigger issue than what is chosen. it makes it all sound the same

It's fine if you don't like the music, but to say that there is not much variety is a factually based statement, and a false one.

[WOOHOO]

thats why I went back and mentioned the arranging style. I think tgat may be a bigger issue than what is chosen. it makes it all sound the same

You're allowed to think that. I find that 80's arranging style to be hard to distinguish from one another, but it's a subjective thing for sure.

[Jeff Ream]

How come we keep having these polls that are susposed to tell us how much we are susposed to like woodwinds, and not want to go back to the way things were before all the PA advantages, yet the numbers keep saying otherwise? By very large margins. Then the minority come on saying that the numbers can't be right? Interesting observations.

isn't it tho?

[Jeff Ream]

from the mouths of babes

BOOM

More specifically arranging style that is too heavily influenced by the visual design.. visual designs that IMO are becoming to much about color guard staging.. leaving musician staging in the dust... and the music as a whole SUFFERS. Even Crown ####ed up with this one. And there is too much going on in most shows.. which turns more people off from a show then on. To entertain the audience should not have to think about a show, or see it every week of the season to finally get it the last couple of weeks and finally be entertained. I want to be entertained from the beginning.. and then keep adding in effect as the season goes on... and a "character" moment is not the effect I want. I want my ears to bleed.

[Jeff Ream]

let's be honest. SNL does suck now

I wouldn't walk away, but I probably wouldn't be as enthusiastic as I am now. Shows from the 80's & 90's would be a significant step backwards as far as difficulty level, though they are "exciting" in a different way. While SCV 87 is one of my all-time favorite shows, their 06 show was pretty unappealing to me, and woefully missed the mark, IMO, in comparison to the 87 show. Holy Name in 09 was a good show, but I didn't like it as much as 94, a show I liked less than 84.

Part of what made the shows from the 80's & 90's so great (IMO), is that they were innovative for their time. Doing retreads at this point feels like a tired attempt to latch on to previous success from designers either out of touch with modern trends or unwilling to push their membership to modern capabilities. Scouts proved this year that a corps can have moderate success with a throw-back type show designed with modern ideals. While I think Scouts '10 played it safe, they achieved their goal (similar can be said regarding SCV 09).

Personally I like drum corps where it's at, and you can argue that several shows in 2010 were designed with a 'wink' to the 80's or 90's. I'd put Cadets (a TOTAL throw-back to old school Vanguard IMO), SCV (many compared it to Star 93), BAC (that show felt like late 80's/early SCV to me visually, with a dash of 90's Phantom musically), Scouts, and Blue Knights (both of those VERY obvious). That's five designs from the Top 12 that seemed reminiscent of the 80's/90's to me. Add to those shows very much in the modern design, like Cavaliers, Blue Devils, Bluecoats, Blue Stars, Glassmen, and then even a few shows that seemed to fit right in mid/early 90's - now such as Phantom and Crown, and I think we have a pretty diverse line-up of show designs.

Just like we've always had in DCI.

Of course, I've heard similar complaints when I marched in the mid/late 90's, when I was in the stands in the early 90's as a fan, and in the late 80's watching PBS with older drum corps fans. Through out the history of DCI people have alway thought drum corps was better the last decade: it's almost like the annual "Saturday Night Live sucks now and was so much funnier during the 'fill-in-the-blank' era." The one constant of our activity (and life) is that things change, and people complain.

[Xmen79]

I really can't see the activity moving backwards. While we should DEFINITELY embrace the past and remember where we came from, it's imperitive to look forward. The activity that we all love so much has survived and evolved because of change, not despite it.

That's "imperative" by the way - and it's imperative that DCI maintain an interested and entertained cu$$tomer base! You can talk about fans, friends, and fools, but it is money that keeps the activity "moving forward"... for that matter consider the gas pricing, moving at all!

80/90s shows - corps maintained a 125 compliment - required fewer busses and operational staff - G-bugles vs. B-flat marching band instrumentation/sound - NO electronics - and, YES, they were still able to create ad innovate.

Some seem to mistake "nostalgia" for being a purist... the activity is called DRUM and BUGLE - not marching band brass instruments and electronic synthesizers.

If you REALLY want to evolve the activity, I say add pyrotechnics, strobe lighting, battery-powered LEDs in the uniforms, and steel girders to create platforms and catwalks -- borrowing a WGI expression, to add greater dimensionality.

[JimFoster]

That's "imperative" by the way - and it's imperative that DCI maintain an interested and entertained cu$$tomer base! You can talk about fans, friends, and fools, but it is money that keeps the activity "moving forward"... for that matter consider the gas pricing, moving at all!

80/90s shows - corps maintained a 125 compliment - required fewer busses and operational staff - G-bugles vs. B-flat marching band instrumentation/sound - NO electronics - and, YES, they were still able to create ad innovate.

Some seem to mistake "nostalgia" for being a purist... the activity is called DRUM and BUGLE - not marching band brass instruments and electronic synthesizers.

If you REALLY want to evolve the activity, I say add pyrotechnics, strobe lighting, battery-powered LEDs in the uniforms, and steel girders to create platforms and catwalks -- borrowing a WGI expression, to add greater dimensionality.

I apologize for the misspelling. Yes, WE WERE creative and innovative in the 80's and 90's. We had more limitations to contend with at he time as well. I myself am very often nostalgic for "the old days", especially when it comes to my drum corps preferences. However, the activity has changed since you and I marched. One could make the argument that it ceased to be drum and BUGLE corps well before us when valves were added to the horns. Same argument came up when the third valve was added. The switch to Bb instrumentation was inevitable at that point. Personally, I liked the G horns. I also prefer the horn books from back then, too. The activity is different now. Not better, not worse, just different.

Let's not kid ourselves. The drum corps that you and I marched is just as different than the drum corps from the 70's and before. BITD, many, if not most, drum and bugle corps were sponsored by VFW halls (mine included). This is now rarely, if ever, the case. I agree, the growth of the activity and many of the changes have increased the amount of funding needed to operate. It is an unfortunate fact of life. This fact alone killed the corps I marched with in 86. New avenues of fund raising must be found. Perhaps even revisit some older ways of fund raising that have since been abandoned. What about copyrights? I'm asking because I don't know. Does each individual corps hold the copyright to their own material or does DCI? Is this a possible source of revenue? "Drum Corps On Demand"?

My original point was (and still is) that none of us want to see the activity go away. Things are going to change in drum corps. That has been the one constant over the years (along with increased operational costs). We can sit and complain about the changes, or we can try and do something. Let's light a candle rather than curse the dark.

[chasgroh]

Actually my quote asks if we can like the shows both ways. I don't know that we can, but it seems that two polls have proven we can't.

I can honestly say I like both. There are major points of appreciation in *all* of drumcorps...it's just gotten so much more professional; that fact turns alot of people off. Too bad for them, I say...*I'm* gonna die enjoying what's left!

cg

[Jeff Ream]

wow. really?????

You're allowed to think that. I find that 80's arranging style to be hard to distinguish from one another, but it's a subjective thing for sure.

[Jeff Ream]

I apologize for the misspelling. Yes, WE WERE creative and innovative in the 80's and 90's. We had more limitations to contend with at he time as well. I myself am very often nostalgic for "the old days", especially when it comes to my drum corps preferences. However, the activity has changed since you and I marched. One could make the argument that it ceased to be drum and BUGLE corps well before us when valves were added to the horns. Same argument came up when the third valve was added. The switch to Bb instrumentation was inevitable at that point. Personally, I liked the G horns. I also prefer the horn books from back then, too. The activity is different now. Not better, not worse, just different.

Let's not kid ourselves. The drum corps that you and I marched is just as different than the drum corps from the 70's and before. BITD, many, if not most, drum and bugle corps were sponsored by VFW halls (mine included). This is now rarely, if ever, the case. I agree, the growth of the activity and many of the changes have increased the amount of funding needed to operate. It is an unfortunate fact of life. This fact alone killed the corps I marched with in 86. New avenues of fund raising must be found. Perhaps even revisit some older ways of fund raising that have since been abandoned. What about copyrights? I'm asking because I don't know. Does each individual corps hold the copyright to their own material or does DCI? Is this a possible source of revenue? "Drum Corps On Demand"?

My original point was (and still is) that none of us want to see the activity go away. Things are going to change in drum corps. That has been the one constant over the years (along with increased operational costs). We can sit and complain about the changes, or we can try and do something. Let's light a candle rather than curse the dark.

let me ask a serious question to then. What can you do? if people walk away because they hate the changes, isn't that a sign?

you can petition the BOD. been done, been laughed at. You can rant on here, but if you still go, they still get your money.

short of a massive boycott and affecting their wallets, they have the fan base by the balls and know it.

well the fan base that remains