Time to dispel a myth...

[Calistar]

I respectfully disagree with the OP.

Drum Corps CAN be popular and appealing with the mainstream if the Drum Corps community presented the art to the Main Stream public.

Its done on a small scale (relatives, friends, 4th of July, etc) but for DC to be accepted and embraced, WE need to take it to the streets

(so to speak). How about ending the season on the 1st of August and taking what would be the final two weeks

of the season and presenting free shows around the country. Perform at preseason NFL football games...put together highlight

vids for Youtube and promote the heck out of them. Buy TV time and present free shows. Think big...newspaper ads...radio ads...

all media. Have an "invite a newbie" day...when each DCI member is asked to bring one person who has never seen a Drum Corps

show before to a show.

All I know is that we have to think BIG...if we want to be BIG. EVERY single newbie I have ever taken to a show has LOVED IT...and

had no idea that the shows even existed.

The Mainstream thinks Drum Corps is friday night marching band.

I'm sure there are a hundred other promotional ideas out there...we just gotta think of them and then act. Perhaps the DCI leadership

can create a promotions board who sole job it is to grow the sport of Drum Corps.

...or we can stay the way we are right now.

Cali.

Edited November 12, 2010 by Calistar

[Abbevillekid26]

it never has been, even back when you happened to love it.

myth dispelled.

lmao

[soccerguy315]

IMO symphony orchestra and Broadway are fairly niche activities as well. Broadway slightly less so, maybe.

[3rd Glasgow BB]

The difference between niche and mainstream can be summed up in one word.... exposure.

Something Drum Corps doesn't have.

[Piper]

The thing that makes me cringe the most is when I see a Drum Corps or even a band on television, in a movie or a commercial. They almost always have to do what some stupid and ignorant producer wants them to do, thereby giving the general public a totally false impression of what they actually do.

[JimF-LowBari]

So here's my question: what makes the product so insular? What makes people who would enjoy the energy of a U2 concert turn down the energy of a drum corps show?

Could be that you picked two types of music that are totally different in nature? IOW - type of music vs energy....

Also people might be willing to spend a crapload of money of a U2 concert that they might never see again but not a crapload of money on a annual regional show. Due to many reasons (some out of DCI/DCA control) Drum Corps has priced itself out of a chance for mainstream support.

Edited November 12, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[JamMan]

Here's the answer: tawdry uniforms, immature characters, incoherent marimba doodling and the like.

I love how you throw the crazy things in your posts to show people you're not serious.

So here's the idea: have DCI actively distance itself from scholastic marching band as much as possible.

Win-win situation for both the general public and marching band participants who want to be "better" than their marching band.

Oh, Hrothgar! You so funny!

[MikeN]

Movie and Broadway soundtrack sales together accounted for under 4% of total CD sales in 2008. More Christian Gospel CD's were sold that year. Playing "prettier" music will not automatically equal an increase in general public-type fans.

Mike

[IntheMood]

> So here's my question: what makes the product so insular? What makes people who would enjoy the energy of a U2 concert turn down the energy of a drum corps show?

It is the sixty-year perception by the majority of the public that all marching musical units, all of them, are variants of "bad" half-time marching bands which have been made fun of in the movies, made fun of by many students at all of the high schools, and college bands doing trombone head chops as well as sousaphone dances in the stands at football games.

> How far do you have to go to appeal to get to a fan base where a good portion had no prior involvement...like most other performing arts?

Have Al Chez promote DCI on the David Letterman show by bringing on the Cadets horn line; have Chad Sexton drum with the Devils drum line at a 311 concert; convince Hollywood to stop putting horrible marching band sounds and visuals into movies and to stop the dialogue like, "One time, at Band Camp.."; convince high school students to stop making fun of the band "geeks"; convince the college band directors to stop those trombone head chops and sousaphone dances; and in about sixty years the public perception of drum corps might change.

You mean something like this that received little to no coverage from DCI.

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...howtopic=140253

Dean

Edited November 12, 2010 by IntheMood

[chaddyt]

While I'm sure there are definitely advantages to drum corps reaching and maintaining a larger audience (financial ones primarily), there are plenty examples in the world of the performing arts of popularity not necessarily equating sunshine, rainbows, and happily-ever-afters.

Be careful what you wish for.

Drum corps will always be a niche activity. And I think that's just fine.