Time to dispel a myth...

[corpsband]

Very easily...even you purport that the activity is what it calls itself. "Drum corps: it's not marching band" is all that it would take.

Why? The public has a negative perception of marching band, but has never heard of "drum corps." They can either carve out a fresh image based on the (now decreasing) unique features that sets it apart, or cave in to this public perception, because that sure isn't changing.

I don't think this would matter . It's pretty clear that the 'public' would immediately identify drum corps as marching band on first sight no matter how much you try to say that it isn't marching band.

Edited November 12, 2010 by corpsband

[Hrothgar15]

I also think an official "140 characters or less" description of what "drum corps" is to a spectator, released by DCI itself, that didn't include the words "marching band" would be extremely useful for situations in which people inquire. I've managed to come up with such a description, but most people resort to saying something about "marching band on steroids."

And if that's what it is today, well, let's get back away from that.

[Piper]

In this day and age bands plant the seeds and Drum Corps reaps the harvest.

[BRASSO]

It's all marching band, and it always has been to almost everybody in the country, even way back pre-DCI.

The key difference however is that no fan... or marcher.... in pre DCI and all the way up to around the early 90's, was calling Drum Corps and Marching Band one and the same. Today, increasingly it is acknowleged that Drum Corps is in fact, Marching Band. When we cross the threshold to have singers, dancers, guitars, syntheziers, microphones, amplifyers, etc and instrumentation conventionally associated with " Band ",it is in fact a " Band ". The fact that the " Band " marches around a football field, confirms the nomenclature of " Marching Band ". As Drum and Bugle Corps has evolved and changed, it is imperative that the appropriate name change take place as well to properly differentiate the inherent differences in the 2 musical idioms. The marcher in Carolina Crown in her preseason interview this year with DCI correctly identified what she does in the summer. She said she is in a " Marching Band ". I'm sure the young lady knows what it is that she is marching with in her summers. Who would quibble with THAT ? I don't find anything pjorative about calling her musical unit a " Marching Band " either. Nor should anyone else in my opinion either.

Edited November 12, 2010 by BRASSO

[MikeN]

I don't think this would matter . It's pretty clear that the 'public' would immediately identify drum corps as marching band on first sight no matter how much you try to say that it isn't marching band.

Sorry Hrothgar, I have to agree here. Even Blast, which by most accounts did a great deal of good for the cause of drum corps, was still "that marching band show."

The things that make drum corps different and more attractive than marching band, by marching members' own words (See Project Persona results) are ones that are not going to reach out and connect with the general public.

Mike

[garfield]

"Drum Corps -- A group of individuals banded together by a precise, musical genre. The style (idiom, or genre) is specifically defined by the musical arrangement that are played on brass and percussion instruments. The musical arrangements are visually enhanced through the use of precision motion (marching) and props including colorful flags, rifles, and backdrops.

Discussion: The idiom is expressed through the arrangement of the music, the brass and percussion instruments used, and the visual elements provided to interpret the music. A drum corps performance is designed by the arrangers and designer to be exciting or to arouse emotion. The idiom may be performed in parades, football fields, theaters, or any area large enough to enable movement within the corps. It may be competitive but not necessarily."

"The activity called drum corps is not defined by the instruments played or by a board of directors. Drum corps is what each person participating wants it to be in their own minds. There is diversity of opinion within every corps; in some instances, the diversity is good and in other instances not so good. Drum corps is not an activity for fans or to perpetuate jobs for management. Drum corps is for participants who desire challenge, hard work, victory, defeat, and memories."

So you want to start a drum corps?

Bill Cook - Founder, Star of Indiana

late 1980s

[DrillmanSop06]

Didn't do a great job of attracting Hrothy and that's a shame. Perhaps if it were marketed as "DCI...NOT Marching Band!" we'd have more productive threads here on DCP.

[Mello Dude]

"The activity called drum corps is not defined by the instruments played or by a board of directors. Drum corps is what each person participating wants it to be in their own minds. There is diversity of opinion within every corps; in some instances, the diversity is good and in other instances not so good. Drum corps is not an activity for fans or to perpetuate jobs for management. Drum corps is for participants who desire challenge, hard work, victory, defeat, and memories."

If you cannot define yourselves others will. As far as I know, no one is a mind reader, besides that would be insane if everyone got to define anything they wanted because "they" thought of it that way so "their" reality is not yours. Talk about mass confusion and to be blunt, anarchy.

"No officer, that was NOT a stop sign because in my reality it was not there..." and you cold make example after example. You cannot have some amorphous definition to please everyone and still have a clue or direction in ANYTHING. And the funny thing is that he adds this....,"Drum corps is for participants who desire challenge, hard work, victory, defeat, and memories." what if in their reality ie. minds none of these things relates to THEM!

[BRASSO]

"Drum Corps -- A group of individuals banded together by a precise, musical genre. The style (idiom, or genre) is specifically defined by the musical arrangement that are played on brass and percussion instruments. The musical arrangements are visually enhanced through the use of precision motion (marching) and props including colorful flags, rifles, and backdrops.

Discussion: The idiom is expressed through the arrangement of the music, the brass and percussion instruments used, and the visual elements provided to interpret the music. A drum corps performance is designed by the arrangers and designer to be exciting or to arouse emotion. The idiom may be performed in parades, football fields, theaters, or any area large enough to enable movement within the corps. It may be competitive but not necessarily."

"The activity called drum corps is not defined by the instruments played or by a board of directors. Drum corps is what each person participating wants it to be in their own minds. There is diversity of opinion within every corps; in some instances, the diversity is good and in other instances not so good. Drum corps is not an activity for fans or to perpetuate jobs for management. Drum corps is for participants who desire challenge, hard work, victory, defeat, and memories."

So you want to start a drum corps?

Bill Cook - Founder, Star of Indiana

late 1980s

This quote by Bill Cook was in the 1980's, and was appropriate for it's time and place. In the 1980's we correctly called The province Republics in Russia under the central command of the Communist Party, the " Soviet Union ", and it's unified capital " Moscow " Since the 1980's, the political map has changed. The once Republics within Russia are no longer referred to the " Soviet Union." To refer to Latvia or Eastonia today as "The Soviet Union " would of course be incorrect. Times change. And when the entity changes in a revolutionary and transformational way so beyond it's original recognition, it is folly to refer to the entity as before. The " Soviet Union " of the 1980's no longer exists, except in the minds of those who can not come to grips that it ceases to exist..... Drum and Bugle Corps ceases to exist in DCI. It is aptly called " Marching Band". There are various distinctive variations of " Marching Band "... even within the College Marching Band world, this is true.

Edited November 12, 2010 by BRASSO

[HockeyDad]

Another thing that makes drum corps so insular, IMO, is the elitisim of many of the marching members and staffs themselves. When it's "beneath them" to play accessible music because it's just too easy, then you get the chopped up charts of "look what I can do" music. No way will that ever appeal to a group much beyond those participating. I find it amusing that a community looks down their noses at most of the college marching bands, many of whom regularly perform in front of 100,000; but on the other hand wonders why only a couple thousand show up to watch them perform.