Amplification/Electronics: 2011 Season

[TerriTroop]

Uh...no. That's not at all what he said in the article.

I quote: "Traditionalists fear Hopkins will pierce the last remaining veil that separates DCI's brass-based sound from their high school and college marching band brethren: Allowing clarinets, saxophones and other woodwind instruments onto the field."

Nowhere in the article did George say adding woodwinds was "his way," nor did he state that woodwinds were coming.

This is the sort of thing where if repeated enough, people start to believe it. (It's on the Internet, so it must be true.)

All of us in the DCP community can help keep the facts from being overshadowed by the conjectures.

Please do not be intentionally misleading, because the next quote in the article is GH's words:

"What people don't get about me is I love it the way it is, I really do," Hopkins said. "But it's not going to survive if we don't let other people in -- the next big wall is woodwind instruments."

Edited to add: I know someone else already pointed that out, but it's going to be missed because this thread is huge.

Edited January 5, 2011 by TerriTroop

[BozzlyB]

The words pretentious or boring are not what I describe art. Artists are usually shy, focused on what they feel and are trying to express to others or themselves in the medium they chose to explore, nothing more. I'm not an artist and shy. On Sunday I watched Ice Princess on TV and thought of high school. I got good grades in Calculus, Biology, Geography, Theatre and English (Latin and 6 languages were offered but I already knew 4 ;-). My hobbies were drum corps and painting. If the medium you choose is subtle and in context of pure drum corps, ok by me. If it's pretentious, then it's literal. If not literal then let me watch and listen again to see if I missed something the first time ;-) Therein lies the fun and intrigue of art, imo.

edit: Latin is now called International Languages, English is now called Language Arts, Theatre/Drama is now called Fine Arts, Calculus is part of Math, Biology is part of Science and Geography is somewhere in Social Studies...go figure ha! Seems high school is a little bit confusing these days, semantically speaking :-)

I think he was referring to the Blue Devils, not art. (jk not putting words in your mouth Jeff)

[Tom Brace]

What dying demographic? Unless life expectancy is decreasing, there are no dying demographics.

wow. nitpicky aren't we? The baby boomers are dying. WGN listeners from the 70s already dead for the most part. What's the average age of a local DCI show audience? How about DCA? This would be the demographic analysis which would conclude the drum corps audience is aging and more closely nearing the earth nap.

There is recognition of this in some quarters and an attempt to make the drum corps more like "super marching band."

[BozzlyB]

I wholeheartedly reject the notion that the addition of woodwinds will expand participation. For every sax player on the field there is one less brass player. It does nothing to increase participation on any level, unelss you once again increase the max corps size to include the woodwinds so no brass players are displaced. Drum corps is not now or has it ever been closed off to woodwind players. I played tenor and bari sax all through school, played bass and snare drum in drum corps. If you're a woodwind player and you want to march drum corps then learn another instrument, you'll be better off for it.

[BozzlyB]

I think that anything that plays music expresses a form of art... the performing arts.

The word "art" has ceased to have any real meaning. There is no other word in the english language that can literally be used to define anything, given that "art" is in the eye of the beholder. As I've said before, I can #### on a goat and call it art, and you can't tell me it isn't, but what's the point? Again, if everything is art, then nothing is art.

[audiodb]

wow. nitpicky aren't we? The baby boomers are dying. WGN listeners from the 70s already dead for the most part.

Those are generations, not demographics. The difference is important....learn it.

What's the average age of a local DCI show audience? How about DCA? This would be the demographic analysis which would conclude the drum corps audience is aging and more closely nearing the earth nap.

After 15 years of DCI marketing focus on the teenage demographic (and the rule changes of this past decade), I would expect that the average age of the DCI audience has gotten younger, not older.

[Tom Brace]

Those are generations, not demographics. The difference is important....learn it.

After 15 years of DCI marketing focus on the teenage demographic (and the rule changes of this past decade), I would expect that the average age of the DCI audience has gotten younger, not older.

I just signed up for a market analysis course at my local community college. Thanks for the suggestion oh pompous one.

DCA's audience is getting older. It is NOT marketing to a younger generation.

I spoke of local DCI shows...not finals. I see local shows in my viewing over the past 3 years as getting younger. Also, perhaps I am extremely lucky, but I have not witnessed undersold local shows in my past three years. Yes, in my limited 9 shows over the past 3 years I have seen younger audiences, if me...as 50 is the midline. More audience members younger than me than older than me...and not empty seats in vast numbers as predicted by many.

So, it apparently works for my meager sampling. Someone with time could reach out to each corps and ask for their last three years attendance trends. I frankly am convinced this strategy has been working. My sample seems to show this to be true.

[Michael Boo]

Please do not be intentionally misleading, because the next quote in the article is GH's words:

"What people don't get about me is I love it the way it is, I really do," Hopkins said. "But it's not going to survive if we don't let other people in -- the next big wall is woodwind instruments."

Edited to add: I know someone else already pointed that out, but it's going to be missed because this thread is huge.

I was not intentionally misleading. I stopped reading when I got the part I quoted so I could highlight it and copy it.

[audiodb]

I just signed up for a market analysis course at my local community college. Thanks for the suggestion oh pompous one.

Not trying for "pompous". Let me rephrase.

A demographic (i.e. 35-50 year olds) is different from a generation (i.e. the Woodstock audience). Generations do eventually die off; demographics do not. We will still have 35-50 year olds in the year 2050.

Why does this matter? Because it is very misleading to compare a demographic to a generation. That's what Hopkins did in his famous rule-change prose to try and convince us all to pander to Texas band kids, a renewable demographic, by characterizing the alternative as a generation, "the classic audience of 1975", a limited and decreasing number of people.

DCA's audience is getting older. It is NOT marketing to a younger generation.

I don't know what the average age trend of DCA's audience is....but that's outside of the scope of this thread.

I spoke of local DCI shows...not finals. I see local shows in my viewing over the past 3 years as getting younger.

That makes sense, then. Like I said, DCI has targeted the teenage demographic for 15 years now. That includes efforts linked to local shows.

[soccerguy315]

Uh...no. That's not at all what he said in the article.

I quote: "Traditionalists fear Hopkins will pierce the last remaining veil that separates DCI's brass-based sound from their high school and college marching band brethren: Allowing clarinets, saxophones and other woodwind instruments onto the field."

Nowhere in the article did George say adding woodwinds was "his way," nor did he state that woodwinds were coming.

This is the sort of thing where if repeated enough, people start to believe it. (It's on the Internet, so it must be true.)

All of us in the DCP community can help keep the facts from being overshadowed by the conjectures.

I was not intentionally misleading. I stopped reading when I got the part I quoted so I could highlight it and copy it.

lol

so you stopped reading and copy/pasted something... would you say that your copy/paste job is the sort of thing where if repeated enough, people start to believe it is true?