corpsband Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) Many on DCP seem to feel that drum corps (the activity as a whole) is facing some serious problems (now and in the near future). What do you feel are the three largest challenges facing the drum corps activity today? Please be short and concise, and list only three items (from largest challenge to smallest). Feel free to revise and extend after your list. For example: 1. Declining attendance. 2. Rising fuel costs. 3. Dwindling housing site availability. I would say your first statement is incorrect....I corrected it. It is difficult to correlate many, etc. #3 will affect drum corps far more than #2 or #1. Both 1 and 2 can be solved with $$$. Travel housing is not just clearly a $$$ issue. It's far more logistics. People would say corps could house in hotels, but logistically, this won't work long term as corps need access to very specific rehearsal environments. Guess you missed the bolded text above.... Edited February 2, 2011 by corpsband Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 No, it wasn't. Drum corps has always been a niche activity for marching band geeks. Yes it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChwyNiblet Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) George Hopkins. The Oil Can. Every corps not in the top 12. Edited February 2, 2011 by ChwyNiblet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 The percentage of people that have marched in their high school marching AND are currently marching drum corps is extremely high. I dont' have exact percentages but from what I've heard I wouldn't be surprised if it was close to 95% percent. So yes, it is a bit like a drum corps factory. And YES it is EXTREMELY important that drum corps reaches high schools even if your pessimistic of its effectiveness. I marched in the marching band before I marched drum corps. I found out about drum corps through my high school band teacher. The scholastic band scene, esp the HS bands, are what the small local corps use to be back in the day, only there are many, many more of them. That is the niche DCI should continue to mine in attracting audience and potential new members. There were something like 440 competitive corps nationwide at the start of the DCI era...there are 10X that many competitive bands, and 20K plus non-competitive HS bands and thousands of college bands. That is rightly the market DCI targets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 the biggest challenge facing drum corps today? be true to your roots, explore the sound and say no to electronics, imo I hope that we can agree to disagree; if we don't the ____ with you and here's to me ;-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 For a LOT of people, electric is vile. For a LOT of people, it just doesn't matter. For a very small, tiny portion of people, electric is great. Drum corps is being changed for a very small tiny portion of fans, when the vast preponderance either don't like it, or don't care one way or the other. For a tiny small portion of the people electric is vile. For most it is just part of the sound. For another small number...they love it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 For a larger than you want to admit portion of the people electric is vile. For most it is just part of the sound. For another small number...they love it. corrcted for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 That is historically inaccurate. When the AL/VFW organized drum corps field competition, they organized marching band field competition at the same time. Clearly, drum corps was not "for marching band geeks". Ah, yes it was, because drum corps are marching bands. You are the "inaccurate" one here, not me. And as for popularity, the 1958 AL Nationals drew 48,000 attendance. AL and VFW Nats, as has been said by others here, were highly attended because they were part of the annual conventions of those organizations. An ordinary five-corps show back then could sell more tickets than DCI Finals does today. Talk about historically inaccurate. Back in the day an "ordinary five-corps show" was held at a HS field...won't even call them "stadiums" back then. The full capacity of those stands were in the 1,000 range. There were the exceptional shows such as the World Open or Dream or Nationals held at larger venues, but they were not the "ordinary" show venues. We marched somewhere between 25-30 shows a season, and 20+ of them were held at those HS fields...and that was in my Garfield days, not my Garden State Circuit days. Want to talk about those shows? The "ordinary" GSC show where we were lucky to have 100 people in attendance? Or the ones where we laid out a parking lot for the show and had a flatbed truck set up for the judges, just so our corps could satisfy its requirement to host a show. Or where champs were held at those HS fields I mentioned above...and the stands were not close to being full. Dover HS when I marched in the GSC. Elizabeth HS when I taught in the mid 70's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 uh yes, they are true fans. true fans of an acoustic activity Not IMO. True fans accept and embrace the activity, they don't trash it at every opportunity. Acoustic is just not important in the grand scheme of things, IMO. Its plain silly to whine and complain about it...again, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skewerz Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Not IMO. True fans accept and embrace the activity, they don't trash it at every opportunity. Acoustic is just not important in the grand scheme of things, IMO. Its plain silly to whine and complain about it...again, IMO. sure, it would be silly for you to whine and complain about it, because you are getting your "and the kitchen sink" band corps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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