Tom Brace Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I agree with you that the extra conversation, tweeting, laughing, etc.. is annoying; and rest assured that they receive plenty of dirty looks. But their behavior is a product of DCI being a competition taking place at a sporting arena where that behavior is acceptable at "all" other sporting and musical events which take place at that same venue. DCI is not taking place at a Symphony Hall, it is not at an Opera House, it is not at a Broadway Stage, it is a music event/competition taking place at a "football stadium" where society deems conversations, tweeting, and laughing acceptable. Like it or not, there is nothing we can do to change that fact. Have we considered cones of silence? They were the rage when Don Adams was a spy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brace Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 don't quit your day job. your comedic stylings won't get you very far I think he went to bed after this. Well past 7:30 p.m. Noted. I'll be talking to your doctor about this insomnia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) Drum corps is and always has been marching band, so the above is factually incorrect, IMO. Technically that is true: All Drum Corps' are Marching Bands; but the point many are making is that All Marching Bands are not Drum Corps'. And to homogenize all Marching Bands into a situation where you cannot tell a British Band from a BOA Band from a DCI Band (for you purists I am using the term as an example) would not be a good idea to many DCI Corps' fans. Edited February 4, 2011 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Technically that is true: All Drum Corps' are Marching Bands; but the point many are making is that All Marching Bands are not Drum Corps'. I have never said that all marching bands are drum corps. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I have never said that all marching bands are drum corps. MikeN: See the additional material I added to the post your referenced here. I did not say "you", but that most think that the movement to make all marching musical units look and sound the same, with the same instrumentation, is a bad idea because it causes the loss of identity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brace Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Technically that is true: All Drum Corps' are Marching Bands; but the point many are making is that All Marching Bands are not Drum Corps'. And to homogenize all Marching Bands into a situation where you cannot tell a British Band from a BOA Band to a DCI Band (for you purists I an using the term as an example) would not be a good idea to many DCI Corps' fans. and I am waiting for the expected comment...well, drum corps don't really MARCH anymore. I can tell a British Band from a BOA Band. One is in England, the other, Indianapolis. The Brits use brass...more akin to drum corps, yet all share a similar military heritage. I like my woodwinds in a jazz sax section on a raised platform in front of 4 trombones and 5 trumpets. I have never liked them in marching band, but for scholastic purposes, I believe they end up there so these young people can have a part of the fun and learning. Sure, there are some sonority differences with them along side brass and percussion instruments, but I just don't like that sound. Yes, I will be the one arguing against the inclusion of these instruments in drum corps. That is most likely where Mike D and I will part ways. But, until that day...we are pretty much in agreement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaseyW Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 well all it's doing is slowly morphing into something else out there...and causing it to lose fans. makes all those changes look genius doesnt it? It's not losing fans (as a whole). It may be losing people who were true to the art pre-electronics, but I see newer and younger kids coming out to the shows every year. Maybe it is losing fans, but eventually it will regain it's abundant audiences. Changes are hard, and it may take a while to fully develop them, but usually when DCI makes a change it's for the better. I thank God for the changes, because without them, I'd probably get bored of seeing the same old show year after year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 So, I've read both history books on drum corps, I've read the Cavalier's Green Machine, as well as a few other biographies, and I've never seen the answer to this: If all drum corps are marching bands, why did they call them drum and bugle corps? Why didn't the first groups to form just call them marching bands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) Why didn't the first groups to form just call them marching bands? Because they were primarily using surplus military equipment, and the primary purposes of the corps were to promote patriotism via a militaristic form of pageantry. Even before competition was a factor, many of the earliest corps were tied to groups of veterans. Woodwinds were always concert instruments or public performance instruments, but not battlefield instruments. So if you wanted to recall the spirit of the battlefield, bugles and drums were the way to do it. For what it's worth, I'd submit that the reason reason drum corps doesn't feel the same way it did 30 years ago isn't in the instrumentation or musical choices; is because the feeling of the corps presentations aren't as tough as they used to be. A remnant of the activity's roots was the macho-ness of it; even the women in the guard were uniformed as the men were, and smiling at the audience (making any sort of eye contact at all, actually) was considered marching band-ish, ok for cheerleaders or baton twirlers, but not for drum corps. That attitude still exists (among percussion sections, primarily), but for better or worse, it's the visual staff and the guard staff who's determining how corps read to audiences today. That changed starting with Bridgemen in the 70s (Hoffman was a visual guy, not a musical guy), and eventually, everyone came to embrace their own variety of "connecting with the audience." Edited February 4, 2011 by mobrien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BozzlyB Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Technically that is true: All Drum Corps' are Marching Bands; but the point many are making is that All Marching Bands are not Drum Corps'. And to homogenize all Marching Bands into a situation where you cannot tell a British Band from a BOA Band from a DCI Band (for you purists I am using the term as an example) would not be a good idea to many DCI Corps' fans. This is exactly right, but people like Mike D simply do not care in the least about the homogenization of the marching arts. They see no validity in the destinction between the different "flavors". It's completely pointless to converse with him on the subject because he simply does not acknowledge that there is any difference between drum corps and marching band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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