Regional Circuts

[ereese]

First, let's get one thing straight. DCI, more that any other factor, is what annihilated Junior drum corps. Given the health of the "activity", - because that was what Junior corps used to be, pre-DCI - a youth activity; the debris that remains today amounts to something akin to a gated community.

On this thread I've seen the number of corps in 1972 put at 400. I'm not sure of the source of that figure, but it may come from DCI propaganda.

At the height of the activity, mid 1950s to 1972, there were well in excess of 1000 drum corps in the USA, alone. There were competing corps, parade-only corps, exhibition-only corps, and standstill corps. All kinds of groups sponsored Junior corps as a youth activity; there were the American Legion Posts, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Posts, the Amvets, the Polish Legion of American Veterans, the Kiwanis, The Rotary Clubs, The Chambers of Commerce, The Catholic Church Parishes, Churchs of all faiths, the Elks Lodges, the Moose Lodges, the Knights of Columbus, the DeMolay, and hosts of other civic and service organizations.

The main reasons for sponsoring a drum and bugle corps, as opposed to a band, were:

1. Corps were cheap to start, and to maintain.

2. Nobody in the unit, or in the administration or instruction staff needed to have any formal musical training.

3. Anyone could join any corps with nothing more than a desire to be there, and to work hard at learning to play drums and bugles.

4. The corps provided instruments, training, uniforms, etc

5. dues were minimal to non-existent.

Most corps, even very good ones, were basically community based, mom and pop operations. The managers and administrative staff were all volunteers. The instructors worked for lunch money. Some taught several units simultaneously.

DCI put an end to all of that. I was there when it all started, and I can assure you all that your unit was either in their program, or was part of the problem. Don't tell me that membership was voluntary. I call BS on that. You were in, or you were dead meat.

Did many of the units lack quality? Sure they did. So what. They had a right exist before DCI. Not now.

I actually had the Corps Director of a major DCI corps tell me that, in his opinion, no corps who was not actively pursuing a DCI Championship, and who lacked the where-with-all to make that pursuit a real possibly, had any right to exist. I got the impression from his delivery of this manifesto to he was quoting unwritten DCI policy.

Posters here are right that Circuits were the lifeblood of competitive drum corps, They are gone beyond recall. It's way too late.

Gil

Well put

[audiodb]

I am not here trying to condem DCI, but they have made some serious mistakes under the guise of "The Good of Drum corp" when it really came down to the Good of the Few that could afford what they thought was fair. The prize (DCI membership) was so attractive, that many corps went broke, trying to measure up,,,trying to be somthing that they were not possibly ready for.

That's a pretty good job of summarizing so much of this complex story in just two sentences.

DCI will never release that strangle hold they have on the big Piece of the pie that brings the money into them and rightly so. (who in their right mind would let the golden goose go) But perhaps if they stoped mandating the expensive tours and encourged the smaller corps to compete within areas that they couls afford to travel to, fewer corps would fade away because of money issues, which in my opinon is the real cause of the feeble amount of good competetive corps.

But in modern-day DCI, they do encourage the less-funded corps to compete locally or regionally. Problem is, the corps almost all want to tour....because the kids almost all want to tour.

[BariBrian]

Sadly, I know your right. The corp director and staff these days of such corps are under a tremendous amount of preasure to tour or else they run the risk of losing many key players. They are so to speak, between a rock and a hard place. Drum corps is so expensive that these kids figure,,"if I'm going to spend that much money,,I'd better have a shot at somthing big". There are no insentives, and loyalty,,well,, that disappeared when everyone started to jump from corp to corp in search of "The Prize"

[KeithHall]

So true.

If DCI would spend some time looking at ideas instead of putting all their time into World Class maybe something good can happen. DCI was made for the upper echelon corps and everyone else has to try to get up there to have a say....right?

[MikeD]

BITD when I marched there seemed to be regional circuts all over the country where corps could compete on a somewhat local level without the HUGE expense of touring. These corps could actually guage how well they could actually do on a national level (or get a very good idea) based on compition in the circut that were possibly national level contenders themselves. Corps thrived when these circuts were around. My question is; do you think that DCI could benifit or more importantly Drum corps, if circuts were once again established and corps with smaller budgets could compete on a weekly basis, until the the championships rolled around

There are lots of local circuits around the country. Happen to consist HS bands, but more kids march and compete than ever did in local corps circuits. IMO, anyway.

Local corps circuits do not just spring up...there need to be enough corps in a local area who WANT to form a circuit for it to work.

[BariBrian]

Thanks Mike,,and if we were talking about HS this would be of great relief

We all know that circuts don't just spring up. There has to be a lot of work and a shared belief that it can be done,,like ALL ideas.

I imagine that even the initial thought of the DCI concept was met with as many Nay-sayers and doubters, as,,,this idea. However ideas evolve from negative feedback as well as positive,,,so,,,ya just never now.

When I was in drum corp,,never in a million years could you convince any of us,,that soon all drum corps would be bands and play band instuments and use electronic equipment. We gagged at the thought,,,and yet,,here we are

Edited February 19, 2011 by BariBrian

[Howdy]

And band insturmentation is here to stay. This is an issue with us oldies, but not with todays kids who do not care if their drum band has electronics, and many would not even care if saxophones were added.

[MikeD]

Thanks Mike,,and if we were talking about HS this would be of great relief

Well, we're talking about local competitive circuits. Local scholastic circuits fit the bill quite nicely, and since DC and MB are really one and the same thing, IMO it makes no sense to differentiate them.

[oldschool1180]

The delusional thinking in this thread is staggering...

So IF we start 5 regions then corps will automatically start forming?, the assertion is that it is "BOUND" to happen Via what crystal ball do you obtain this information? Please do state sound fact as to why this is BOUND to happen... Maybe what we can do is start giving the potential audience members a few 15 man horn lines to listen to, like at the DCI shows here in CA that are mixed with the DCA corps. Boy I gotta tell ya there sure are a hell of a lot of people in those stands! Maybe as many as a few hundred!

It was said very well in another thread... There were over 400 corps in 1972... Some of which even the parents of the MM's would cringe while they were on field performing. People have this rose colored version of the past that didn't really exist, like the assertions that OUR hornlines back then were as good as they are now! Oh Brother... I won brass and I know for a fact that we were about half as good as the lines of today! Is this what we are to hitch our collective wagons to, in order to get PUBLIC SUPPORT?

I am NOT being elitist here folks... There is a hell of a lot of GREAT and CHEAP entertainment out there so do we put little Johnny and Julie out there after 15 lessons on a brass instrument and let em rip? Ya that'll fix everything... Oh Brother...

think of the knowledge these kids would gain from the instuctors who care more for the kids then the prize just my thought thats the way it was in the old days you can always find a way to get money no big deal think about it

Live in the now!

$1.00 to Garth Algar

[lindap]

Well, we're talking about local competitive circuits. Local scholastic circuits fit the bill quite nicely, and since DC and MB are really one and the same thing, IMO it makes no sense to differentiate them.

You're walking on thin ice with that there statement Mister To be honest, our Band Extravaganza had a mix of DC and MB during the 70's/early 80's to fill the evening; those that dared to venture this far north. A little while ago I read the news. I'll paraphrase 'At the Grammys, Justin Bieber was accompanied by a full drum corps'. Believe me, the 'full drum corps' phrase was in print! I chuckled :-)

Edited February 21, 2011 by lindap