TheBigShow Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 With all due respect to great University bands....the answer is none. Although many bands have great directors, awesome writers and talented members, they are made to entertain at football games and provide a part time experience for students. Drumcorps requires grit and determination often under tough circumstances, a university band would crumble under the daily pressures of touring in the summer. As proven by Jacksonville State University, long term support for a creature such as a drumcorps does not jibe with the mission of a university or college. Really??? A vast majority of drum corps members are in University Bands at some point or another. In that regard, Drum Corps are largely comprised of University Band members. In essence, you're saying the University Band members don't have grit and determination. Are you confused? Do you think that University Bands practice primarily indoors for only a few minutes at a time? At the same time, a large portion of University Band members don't do drum corps because they either can't afford it, they play the wrong instrument or they don't have the time during the summer. Drum corps members aren't bred at a private location, raised like Spartans and brought to DCI auditions when they come of age........THEY'RE MARCHING BAND PEOPLE! To answer the original post, any Band with money,a talented staff and people who want to march, could make a great Drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvs me sum mello! Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 To answer the original post, any Band with money,a talented staff and people who want to march, could make a great Drum corps. This 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I don't see why a college couldn't considering the vast talent. Hell, when I got off tour I had a guy from Santa Clara on the left and a guy from Cavies on my right and next to him a girl that marched with me from Phantom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Eagle Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Southern Miss - "The Pride of Mississippi" North Texas Maybe: Univ. of North Alabama BITD but not anymore: Univ. of Memphis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlooContraGuy Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 North Texas. The Drumline is already set to win High Percussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruckner8 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Talent and time have nothing to do with whether or not this would be successful. IOW, what can the instrumentation possibly have to do with outcome? Get real. If I were a college band marching band director, I'd keep the woodwinds, and move the entire brass section over to drum corps instruments. But all that means is I'd have no trombones (good!), and contras would replace sousaphones (good!). If you want to make an all-brass drum corps college marching band, and still use all of the existing numbers, then every woodwind player would have to learn a brass instrument, and/or you have to take brass players that would've normally failed their audition. Quality would suffer in that scenario, unless the book was simplified. Educationally, I don't think it's justifiable. The more variety of instruments you have, the better! Drum Corps is an exclusive club. College Marching Band is inclusive, by mission. Given that, I suppose the first thing I'd push for is contras replacing sousaphones. Everything else should probably remain the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 and contras would replace sousaphones (good!) ... Given that, I suppose the first thing I'd push for is contras replacing sousaphones. From previous helpful comments you've made, I understand the reasoning for replacing trombones, but what is the difference in sound between contras and sousaphones, and the cause thereof? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 There are only three college Drum Corps that I can think of. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, and most people rarely see them. Trying to convince a college to establish a Drum Corps would be a pretty tough assignment unless you have a football team to go along with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeldrum Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I think the real question here is not what college band is closest to being good enough to compete with DCI (which is none because no college band has the practice hours or intent to compete on that level). But rather the question should be which college has the most talent to field a competitive summer corps if it pulled all of its members from within the college and practiced the number of hours that top corps require. A few examples would be colleges with strong music programs that have a large number of current active corps members. These would include North Texas (which has an average marching band by the way as its more of a football support band IMO) Indiana Jacksonville State TCU UMass RCC I'm sure there are many others. It would be cool to know how many current corps members come from each college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) University of Barcelona. but only if Mel A. Quena was put in charge there. Mel knows his stuff, and he could even open up a Diner there for campers. Edited April 7, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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