bmroth1 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I just wish fans could look at corps of today the same way they look at the past. The corps of the past could do no wrong, now, it seems like the corps can do no right. Yeah, everyone looks on the past with rose-colored glasses, but I think we'd see things a lot differently if the kids from today came on here weekly and talked about how much G bugles sucked, and how marching timpani was stupid and driving down attendance, and stuff like that. It gets tiring to just see how all of the changes in modern DCI are for the worse. No matter when you marched, those years were your DCI. Your reality. How you saw DCI, how you first got involved was the best DCI to you. The current era is the best to me. I got into DCI in 2003, and started marching in 2007. I don't really remember corps on G bugles, but I know fast-paced drill, electronics, and artistic shows. The DCI of the past isn't going to come back, the way it is now is how we all know it, and that's how things are. It's still DCI to us, no matter what marchers of the past can say. Just think though, in 20 or 30 years, when all of the marchers of today are your age, we'll be the ones buying tickets, and bringing our kids to DCI shows, and I can promise things will be different then. How, I'm not sure, but I know it will be, I'd like to think it will keep improving. I don't think they would, if they ever got to play in a g line (much less hear a good one) I don't think they'd ever go back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmroth1 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Corps may not be as loud now, but bugles are awful sounding. We wouldn't have hornlines like Carolina Crown if we still used them. So not true, I bet Carolina Crown would sound just as good on G's if not better. There were many great sounding G lines of the past. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmroth1 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Marching Timpani would have worked if we used elephants to carry them. Come to think about it, is there a DCI rule on the use of animals? I don't think so you probably remember Star marching Pink Elephants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmroth1 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Drum corps in the 80s was my personal favorite, but that's when I was going through high school and college. When you're in your late teens to early 20s drum corps is a powerful experience. That's not to say that it's not a powerful experience today, but at 46 I find it takes something extraordinary for a drum corps to push me to that point now. So the 80s will continue to be those years where I harken back to. For some it will be the 70s, some the 60s, and for others the 90s. I still think the corps are great and I applaud all the performers. My personal belief is that musical books today have suffered a little because so much energy and emphasis was put into visual, speed, changing ideas every 2.3 seconds (or so it sometimes seems). If I have any criticism of today's style it's this tendency to change musical ideas, visual sets, thematic ideas faster than a cheetah. We lost melody for some time and the musical arranging style became choppy. Things have begun to get better, and certainly not all corps subscribed to that method, but it was clearly evident. Ideas were being generated so fast, musically and visually, that the viewer was ultimately stunned by the speed of events. In such cases it was hard to react, positive or negative, but it was also hard to comprehend. It seems to me, at least for now, that we have hit the ceiling on that overly choppy, speedy style. The corps have pulled back and we're starting to get melody, flow, and more logic built into the shows. Now it seems that the electronic situation needs to be figured out. One more thing I will add is about fan reaction. People tend to throw out these blanket statements about how fans are not as passionate and not giving standing Os like back in the day, yet I think we tend to exaggerate "back in the day." I was around for all of the 80s, attending many DCI Finals and hundreds of shows. I don't recall the fans being any more aggressive that they are today. There were no more standing ovations than there are today. Madison tended to tear the house down, just like they are starting to do again, but most other shows were getting that one standing O at the end, usually a polite "well done" ovation. A few got 2, and the very rare show got 3. The BIG difference I see today vs. yesterday in regard to fans is this: we, the fan, have more to be cynical about today. Many are not sure how they feel about electronics, amps, voice, narration (which thankfully seems to be going away), and the choppy show design that ensued when 3 valved Bb and F brass were approved. There was a lot of negativity at the shows, and not just from DCPers. People that had not seen drum corps in a while were surprised by the changes and some did not return. Snide comments in the crowd were becoming normal. Only rooting for your corps but seeing all the faults of the competitors was all too common. If anything, our performers are better trained today and they do a magnificent job, but the average fan either had a difficult time adjusting to the speed of the show, or to the changes in instrumentation and style. It all added up and definitely did some damage to the activity. The activity will recover I think, but it all depends on how they view the lessons of the past, and it really depends on how they view all those changes. Wow really good post, the only thing I disagree with is your statement of fan interest being the same, I would disagree there, but your point about shows being geared to visual and becoming choppy with changing ideas every 2-3 secs is right on the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scerpella Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 .Guess that wasn't much of a trashing job. Okay, remember Scouts '76? First season? Yeah, that show sucked. Look at my avator, he's the guy who arranged that show! I spoke to Leckrone about that back in the late 70's. He changed the key a number of times for the corps. It was their show concept, he just arranged it for them. Can't completely blame him. Blame the geniuses who came up with the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scerpella Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 sure, if there were dcp back then, you'd have drum corps people from the 40s and 50s trashing what you were doing. i don't deny that. Umm yeah. We had guys from the 60's coming directly up to us in the 70's and telling us how we werent living up to their standards. People have never been shy about criticizing changes which alter the activity in ways they believe are destructive. In retrosepct, some of the those criticisms were valid because in the DCI age, drum corps has become an activity with much fewer kids and corps participating, and barriers to entry erected keeping more from starting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Umm yeah. We had guys from the 60's coming directly up to us in the 70's and telling us how we werent living up to their standards. People have never been shy about criticizing changes which alter the activity in ways they believe are destructive. In retrosepct, some of the those criticisms were valid because in the DCI age, drum corps has become an activity with much fewer kids and corps participating, and barriers to entry erected keeping more from starting. the barriers are money. community support, kids are way different now and can find a thousand ways to sunday to spend their time..we didnt have alot of options as they do..thats a big reason and money of course a rehearsal facilty alone is a fortune now . I have paid 15 grand for a winter guard to practive and its not a big gym and thats around the norm as far as money....its a very differnt world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Things that are better since the '70s.... No more timing guns No more symetrical drill You don't have to start in this endzone over here and end in that one over there No requirement for colour pre (sorry - I know it's heresy for a dinosaur to say so, but I was never a fan of them) Drumline finally gets off the 50 Better flow to the visual - not as much marking time I like the sound of kevlar snare heads Better utilization of bassline Side drops are not the "big move" for the guard Overall talent level and musicality of the members is far superior Physical demand is much higher I love the visual presence of a marching timp line but concert timps do sound better and don't break kids' backs Grounded keyboards allow greater range of voicing and don't break kids' backs either Things that are not better or worse... Electronics - first and foremost Too much dancing and not enough equipment work in the guard Pits are ridiculously big More instances of obscure music Show designers become slaves to the "theme" Way fewer kids participating in way fewer corps. More pros than cons on my list for today's drum corps, so on balance the product on the field should be better now, right? Why don't I feel like it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Things that are better since the '70s.... No more timing guns No more symetrical drill You don't have to start in this endzone over here and end in that one over there No requirement for colour pre (sorry - I know it's heresy for a dinosaur to say so, but I was never a fan of them) Drumline finally gets off the 50 Better flow to the visual - not as much marking time I like the sound of kevlar snare heads Better utilization of bassline Side drops are not the "big move" for the guard Overall talent level and musicality of the members is far superior Physical demand is much higher I love the visual presence of a marching timp line but concert timps do sound better and don't break kids' backs Grounded keyboards allow greater range of voicing and don't break kids' backs either Things that are not better or worse... Electronics - first and foremost Too much dancing and not enough equipment work in the guard, horn and drum lines Pits are ridiculously big More instances of obscure music Show designers become slaves to the "theme" Way fewer kids participating in way fewer corps. More pros than cons on my list for today's drum corps, so on balance the product on the field should be better now, right? Why don't I feel like it is? I might add... Too much dancing and not enough marching from the horn and drum lines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytimp Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Wow....(kicks at dirt)...how do I break this to you? Well, whatever you do, don't snivel, I just had the floor waxed. And stop kicking the dirt, you'll disarrange the flower beds. That's my Mom's garden. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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