danielray Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Drum Corps has been dying a slow death since the early 1980's. Some would say losing 400 drum & bugle corps from 1980 to 2011 would be a quick death. I'm not sure how you call this "expanding". Karoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I love reading your posts, Dan, but... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_57 Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled thread. Mike Ever see the original Manchurian Candidate? The Joe McCarthey type character can't keep straight how many commies are in the gov't. His wife(?) tells him he needs a easiliy remembered number. Then he sees the ketshup bottle on the kitchen table.... next scene... "There are 57 communists in the..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) Sure can.....they were called the Star of Indiana. I was thinking of Immaculate Conception Reveries who folded because the parish didn't like so many non-parish kids joining so they folded the corps. Or the inner city corps where the sponsor owned the equipment (well it was the sponsors corps). Sponsor (church, AL, VFW) was in a cash bind so the extra stuff like corps were stopped. And in many cases the parishes or Posts ended closing their doors later. Edited July 26, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) There are too many reasons why this wouldn't be a good idea. i personally believe the way things are set up are just fine. So how far away do you live from the closest show.... or the next two? DC has been a niche activity but it's slipped out of the public eye so badly it's scarey. Yeah, we had the local competition or even local parade-only corps that weren't that good but they kept the activity in the public eye and mind. If you can only be entertained by the best corps, that's your business, but some people did enjoy watching those lesser corps. The idea that "If it ain't the best, it ain't worth ####" is killing DCI today as much as anything else. And that's what I'm really reading into the last few pages of posts... And just who the Hell has the right to say if they don't like something it should go away? Edited July 26, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 The idea that "If it ain;t the best, it ain't worth ####" is killing DCI today as much as anything else. And that's what I'm really reading into the last few pages of posts... If you can't put out a drum corps that is a higher-quality experience than the marching bands in the community that you are targeting, what's the point? I'm all for a minimum standard of quality in order to compete... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I think it's better that the corps who couldn't come up with the funds to operate folded. Could you imagine judges sitting through all of that? And yet, somehow they used to manage just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) If you can't put out a drum corps that is a higher-quality experience than the marching bands in the community that you are targeting, what's the point? I'm all for a minimum standard of quality in order to compete... I know you don't see any difference between DC and MB but there are young people out there who do and want to try DC to see what it is like. It's those people I feel sorry for as a lot almost all will never get the chance of playing with even a fair to middlin' corps. When posters say it's a good thing that there are so few corps, it's the young people missing out that I think about. And I know they're out there, some of them even do parade/standstill corps just to get a taste of it. Edited July 26, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) I grew up with classical music but SCV in particular were playing pieces I had never heard of, and I loved them. Maybe complaining about "obscure" music isn't the right path. "Inaccessable" music might be more the issue. I don't care if I never heard it before, but if I can relate to it, I'm sold. If it's all isolated shot notes and non-melodic, I'm out.... Good point. However, it was a very commonly heard complaint back in my day that people couldn't recognize a lot of the music and so didn't like it. Heck, even my corps' repertoire in '78 was nowhere near Top 40: "Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight," "Hang Up Your Hang Ups/Hide & Seek," "Goodbye Yesterday," "King Herod's Song," "Black Magic Woman" and "Spanish Dreams." "King Herod's Song" and "Black Magic Woman" would have been the most instantly recognizable pieces, but they were positioned as our production number right before the closer, and so would have been near the end of the show. Edited July 26, 2011 by byline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) I know you don't see any difference between DC and MB but there are young people out there who do and want to try DC to see what it is like. It's those people I feel sorry for as a lot almost all will never get the chance of playing with even a fair to middlin' corps. Why lament the fact that youth have fewer options to explore mediocre experiences? Back then... 80% mediocre, 20% great Now.. 80% great, 20% mediocre. Once again.... quality > quantity And I know they're out there, some of them even do parade/standstill corps just to get a taste of it. Yuck. That's like throwing away the banana and eating the peel. Edited July 26, 2011 by danielray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) Why lament the fact that youth have fewer options to explore mediocre experiences? Back then... 80% mediocre, 20% great Now.. 80% great, 20% mediocre. Once again.... quality > quantity Must be my background as the corps I was with was rebuilding and was definitely so-so for a while. Still enjoyed the experiences and memories I received. True, I wasn't paying tons o' bucks for it but wouldn't have traded it for a top corps if I had the chance. Guess one of those things if you didn't experience you can't understand others feelings on it. And to clear things up, during my time we went from last at DCA Prelims to 6th at Finals my last year so had a range of experiences. Yuck. That's like throwing away the banana and eating the peel. Of course.... if you wouldn't like it then they must be wrong..... Edit: OK, I was harsh but the point is, they know it's not the full tour, full summer, full stadium bit. But playing in an all brass/perc group is different to them and the people I know enjoy doing something different. Now why in the Hades the snare line seems to be getting younger than anywhere else is a mystery to me.... Edited July 26, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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