MikeD Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Some of this might be geographical based. In Massachusetts in the 60's there were almost as many participants in Drum and Bugle Corps as there were in High School Marching Bands. And In the city of Boston itself, and within a 20 mile radius of the City, there were far more marchers in Drum and Bugle Corps in the region than in the numbers that marched in city wide and region wide public High School Marching Bands. The 27th Lancers of Revere, Ma ( pop. approx 60,000) was larger than the City of Revere High School Marching Band in the late 60's, early 70's as well. The marching experience was far better for those that marched Drum and Bugle Corps in Massachusetts too, as the Corps competed both locally, regionally, and nationally. In the 60's early 70's, public High School Marching Bands did not compete in Massachusetts ( CYO Marching Bands did however ). They simply did parades, special events, and high school sporting events. That is why you can't really compare HS bands of the 60's and early 70's to drum corps of that era. I certainly don't. The comparison I make is about how the local corps that formed the large 'base' of the competitive marching/music pyramid back then has been replaced today by the competitive bands, only that base is today far larger in total than the base was just prior to DCI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 ding... ding.. ding.... Try marching in parades in a non-competing group (aka Alumni type corps) and hear comments like "What school are they with?" and "Must be alumni from a local school, some of them are old(er)". Then if someone asks and you respond with "D&BC" you usually get a blank stare. My litle town had, for a while, two corps...a parade corps and a GSC class 'B' corps...I marched with both between 64-69. My non-corps friends had NO idea what this "marching band thing" I did was all about. The only time they saw either was at the yearly Memorial Day parade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 The comparison I make is about how the local corps that formed the large 'base' of the competitive marching/music pyramid back then has been replaced today by the competitive bands, only that base is today far larger in total than the base was just prior to DCI. I don't disagree with this assessment of yours here either..... sad as that conclusion may be insofar as the Drum Corps movement has sustained simultaneous non growth in this similar time frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 My litle town had, for a while, two corps...a parade corps and a GSC class 'B' corps...I marched with both between 64-69. My non-corps friends had NO idea what this "marching band thing" I did was all about. The only time they saw either was at the yearly Memorial Day parade. So to get back on track for a bit: We have the opportunity to present corps to the general (parade attending) public. Free event and pretty much a captive audience as they won't leave for a few seconds as a corps goes past (ignore yes, leave no). Any ideas how we can use this to promote the activity? Other than a banner with corps name and announcement at the reviewing stand, I'm stumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I don't disagree with this assessment of yours here either..... sad as that conclusion may be insofar as the Drum Corps movement has sustained simultaneous non growth in this similar time frame. I'm wondering if the scholastic competitive MB movement hadn't occurred, how much affect would that have on todays DC activity. Thinking of corps that went under for reason other than members finding other things to do. Of course I'm from the 70s Sr side and most of the corps I'm aware of went under due to expenses and local economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkfdPRphan Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 So to get back on track for a bit: We have the opportunity to present corps to the general (parade attending) public. Free event and pretty much a captive audience as they won't leave for a few seconds as a corps goes past (ignore yes, leave no). Any ideas how we can use this to promote the activity? Other than a banner with corps name and announcement at the reviewing stand, I'm stumped. How about using your local newspaper? Write a letter to the Editor. Write to the newspaper and ask them (using some examples) to write about drum corps. Invite them to come and take notes and pictures at drum corps camp. Exact same thing with local TV. They are always looking for filler stories and a chance to take pictures and interview people. IF you have a small local competition event, have a local TV personality introduce the drum corps. Its amazing how many people respond and/or become interested when a local TV, radio or newpaper personality is involved! Phantom Regiment has done this for years and the corps is pretty dang popular within the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) How about using your local newspaper? Write a letter to the Editor. Write to the newspaper and ask them (using some examples) to write about drum corps. Invite them to come and take notes and pictures at drum corps camp. Exact same thing with local TV. They are always looking for filler stories and a chance to take pictures and interview people. IF you have a small local competition event, have a local TV personality introduce the drum corps. Its amazing how many people respond and/or become interested when a local TV, radio or newpaper personality is involved! Phantom Regiment has done this for years and the corps is pretty dang popular within the city. Good ideas and we have used some. I was thinking more of what could be done with the captive parade or standstill audience members. Corps standard "blurb" at events inculdes "looking for members aged..." (it does work) but thinking of anything that would expand the fan base. LOL, I'd say the Lancers are well known within the Hanover area... now if more people could just find Hanover. Edited May 2, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I'm wondering if the scholastic competitive MB movement hadn't occurred, how much affect would that have on todays DC activity. Thinking of corps that went under for reason other than members finding other things to do. Of course I'm from the 70s Sr side and most of the corps I'm aware of went under due to expenses and local economy. IMO the drum corps environment pre-DCI was doomed. You could see it starting in the 60's, really, even before the economic issues of the 70's. This is especially true in the urban areas. Look at how city-based corps died out starting in the 60's, at least in my area. Society was changing. for example, Corpsreps shows 9 Newark corps. The Woodsiders limped into 74, BS folded in 72...the rest never made it to 1970. The 70's certainly accelerated the problem in NJ. I taught and judged in the GSC in the mid/late 70's to around 1980, and I saw lots of corps die out, and others hang on by merging, though this just seemed to delay the inevitable. Both corps I taught had mergers with other GSC corps...the Imperial Guardsmen of Livingston and Dukes from Old Bridge merged to become the DIGS for a couple of years in the early 70's (then went back to just the Imperial Guardsmen). The Wayne Monarchs and Greenwood Lake Lakers merged to create the King's Regiment, who lasted about 3 years. That is two examples I know of off the top. It became harder and harder to attract young people to join for lots of reasons. Kids were working more as the economy was tanking. The traditional sponsors, VFW/AL/CYO/PAL...they pulled back as the costs rose and fewer kids were wiling to participate. Without those sponsors, the smaller corps that did exist had a tougher and tougher time making a go of things. I know the two corps I taught did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 No, I am not confused on that. If anything, perhaps some of the adults who were inspired to create more of what they experienced in drum corps chose corps-style marching band as the more economical $ubstitute vs. drum corps, given the nine-figure annual subsidy from our tax dollars that supports scholastic band programs. The kids, however, often haven't had both options to choose between, as my previous post points out. I just saw the perfect response to this earlier today. Oh, look who wrote it.... Alright. So that last part was cute. The first part, however, isn't addressing the core issue, which is better high school band experiences might have dissuaded some kids from seeking out local corps through the years. You're correct about both options. A lot of kids didn't have the choice to march in a local corps because those corps were dying through the 70s and 80s. So some significant portion of the kids in marching band couldn't march in their parents' corps. I think we agree on that. The substitute effect in this case refers to what else they didn't do. Those marching band kids (in general) didn't seek out the corps that remained, some of which could been quite close. Dozens, hundreds, of soon-to-be-extinct corps didn't attract the similar numbers of young marchers even in regions where drums corps recently had drawn large numbers to participate. Did demand for the experience just evaporate? I'd say yes in some respects and no in others. And the no owes in part to the fact that some kids were finding sufficient satisfaction in one particular substitute - competitive high school band programs. No meteor hit this ground. The failure of a generation of young people to find the drum corps practice fields reflects several things: disruption in the communities that once nutured drum corps and their participants; substitute experiences, including high school marching band that drained the talent pool of potential; money; television; blah, blah, blah ... It all adds up to one truth. And that is we can't go back. HH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 The development/expansion of the retail sector of business with the introduction of fast food operations, malls, retail outlets (of all sorts) open 7 days a week, etc.; opened up a whole new market for young workers. Many found that being able to get a job at 16 (or so), and places open on weekends to work those jobs put some "change in their pockets". When the activity was mainly weekends only, and suddenly a potential member having the option of doing drum corps or staying home and working to make some bucks...many stayed home. In the late 60's and early to mid 70's, the draft sucked up a lot of potential male members. The reasons as to "why" the lack of corps over the years was a combination (IMHO) of many things......mainly a changing of the youth's priorities when presented with alternate opportunities. In today's business world (as example), a young person may even have more opportunities with flexible scheduling with these types of jobs because there can be so many options.............but (for most) not enough flexibility to tour (IMO). Maybe weekends..but tour, no. Drum corps was designed (more decades ago than I've been alive) as a "weekend" performance activity; once that fell by the wayside; the (junior) corps sector of the activity had to blaze it's own new and (yet) uncharted path........no one knows where it will end up; good, bad, indifferent, or a fading memory. Time will tell. ......and all that info/opinion and 47 cents still only gets ya a senior cup of coffee at the local McDonald's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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