oldskl3rings Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 you seem to not realise that local EVERYTHING died back then. Haveyou ever tried to get a rehearsal facility now a days? Most winter guards have to pay in excess of 15 grand a winter and thats not always a gym. The crummy little halls I practiced in back in the day couldnt hold the membership today. Schools dont give things away, noone does anything for nothing any more. You could survive on a shoe string back then .... not today, but that;'s in anything. Noone is making excuses , just looking at things realistically. What do you mean by everything? Little League baseball, Pop Warner football, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and many other local youth activities survived. With local support and community involvement local drum corps could have survived. The argument is a moot point, DCI took the direction it did and an activity that once numbered in the multiple hundreds, now has less than forty with eight or nine super corps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 DC is a rather unique activity as it is a competitive activity, which is also a performance/entertainment medium. I’m so tired of the DC must evolve argument! Drum corps also changed well before DCI...from when you started in 49 through 71 there were lots of changes in instrumentation and show designs. Why? Let’s examine a couple of other competitive/entertainment mediums and see how much they have “evolved”. Broadway musicals combine great music and choreography, much like DC, to entertain. Broadway has changed very little in fifty years. A great Broadway show still relies on wonderful music, exciting choreography, and an interesting book (story). At that level, drum corps is the same as it was 50 years ago too...great music, wonderful drill and a wonderful experience for the audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 look at the West Side revival...now the Sharks speak Spanish ( as opposed to English with bad Puerto Rican accents) Arthur Laurents, who directed the revival, said that there was no reason to do the show if it was going to be the same as the one he wrote the book for half a century prior. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Over the past few years I've spoken with many of you Classics, Alumni, and people from other BITD Corps who THINK what I SAY! In short, most of the men I marched with had neither the Talent nor Finances to make it in the current DCI "Activity". What we did have was an open door policy that excluded noone. What was once a Veterans Youth Activity for anyone who wished to participate has become Show Business; let me emphasize BUSINESS, If more corps back in the day understood that they were businesses, there would be more corps in existence today. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 The idea that DCI is run by the corps, is false. In the beginning DCI was controlled by only the top corps. The smaller corps had no say in the decisions made by DCI. Since its inception DCI has made two critical and related errors. DCI ignored the needs of the smaller corps and its obsession with the national tour model. This led to the demise of all of the smaller corps and even a good number of the top ones. In fact, of the original top twelve DCI corps, eight no longer exist. It was suicide by inept management. By letting the smaller corps perish, DCI lost a feeder source for members, fans and show venues. Add to that DCI’s never ending need to evolve the activity by adding expensive and unnecessary instruments and electronic do dads, DCI continues to play a perverse game of Russian roulette. In reality DCI has never been interested in performing for the fans. In 1972 when I marched in the first DCI we were told to impress, not the fans, but the people sitting in “the box”. Play to the box; sell the show to the box, that’s what we were told by every instructor. Drills have never been designed to impress the fans, but the box. How many fans can actually sit high enough to see and appreciate all the fancy pictures and moves? I’d like to see a drill designed to impress the fans sitting in the third row from the bottom. The fact that DCI now realizes it has to entertain and build its fan base may be the case of too little too late. We were told the same things pre-DCI too. Drum corps added all sorts of elements over time that added costs...contras and timpani pre-DCI are two of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 What do you mean by everything? Little League baseball, Pop Warner football, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and many other local youth activities survived. With local support and community involvement local drum corps could have survived. The argument is a moot point, DCI took the direction it did and an activity that once numbered in the multiple hundreds, now has less than forty with eight or nine super corps. With thousands of competitive bands where there were hundred of local corps...I'll take today any day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 What do you mean by everything? Little League baseball, Pop Warner football, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and many other local youth activities survived. With local support and community involvement local drum corps could have survived. The argument is a moot point, DCI took the direction it did and an activity that once numbered in the multiple hundreds, now has less than forty with eight or nine super corps. you cant compare those activities to drum corps at all. Its easy to blame someone for the fall of so many corps but plain and simple, economics, local support for the activity , bad management,as well as cost to run a drum corps are nothing like they were and never will be again. Drum Corps compared to those you mentioned is a very small niche and can never have support like it did back in the day. As I said, try to just get a facility for a rehearsal and you will see. Also as I said kids are very different now also. We had not alot of choices back in the day compared to the kids now...theres the good and bad of it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldskl3rings Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 With thousands of competitive bands where there were hundred of local corps...I'll take today any day. Of course you would. You teach HS band. You have a vested and fiscal interest in supporting marching bands. You have for years supported morphing DC into bands on this forum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 there must have been a memo sent out that Morphing would be the word of the year..lol...it's like when judges all use the buzz word for the year..lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Guys. Local drum corps as they existed back when there weren't good laws protecting children CAN'T exist today as they did then. Get over it. Marching bands are more legitimate and more numerous. Celebrate DCI; it's better than it was before. By far. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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