GUARDLING Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Local drum corps has never been healthier (just ask all the instrument manufacturers jumping into the game trying to capture a piece of it). It is just called high school marching band and winterguard/percussion. winterguards taking a big drop off this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 You may be taking your life in your hands by putting drum corps and marching bands in the same category. One of the major criticisms leveled by some about Carolina Crown is that they are too similar to a marching band, which is meant to be a put-down. There has always been a band/drum corps love hate relationship. Years ago I was in a CYO band. Our instructors for percussion, marching, and color guard were all drum corps people, who created programs that were similar in style to drum corps, and in some ways we may have been better than some of the corps that were the same size, but we were always reminded that we were not a drum corps even though we moved like a corps, used arrangements that were later used by some of the local corps, competed in the same competitions (though in different categories) and were judged using DCI standards. This would also have been at a time when many smaller corps would not have taught members to read music and taught the bugles by teaching buglers to imitate sounds. Band claimed to have true musicians. Drum corps believed they were better marchers. I will agree that many high school programs use the same standards as drum corps, and with the use of three valve instruments in drum corps, the lack of woodwinds and trombones may be the only significant difference. However, the health of the activity varies from region to region. I was talking to someone associated with the Boston Crusaders who said a good number of members of BAC and many other corps for that matter hailed from Texas and Florida, where music programs are stronger. In the Northeast, far too many schools have music budgets slashed when tough economic choices need to be made. So perhaps I can revise what I said a bit—if we want more visibility, nurture local drum corps and strengthen school music programs. Local drum corps has never been healthier (just ask all the instrument manufacturers jumping into the game trying to capture a piece of it). It is just called high school marching band and winterguard/percussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 You may be taking your life in your hands by putting drum corps and marching bands in the same category. drum corps is marching band. always has been. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 (edited) However, the health of the activity varies from region to region. I was talking to someone associated with the Boston Crusaders who said a good number of members of BAC and many other corps for that matter hailed from Texas and Florida, where music programs are stronger. In the Northeast, far too many schools have music budgets slashed when tough economic choices need to be made. So perhaps I can revise what I said a bit—if we want more visibility, nurture local drum corps and strengthen school music programs. People can blame school budgets all they want, and there is quite a lot of validity there, but marching band tends to do best in places where there isn't a hell of a lot going going on. In the more densely populated northeast, there is a lot of things for kids to do... plenty of other choices. Advocacy for school music programs is an important thing, but... budgets aren't the only issue here. Edited December 29, 2011 by danielray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 That's true today, but the places in the Northeast where drum corps thrived, including Revere of 27th fame, there were not many other activities to fill the void, at least not at the time of many of the corps' demise. Also, the cities and towns of Massachusetts that have good music programs usually have excellent sports progarms and many arts activities too. People can blame school budgets all they want, and there is quite a lot of validity there, but marching band tends to do best in places where there isn't a hell of a lot going going on. In the more densely populated northeast, there is a lot of things for kids to do... plenty of other choices. Advocacy for school music programs is an important thing, but... budgets aren't the only issue here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 That's true today, but the places in the Northeast where drum corps thrived, including Revere of 27th fame, there were not many other activities to fill the void, at least not at the time of many of the corps' demise. Also, the cities and towns of Massachusetts that have good music programs usually have excellent sports progarms and many arts activities too. When people complain about funding and all other issues associated with putting together a marching band program, I look at programs like this... They're about 7th in their area... a good little band, not really comparable to the top BOA bands. But, if you take into context some of factors... such as lack of school funding, booster/parent support is limited.... there are literally more cows than people in this area (check it out on Google Maps sat view... it is pretty #### rural)... it is quite impressive what they are putting together (director has been there about 3 years, I think). These are the types of marching band programs that do a much better job of serving local communities than small drum corps ever can... and do it much more efficient and cost effectively than a small corps could. The role of drum corps in this case is to not only provide a standard and model for these groups to emulate, but to provide a training ground and network for educators draw from to be able to put together more effective programs with limited resources. In this case, the director of this program came out of drum corps... was in BD snare line. Anyway, these are the groups that have taken the place of community drum corps. There are loads and loads more of them then there were community drum corps and they are popping up all the time. Groups like this prove that money is a speed bump, not a roadblock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 winterguards taking a big drop off this year in some areasand for those going to Dayton. I do see some new faces scholastic and independent popping up locally, and even saw an old name reactivate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 People can blame school budgets all they want, and there is quite a lot of validity there, but marching band tends to do best in places where there isn't a hell of a lot going going on. In the more densely populated northeast, there is a lot of things for kids to do... plenty of other choices. Advocacy for school music programs is an important thing, but... budgets aren't the only issue here. sorry but in some of the areas of the northeast where a lot is going on, you have many successful bands. But over the last year, especially in NJ, we've seen bands killed because of budget. Maybe the bands arent mega huge like in Texas or some of the big BOA names, but size doesnt always equate to good,and I'm blessed to see many small bands in the 5 state area I travel that are fan ####### tastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 sorry but in some of the areas of the northeast where a lot is going on, you have many successful bands. But over the last year, especially in NJ, we've seen bands killed because of budget. Maybe the bands arent mega huge like in Texas or some of the big BOA names, but size doesnt always equate to good,and I'm blessed to see many small bands in the 5 state area I travel that are fan ####### tastic Budget killing a program is a cop out. If you want to put it together you scrap and put it together.... there is just a skewed sort of frame of reference what it should cost to put a program together... it really just takes a good solid educator that can inspire and motivate kids... and the rest will just sort of work it out. To say that to create a program costs crazy money... cop out. Look at Tcha-degga-da in Brazil, for example... they put that together with nothing and it is building into a great program for kids who have means below even the most financially challenged school district around. I'm cool with the spending in drum corps and think it is necessary as a model... but marching band and winter programs.. come on... there are examples of great things happening that were fully McGyvered and scrapped together. It can be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I suggest when fans come to shows.. tag and track... sort of like researchers do with wildlife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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