Grandpa Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 again I will ask how will this be done...Blue devils finance Blue devils not the activity...so thats there's. They get how expensive it is to do this...Ive run winter guards that cost more than drum corps did back in the day. IF one can get a winter facitlty to practice it could cost a fortune..How will this happen? You didnt answer..... Oh - let me correct that oversight. I can't speak for your neck of the woods but where I live schools have to make the premises available to non profit youth groups free of charge. The Caveat is that you have to carry liability insurance. You would be doing that anyway.... It cant go back period...what can? Anything and everything. The only limitation is saying it can't. If there's a will to create a weekend drum corps circuit in your state from enough people, what can stop it? An opinion that "you can't go back"? Who made that a law? Kids are way more demanding of what they are involved in then we were I think. But hey..nice thought Hmmm - I was a Sea Cadet. I now teach the Sea Cadet band that I marched in. The kids have way less in of a band programme than we have and guess what? We have a band..... Times have changed - I get it. Kids have changed but they have not mutated in the last 30 years. (I thought guys my age banging on about how the kids today aren't like they were back in my day was a patent insult...) If there's a market for this weekend band circuit, there's a market for a weekend drum corps circuit. Also as much as G7 doesnt want to be talked alout that is kinda what you purposed as far as 2 ways to do it...local corps and national touring corps. If that was all there was to it, I'd be all over it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 (edited) Oh - let me correct that oversight. I can't speak for your neck of the woods but where I live schools have to make the premises available to non profit youth groups free of charge. The Caveat is that you have to carry liability insurance. You would be doing that anyway.... Anything and everything. The only limitation is saying it can't. If there's a will to create a weekend drum corps circuit in your state from enough people, what can stop it? An opinion that "you can't go back"? Who made that a law? Hmmm - I was a Sea Cadet. I now teach the Sea Cadet band that I marched in. The kids have way less in of a band programme than we have and guess what? We have a band..... Times have changed - I get it. Kids have changed but they have not mutated in the last 30 years. (I thought guys my age banging on about how the kids today aren't like they were back in my day was a patent insult...) If there's a market for this weekend band circuit, there's a market for a weekend drum corps circuit. If that was all there was to it, I'd be all over it! what part of the country you in? I have taught in every part of the US and some schools dont get to use their own facitlities let alone some outside group. AS far as kids, you really thin k they are the same as we were? If you really think time can go back you should try it. If we could go back I think in many other things it would have been done long before now. A maine reason for the dimise of corps back in the day was also believing that things weren't changing and that drum corps would not be affected by changing times, rising costs, demand of new students and their wants and needs, new direction of the activity, all the hold outs failed and hense gone. But hey go for it! Edited February 4, 2012 by GUARDLING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 what part of the country you in? I'm in the Canadian part... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I'm in the Canadian part... guess that explains it..lol....wont get that here..and being this is where pretty much most of the corps are or the activity is..will kinda be hard financially. Ive always loved the Canadian corps wish there were more again.. Seems to be an even harder sell there for many reasons I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Well - that's band. I'm talking about drum corps. Yes there is a difference. No I don't want to get into that ridiculous quagmire of "drum corps is band is drum corps, all drum corps are bands but not all bands are drum corps" and assorted other revisionist mantra. That's the great divide in marching music that the two sides will never bridge, so let's not try..... You can dismiss this all you want, but IMO you are 100% wrong. The experience kids in competitive bands have is almost exactly the experience weekend corps provided long ago...only for so many more than were able to experience marching/competing back then. In addition, here in Canada there are virtually no competitive bands. Trying to start a Blue Devils or a SCV from scratch would be idiotic. Even the Open class touring corps have a bank busting budget. Parade class, then weekend only is the only way to start IMHO. That requires a circuit and a cooperative effort. Never going to happen. The competitive bands you so blithely dismiss have more than covered the weekend-only experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) You can dismiss this all you want, but IMO you are 100% wrong. The experience kids in competitive bands have is almost exactly the experience weekend corps provided long ago...only for so many more than were able to experience marching/competing back then. Never going to happen. The competitive bands you so blithely dismiss have more than covered the weekend-only experience. I don't dismiss band, I'm currently teaching one. But if kids are marching weekend band as you say, then kids are not so different from our day when they marched weekend drum corps. A segment of this presumed "different generation" still want this experience in one form or another. So it seems that in your mind there is no hope for weekend drum corps circuits which you, in turn, blithely dismiss. How sad that someone with your evident experience is so closed to the possibilities of the activity that I am sure gave you so much. You could use that experience to be instrumental in helping a whole new generation have what you had. Perhaps you are concentrating your time on those weekend bands. If so, kudos for giving your time to kids! We're a little more optimistic here. Quebec has the starts of a resurging circuit. Ontario will follow. With no marching band programs, what can it hurt to try? Edited February 5, 2012 by Grandpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) guess that explains it..lol....wont get that here..and being this is where pretty much most of the corps are or the activity is..will kinda be hard financially. Ive always loved the Canadian corps wish there were more again.. Seems to be an even harder sell there for many reasons I guess. You are right that it is difficult financially. All the more reason to work in smaller, less expensive corps and circuits without the burden of the big tour. American corps coming across the now very unfriendly border were always a boost, but Canada and a few of the provinces had very healthy circuits of their own. As I mentioned to Mike above, Quebec is seeing the resurgence of a circuit there. Despite the doom prophets it is far from impossible. All it takes is the ablility to think outside the DCI paradigm. Edited February 5, 2012 by Grandpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 You can dismiss this all you want, but IMO you are 100% wrong. The experience kids in competitive bands have is almost exactly the experience weekend corps provided long ago...only for so many more than were able to experience marching/competing back then. Never going to happen. The competitive bands you so blithely dismiss have more than covered the weekend-only experience. Question for Gandpa but based on Mikes post. What IS the status of competitive MB in the Great White North? As for MB taking place of local corps, there are still some young poeple looking to continue playing and/or competing after HS. Not enough to fill a ton of local corps but this group always seems to be missed in these discussions. Even know a few doing non-competitive (aka Alumni-type) because they are looking for something different without having to give up a major part of their time. And Granpa... keep us up to date on Que/Ont happenings. Any news seems to stop at that border crossing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Question for Gandpa but based on Mikes post. What IS the status of competitive MB in the Great White North? As for MB taking place of local corps, there are still some young poeple looking to continue playing and/or competing after HS. Not enough to fill a ton of local corps but this group always seems to be missed in these discussions. Even know a few doing non-competitive (aka Alumni-type) because they are looking for something different without having to give up a major part of their time. And Granpa... keep us up to date on Que/Ont happenings. Any news seems to stop at that border crossing. As far as I know there are NO competing bands around here (Ontario). I think there might be some out west in Alberta. I agree about the HS kids. The very fact that weekend band seems to be popular in the US negates the argument that "kids today can't do what we did". That piece of generational propaganda has been around since ancient Greece and is a pretty poor excuse for not making an attempt, IMHO. I watched Crown practice in Allentown and was blown away by the corps, and especially the work ethic of the kids. If anything, they work a #### sight HARDER than we did BITD. About Quebec, I hope this doesn't violate posting rules but here's a youtube video of a show last summer. Kudos to them for getting something off the ground! I hope something similar is up and running in Ontario very soon..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Thanks for the info. Hey I've actually have heard of Sherbrooke as they used to have an AHL (yeah... American Hockey League) team there in the 80s or so. Hmmm.... will have to get my sister to translate the comments as (I think) she is still fluent in French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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