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Saving Drum Corps Part II(a): The solution


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As far as English majors are concerned, I know many English majors who became English teachers, some of whom I had in school. Many hoped to write the great American novel. It never happened but I can put words together in a sentence and have had a lifelong love of reading because they were so passionate about their subject. As far as drum corps, this may just be me, but I’m glad there are so many music majors in drum corps today, and probably back in the day as well. From what I can see, most music majors in drum corps are majoring in education, not performance. They may dream of being in a great symphony orchestra, being the next great drummer, or bringing jazz to life in a new way, but it’s probably not going to happen. Instead they’ll be teaching trombone to fifth graders, reaching out to awkward middle school students inspiring them to do their best, all the while knowing that if the budget has to be cut, their job may be the first to go. Their time in drum corps will feed a passion and that passion will come to life in a classroom. It may be a bit romantic, but I also am willing to bet I’m correct.

I also believe the OP uses the words “university trained” to describe music majors. My doctor’s son is in college, plans on going to medical school, and in order to understand a practice, does some medical assistant work in his father’s office. He’s taken my blood pressure and has weighed me. He knows my blood pressure can be a bit high and I should lose about twenty pounds. He may have learned this in college, but until he graduates from college and medical school, he’s not a university trained anything, so I let his after write the prescription and tells me I’m putting ion the pounds. In the same way these kids on the fields are still students, so until the diploma is in their hands, they’re college kids, not university trained anything.

It's just you and me. And without belaboring the points all bashed into our skulls over this and the prevous "Part I" series, I must say that it seems to me that someone must be preparing a dissertation or class thesis or some #### thing because I'm reading a great deal and all of these words are not nearly as important to me as what I see in photos and one liners that give me real memories of what "Historical Junior Corps Discussions" are (and should be!) about.

Phrases like:

Remember that night every corps had to march in the rain with no lights ... & Whoever thought spats looked good ... or Can anyone tell me why some corps wore white bucks and some didn't ...

These are the things that bring up real discussions amongst us old farts.

Keith is good at that.

there are dozens of us who are able to respond with witty and fun repartee to most of that kind of stuff.

Stuff that makes us dig out the pictures and dig into our memory banks.

We are NOT saving Drum Corps (Part I / Part II / Part III or X!) on these pages.

You know it, I know it and we all know it ... sooo the OP's disdain for all (or any!) of us who have degrees in Music or English is pretty much moot.

I say, let's all just go over to the "OMG could we have been so young?" and post some pictures ...

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As far as English majors are concerned, I know many English majors who became English teachers, some of whom I had in school. Many hoped to write the great American novel. It never happened but I can put words together in a sentence and have had a lifelong love of reading because they were so passionate about their subject. As far as drum corps, this may just be me, but I’m glad there are so many music majors in drum corps today, and probably back in the day as well. From what I can see, most music majors in drum corps are majoring in education, not performance. They may dream of being in a great symphony orchestra, being the next great drummer, or bringing jazz to life in a new way, but it’s probably not going to happen. Instead they’ll be teaching trombone to fifth graders, reaching out to awkward middle school students inspiring them to do their best, all the while knowing that if the budget has to be cut, their job may be the first to go. Their time in drum corps will feed a passion and that passion will come to life in a classroom. It may be a bit romantic, but I also am willing to bet I’m correct.

I also believe the OP uses the words “university trained” to describe music majors. My doctor’s son is in college, plans on going to medical school, and in order to understand a practice, does some medical assistant work in his father’s office. He’s taken my blood pressure and has weighed me. He knows my blood pressure can be a bit high and I should lose about twenty pounds. He may have learned this in college, but until he graduates from college and medical school, he’s not a university trained anything, so I let his after write the prescription and tells me I’m putting ion the pounds. In the same way these kids on the fields are still students, so until the diploma is in their hands, they’re college kids, not university trained anything.

It's just you and me. And without belaboring the points all bashed into our skulls over this and the prevous "Part I" series, I must say that it seems to me that someone must be preparing a dissertation or class thesis or some #### thing because I'm reading a great deal and all of these words are not nearly as important to me as what I see in photos and one liners that give me real memories of what "Historical Junior Corps Discussions" are (and should be!) about.

Phrases like:

Remember that night every corps had to march in the rain with no lights ... & Whoever thought spats looked good ... or Can anyone tell me why some corps wore white bucks and some didn't ...

These are the things that bring up real discussions amongst us old farts.

Keith is good at that.

there are dozens of us who are able to respond with witty and fun repartee to most of that kind of stuff.

Stuff that makes us dig out the pictures and dig into our memory banks.

We are NOT saving Drum Corps (Part I / Part II / Part III or X!) on these pages.

You know it, I know it and we all know it ... sooo the OP's disdain for all (or any!) of us who have degrees in Music or English is pretty much moot.

I say, let's all just go over to the "OMG could we have been so young?" and post some pictures ...

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