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George Hopkins


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Something got lost here... the problem isn't getting more members to sign (we've been repeatedly told that "hundreds" are turned away each year), the problem is getting the audience to stay put (y'know, the people paying to see the performance).

I actually thought the premise was that even if our current audience "stays put," financially the landscape of Dci is not sustainable. That's how I took it. And looking at the cost of stadium rental, gas prices, and rising tour fees, I could see how that could be accurate. It stinks because there are great fans! But I don't know that even the greatest of fans every year contribution can equate to the rising cost of keeping the activity going season after season.

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Me: "MB have more fans than DC, they must be doing it right".

Someone got that one backwards.

Think I screwed up my quote: might have been more people do MB than DC... etc... etc... Edit: Think that was when corps were having problems filling their ranks and the emphasis was on adding members instead of worrying about the audience.

Anyway too close of a comparision between the apples and the oranges.....

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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except every attempt to create groups to let woodwinds in as part of DCI tanked.

You like George fail to see one thing...those that fail to learn from the past are doomed to make the same mistakes

If it is true that audience numbers nationwide are declining, continuing to do nothing to try and reverse that trend is criminal, IMO. Agree or not with the 'what', and at this point George is pretty alone in what he is suggesting, at least he is making suggestions to try and grow the audience.

by the way...what are the total DCI audience numbers year-by-year if you are so sure the total audience is in decline...not just champs, but at DCI shows all over the country?

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Hopkins isn't on the DCI board of directors anymore. Nothing to see here, pal...move along.

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Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. I know this topic has been beat on to death, but I would like to add my .02...

I marched in the 90's. I was a saxophone player and taught myself to play euphonium so I could be in a drum corps. There were a lot of other woodwind players I met in drum corps who did the same thing. If woodwinds were a part of drum corps, I would have had no interest in joining one! What made drum corps so appealing was all the cool and unique differences between it and marching band. All brass (not to mention pitched to G! Soprano/Contra as opposed to trumpets and tubas...) The unique instrumentation is what made drum corps so cool! I wanted to be in a drum corps because it was NOT a marching band.

In my mind drum corps needs to play to its strength- raw power. Nothing else sounds like a drum corps. Going to standard Bb instrumentation changed the timbre a bit (listen to old Jim Prime horn lines on G bugles- amazing!) but at least the all brass ensemble remains. Electronics have made drum corps sound a lot more synthetic and has taken away some of the creative element IMO (remember SCV's cool use of timpani heads to create helicopter sounds? Now someone would probably just push a button on a synth). Add in woodwinds and make it a free-for-all "art" and then you've taken away all the appeal, in my opinion anyway.

I still play saxophone, and make my living as a working musician playing (gasp!) guitar. I love guitars and amps, they are the tools of my trade, but would I want to see them in drum corps? No! Just as I wouldn't want to see a sousaphone in a chamber orchestra.

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Yes

so you basically want every corps to be whatever they want, turning no one away, just because you think what will work out well. With no research to show otherwise.

get proof and maybe I'll consider listening

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No legitimate proposals have been made because not enough corps directors will vote for it.

DCI had a band division over 10 years ago. it was legit.

it died due to lack of interest

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So, if the decline started sometime before the early 90s, Bbs, amps, and electronics can not be pointed at as the problem. So what led to the declining numbers back then?

show choice. I do know amps and electgronics have driven some away.

lack of shows. the move to the all national all summer model has lost several show hosts in the dust

the loss of local circuits liek DCE, DCM

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you mean like the diminishing Fan base of DCI?

Those that see the fading popularity of an activity and do nothing to change or alter it, only pushes it further down the course it's heading.

Look, I don't want woodwinds as much as the next guy, but I'd rather a DCI style band than nothing. And why must we crucify a person who is trying to come up with ideas to prolong the end of the activity, even if you don't agree with their ideas? At least he is doing something about it. I dont see you or the majority of people on these forums doing anything.

see above. DCI had a band division. it failed....why? People didn't like it.

And maybe some of us are doing things about it....we're just quieter

:ph34r:

Edited by Jeff Ream
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