JulesBry Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Whoa! I'm not young by any stretch and have only been a drum corps fan for about 5 years so I know very little about the shows of the 70's, 80's or even the 90's outside of what I've listened to via Fan Network. That being said, I find it insulting to every kid who is out there in the scorching heat, practicing 12 hours a day trying to perfect a show for ALL of our enjoyment, when you say there is little to nothing worthy of standing up and cheering about. I stand up and cheer because good show/bad show, those kids all worked their butts off and they deserve our respect and support. Personally, I will give every corps I see this year a standing O. They all deserve it! What you have suggested is what I call pity applause. When you've experienced the real thing--a well-deserved standing O--and then pity applause (or a pity standing O), you know the difference, and you live for the former. These DCI performers deserve more than pity. They deserve uncontrollable outbursts of joy. And that is something you don't often see these days. Why? Because hearing a pianist play Rhapsody in Blue (for example) is cool, but fairly common. Hearing brass and percussion transform those riffs that aren't idiomatic to their instruments is FAR more interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesBry Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I agree with allot of this and will add.. I'm boycotting the activity is woodwinds are permitted. I'll just start supporting other organizations that don't use woodwinds. Not because I hate woodwinds, but because I hate to hear (or more accurately see--they can't be heard without serious numbers or amplification) woodwinds on a marching field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesBry Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I don't think so...Once the field is leveled with band, DCI has totally lost its niche and its relevance. My point exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmo Blatch Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Like Gary once said, "if woodwinds are added to drum corps, I won't say I'd leave drum corps, rather I would say that drum corps left me." No kidding, no drama, no return. Edited June 21, 2012 by Elmo Blatch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesBry Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 You hit the mail on the head there! We still go to shows but the enetertainment factor up and down the board is just not there. It has improved somewhat the last few years, but still not in the same league overall as in the good ole days. (70's, 80's, 90's) Prime example, how many good old fashioned standing ovations do you see at shows today? They are few are far between. There's little to nothing worthy of standing up and cheering about. A few isolated moments here and there just isn't going to cut it and I'm certainly not alone in that sentiment! You know, I watched this year's opener with a college junior. I asked him what he thought of the synths. His response? "I hate them! I wish they would go back to brass and percussion." Somehow, I think if I had asked him about woodwinds, he might have killed me right then and there for even bringing it up. So much for winning over young fans with "new" ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesBry Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I have a comment to make about drum corps I would like all generations to think about. I marched in a national caliber corps in the early and mid-60s. My generation added plastic heads, Swiss rudiments, rudimental bass drums, bugles with valve, rotary, and or slide. The next generation added their progress, etc. Although a lot of DC marchers think drum corps has been ruined, we all led that ruination along its path then. We could be still using rope drums with calf heads, straight bugles, American Legion or VFW judging rules. Please be careful when you judge the next generation because we were that "Next Generation" at some point! Mitch So, what you're saying is that you used drums, brass, and flags to present awesome music to fans. That sounds like a plan that just might build DCI's audience. Let's do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 One thing that stuck out to me that everyone is overlooking. George said that DCI is a non-profit for a reason. And that reason is to enrich young.musicians through music education and performance. If you stick with that mantra and have it guide DCI's future then of course you would want to add woodwinds/etc. because it opens avenues for more students to have an enriching experience. He also said that if that is NOT our purpose then DCI should no longer be a non-profit. If the emphasis is the art form and the entertainment and the show design then the core non-profit message isn't the focus. Ideally you would want both together but Maybe by having both (the emphasis on art, and the emphasis on student enrichment) you do end up having to limit the potential growth for both to some degree. However the balance is really only determined by your intupretation of DCI's non-profit purpose. George isn't arguing for woodwinds as much as he is arguing for a commitment to Enriching as many students as possible in as many ways as possible through an activity he has a lot of passion for. the boy scouts are non profit....so they should let in girls? and vice versa for the girl scouts...should they let in boys? wait....Muscular Dystrophy is non profit....should they take on cancer too? just because certain restrictions are in place does not mean you arent fulfilling your charter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 DCI is NOT non-profit because it offers music enrichment to ALL comers. There is no requirement to reach, or even be available to, ALL kids who are musically inclined in order to qualify for non-profit status.. Isn't it ironic that we dinos have argued that, BITD, drum corps used to appeal to more kids than today, and now progressive GH seems to agree with us? You can be sure that Hop would squeel like a stuck pig right along with the other directors when they had to pay taxes on their profits (when they have them). If George's guilt is so powerful there is nothing stopping him from turning his organizations into for-profit entities. I'm sure DCI would let him march as a corporation as long as he played by the rules. But, again, until he converts his own orgs to taxable he has no business chastising the other directors or DCI with veiled claims of hypocracy. His attempt to paint everyone else in the activity as guilty of hypocracy is hollow when he claims the same tax status as the others. :worthy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 This has nothing at all to do with pushing the envelope. It's all dollars and cents and Hop doesn't beat around the bush either. Sure he tries to couch it in "Drum corps is about to die if we don't do this" terms, but his reasoning is that there's a LOT more money available if you merge drum corps into the marching band world. Suddenly you're part of the music education scene of 2 million young people, not an activity for 5000 or so mostly college age kids. except the marching band world is tied to public tax dollars in almost every instance. drum corps can't be 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmo Blatch Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 All of the changes and yet we crave that classic sound and the excitement it creates. Pardon the bit of honking here, but a perfectly good example of this was at the Akron show. A buddy of mine went to the show. Do you know what he said received the most applause from any corps at the contest? Hint: It was after the show concluded and was pure acoustical awesomeness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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