Is it REALLY worth it?

[Barifonium]

Marching world class DCI is an exclusive youth activity afforded to a select group of performers who by talent, location, life circumstances, looks, and endurance are fortunate enough to be selected (unless you go for a corps that typically doesn't field 150 every year due to low recruiting numbers) to partake in what, for most, will be a tremendously rewarding experience.

But the truth is many will be fulfilled, successful, and have great experiences spending their youth doing things other than drum corps.

Fixed. There's ample opportunity to join Drum Corps. We're not entirely exclusive unless every corps has 150 members every year.

At Impulse in 09 we had a guy from Virgina come march with us even though we were only doing a LOCAL tour! (Now it wasn't because of financial reasons- he literally closed his eyes and pointed to a corps name on a screen until he found one that had an opening! But it's still a neat story)

Everyone has their passion.

We just tend to be really really Type-A about it and tend to get a little big for our britches because we tend to think, "how can something that inspires so much passion in people be so 'small' comparatively to the popularity of other activities?

We're really fortunate to be born with (or have developed) this "drum corps nerve" that makes us sensitive to the kind of product these groups put out.

[calileadsop]

Of course it isn't worth it, and those who continue to soldier on each year espousing their novus ordo goal of Broadway-on-the-field still don't get it.

There just aren't that many affluent budding musical/dance geniuses out there ready to discover what's still called "drum and bugle corps" and deciding to spend their teen years in it.

Your leaders are blind to that reality, but far worse, blind to the disenfranchisement and exclusion of all the millions of youth who could and did benefit from drum corps before the wannabe-Bob Fosse-types usurped the activity thirty years ago and redesigned it to appeal to the most-moneyed and best-educated teens who need yet another activity like Imelda Marcos needed another pair of shoes.

While they're digging around seeking far-flung instant talent who they don't have to spend time training, they overlook the nearby neighborhood diamonds-in-the-rough, the original foundations of drum corps' Golden Age, poor untrained kids like Mel Torme, Fred Waring and Les Elgart and so many more who became superstars because of drum corps, or the original intent of drum corps anyway.

So if you're panning for gold but ignoring all the little tiny nuggets hoping for that really big score you think/heard might be out there, the call is yours whether your system is worth it to you or not.

Wow! This dude/dudette doesn't hold back at all. He/she really tells it as he/she see's it. Actually, I believe he/she brings up some very valid points. The activity is on a fast track to eventual oblivion. I also believe they are on the road to financial ruin as a whole and individually. I see the fan base dwindling. Personally I do not like all the changes and so called "improvements" they have made to the activity. That is why I have decided not to march my last two years with my corps or any corps. As good and as competitive as my corps is, I was bored to death with some of the things they were doing on the field and musically. I am not looking to debate this. It's just my two cents worth.