MikeD Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 The good news here is that the vast majority of detractors of modern Drum Corps shows have left and they're not around to complain anymore... and they're not coming back either. So, as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. Both for them as well the Corps show designers of today. The folks that clammored for sweeping show changes won. The war's over. It just a matter now of everyone coming to grips with the BD, and their shows, now being the standard bearer of the activity. Most of the newer fans are on board, but some are scratching their heads still and asking themselves if this the best show out there and if this is what will advance the activity and bring new fans into the activitity to replace the thousands upon thousands that simply threw up their hands and left for good. If you read show reviews from around the country there are lots of fans attending shows. I experienced that first hand earlier this year, as one example...I could ONLY buy a ticket for the back stands or SRO by the fence at ground level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) I think that changes were going to take place in Drum Corps no matter what. But we are talking about the degree, depth, magnitude, breadth of a wholesale transformation of the activity here.These have been MASSIVE changes. I've reluctantly come to grips with it all, or I wouldn't still be here following it and still cheering on the performers each summer. Edited July 26, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musclebud Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) Like I stated in my statement that you quoted. It's a battle of generations, as it has been for anything in the past for any other "issue". Even the styles of concert band literature is changing. In the past you heard a lot of Sousa/Holst/Vaughn Williams literature, now you hear a lot of John Mackey/Steve Bryant/Eric Whitacre style literature. It's the nature of art itself. To take this back a few centuries ago, baroque music may totally sound the same, piece by piece, but to many historians it doesn't. These older styles captured what was "acceptable" back then. Art is about breaking away from what is acceptable, and expressing how you feel about something. I'm not saying that drum corps is trying to "stick it to the man", but it is trying to be more creative than it was even last year. "It's a battle of generations". Really? Thanks for turning a difference of opinions into a cause for war. To reduce art to as nothing more than "breaking away from what is acceptable, and expressing how you feel about something" may work for you and your argumentative nature, but please don't use your personal definition as a substitute for differences in perception. Art is about a lot more than thumbing one's nose to what came before. As the old adage goes.... "art is in the eye of the beholder" and the mere destruction of what came before is not necessarily artistic. I am not sure if you are advocating the idea that change is and of itself art, but when you reduce it to a battle of generations is seems that you are suggesting that what is new is better and more worthy of the word art than what came before. I thought 1983 Garfield Cadets was art..... but apparently it no longer warrants that definition. And yes that is SAD. Edited July 26, 2012 by musclebud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Not surprised, Northern Thunder. These corps ( as just one example ) could not be more different. I can understand folks who make not like something from an earlier deade ( or even from today ). But to watch and listen to, for just one example, the 1977-79 Phantom Regiment and then the 1977-79 Bayonne Bridgemen and conclude that there is a " sameness " there, well that observation and evaluation just goes clear right over my head. That makes no sense to me at all. Oh well, as Rosanne Rosannadanna used to remind us... " well,.. it just goes to show you. If its not something, then its something else ". But you are doing the same thing in reverse with this statement: "VK and SCV were MUCH further apart in styles and shows than are BD and Crown this year, imo." I happen to agree that through the 70's show styles got much more unique among individual corps than the prior era (to the chagrin of the legcy fans of that era, if you recall). But I totally DISagree that Crown and BD are remotely alike in their show concepts...they are just as unique as the various 70's corps you are talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c mor Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I marched 8 yrs total, 3 with BD way back in wins #1 & 2. Due to life stuff, I lost touch with DC in general...just an occasional show. For a while, I lamented the changes. However, once I scored a pad, some sticks, a metronome, and some of the exercises/music from today's lines...I got hooked again. I'm enjoying it all. Went to ATL show last year, ( going again Sat) EVERY CORPS is amazing when I think about everything that goes into getting that performance on the field. Personally, I feel it is my responsibility to standing ovate (verb form) all the units. The drum corps experience is still the same for the members. The velocity is cool, the short snare sound is exactly what we were trying to achieve when we cranked our silver dots until shells caved in. Tenors and basses are playing snare parts all together clean! I have heard old timers like me say they couldn't do what they do today. I say, as into it as we were back then, I bet we'd all be doing whatever necessary to march. I don't know about all the discussions about direction/decline of DC. All I know : 1) It is wonderful standing in front of a horn arc while that brass sound hits me. 2) It is wonderful standing in front of a drum line feeling the concussion of percussion pounding me. I just close my eyes, hold my arms out to my side, tilt my head back, and enjoy. But that's just me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) If you read show reviews from around the country there are lots of fans attending shows. I experienced that first hand earlier this year, as one example...I could ONLY buy a ticket for the back stands or SRO by the fence at ground level. The rubber will hit the road however in about another decade. The test will be whether or not the marchers of today remain devoted fans of the activity, and will become financial contributors to the activity... volunteers to the activity, future staff and judges to the activity, support it with their time, energy and dollars.Start their own new Corps perhaps. Will they return to march a reunion Corps 25 years from now to show the younger audiences of 2035 what their entertaining group did for the fans in 2012 by making them throw babies and go wild with delight in 2012 ? If they value and cherish the activity as previous generations have that have passed the torch to them, it will survive. If they walk away from Drum Corps after marching a year or a few, and consider it a summer's excursion and the torch passed to them has the flame go out, then Drum Corps will die. I don't think its any more complicated than this, Mike. Edited July 26, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 The rubber will hit the road however in about another decade. The test will be whether or not the marchers of today remain devoted fans of the activity and will become financial contributors to the activity... volunteer to the activity, support it with their time, energy and dollars. Will they return to march a reunion Coops 25 years from now to show the younger audiences of 2035 what their entertaining group did for the fans in 2012 by making them throw babies and go wild with delight in 2012 ? If they value and cherish the activity as previous generations have that have passed the torch to them, it will survive. If they walk away from Drum Corps after marching a year or a few, and consider it a summer's excursion and the torch passed to them has the flame go out, then Drum Corps will die. I don't think its any more complicated than this, Mike. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musclebud Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) The rubber will hit the road however in about another decade. The test will be whether or not the marchers of today remain devoted fans of the activity and will become financial contributors to the activity... volunteer to the activity, support it with their time, energy and dollars. Will they return to march a reunion Coops 25 years from now to show the younger audiences of 2035 what their ene tertaining group did for the fans in 2012 by making them throw babies and go wild with delight in 2012 ? If they value and cherish the activity as previous generations have that have passed the torch to them, it will survive. If they walk away from Drum Corps after marching a year or a few, and consider it a summer's excursion and the torch passed to them has the flame go out, then Drum Corps will die. I don't think its any more complicated than this, Mike. I hope they will. Maybe our children will pile their kids into the family hovercraft and head to a stadium and watch a drumcorps show. Maybe even Santa Clara playing selections from The Planets....... Jupiter, Mars, Seti Alpha 6 and Gideon 4..... the old and new planets all included. Edited July 26, 2012 by musclebud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I've been following drum corps since the mid 1970's. At heart I am a Key opf G, traditional guard guy. My favorite years would be between 1977 and 1981, with the late 80's thrown in for good measure. I'm old enough to remember Phantom doing Stravinsky in 1978 and people being very critical of the music choices. People who marched in the 50's and 60's were not all that crazy about what would now be considered "old school." The arguments haven't changed, only the frame of reference. Bottom line, many of us look back to the corps of our youth and nostalgically hold on, at least I do. While I may love the back in the day corps, I still enjoy and respect what corps do today. Yes, there are times I question music choices, color guard outfits, drill design, etc., but I did years ago too. Every year there is always something that becomes a favorite. I am also very impressed with the kids I've met who march. They seem to be motivated, love to talk about their shows, and have a lot of enthusiasm. Now is that all that different than back in the day? I find going to shows like old home week and love it when new fans need explanations of what is happening on the field and all kinds of debates begin among us "experts" (in our own minds). I also find that I get enthused about corps from their websites and Facebook pages. I just downloaded San Antonio so when I'm in Allentown next week and Indy soon afterwards (this summer is flying by too fast!), I'll know the musical book. I take the time to know the different corps, and I enjoy it. Drum corps is not the same today as yesterday, and yes there are some traditions we have lost that I wish we hadn't, but I still love it and probably always will. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Yea for trolls: hip hip - hooray!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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