Kamarag Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Then why have some activities grown in the same time period? Take youth soccer, for example....or competitive marching band. I'm sorry, but "more choices" isn't even a valid excuse, much less the primary one. It's absolutely a valid reason. Since the 80's alone, kids have exponentially more potential choices, and more kids than ever are participating across the board. I know tons of kids who would otherwise participate in drum corps if they weren't already doing five or six other things simultaneously. All you need to do is talk to a few kids in your local school band to see just how involved in other activities they really are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Expert_has_spoken Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Agreed....somebody is having fun with red minuses....i helped you out there. dont know what a "red minus" is... Im assuming its an alcoholic.... but never the less, dont care... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Expert_has_spoken Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 It's absolutely a valid reason. Since the 80's alone, kids have exponentially more potential choices, and more kids than ever are participating across the board. I know tons of kids who would otherwise participate in drum corps if they weren't already doing five or six other things simultaneously. All you need to do is talk to a few kids in your local school band to see just how involved in other activities they really are. Well that's the fault of American culture... kids are over extended, exhausted, burnt out, suffer from ADD, addicted to pharmaceutical grade narcotics to treat it and then end up working well down the line for someone who is a bit more adjusted and mentally stable in life... like a European. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Well that's the fault of American culture... kids are over extended, exhausted, burnt out, suffer from ADD, addicted to pharmaceutical grade narcotics to treat it and then end up working well down the line for someone who is a bit more adjusted and mentally stable in life... like a European. Wow, generalize much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin I. Zing Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) there seems to be an awful lot of outrage from some people that corps who ARE winning aren't "as entertaining" as some others. Well, if it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, right? If all someone wants is to be entertained, they shouldn't care about the scoring system one way or another. Martin I. Zing, on 08 August 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:My prediction . . . RE: 2013 CHAMPIONSHIP The term MOST POPULAR CORPS might be created as early as next season and this will be determined by a vote that is tallied following the performance at the end of the season. It will NOT be counted by scores of a dci set of judges. It will be calculated from a combination of online devices. The only question is whether dci will play a role in this voting or not. If this same vote where held today, it is doubtful that BD would finish in the top 5 finishers. In the long term, this will be good for BUSINESS. Plan9 responded: Agreed. However, the "fan favorite" (voted on line) from previous years announced at finals night never meant much nor lessened the angst in the crowd when it didn't coinside with the judges. As I recall CC basically owned it. I agree and scores mean nothing to me. I would just as soon get rid of the COMPETITIVE part of the activity but I know others are convinced that it is needed to keep the young adults motivated. That is why I would suggest that a formula and method be developed to allow audience LIVE participation in voting for winners. It might also be tied to some additional way to increase revenue. At the very least, it would make the audience feel more involved in the process and force the show designers to give the audience more consideration in their decision-making. I think it would still be competitive amongst the various corps and members and the level of difficulty would be the same, but the overall product would be very ENTERTAINING. The result would be larger audiences. More fans. More financial security. And maybe, new corps. Edited August 9, 2012 by Martin I. Zing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Expert_has_spoken Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Wow, generalize much? generalize? its the actual statistics and reality of the situation... by global comparison, US students are far behind in the basic fundamentals and necessary skills... it doesnt help also that the WHO since the mid 90's, still ranks the US as the #1 country in the world with the highest % of emotional and mental disorders (1 in 4 people)... what do you think that does to society at large? Have you seen much broadcast media? or the way people act/think? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 (sigh) Maybe we'll never solve anything on DCP....but this won't get solved in the DCI boardroom either, or anywhere else, as long as people view these issues in black/white with no shades of gray. For instance, the timing, content and font of the OP will inevitably cause polarized responses from those who think DCI can do no wrong, and ridicule from the "I like waffles" crowd. But let's look at the key assertion made within: Thanks to the "rich get richer" system that was employed, whereby winning corps made more money on tour, the activity is dwindling to a select few who attract all the kids. And if it were up to certain people, there would only be 10 corps in the whole country, and doing it on their own "tour". Now, bearing in mind that both DCI and their predecessors used systems that fit this description....what do y'all think? True or false? (Oh, sorry - there's that black/white thing again.) I find some truth to it. There has to be....DCI was created so that a subset of corps (the DCI member corps) could claim a greater share of the revenue from their events. But of course, to claim that alone is killing the activity when that's how things were done prior to DCI....well, it's not that simple. Conversely, though, I wouldn't say this either: There are many more reasons, but I think the important thing to know is that DCI did not cause this decline. To be fair, I snipped this one sentence out of the context of one of Mr. Willis' thorough and well-reasoned posts which made several dozen excellent points....but a little rewording would go a long way here. Of course DCI didn't single-handedly cause every last bit of decline in drum corps. But they have some culpability....and therefore, some ability to turn things around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fan guy Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Why there are fewer corps now than there used to be is a complicated phenomenon that has many interworking causes, however, a decline in the entertainment value of shows is by no means one of these factors. Drum corps is not main stream American entertainment. What this means is that no one becomes interested in drum corps without being introduced to the activity by another person. Music, T.V., Movies, Major League Sports, Pop Stars, Reality TV Celebrities. These forms of entertainment are available and readily accessible through the mainstream american media culture fabric. Drum corps, we have to be honest, is far removed from this fabric. So an increase in the "entertainment" value of shows is not going to bring in new fans. It won't be noticed by anyone outside of the drum corps world. Entertainment is a subjective value anyway. I think what a lot of people here mean by "entertainment" is in fact "accessibility." Or the ease with which a layman can approach, understand, and enjoy a drum corps show. In order for someone do even understand or make sense of a drum corps show, one must us a frame of reference to compare what they are seeing to something similar in order to make sense of it. We do this with everything. You watch a new T.V. show, you compare it to other T.V. shows. Most people come into drum corps with, believe it or not, marching band or public school music programs as their frame of reference. This makes it easy for them to understand drum corps because, quite understandably, most marching band programs in the country are modeled after drum corps. I think for drum corps to be more popular, shows actually have to get less traditionally "entertaining" in the drum corps context. Drum corps shows that many on this forum would consider "entertaining" are in fact only so in the context of drum corps where a frame of reference is necessary to be entertained. The more abstract and far removed drum corps becomes from drum corps as we know it, the more notoriety drum corps will attain, not in mainstream american media - drum corps is never going to break into that - but in, yes, twenty first century abstract performance art. This is what drum corps most is now. What it should continue moving towards as it has been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 So an increase in the "entertainment" value of shows is not going to bring in new fans. It won't be noticed by anyone outside of the drum corps world. I think for drum corps to be more popular, shows actually have to get less traditionally "entertaining" in the drum corps context. These two statements seem contradictory to me so I'm totally confused on what you're saying here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Please tell me how the number of Highschool Marching Bands have increased over the past 30 years. Please tell me how number of activities for highschool/college age students during the summer have also increased over the past 30 years. Where is the Context in any of this? Wait, I thought the number of high school marching bands have DECREASED over the past 30 years!?! I mean, they're not very big in some parts of the country... Oh wait, you didn't mean COMPETITIVE high school marching bands, and I'm ignoring the fact that a bunch of new high schools have opened in 30 years.... Anyway, you make a good point! The high school marching band scene has pretty much replaced that kind of drum corps.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.