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Full Time Careers in Drum Corps?


Ch1k3n

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Somewhere like YEA might be a good starting point.

They have their fingers in many pies including The Cadets.

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Outside of management, I'm betting there are at most 2-3 people who make a living teaching drum corps. Get a college education, learn as much as you can about non profit management and become a corps director. Even then, some have second jobs.

Alternatively, get an education in something that allows you to participate in drum corps but doesn't require you to make a living at it (e.g. Music education).

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Somewhere like YEA might be a good starting point.

They have their fingers in many pies including The Cadets.

They have a job posted right now...might only be a few months duration during band season though.

My nephew worked for them this summer in the office and on the road, while waiting for school to start. He got paid a little bit.

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I'll be turning 27 years old in December and have been doing pagentry full time as a career for 5 years already. Teaching drum corps is MAYBE 3% of my annual income. Writing drill for marching bands is about 94% while the last 3% being random marching clinics, etc.

Drum corps is not "my career" but is my career all at the same time. (Not sure if that came across the way I meant it to) Teaching drum corps is how I got the "street credit" to be able to write marching band drill for a living at a very young age.

It's a tough market to break into with no benefits, long hours, a scary tax season, etc. But there are also many perks to it. Make sure you're 100% committed to it before you decide to do it and be prepared to be really hungry for the first couple of years. :-p

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Hello!

So I have been thinking about what I want to do for my career when I grow up, and since I love Drum Corps, it would only be natural for me to want to have a full time job working with corps. I would love to do some sort of instruction, I really would like visual and maybe help out with music, but I don't really know if this would be a realistic job opportunity, as I'm sure most of the instructors are volunteers.

I would love to work on a personal level with a corps, and was just wondering what type of schooling I would need so that I could have to chance to.

Thanks!

I know two full-time instructors (non-design in drum corps). One of them teaches brass out in CA with a world class corps, but he makes much more teaching a BOA-circuit group (they make it out to Grand Nationals every couple of years) and gigging. Has a wife and kid, so he's not exactly getting rich.

The other teaches guard for several corps. In the off-season, she instructs/designs for bands and winterguards in the suburban Atlanta area (groups loaded with booster money). That's pretty much all she does (some judging too) and makes a somewhat decent living.

It's possible to make a career out of instruction, but you need to live in the right areas (CA, TX, IN, GA come to mind). And that's only a fraction of the battle.

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I have directed, taught, arranged and volunteered. I really like playing the alumni card now: come in, help a bit as needed, maybe clinic a bit and follow the corps. I also am able to donate monies, which are always needed and I play with a couple alumni corps as well. The most fun I ever had was volunteering, btw.

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You want to make drum corps a full time career? Get a degree in business and intern/get experience in the non-profit world. That's your best shot.

Another option is to marry a rich Princess.... sort of like the updated and modern day version of the Cinderella Story . Then as the worldly Prince, one is free to do the full time Drum Corps teaching thing throughout the Drum Corps Kingdom.

Edited by BRASSO
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DCI itself has a paid staff. I'm not sure how many are full time, but some presumably are. (Of course they are not actually 'doing drum corps' as far as I know, but it would be a great way to be a part of the action.)

Can anyone certify that there is even one full-time (let's say, with a benefits package) employee of an independent drum and bugle corps, or it's parent organization? All the jobs people have listed seem to be primarily funded via marching bands, which would be government money or college money. Drum corps are independent non-profits. I'm not sure even the directors are actually full-time legally. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Devils have some. Is Wayne Downey full-time? Scott Chandler?

Anyone outside of BD?

The marching arts must be the only activity where the 'big time' elite units are basically volunteer and go bankrupt regularly, while the lower level (BOA) have thousands of employees around the country and a comparatively steady cash supply. Odd, isn't it?

It sounds like you have a choice: Either get a degree in music/performing arts education, and do drum corps on the side, or take the high risk approach of committing to one of the very scarce careers in drum corps by spending all your time doing that on a volunteer basis. I think many of the famous instructors came up through the ranks and don't have a degree in education. If it doesn't work out you have nothing to fall back on, but you'll have great memories. Better yet, pick a college near a corps you want to work with. Volunteer while getting your visual arts/music education degree. Maybe you can earn internship credits toward your degree, not to mention lots of experience, and you will be THE MAN (Woman?) at the corps practices ("Oooh, that's the pro guy"). Hmm. Why didn't I think of all this 30 years ago?

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DCI itself has a paid staff. I'm not sure how many are full time, but some presumably are. (Of course they are not actually 'doing drum corps' as far as I know, but it would be a great way to be a part of the action.)

Can anyone certify that there is even one full-time (let's say, with a benefits package) employee of an independent drum and bugle corps, or it's parent organization? All the jobs people have listed seem to be primarily funded via marching bands, which would be government money or college money. Drum corps are independent non-profits. I'm not sure even the directors are actually full-time legally. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Devils have some. Is Wayne Downey full-time? Scott Chandler?

Anyone outside of BD?

yes, Jeff Fiedler is the full-time CEO and Director at SCV. That is his full-time job is running the corps now. He took over that spot in 2008, and has since run an amazing organization, and really got the winterguard going and winter drumline started up. Both are very strong, very competitive units, outside of the two drum corps the SCV organization has.

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