corpsband Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 This contention that competitive marching band hasn't substituted in some important way for drum corps seems silly. It's like claiming cars didn't substitute for horses and buggies a hundred years ago. Of course they did. They don't have to be the same to affect one another. Marching band isn't drum corps. But it has over the past 30 years provided some marchers with an experience that in some aspects substitutes for the drum corps experience. That's only logical. All that should left to dispute is degree. Kids used to learn music and marching in drum corps. Kids now learn music and marching in competitive marching band. Not every community had a local corps. Not every community has high schools with CMB. Local corps served a small number of participants in a geographically narrow area. CMB serves students across the entire country. Local corps prepared kids for nationally touring corps. CMB prepares kids for nationally touring corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 This contention that competitive marching band hasn't substituted in some important way for drum corps seems silly. It's like claiming cars didn't substitute for horses and buggies a hundred years ago. Of course they did. They don't have to be the same to affect one another. Marching band isn't drum corps. But it has over the past 30 years provided some marchers with an experience that in some aspects substitutes for the drum corps experience. That's only logical. All that should left to dispute is degree. Now see, when you say it like that, it seems reasonable. My only quibble is with the first sentence....because I don't see anyone claiming there's no overlap at all. (Though my Nintendo comment may get misinterpreted....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownisking Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 1354801748[/url]' post='3232162']I'd like to see World Prelims be a full OPEN format, meaning a full random draw for the day. Maybe the thing I dislike most about the entire season is the buildup to FINALS WEEK, and the first 10-ish (small) corps that go in the first 10-12 slots on the day perform in front of like... 75 people in the stands. Wouldn't it be cool to mix it up, do the Prelim performance draw BOA-style (i.e., completely random), and then do the seeding for Semis and Finals from the Prelim competition? Wouldn't it make the crowd larger for all corps? Sure, someone might not go stay all day, but I think the overall average per-corps crowd would be bigger for everyone except possibly the last 7-8 corps in the current format. Open draw Prelims would be awesome. Sorry, I just don't see this as a good idea. The folks who actually care to see the smaller corps know to come early. My least favorite thing about BOA is having to suffer through the bands that aren't very good or entertaining and it's obvious that their band director just took them for "the experience." No disrespect intended towards any of the small groups, but I think the format they have now works just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actucker Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Kids used to learn music and marching in drum corps. Kids now learn music and marching in competitive marching band. Not every community had a local corps. Not every community has high schools with CMB. Local corps served a small number of participants in a geographically narrow area. CMB serves students across the entire country. Local corps prepared kids for nationally touring corps. CMB prepares kids for nationally touring corps. Thank you for explaining this way better than I could. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Kids used to learn music and marching in drum corps. Kids now learn music and marching in competitive marching band. Not every community had a local corps. Not every community has high schools with CMB. Local corps served a small number of participants in a geographically narrow area. CMB serves students across the entire country. Local corps prepared kids for nationally touring corps. CMB prepares kids for nationally touring corps. Great post! You nailed what I was trying to convey. Better than I did, for sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Kids used to learn music and marching in drum corps. Kids now learn music and marching in competitive marching band. Not every community had a local corps. Not every community has high schools with CMB. Local corps served a small number of participants in a geographically narrow area. CMB serves students across the entire country. Local corps prepared kids for nationally touring corps. CMB prepares kids for nationally touring corps. The part I bolded above is misleading. Back in the day, there were corps in a great number of geographic areas. Membership in those corps was not strictly limited to people living in one town. Today, there are competitive marching bands in different geographic areas - admittedly, a greater number of bands and a great number of areas, but not all the areas that drum corps used to cover. And membership in these bands IS limited to students of the high schools that have those bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 The part I bolded above is misleading. Back in the day, there were corps in a great number of geographic areas. Membership in those corps was not strictly limited to people living in one town. Today, there are competitive marching bands in different geographic areas - admittedly, a greater number of bands and a great number of areas, but not all the areas that drum corps used to cover. And membership in these bands IS limited to students of the high schools that have those bands. Oh, I disagree. When there were 440 drum corps, primarily local-based, large geographic areas had little access. Travel back then was not as cheap or easy as it is today, relatively speaking. In the first field corps I belonged to, in 68 and 69, we had nobody further away than 20-30 minutes drive from my town. In Garfield we had primarily NJ-based members from no more than an hour away, with a few exceptions. Drum corps was more "local" back then, which means a lot of kids had zero access or even knowledge that it existed. Bands cover far more areas than corps ever did. There are not the number of urban competitive bands to match drum corps of the 50's and 60's, but then there were fewer corps by the late 60's and early 70's as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Oh, I disagree. When there were 440 drum corps, primarily local-based, large geographic areas had little access. Travel back then was not as cheap or easy as it is today, relatively speaking. In the first field corps I belonged to, in 68 and 69, we had nobody further away than 20-30 minutes drive from my town. In Garfield we had primarily NJ-based members from no more than an hour away, with a few exceptions. Drum corps was more "local" back then, which means a lot of kids had zero access or even knowledge that it existed. Bands cover far more areas than corps ever did. There are not the number of urban competitive bands to match drum corps of the 50's and 60's, but then there were fewer corps by the late 60's and early 70's as well. What did you actually disagree with? You start your post with "Oh, I disagree" - but then say nothing that contradicts any of what I said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Oh, I disagree. When there were 440 drum corps, primarily local-based, large geographic areas had little access. Travel back then was not as cheap or easy as it is today, relatively speaking.... I'll back you on this. I grew up in Lynchburg, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Though we marched "corps" style and even brought in luminaries like George Zingali to work with the band, though we played Crown Imperial and Channel One and did the bottle dance, the more than 200 of us in the E.C. Glass band in the 70s knew drum corps only vaguely. There were no corps we knew of between Spirit in Atlanta and Crossmen in Philly - eight hours or more in either direction. The notion that we would travel to join one was a futuristic and fantastic as Star Trek. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 (edited) The part I bolded above is misleading. Back in the day, there were corps in a great number of geographic areas. Membership in those corps was not strictly limited to people living in one town. Today, there are competitive marching bands in different geographic areas - admittedly, a greater number of bands and a great number of areas, but not all the areas that drum corps used to cover. And membership in these bands IS limited to students of the high schools that have those bands. No it's not misleading at all. Drum corps weren't strictly limited to locals but they were (with the exception of the nationally touring corps) almost exclusively local. Having an organization that is theoretically open to members across the entire country but whose membership was entirely within 10 miles of a town center is a distinction without a difference. Not sure why you're repeating a point I already made. CMBs are mostly available to students at a particular school (although there are exceptions they are probably rare). But the important point is this: CMBs make participating in the marching arts available to a FAR LARGER base population than drum corps. Even in it's heyday, unless you were somehow affiliated with a VFW, AL, or other sponsoring org, many (most?) kids were simply unaware of drum corps. And it was highly regionalized with the bulk of these located in specific areas of the country. For example, at it's peak, how many drum corps in Texas? Now let's compare that number to CMBs in Texas. How many students in those school districts are at least aware of the CMB? It dwarfs drum corps at it's peak. Not even going to mention the educational aspect. Most drum corps weren't not providing at ... erhmm .. 'rigorous' musical education. I'm not unaware of the positive aspects unique to community drum corps. Many local corps were reaching urban youth who are often left behind by CMBs and certainly left behind by $3000/season fees. But CMB has indeed supplanted (and in most aspects surpassed) local drum corps back in the day. Are they identical? No. But far more students participate (and far far more students are at least aware of ) the marching arts. Edited December 12, 2012 by corpsband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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