Jeff Ream Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 No. A thousand times, no. Putting the brass judge back in the box is the single best decision made by DCA in years. Period. Nothing else comes even close. I agree on brass. I also agree that percussion needs to be downstairs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Correct... let me clarify... I could live with the visual and brass guys working from the "edge" (front, back or sides) but I see no benefit so agree with them being removed to a focal point... However, the SHOW put on by the percussion judge in both DCI and DCA is a joke... anyone who believes that this man can save his own life and still properly evaluate and assist in growth of the line - not to mention proper sampling... well it is NOT possible... anyone who believes I'm wrong - fine... we agree to disagree... we'll disagree. you don't have to put on a show, and many don't. it's called keeping your eyes and ears open. I sat through every corps to perform in competition last year in Annapolis. Tim and John, guys that have taught me a lot and I respect tremendously did a fabulous job of evaluating and rarely getting in the way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I'm 20 years old. I first learned of drum corps in 2006 and went to my first show in 2007. Until marching CorpsVets 2011, CV and Alliance were the only all-age corps I had ever seen. I say that just to admit that I have never enjoyed the harsh quality of un-amplified front ensembles, whether watching a high school band, a college band, or a drum corps. I never liked it in high school, and I didn't like it when I started watching DCI shows from before pit mics. Several of my favorite shows are from the '80's and '90's, so it's definitely not a bias against the entire era. I often wish I had a chance to witness a bottle dance, a sunburst, the original Z-pull, SCV making a whole corps disappear, Phantom's "Bacchanale," Star's cross-to-cross ending, Blue Devils seducing everyone in '92, Star '93, and countless other classic moments. DCI was already mic'd by the time I found it, and that's the sound I fell in love with. I'm certainly not trying to bastardize anything. Thanks for the well-wishes, and I'm sorry the activity isn't what you knew and loved. I imagine the day will come when drum corps becomes something I feel has passed me by, but I'm going to love every minute until then. Wel, I'm 59 years old and first learned of drum corps in 1964, and I agree with you 1000% about the benefits of miccing the front ensemble. BTW...drum corps is still exactly what I knew and loved...great marching/music performances presented by a wonderful group of people. It will never pass you by unless you let it do so. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 liz i said my time has passed. it's no insult. but if you can't see the trend that crowds are smaller and so are the corps. well............that's denial. si i said it be fore and i'll say it again. it's no longer my activity. it's yours. so you can do with it as you want. we did in my day. now it's your turn. i will follow olong but not with near as much interest. more of a passing fancy. i mean what's the sense? you want to turn it into something it wasn't intened to be but that's your choice. it was never supposed to be marching band . it was different. now not so much. so i say good luck with that. be a band. then an orchestra. you can play braums. and when there is 2 shows a year and 5 corps you can say look at how good we're doing. just sayin............the hand writing is already on the wall. and i really don't want to hear all the arguments. Drum corps have always been marching bands. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaritoneBone Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I will put my butt and my family's butts in the seats at as many dca and dci shows as we can handle this upcoming year. If they were doing the old-style dca shows some people around here long for, I wouldn't be interested nor would I attend. Maybe I am an outlier in the broader potential attendance community. I don't know. I'm 27 and a former dci marcher and can afford the tickets so maybe that's part of the difference. Amps or no amps doesn't matter one iota to me--whoever sounds and looks the best should win. I would like to see audience enjoyment / reaction factored into scoring in dca and dci, but i thought that was supposed to factor into GE scores anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donincardona Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Drum corps have always been marching bands. mike your wrong. you need to check out some old videos. it was never MARCHING BANDS. you just showed your ignorance. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaritoneBone Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The difference of opinions re: bands vs corps may be a matter of ambiguous definitions. With the exception of woodwinds, what do people see as the differences between bands and corps? How have those characteristics changed or not changed over the years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The difference of opinions re: bands vs corps may be a matter of ambiguous definitions. With the exception of woodwinds, what do people see as the differences between bands and corps? How have those characteristics changed or not changed over the years? I saw someone say earlier that bands were distinctively different into the 80's. Fall of '81 I joined the marching band and had no ability to know what a corps style band was because I didn't know what drum corps was. When I saw drum corps finally I was able to look at it and think "oh wow, so much like what we do but so much better". I honestly couldn't tell from the not so great video and sound quality that there weren't woodwinds or that the key was different. The area I was in in CT didn't have high stepping bands that I knew of (none that competed at least) and it wasn't until later that I really was aware of that area of band. So yes, I look at bands like that as outdated and maybe there was a time when they all were that way. But generations of marching band members have aspired to be like drum corps in style, technique and demand. I still don't see why that makes marching bands a bad thing, but others here clearly think they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 with the advent of marching band competition in the 70's, and more and more marching bands going corps style as opposed to Big 10/rah rah etc style, really the only difference has been woodwinds for close to 40 yearswhen just looking at instrumentation. of course performance nd even demand has been much higher on the corps end. It's really time to quit arguing about the beaten down into sub atomic particles horse. whats needed now is things that will not only grab the younger viewers and marchers, but also show designs that make people want to come. Those two may not always go hand in hand, and thus the problem. theyounger generation knows amps, and synths. accept it. DCA can NOT...repeat NOT...continue catering the over 60 crowd. That crowd is dying off...it's what has killed shows like Serenade in Brass. Look, I love all eras of drum corps...new, old, in between. But if it's going to keep going, it's got to adapt to what the next generation does, knows and likes. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) I saw someone say earlier that bands were distinctively different into the 80's. Fall of '81 I joined the marching band and had no ability to know what a corps style band was because I didn't know what drum corps was. When I saw drum corps finally I was able to look at it and think "oh wow, so much like what we do but so much better". I honestly couldn't tell from the not so great video and sound quality that there weren't woodwinds or that the key was different. The area I was in in CT didn't have high stepping bands that I knew of (none that competed at least) and it wasn't until later that I really was aware of that area of band. So yes, I look at bands like that as outdated and maybe there was a time when they all were that way. But generations of marching band members have aspired to be like drum corps in style, technique and demand. I still don't see why that makes marching bands a bad thing, but others here clearly think they are. From what I remember in the early 80s in my area (when my sister was in HS) was picking out what band staff was connected to what corps. And in Central PA it was mainly Sr corps as we didn't have any Jrs. And some of the bands did pretty close copies of charts corps had done the previous season. Well... my HS did that too in the early 70s as our Asst BD was in a corps and liked to rechart for our halftime shows. No distinct MB high step styles and main difference in the music was woodwinds. But the style of playing in MB was more subdued compared to DCs, especailly 70s style of corps playing. Easiest way to tell the difference between MB and DC for the non-DC saavy was lack of woodwinds. Edited December 31, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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