chaos001 Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Why is attendance down by half at finals? Because the number of corps is down by more than half. It's that simple. The huge crowds back in the day were driven in part by the abundance of corps participating. The drop in attendance (paid or otherwise) since the 70s owes mostly to the disappearance of corps primarily in the 80s. It's not because high schools bands are good, bad or something in between (though you might argue that the improvement in high school band programs is one of many factors that have led to fewer corps). HH "What is oversimplification, Alex." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 (edited) Why is attendance down by half at finals? Because the number of corps is down by more than half. It's that simple. The huge crowds back in the day were driven in part by the abundance of corps participating. The drop in attendance (paid or otherwise) since the 70s owes mostly to the disappearance of corps primarily in the 80s. Part of the reason anyway. Local shows I helped with and attended BITD had a lot of non-DC people (never did corps, knew no one in the corps) in the stands. Fairly cheap to attend these shows and the melody of (entire) songs being played made it more entertaining for less musically inclined people. LOL - have a pair of nationally syndicated comic strips from the mid 70s that had "Drum Corps" as part of the punch line. For various reasons we really fell off the map as far as being known to the general public. But honestly.... look at the prices of Finals over the decades along with travel costs and (yes) cost to park the flippin car. You just HAVE to be a slobbering DC fan to want to pay what it costs anymore and that number is going down. It's not because high schools bands are good, bad or something in between (though you might argue that the improvement in high school band programs is one of many factors that have led to fewer corps). Still say rising costs and decline of sponsors had more to do with the decline but *shrug*. What keeps getting missed is Sr corps had the same type of decline just like the Jrs..... public school had little to do with that. And as far as members being more talented today. IMO that's a given as the less number of availible marching slots would lead to the more talented getting the limited slots first. Plus who in their right mind is going to pay a lot of money in dues and other costs for something they are not that good at. Edited January 24, 2013 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 (edited) OK finally had a chance to watch it.... +1 from me.... What I enjoyed most was the youngin' actually realized (and said out loud) that the current generation may be grumping about DC in the future like some are doing now. LOL, learned that lesson years ago when I heard complaints about marching bells and lack of Color Pre in 1975 and I thought "what was their problem, this is great". Yes.... "that ain't Drum Corps" was used... what goes around... comes around.... :worthy:/> PS - we threw Hushpuppies not Vipers(?)... Edited January 24, 2013 by JimF-LowBari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 (edited) ...why are the Finals attendance crowds approximately half to a third of what they used to be ? The crowd at Pasadena five years ago was on par with the best of the mid-80s Madison years, which would lead me to believe that location is a bigger factor than audience sentiment over the product. Keep the location interesting, and you add an incentive to make Finals week part of your summer vacation. In Indy's defense, even in its worst year, it still drew better than Miami in '83. There were more corps then, but fewer butts in the seats. Edited January 24, 2013 by mobrien 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammaster Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I got to watch semi finals live on my great vintage stereo and had not one idiot talking during a show. Sure live shows are great but if I can have the choice between watching a show at home with one day off or going across the country... That is why attendance is down don't ya think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Regardless of what any of us think about the current state of drum corps vs. "back in the day".... This is a funny video. Kudos to the young man who put it together! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) PS - we threw Hushpuppies not Vipers(?)... LOL... honest to God, I have no idea which brand(s) of shoes I wore while marching. All I remember is... I had shoes on. Edited January 25, 2013 by Fran Haring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) Why is attendance down by half at finals? Because the number of corps is down by more than half. It's that simple. The huge crowds back in the day were driven in part by the abundance of corps participating. I see..its " that simple ". So, if the G7 should decide to go out on their own outside DCI, since this number of corps is" down by more than half ", following your " simple " reasoning thats easy to understand, their attendance they draw at shows will be " down by more than half ". You probably have a point and if the assessment is correct, its probably one of the principal reasons they havn't left. Edited January 25, 2013 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Regardless of what any of us think about the current state of drum corps vs. "back in the day".... This is a funny video. Kudos to the young man who put it together! :thumbup:/> I agree. He makes an interesting point and in an interesting and fun way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) Marching bands now days are pretty good! I was very impressed with the last few years I have been going to shows. the drumline thing in HS is getting quite big. It's just a matter of time before we have HS drum and bugle corps IMO. Personally, I don't think we will, for this reason: The drum corps season is during the summer. Competitive high school marching bands start putting their field show together during the time of the DCI tour. Perhaps if both groups used the same music and had the drill written so woodwinds could be added for the fall with minimal changes. That would be quite an undertaking, but isn't impossible. Guard placements would have to be push back in some cases to accommodate the addition of the woodwinds. Some brass placements would have to be altered to get the woodwinds up front in certain features. It could be done, but it would be a headache. On the plus side, the brass would mostly know their show, and would likely just have to learn where to tacet when the woodwinds carried the music. And the guard would have their show down pat, with the exception of having to change drill placements as mentioned above. Edited January 25, 2013 by Michael Boo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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