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Have drum corps evolved into bands?


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Really Jeff? Take a look at a video of the Troopers from the 60s or early 70s and convince me that the public would not go gaga at a parade if a corps that looked and sounded like the Troopers came MARCHING down the street in a current parade. I'll bet the response would be a hell of a lot better than that of the current day corps who walk the parade waving to the audience while having conversations amongst themselves while playing quintessential John Phillips Sousa music.

Edited by Sunrifle
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Drum corps has always been bands.

uummm not rue. we did come from bands but BITD the instructors were not band directors or instructors. now all of the instructors are from bands. as for drums they play unison with very little counter rhythms. we didn't play the that. it was rhythms and counter rhythms. and the drill is very much like band but ours wasn't but no matter. it is what it is. we did come from band way back when.

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you do realize that most people on the streets for a parade don't give a flying #### about straight lines, instrumentation, etc? They care about something thatmakes them clap.

the days of the general public being gaga over military precision from any unit that isn't a military unit are long gone.

yeah jeff i don't know about that. people love when rifle corps do their thing. yes it's military but people love it. but you could very well be right. maybe people don't care.

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I've noticed the people at parades enjoy the music more than anyting else. Given that there are less and less musical groups in parade anymore that might be the cause. Marching is one thing but when people see the horns come up at times you can hear the "all right" comments.

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Free floating snare drums appeared in DCI's top 12 in 1988. Kevlar heads a few years prior to that. Are you really bringing up an argument from 25 years ago?

Mike

Yup. This goes back to parts of what I was saying earlier/yesterday. There is a need by some to rehash and retrash things that have been around for decades now. And for those who feels I was unjustified in what I was saying, that's fine. Living in a long gone past is for you and that if that is what works for you, more power to you. I do understand looking back at things nostalgically. It is when the degrading of what is being done out there on the field comes out that I get my ire (or Irish) up. Sadly, there is a whole lot of that whether you want to admit it or not.

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uummm not rue. we did come from bands but BITD the instructors were not band directors or instructors. now all of the instructors are from bands. as for drums they play unison with very little counter rhythms. we didn't play the that. it was rhythms and counter rhythms. and the drill is very much like band but ours wasn't but no matter. it is what it is. we did come from band way back when.

You're absolutely right. You played "rhythms and counter rhythms". Today's percussion sections play MUSIC.

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Yup. This goes back to parts of what I was saying earlier/yesterday. There is a need by some to rehash and retrash things that have been around for decades now. And for those who feels I was unjustified in what I was saying, that's fine. Living in a long gone past is for you and that if that is what works for you, more power to you. I do understand looking back at things nostalgically. It is when the degrading of what is being done out there on the field comes out that I get my ire (or Irish) up. Sadly, there is a whole lot of that whether you want to admit it or not.

liz you are right. people don't like change. when i marched the old timers knocked what we were doing. we changed things. and it was good. but they didn't like it. having said that i don't like what drum corps has become. but it is what it is. time marches on. things will change. and 20 years from now if drum corps still exists we will not recognize it from what it is today. that's the way it is. so i say let the younger people do it their way. it's theirs now. our time has passed. sound good?

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I applaud you Don! I really do. :thumbsup:

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liz you are right. people don't like change. when i marched the old timers knocked what we were doing. we changed things. and it was good. but they didn't like it. having said that i don't like what drum corps has become. but it is what it is. time marches on. things will change. and 20 years from now if drum corps still exists we will not recognize it from what it is today. that's the way it is. so i say let the younger people do it their way. it's theirs now. our time has passed. sound good?

Truth. History repeats itself when it comes to stuff like this...

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[...]

And for a time reference, I am an '80s/'90s BITD'er. Marched my first season with a DCA corps in 1991. Maybe that is one of the reasons that all those who wish to bring drum corps back to the 60' or 70's, or even to put a name to it, prior to the Zingali era, drives me bonkers.

Do they all drive you bonkers? Or is it just the ones who voice disrespect toward modern drum corps?

I don't have a problem with pits, I think those who say "If you can't carry it, it shouldn't be on the field" are very stupid people who are apparently mailing in their responses to DCP because they couldn't be so modern as to have a computer. :rolleyes:

Just a month ago, we had a thread on the DCI side asking what we would change if we had the power. One of my suggestions was based on an observation I had from seeing Japanese bands/corps on video. They only use as much equipment as the corps members can bring on/off with them. They still have full pits, flag changes, and some props. They are also able to set up in one minute flat, and get all their stuff off the field that quick too. And with a common sense equipment limitation in place, their groups are not going bankrupt left and right in mid-season. So I suggested I would make that change in DCI. Am I stupid, then? (I probably am, for wading into this.)

[...]

A fine post (and not just the parts I've quoted).

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