What really makes Drum Corps so different

[MikeD]

and that's where I see a huge problem

Which is why DCI has reached out to the scholastic programs...they have to change with the times. In order to survive they have to. When there were 400+ corps cycling people through, many spending years in the activity, creating hardcore fans was 'easier'. With so few corps, and with members spending a year or two marching, the model HAS to change IMO.

You still get recent ageouts teaching corps...at the HS where I teach, three of our young staff (which is half) also teach drum corps or indoor, including the band director. A lot of the young techs today are recent marching members, from talking to various staff at shows.

[tesmusic]

I don't think there are quite as many elitists in the band world. Drum corps definitely has more of those, so that's nice.

[Mello Dude]

..or think they are which is actually funny.

[BRASSO]

. DCI is doing OK...but IMO they can do more to reach a wider group of that potential audience. I don't think there will ever be the hardcore audience that existed in the past. But...with the potential for audience in band programs, that audience is a constantly evolving .

Almost all of the numbers growth of both participants and units has been outside of North America. This trend will continue, imo. There are young posters on here that will someday witness a Drum Corps INTERNATIONAL World Class Division Champion from overseas, my guess from the Peoples Republic of China or perhaps Japan. It won't happen overnight, but that is where this is headed in the decades hence, imo..

Edited December 29, 2013 by BRASSO

[Stu]

IMO Honda is sponsoring the BOTB for more than the musical reasons...it is as much for the social aspect as anything. from their website:

"The Honda Battle of the Bands was created to celebrate, support and recognize the excellence of Black college marching bands and the unique academic experience offered by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Honda annually awards more than $205,000 in grants to participating marching bands during the program period. Honda Battle of the Bands is in its 12th year and we look forward to many more."

http://hondabattleofthebands.com/event-info.php?page=about

And if a business minded marketing professional was secured at DCI, and that professional's sole purpose was to secure sponsorships by pounding the pavement, keeping at it, plowing through hundreds if not thousands of times hearing the word 'no' to hear the few 'maybes' which then turns into an occasional 'yes', the following statement is a viable possibility (using a fictitious business name for this example):

"The Truck-Line DCI Tour was created to celebrate, support, and recognize the excellence of the non-profit marching music organization of Drum Corps International and the unique performance experience provided for youth offered by DCI. Truck-Line, Inc. will annually offer this sponsorship to help sustain the operational services provided by DCI at various DCI events. The Truck-Line DCI Tour is in its first year and we look forward to many more."

[drumno5]

ScoutMello, on 28 Dec 2013 - 2:06 PM, said:

Just because it worked in [DECADE] doesn't mean it would work today. That's a faulty assumption based on nostalgia.

I agree. Its impossible to replicate earlier decades Drum Corps, as the current instrumentation alone makes it impossible for this reason alone. So Its out of the question we should all be able to agree upon it seems to me.

Hear, hear. Well said.

Fred O.

[Jeff Ream]

Even if true, that is still one person talking...not what was contained in the proposals themselves that were voted by the BOD.

ah but come on...Hop knows all!

[Jeff Ream]

Which is why DCI has reached out to the scholastic programs...they have to change with the times. In order to survive they have to. When there were 400+ corps cycling people through, many spending years in the activity, creating hardcore fans was 'easier'. With so few corps, and with members spending a year or two marching, the model HAS to change IMO.

You still get recent ageouts teaching corps...at the HS where I teach, three of our young staff (which is half) also teach drum corps or indoor, including the band director. A lot of the young techs today are recent marching members, from talking to various staff at shows.

but they don't stay for life in the numbers needed. I know people that marched less than 10 years ago that teach that havent been to a show since they aged out

[N.E. Brigand]

In Hopkins's official 2007 proposal for electronics, he absolutely did say that one reason the change was needed was that DCI needed to continue to attract large audiences like he saw at shows in Texas, and that those audiences were primarily composed of young people, and that those young people had been raised on rock 'n roll rather than opera--and that while there was a chance of losing the older audience, those who came to know drum corps in the mid-1970s, by making this change, those people weren't going to be around forever anyway.

Why on earth Hopkins thought that drum corps fans in their forties and fifties were likelier to prefer opera to rock, I can't imagine.

He also grumbles in the proposal about "introverted pondering productions" that aren't "jovial" and "fun", which seems hilarious in light of Cadets' 2008 show.

[Gary Matczak]

but they don't stay for life in the numbers needed. I know people that marched less than 10 years ago that teach that havent been to a show since they aged out

not only that, but they do not support the activity, and they do not encourage the people they teach to participate in corps as they want them to attend summer marching band rehearsals and camps,.............as a matter of fact, many corps alums that teach in my neighborhood discourage participation.