BRASSO Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) I think the reasons for talent distribution were a bit different back in the day- more luck than anything based on the locale and staff. Sure.. agreed.. There were lots of reasons for the talent dissemination. including, but not limited to, geography, luck, family discretionary incomes vs. costs to participate,, exposure to the activity,, national TV visibility, sheer numbers of Corps in US and Canada, etc... all accounted for it. Edited February 19, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) The activity has changed, quite dramatically, over the years. Look at the audition requirements, the level of music being performed, and the speed of the programs. Look at the types of kids participating. In WC, most of the kids are in college, and many (if not most) are music majors. I see you're alluding to the discussion about allowing more/different instrumentation and electronics. Drum corps is a different activity than high school or college marching band-different history, different traditions, different types of members. I don't see those distinctions as being a bad thing. Different doesn't mean good or bad, just different. I'm curious that you believe the level of music being performed today is higher. I think it's different. My perspective is that the level of the music (for the brass at least) is often lower; much of the meat is now shifted to the pit. The playing style is different as well. The instruments are different too. A LOT of this is simply due to arrangements, instruments, and pedagogy; not the performer. So, maybe the level of the music being performed in the pit is higher? Also, the speed of the programs isn't quite as high as it was in the past, post 80s corps. Remember it used to be faster, higher, louder... It seems recently that "drill" is giving way to "visual" in modern programs. Drill speed isn't always the emphasis. It's more about upper body control, carriage, and posture at whatever speed is being performed. All the other things you mentioned are more refined today. That's what happens when given time to perfect how to do something. We tend to get more organized. By the mid-80s to the early 90s, there were tons of college music majors participating in DCI. I was one of them and knew a bunch as well. Thing is that we also had multi-year corps only members that weren't college music majors, but they came up through corps, so I guess that is a complete switch to today. I know before this time (like in the 70s) what you say holds true, but DCI has been trying to attract the people you're talking about forever and that switch happened even before the oldest marchers in DCI were born. The biggest change is that today's marchers have a few more options in what they do with their summer. I don't think the the kids have changed, but their circumstances have changed, so I think that's where I don't agree with you. Edited February 19, 2014 by jjeffeory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I think the reasons for talent distribution were a bit different back in the day- more luck than anything based on the locale and staff. With fewer units necessitating the need for many to travel, members are more likely to choose their desination corps. If you have to travel to audition and call-back camps, winter camps, training and tour, it's no surprise there's going to be a higher concentration of talent for the most successful corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 With fewer units necessitating the need for many to travel, members are more likely to choose their desination corps. If you have to travel to audition and call-back camps, winter camps, training and tour, it's no surprise there's going to be a higher concentration of talent for the most successful corps. The irony of this thread for me is that oftentimes we hear in some quarters on how much the marchers of today are like the marchers of BITD in almost all respects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) The irony of this thread for me is that oftentimes we hear in some quarters on how much the marchers of today are like the marchers of BITD in almost all respects. Only if you don't care about specifics and nuance. Edited February 19, 2014 by charlie1223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Well I see another dcp thread has bored into the bug dust and missed the point. OP said times have changed, kids have changed, so why shouldn't drum corps change? And we took it into the ditch arguing over how many talented kids there were. If the OP's point is that times and kids have changed, I can't argue with that. I remember my sheltered childhood with 3 tv channels. The information available to kids today in comparison is stunning. I still remember watching "Signal 30" in driver's ed and almost vomiting right in class. It was one of those shock movies showing body parts from car crashes, trying to scare the crap out of you so you'd drive carefully. I bet kids today have been exposed to blood and gore scenes just on cable tv, not to mention the Internet. Anyway, kids have changed. Should drum corps therefore change? Well, has the reason kids do drum corps changed? Likely. I would suspect kids today are more likely to be looking for advancing personal music careers. If that's the motivator, versus, for example, doing it for the adrenaline rush of an excited crowd, then we shouldn't be surprised drum corps shows of today tend to have less audience appeal. Doesn't make it better. But might help to explain it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) Only if you don't care about specifics and nuance. True. There are lots of both similarities as well as differences between the typical marcher in DCI ( and DCA as well ) of today than in previous eras. Even the mission statements between the Corps themselves were not always uniform ( same as today we could point out ) Edited February 19, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) The activity has changed, quite dramatically, over the years. Look at the types of kids participating. In WC, most of the kids are in college, and many (if not most) are music majors. . ... And no current male marcher or potential male camper subject to ( for just one example ) a possible mandatory draft into the US military at age 18, 19, 20, 21 by their Federal Government too. So of course, things do change over the years and that make the typical camper and marcher of today both alike and also dissimilar in some respects, Edited February 19, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I would be more at ease with this topic had the OP stated that kids' circumstances have changed - training, family, money, etc - but kids have not changed. Kids in corps want the same rush of competition and performance that kids of earlier generations wanted. People don't change. Their circumstances do. On a separate issue, who contends that drum corps hasn't changed? Surely you jest. Drum corps provides a completely different circumstance from past decades - better food, more money, more highly qualified instructors - but the base experience is exactly the same as it was in past years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) No, I don't believe that I conveyed that assumption at all with my comments above. If I did, let me disabuse you of that interpretation of my remarks, ie I do not believe that there was " an identical distribution of talent in drum corps of both eras ". Quite the opposite as a matter of fact. If your theory is "there were WAY more kids back then so there were actually way more of all kinds of kids (including Talented Kids) back then" then yes you *did* make that assumption (even if you weren't aware of it). Edited February 19, 2014 by corpsband 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.