BRASSO Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) ... well, the founders of organized field competition, AL and VFW, created it for drum corps and marching band simultaneously and as separate entities. Exactly. Several local circuits as well had 2 separate divisions for competition. One for Drum Corps. One for Marching Band. The competitions oftentimes were in the same show, and the units judged by the same judges that day. To follow the misguided logic on this thread articulated by some, a Marching Band could declare themselves a Drum Corps and compete in the Drum Corps Division ? Because afterall, according to this reasoning, what they call themselves defines what they are ? Umm... I don't think so. No Marching Band could call themselves a Drum Corps and this naming would allow them to compete in the Drum Corps Divsion. Nor could a Drum Corps call themselves a Marching Band and compete in the Marching Band Div.. Its preposterous. Its faulty, irrational reasoning. The notion that anyone can call themselves whatever they want is of course on the face of it true. But does such naming provide certitude that this is what it is ? Of course not. If we buy a cat, we can call the animal a dog... and even name it fido. But can we enter it into a Dog Show. Of course not. Its ridiculous. Its a freaken cat. BUT... can we still be delusional and chose to call our Fido a dog ? Absolutely. But does this make our furry little pet with the whiskers a dog because we choose to call it so ? You tell me. Edited March 25, 2014 by BRASSO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Actually, I contend they need to have SOMETHING that makes them physically different than a marching band. Just saying or claiming you are something different, without something that DOES make you different in a definitive way to the outside world, still makes you another marching band. Working 16 hours a day for 90 days straight in the summer to perfect a field show is a large enough distinction in and of itself. drum corps is an activity, its an ensemble, its a name, its part of a brand, its a branch of the marching arts, and for now does not have permanent usage of woodwinds. But as we're getting more involved and this activity grows "drum corps" is becoming something a whole lot greater than the sum of its parts. Edited March 25, 2014 by charlie1223 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Working 16 hours a day for 90 days straight in the summer to perfect a field show is a large enough distinction in and of itself. drum corps is an activity, its an ensemble, its a name, its part of a brand, its a branch of the marching arts, and for now does not have permanent usage of woodwinds. But as we're getting more involved and this activity grows "drum corps" is becoming something a whole lot greater than the sum of its parts. As this activity grows. Lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 No, It is through authority and/or consensus that we are what we claim to be (for things that are not exclusively quantifiable or scientific) A group can claim to be a drum corps and use synths, all brass, all percussion, and colorguards. An organization called Drum Corps International, its members corps, fans, participants and staff have gained a consensus that this a version of a "drum corps". So we call it a drum corps. Ahhhh.... so, if the 'majority' of people involved with DCI, including fans, that is 50.01% of all involved, claim that DCI is no longer drum corps but a marching band activity like BOA bands, then DCI would no longer be drum corps irrespective of what a few in DCI wanted to call themselves, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Working 16 hours a day for 90 days straight in the summer to perfect a field show is a large enough distinction in and of itself. drum corps is an activity, its an ensemble, its a name, its part of a brand, its a branch of the marching arts, and for now does not have permanent usage of woodwinds. But as we're getting more involved and this activity grows "drum corps" is becoming something a whole lot greater than the sum of its parts.Shame, isn't it, that after all that toil and effort they put on their big show in an acoustically inferior stadium, overamplify so much that the lower instruments sound like goo, utilize artificial synthesized sounds that drown out the performers, have untrained kids sing, fill the air with general talking they call "narration", and so forth? All of which, individually and collectively, inhibits the ability to hear and appreciate the fruits of their great efforts? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Drum corps has always been marching band, This is just historically factually incorrect. Otherwise, lots of local circuits before DCI would not have set up separate and distinctive Divisions for the two within their circuit organizations They were easily identifable and clearly distinquisable from the other by the instrumentation utilized.. So when you state here " has always " you are simply dead wrong on this....and with all due respect, as wrong as wrong can be. Edited March 25, 2014 by BRASSO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Ahhhh.... so, if the 'majority' of people involved with DCI, including fans, that is 50.01% of all involved, claim that DCI is no longer drum corps but a marching band activity like BOA bands, then DCI would no longer be drum corps irrespective of what a few in DCI wanted to call themselves, correct? If enough people who are familiar with/ actively a part of it decide that it is no longer drum corps, (ie a consensus) then yes, it could no longer "functionally" be considered drum corps. Because now the functionality of using "drum corps" to describe DCI corps is compromised by people who are familiar with it/have descriptive authority over it. This is how many words that were commonly used BITD are now considered curse words or inappropriate in modern society. once Mobile Telephones became more high end and had more capabilities it wasn't functional to call them "cell phones" anymore, so we use a new word "smart phones" which has gained a larger consensus on usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Shame, isn't it, that after all that toil and effort they put on their big show in an acoustically inferior stadium, overamplify so much that the lower instruments sound like goo, utilize artificial synthesized sounds that drown out the performers, have untrained kids sing, fill the air with general talking they call "narration", and so forth? All of which, individually and collectively, inhibits the ability to hear and appreciate the fruits of their great efforts? Oh... was this post directed at me? Go complain to someone else... Edited March 25, 2014 by charlie1223 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I agree that DCI has been around for 40 plus years. But if you want to pose it that way it is more like if I studied and worked as a General Practicing Nurse in the medical field for over 40 years then one day decided to just up and call myself an ‘expert in Neurology’. I might call myself that; but the actuality of the situation is that I am no more an expert in Neurology than any other PRN; and woe to the person who believes my ‘expert in Neurology’ claim. Not really. DCI has been an organization running competitive summer marching bands for 40+ years now. Not like they were a baseball organization that decided to start a drum corps circuit in their off-time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 This is just historically factually incorrect. Otherwise, lots of local circuits before DCI would not have set up separate and distinctive Divisions for the two within their circuit organizations. So when you state here " has always " you are simply dead wrong on this....and with all due respect, as wrong as wrong can be. Were they marching, and a band? I don't think you can get a straighter definition than that of a marching band. Bunch of people together in uniforms playing instruments to a pre-designed visual program, even if it's a parade block 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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