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IRS complaint filed against DCI?


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There were always more marching bands in the United States than there were drum corps. Most marching bands are connected with school music programs and that was the case years ago. They did not compete until the later 70's and 80's, but kids in marching bands always outnumbered drum corps which is part of what gave a kid in drum corps pride--they were part of a special and select group. In the heyday of drum corps there was always a tension between school programs and drum corps. There was also a tension between school programs and the CYO bands that competed in the Boston area. High school programs feeding into drum corps was unheard of years ago, but that has changed over the years and since we wouldn't have drum corps without this change, it's a good thing.

I think it is somewhat a mistake to see the current competitive marching bands as a replacement for drum corps. For one thing, competitive marching bands are most often found in areas of the country that were not the hotbeds of the drum corps activity. I think the variety of sports programs as well as the ability to travel with certain teams, a wider variety of dance and drama programs, and more cost effective youth activities outside of school are more significant factors. Better school music programs may be a factor, but keep in mind most drum corps of the glory days were not founded to teach music, they were started to give kids something to do, especially in the pre-DCI days.

I would love to see circuit days again, drum corps that are not very good but have heart and involve kids of a range of abilities, but for that to happen we probably have to do away with soccer, hip hop dancing, and the local theater group. These activities are probably where the kids who would have been in drum corps can be found. If we think that eliminating music from schools would help drum corps, which would be wrong on so many levels, think again. We've seen school boards eliminate music programs all across the country, but they have not been replaced with drum corps in the community.

Competitive marching bands ARE a replacement for drum corps. You will find marching bands in places with local drum corps and without. Drum Corps started out with "giving kids something to do" except now there is literally a million things kids can do. Drum Corps is marching band and if you value kids doing something, working hard, competing in circuits, marching in parades then you should be very happy that highschool marching band has replaced small regional drum corps! If you aren't than maybe you need to reevaluate the reasons you think drum corps is "better" than highschool marching band. More kids are involved in the marching arts than ever before that's a fact for sure why does it matter if the unit is called a marching band or drum corps?! Makes no difference.

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You are correct... as Mr. Atchinson probably doesn't even appreciate people dragging him into something he's not involved with in the first place.

Speaking of which, who is this Mr. Atchinson guy anyway that we are forming opinions on today ? I don't know much at all regarding either Blair or Atchinson. But perhaps several others do here and can enlighten us on who these 2 are and understand better the motivations and the substance here with any of this. I never heard of either one of these guys until I read it on DCP today on Blair and " Atchinson ". Whats either of their backgrounds, ?.... and does either of these backgrounds make the complaints illegitimate or legitimate simply by virtue of " their backgrounds ". ? If so, I did not know that we judge people by " their backgrounds ", instead of the substance or the lack of substance of the complaints themselves, and thats usually determined after a complete look by the proper authorities given the responsibility oversight to look into things such as this and determine if ithe complaints are essentially nonsense, or has some merit. Right now, we have people like you forming opinions on a complaint and you can't even get the principals names right, before forming an opinion one way or the other.

People like me? I spelled a name wrong. Stop the presses. Meanwhile we have you who feel so self righteous as to write a whole paragraph over a misspelling? Classic. And Sad.

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Competitive marching bands ARE a replacement for drum corps. You will find marching bands in places with local drum corps and without. Drum Corps started out with "giving kids something to do" except now there is literally a million things kids can do. Drum Corps is marching band and if you value kids doing something, working hard, competing in circuits, marching in parades then you should be very happy that highschool marching band has replaced small regional drum corps! If you aren't than maybe you need to reevaluate the reasons you think drum corps is "better" than highschool marching band. More kids are involved in the marching arts than ever before that's a fact for sure why does it matter if the unit is called a marching band or drum corps?! Makes no difference.

I think you're missing my points. Outside of DCP, my work involves education, families and youth activities in a religious setting, so I probably evaluate drum corps a bit differently. If you look at where most drum corps could be found until the 1970's, a very high percentage were from urban settings in industrial states. Many were formed to provide a healthy outlet for kids' energy and give them an opportunity to do something constructive. This was something good and positive. Today most of these areas do not have competitive marching bands. It is a more suburban activity, not necessarily affluent, but definitely suburban and in some cases rural, and in the states where marching bands rule, there were very few, if any drum corps. Speak with anyone who knows the history of drum corps and they'll probably agree with at least some if what I say and they'll agree that Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma where many excellent bands hail from were never drum corps havens and none of the best bands today hail from Revere, MA, Brooklyn, NY, or Bayonne, NJ.

Also if you take away the parents and educators who value music education out of the matching band equation, your forgetting the real movers and shakers of the school band programs. Speak with the BOA and YEA folks next summer in Indy and they'll agree with me. Yes many of the big names have drum corps backgrounds, but not the majority in all fifty states and since a good number have probably not seen a drum corps perform, they certainly don't see their efforts as merely replacing.

My purpose was to recognize the merits of both activities. Seeing marching bands as a "replacement" diminishes what they are accomplishing and diminishes what drum corps has contributed. Also replace in my opinion means putting something in place of something that previously existed, and in my collection of old photos I have a marching band dating back to 1908, long before Cadets, BAC, Madison, or Racine Scouts. Marching bands did exist before drum corps so they are not replacing anything, instead they are being given recognition.

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Interesting conversation now regarding bands vs. drum corps. I would only correct/add my thoughts that we tend to see these activities as competing (i.e. vs.) but in fact they are complementary; it's the same kids, just during the summer. So as to which is better...

Bands are better for expressing the general music theory and instruction kids receive during the school year,

Drum corps are better for giving kids a full-time experience as a (pseudo) professional performing artist. All show, all day, every day.

The serious students should do both, in all parts of the country. And the world.

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...Right now, we have people like you forming opinions on a complaint and you can't even get the principals names right, before forming an opinion one way or the other.

If we're going to go after spelling, can we go after grammar (particularly the underuse of possessive apostrophes) as well?

Sorry, couldn't resist because the door was left so wide open. :)

I'm now going back to staring at rocks.

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Interesting conversation now regarding bands vs. drum corps.

...

"Mission creep" in threads (usually referred to "derailment") has in the past been a quick way to see threads get closed down by moderators. I hope that doesn't happen here as the initial premise of this thread is so intriguing and amusing (in sort of a sad way). The question of bands vs. drum corps comes up every year. It's always worthy of discussion, but I hope someone opens up a different thread for it so this one can stay open until its natural expiration.

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If we're going to go after spelling, can we go after grammar (particularly the underuse of possessive apostrophes) as well?

Sorry, couldn't resist because the door was left so wide open. :)

I'm now going back to staring at rocks.

And the (mistaken) overuse of the apostrophe to pluralize a word too - please?? Absolutely hate that one.

Chicago Bulls, not Chicago Bull's

I particularly love it when someone does that for one plural word in a sentence, and not for another - as if there is a rhyme or reason for the error.

Sorry for the rant - carry on...

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And the (mistaken) overuse of the apostrophe to pluralize a word too - please?? Absolutely hate that one.

Chicago Bulls, not Chicago Bull's

...

Unless it belongs to the Benny the Bull mascot of the Chicago Bulls.

Edit: Okay...I just realized I'm not helping this thread stay on track.

Edited by Michael Boo
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