Jeff Ream Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Which alumni show did you go to? The one I attended was far from empty, despite the rain. But the DCA Alumni Spectacular is a popular punching bag these days. One must remember that these are, to a large extent, "alumni corps". As such, membership is sometimes limited to participants of past corps, and show material is sometimes limited to reproducing the past. They do not compete. They do not match their level of achievement back in their competitive days. Some such groups cater to the limitations of performers who are now greatly advanced in age. It is amazing that they do as much as they do with those challenges. The timing and marketing of their Sunday morning event is obviously only a side attraction in the overall scope of DCA weekend. What makes anyone think there is some greater conclusion to be drawn regarding style and audience draw by comparing the Alumni Spectacular to current competing corps? because few if any of the other alumni focused shows run get more than 1500 people to show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Actually I really knew this answer BUT was trying to make a point that some think that their generation ( new or old ) decides this. As far as band , there has been over the years a cross between the both. Drum Corps people are the ones who invaded the band arena merely for the cash. Drum corps people crossed the styles and eventually went back and forth with themes as well as appearance . Drum Corps people also brought with them people within the band world including members and educators. As far as electronics, I don't think it's a matter of needing them to move forward ( which many might say ) I do think it's a matter of wanting them to move forward. Many decades we had so many rules , even the tempos of a show, inspections, etc etc. Drum Corps re- grouped to decide their own paths. This. to me , is no different. Todays drum Corps decides to change the rules we may have had for creativity purposes and i'm sure other reasons. Todays drum corps leaders WILL change the activity for many reasons including serving todays members. Personally, I say as long as the activity is still around and as long as we can still be leaders, so be it. JMO Just like always ( mostly ) DCI implements DCA follows 5-10 years later. This was certainly IMO a sure bet. No surprise at all. I'm honestly surprised amps took so long. 10 years after DCI. Synths etc only 5. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Seems like we have heard this before. People were saying just a year ago that amping the pits would not lead to full blown electronics. Now here we are. DCI and DCA want woodwinds no doubt about it. They just want to time it just right so they don't #### off a large section of the alumni. DCI and DCA slowly erroded into marching band by Going to Multi key, then amping the pits then full blown electronics then to concert band instruments. Had they tried to get all of that at once there would have been a revolt like crazy and the stands would have been empty and alumni contributions would have declined rapidly. No woodwinds are coming. Cant say when but they are coming. Someone will get it voted in by saying we need the added color and they will only be used for solo work. They have to have the woodwinds because a lot of serious music majors that's their primary instrument and we are keeping them out of DCI DCA. Ive heard Hopkins blabber that enough to know that is the spin they are putting on it. So YES woodwinds are coming. Welcome to MArching Band Planet. just because Hop wants it doesn't mean it'll happen. if it does, it's years off. Even the other G7 teams aren't screaming for woodwinds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Suddenly picturing Fran Haring with a wireless mic on a front-field stage in the Sunrisers 2015 production... That's what he said. That's what Cixelsyd said. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I'm honestly surprised amps took so long. 10 years after DCI. Synths etc only 5. Hey... at that rate, DCA will be five years ahead in 10 years!!! LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Food for thought regarding Woodwinds: It takes fairly large sections of them to make enough noise. Like the strings in an orchestra. When you have digital instruments capable of providing that timbre and only needing a very few people to perform on them and can be set up and balanced appropriately to the percussion and brass, Why? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Food for thought regarding woodwinds: it takes fairly large sections of them to make enough noise. Like the strings in an orchestra. When you have digital instruments capable of providing that timbre and only needing a very few people to perform on them and can be set up and balanced appropriately to the percussion and brass, Why? The reason I would prefer a woodwind section to the synthesized version is that part of the appeal of drum corps, to me, is seeing hard work pay off. Synthesizers, by comparison at any rate, are the "easy button". They're just less impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 It's quite the opposite: corps need to cater to smart kids. Kids can go to DCI, they can stay in band, or they can do DCA... and DCA is supposed to be like band, only better and cooler. Well, without all of the same options, it wasn't like band. Close, but not quite. Ah, but if, as you said, kids see synthesizers as cutting edge, and they only want what's cutting edge, then that's what I'm saying is dumb about them. Basically they aren't mature enough to know what's really good, so they gravitate to shiny toys, is what you're saying. This isn't a new problem, of course. It reminds me of a quote from about twenty years ago, that came from a book called Dumbing Down: "What seems to have disappeared in just a generation or so is the willingness we used to have to defer judgment until we had enough experience and breadth of knowledge to make a judgment. The students, more socially ambitious than intellectually curious, feel put upon and won't abide what they believe to be the absurd and arbitrary demands of their instructors. The instructors have devised a way to pander to this classroom anarchy by incorporating it into their peculiar hermeneutic theories of literature -- or else they have abandoned faith in the very idea of objective worth. They don't have the nerve to stand there at the front of the classroom and announce what is painfully obvious: 'You're young, you're dumb, and you're wrong.'" OK, so most if not all generations feel that way about their successors (thus your amusing remark about anti-gravity boots); still, that doesn't make it untrue. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Why do scholastic bands march whole sections of woodwinds, then? Several reasons: 1) Because they are already part of the overall music program 2) They can contribute musically to a great extent, without gimping the brass and percussion to do it 3) Numbers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Seems like we have heard this before. People were saying just a year ago that amping the pits would not lead to full blown electronics. Now here we are. DCI and DCA want woodwinds no doubt about it. They just want to time it just right so they don't #### off a large section of the alumni. DCI and DCA slowly erroded into marching band by Going to Multi key, then amping the pits then full blown electronics then to concert band instruments. Had they tried to get all of that at once there would have been a revolt like crazy and the stands would have been empty and alumni contributions would have declined rapidly. No woodwinds are coming. Cant say when but they are coming. Someone will get it voted in by saying we need the added color and they will only be used for solo work. They have to have the woodwinds because a lot of serious music majors that's their primary instrument and we are keeping them out of DCI DCA. Ive heard Hopkins blabber that enough to know that is the spin they are putting on it. So YES woodwinds are coming. Welcome to MArching Band Planet. Your post, as usual, is ridiculous. 1. No one said "amping the pits would not lead to full blown electronics" Quite the contrary actually, and if I'm wrong, cite some sources to back up your claims (after all, you did say "people"...name some and link to their posts). 2. DCI and DCA do not want woodwinds. In fact, there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO desire for woodwinds among the instructor's caucus in DCI. None. Zip. Nada. ntil you can convince that group otherwise, the entire topic is dead. You clearly have no understanding of the DCI rules congress process, and it shows. 3. There is absolutely not one shred of evidence to support your assertion that "woodwinds are coming". 4. Drum corps (DCI and DCA) has *always* been "marching band" despite the elitist claims of folks throughout the history of the activity. 2 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.