Standing O Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 As I have a totally different opinion on HS marching band I will keep this response just to the drum corps activity. I have watched drum corps budgets slowly clime and keep wondering when people will finally say enough is enough. I for one would like to see more kids involved in the activity, not just a few elite groups. Does any group really require a staff that does not travel with the group the entire season? Does an extra semi just to haul props around to support a wana-be Broadway designers ego justify the added expense? All of these types of expenses eventually trickle down to the MM. The activity started out as community based youth groups and I do miss this type of focus. I do think that Star got it right when they decided to create lasting product and moved it to the stage. A sound financial strategy for what they wanted to do. Outdoor drum corps is seasonal so how do you justify the added expense for a short term investment with little return for most of the units (not to the MM). Yeah you have a couple of Hot dogs at the top who are profiting but those at the top will fall too if they continue to escalate the financial demand for a teen to be able to march. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I luv this activity, think that out of control budgets and egos may not lead to the demise of the activity, but may end in a units existence. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) As I have a totally different opinion on HS marching band I will keep this response just to the drum corps activity. I have watched drum corps budgets slowly clime and keep wondering when people will finally say enough is enough. I for one would like to see more kids involved in the activity, not just a few elite groups. Does any group really require a staff that does not travel with the group the entire season? Does an extra semi just to haul props around to support a wana-be Broadway designers ego justify the added expense? All of these types of expenses eventually trickle down to the MM. The activity started out as community based youth groups and I do miss this type of focus. I do think that Star got it right when they decided to create lasting product and moved it to the stage. A sound financial strategy for what they wanted to do. Outdoor drum corps is seasonal so how do you justify the added expense for a short term investment with little return for most of the units (not to the MM). Yeah you have a couple of Hot dogs at the top who are profiting but those at the top will fall too if they continue to escalate the financial demand for a teen to be able to march. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I luv this activity, think that out of control budgets and egos may not lead to the demise of the activity, but may end in a units existence. try securing a rehearsal facility without a big budget compared to days gone by. Money has got to come from somewhere. Its a new day................well has been for decades actually. Unfortunately loving the activity isn't enough anymore. There were some great people back in the day who did things for the love of it. drum Corps needs a sharp mind. Heart over head is a big reason you dont see hundreds of corps anymore unfortunately. A very different world and that's not just about drum corps. There's the good and bad of that. Edited December 31, 2014 by GUARDLING 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 As I have a totally different opinion on HS marching band I will keep this response just to the drum corps activity. I have watched drum corps budgets slowly clime and keep wondering when people will finally say enough is enough. I for one would like to see more kids involved in the activity, not just a few elite groups. Does any group really require a staff that does not travel with the group the entire season? Does an extra semi just to haul props around to support a wana-be Broadway designers ego justify the added expense? All of these types of expenses eventually trickle down to the MM. The activity started out as community based youth groups and I do miss this type of focus. I do think that Star got it right when they decided to create lasting product and moved it to the stage. A sound financial strategy for what they wanted to do. Outdoor drum corps is seasonal so how do you justify the added expense for a short term investment with little return for most of the units (not to the MM). Yeah you have a couple of Hot dogs at the top who are profiting but those at the top will fall too if they continue to escalate the financial demand for a teen to be able to march. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I luv this activity, think that out of control budgets and egos may not lead to the demise of the activity, but may end in a units existence. The activity actually was initially ignited by the formation of drum and bugle corps based from veteran organizations such as American Legion and VFW Posts close to 100 years ago. At that time the corps were comprised of members from those veteran posts as an activity and social outlet. Only after time did the junior drum and bugle corps aspect develop---from that beginning. Most of the instructors of the junior corps were volunteers coming from the various service organizations veteran ranks. In the case of the Kilties, they were founded in 1934 by Mr.Raymond Vance as an activity to teach drumming and bugling at a YMCA summer camp, with most of the volunteer instructors being members of American Legion Post 76; the Post of the "Boys of 76". The drum corps activity was initially formatted to be a simple volunteer performance and social outlet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) As I have a totally different opinion on HS marching band I will keep this response just to the drum corps activity. I have watched drum corps budgets slowly clime and keep wondering when people will finally say enough is enough. I for one would like to see more kids involved in the activity, not just a few elite groups. Does any group really require a staff that does not travel with the group the entire season? Does an extra semi just to haul props around to support a wana-be Broadway designers ego justify the added expense? All of these types of expenses eventually trickle down to the MM. The activity started out as community based youth groups and I do miss this type of focus. I do think that Star got it right when they decided to create lasting product and moved it to the stage. A sound financial strategy for what they wanted to do. Outdoor drum corps is seasonal so how do you justify the added expense for a short term investment with little return for most of the units (not to the MM). Yeah you have a couple of Hot dogs at the top who are profiting but those at the top will fall too if they continue to escalate the financial demand for a teen to be able to march. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I luv this activity, think that out of control budgets and egos may not lead to the demise of the activity, but may end in a units existence. OK what would be the most basic cost of starting a corps, let's say equipment only. What community type groups could afford it or if they could would say the money could be used in a another way to help a greater number of kids. Bill, what I read about Jr corps starting in AL Posts was the WWI vets were getting older and having kids so wanted to pass down the values to the next generation. So the Sons of the American Legion (SAL) was started in the 1930s. SAL activities at some Posts included sports, scholastic activies and yep.. drum corps. s/ member of SAL Post #14 (Hanover, PA) Edited December 31, 2014 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yutsi Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 the price certainly keeps some people away... but for many corps, with multiple people lining up to audition for each spot, I don't think there would be a benefit to the corps to charge less. Likewise no incentive to cut camps. I do think corps are now doing assignments between camps with youtube/facebook. Drum corps is generally an upper middle class activity, IMO... they are the ones that can afford to drop thousands of dollars to do this. I know kids that have taken time off from school to march, and kids that have taken out student loans and used some of that money to march as well. As far as HS, I know it is really expensive at the top of the BOA world, but I don't really know what it costs at an average high school... I would guess it doesn't cost too much. I'm now a senior in high school, and having been through 3 years of a non-competitive high school marching band, I frankly find it ridiculous that some high school bands require so much money from the students for props and electronics just so they can be competitive. I think eliminating the high school band competitive circuit would do the world a favor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Don't forget pants and underwear One should NEVER forget their pants and underwear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Sorry, Bill, but your Midwestern bias (not just the Kiltie uniform pictured) is skewing quite a bit of your historical perspective.\ The Midwest drum corps scene does have much of the origins you suggest except for the German triangle (Cincinnati to St. Louis to Milwaukee and back) where even prior to the 2 WWs there were various community drum corps, fife and drum corps, drum and bugle corps and bands. The American Legion and VFW are 20th century creations. There were drum corps elsewhere in the country way before them, especially in the Eastern states. On the Coasts, with a much greater immigrant presence, Europeans brought their small town pride perspective to forming community bands. On the East coast, drum corps were more due to the various youth movements of churches, community organizations (like volunteer FDs), etc. Town to town competitions are pictured in photographs from the 19th century and before Eastman and Kodak made their cameras so prevalent. CT and Mass. have paintings of these corps going back to the time before the American revolution. On the West Coast, various churches, schools, and community groups were the source of drum corps as American population shifted. Veteran posts are a small part of the whole although more modern eyes may see them as the rules source for DCI/DCA. However, there were/are other approaches to competition and contests. The musters, field days, and parades are just as much part of the source history. Do the research beyond what Steve Vickers, a Midwesterner, may have presented in his two volume, exhaustive, but skewed work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) Sorry, Bill, but your Midwestern bias (not just the Kiltie uniform pictured) is skewing quite a bit of your historical perspective.\ My response was directed that another poster eluded to the sense that the drum & bugle corps activity started as a youth activity; when that is not the case whatsoever. Edited December 31, 2014 by bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I'm now a senior in high school, and having been through 3 years of a non-competitive high school marching band, I frankly find it ridiculous that some high school bands require so much money from the students for props and electronics just so they can be competitive. I think eliminating the high school band competitive circuit would do the world a favor. Yes, it would lower costs, but would also lower the quality of the product. No real need to go for high quality because there's no competition. And it deprives students of the ability to work in a competitive environment and build those skills, especially those that want to go to the DCI level. There are lots of circuits out there for smaller bands that don't use props and electronics. Bands can find the circuits that work best for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Actually, getting credit for an "elective" device or prop that does nothing toward the education of the students is rather misguided and short sighted. MORE credit should be given for those that do more with less, not the other way around. Simply throwing money around to get a higher score kind of defeats the whole premise of what is trying to be achieved. Marching Band (drum corps) is not the be all and end all of music education and IN FACT IMHO is not translated well into the real world. Personally, I would LOVE to see local circuits back to help the kids that really need it the most but frankly there needs to be a need large enough to support it. Couple that with the snobs that can't taint their ears to beginner level music and performance and half the people that visit these forums wouldn't support it anyways. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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