totaleefree Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totaleefree Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 As it stands they are paying $12 - $15 to see the same three corps over and over now. Who's to say they wouldn't be willing to pay the price of admission to see the entire circuit? Might be worth a try. Again, I'm not saying that it should be down here, but I don't think we should discount ANY other location purely because of speculation on whether people would turn out or not. Dan I had thought that last year, when 2 top 10 corps were from ATL. and there is also a DCI Corp in town so there might be a sizable crowd to be attracted. Not sure how many alumni Corps would make a trek like that though. Hopefully next summer instead of 3 corps doing the DCA south thing there should be a Florida corps back in the mix and possibly another Corps so it could be $10 for 5 Corps. As for comparing the Winston Salem debacle of 11 years ago to championships that was a mid season contest with maybe 6 corps, and the host Corps had only been around maybe 4 years plus the weather was horrible. In the past 11 years a lot more folks in the south have been introduced to DCA. In 1999 or 2000 Crown had a free show in Columbia SC and Corpsvets did an exhibition, No one down there had ever seen a Corps with older folks in it. Now every year 20k folks (actually maybe 10k that early) get to see Corps at DCI ATL, and as Dan noted their booth is flooded with folks asking about DCA and how weekend Corps work. So I think DCA actually has a much better shot in South now than it did 11 years ago. However as many people have said many times someone has to take the time and some risk to put together a bid and prove it to DCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Well I'm still quote-feature challenged... Guardling - first of all I kind of rail at your characterization as "kiddie corps" - that's fairly condescending of kids who are willing to get off the couch and go march drum corps. I know it won't be SCV - WHO CARES??? Do you want kids doing something or would you rather they set at home playing Minecraft? And they won't stay that age forever - kids grow. They learn and they improve, and they move on to the big leagues (all age) in time. Kids who can't afford the time or money to do DCI would buy into this. There's no way any 18 year old is going to leave Cabs to join a startup with 12 year olds in it, but in all honesty, even if there was a temporary hit to the membership of the existing all age corps, so what? Do you want new blood in the activity or not? MikeD - you mention HS band. It's not drum corps. We're talking here about keeping DCA alive. The bands have been around for a century or so and apparently, that's not helping if we're having this discussion. We need more corps to have more people involved with the DCA brand - younger people who will grow with the activity be here for a few decades. Are youth corps a bad thing? It seems like every time I advocate for them, in one form or another - there's a few folks willing to shoot the idea down. I love how the status quo is great in the areas we are weak, but status quo must be shunned in the unimportant areas - like instrumentation. Do you want more kids or more keytars? Priorities, people.... Edited September 22, 2015 by Grandpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Well I'm still quote-feature challenged... Guardling - first of all I kind of rail at your characterization as "kiddie corps" - that's fairly condescending of kids who are willing to get off the couch and go march drum corps. I know it won't be SCV - WHO CARES??? Do you want kids doing something or would you rather they set at home playing Minecraft? And they won't stay that age forever - kids grow. They learn and they improve, and they move on to the big leagues (all age) in time. Kids who can't afford the time or money to do DCI would buy into this. There's no way any 18 year old is going to leave Cabs to join a startup with 12 year olds in it, but in all honesty, even if there was a temporary hit to the membership of the existing all age corps, so what? Do you want new blood in the activity or not? MikeD - you mention HS band. It's not drum corps. We're talking here about keeping DCA alive. The bands have been around for a century or so and apparently, that's not helping if we're having this discussion. We need more corps to have more people involved with the DCA brand - younger people who will grow with the activity be here for a few decades. Are youth corps a bad thing? It seems like every time I advocate for them, in one form or another - there's a few folks willing to shoot the idea down. I love how the status quo is great in the areas we are weak, but status quo must be shunned in the unimportant areas - like instrumentation. Do you want more kids or more keytars? Priorities, people.... Ok call it what you want, novice, newbies, doesnt really matter. How many corps call their youngins Kidets? Now as to the subject. you aren't looking at the whole picture. what Mike brings to the conversation and the Band thing one has to realize 1st is that although decades ago there was a total disconnect to " drum corps" That disconnect does not exist today DCI or DCA. remove the " Band people from drum corps and you will clearly see what has helped and what has not. Now you also asked do I want kids doing something. Well again I will say, teach ( as I do ) today in various arenas and you will quickly find out that kids have way more to do today than we ever did as kids. Drum Corps back in the day " Kept kids off the streets " well different world today, lots of choices we never had. You also said something about kids and affording time and money. So wheres the money come from to sustain any level corps? The days of anyone can do anything are all but gone. People today because of time as well as cost ( as you say ) need to make choices. I don't shoot down anything that brings more to the activity BUT realize that a good heart ( which there are many ) do not ever in these days sustain a program like a great business mind. Can you have both? sure but if you want to do your members justice you better have a solid plan and not just a dream.THIS is the reality of the activity . PS: Grandpa: are you clicking on the quote button? Edited September 22, 2015 by GUARDLING 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 as Dan noted their booth is flooded with folks asking about DCA and how weekend Corps work. This is the critical thing, and I'm thrilled that people that aren't knowledgeable about DCA ARE interested- that is... once they realize it exists and what it does and can do. The word's getting out but painfully and through a lot of hard effort. Somehow, the brand needs to be marketed more powerfully. A more unified effort, I just don't know. I'm not a marketing expert. Hmm... "I know a guy". Marched with him in HS and almost had him at Westshore. He knows this stuff in and out. Had a job trying to get a firm that had a great product and messages that wanted to get the word out. Still in PR/communication, etc. Let me see what he thinks in general terms. The problem is hiring people like this is... hideously expensive. I figure to apply the principles I can crib off him and then it's all do it ourselves... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 MikeD - you mention HS band. It's not drum corps. We're talking here about keeping DCA alive. The bands have been around for a century or so and apparently, that's not helping if we're having this discussion. We need more corps to have more people involved with the DCA brand - younger people who will grow with the activity be here for a few decades. Are youth corps a bad thing? It seems like every time I advocate for them, in one form or another - there's a few folks willing to shoot the idea down. I love how the status quo is great in the areas we are weak, but status quo must be shunned in the unimportant areas - like instrumentation. Do you want more kids or more keytars? Priorities, people.... Well, the HS bands are relevant to the discussion, IMO, as they are the source of DCA marching members (and DCI as well). The idea of youth corps is not a bad one, just one that is long gone. Trying to adopt a long-dead model instead of adapting to what exists today is a recipe for failure, IMO. Outreach to the HS bands is where the membership opportunities are. That is how corps like Cadets 2 can form and in a few short years are already 2nd at DCA champs. Back in the past the source of members for the DCA corps were the junior corps that existed in the hundreds...today it is the bandsin the thousands that have taken that slot. We most likely disagree on this point, but that's OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yes. It does, though some of these corps could be much larger. Also-- There appear to be very few events for it, I know of none that were anywhere near the hub of the DCA base. Also, is there any real attendance, or is it more like SCCA Club racing or autocross, mainly for the contestants with few fans in attendance except for the participants? SDCA... Very little goes on, and from what little I have read, they're quasi-competitive at best, using a clap-show format IIRC. Also, SCDA isn't within 200 miles of the NE DCA core. I'm sure that will rankle some of the SDCA people, if any are left on DCP. If you're not getting the news out, how can you expect anyone to know what in Sam Scratch you're actually doing? All of this being said, why can't DCA promote and create their own vision of this kind of product? Why does it just let DCI do things like this and sit back to a large extent? On this tangent-- I got interrupted earlier when I was discussing expanding the small ensemble and solo contests perhaps to some of the DCA venues earlier in the day. The one thing I didn't get to was this-- Put a little skin in the game for those entrants. Have the judges choose a solo/duet/trio contestant and an ensemble entrant to perform at that night's show as part of the exhibitions. We're talking a 3 minute time limit for a solo IIRC, and a lot of those small ensemble/minis wold be very welcome. Some of those soloists would be a real gas as well, I'm certain, depending on who might turn up. Dub... DCI has paid office staff to help run and organize this kind of thing. DCA has people with real jobs that happen to do DCA when life allows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 The last of those youth corps pretty much died out with the demise of the Garden State Circuit in the late 90's. There are two remnants of GSC still active, but not part of a 'get the kids off the street' project. Some of the corps around today did start as that but grew and evolved past it. The one area where the HS Band scene doesn't permeate is in many of the inner city schools. What's there is semi-dysfunctional or non-existent in many places due to budget constraints. I've talked with a friend involved in social work in the Harrisburg area about trying to start something-anything. Even say, a Boys and Girls Club sponsored Percussion ensemble. The problem is the money to start the project and keep it running, and then trying to find competent and good educators who would be willing to put in the time and effort for very little if any recompense. About the closest thing we have now to an organization like that is the Saints' Brigade, which from the looks of it has very solid financial support and backing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Dub... DCI has paid office staff to help run and organize this kind of thing. DCA has people with real jobs that happen to do DCA when life allows. Yes. Understood. It's a vicious circle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Well, the HS bands are relevant to the discussion, IMO, as they are the source of DCA marching members (and DCI as well). The idea of youth corps is not a bad one, just one that is long gone. Trying to adopt a long-dead model instead of adapting to what exists today is a recipe for failure, IMO. Outreach to the HS bands is where the membership opportunities are. That is how corps like Cadets 2 can form and in a few short years are already 2nd at DCA champs. Don't forget Grandpa is Canadian and I forget what the HS MB situation is in the Great White North... Grandpa? 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.