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Where is DCI?


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Remember when we were told that trombones would only be a solo/cameo instrument, and no one would ever march a section of them in the drill? Or how pit amplification was over $10,000 just to get into the game, so only full size corps would ever use it? How about Bb/F brass being "optional"?

Every one of these equipment rule change proposals has been preceded by people "in the know" telling me there is nowhere near the support needed to pass. When that proposal does come in a few years, there will still be people insisting it has no chance of passing, nothing to see here, blah blah blah.

(And please, spare us the silly argument about maintenance. Bands all over the country use woodwinds in every conceivable climate. Nowhere do you see a circuit where bands omit woodwinds because it is too hot/too cold/too dry/too wet. Ultimately, they will be used no matter what the maintenance burden. Look at the burden we already have. Just watch the corps setting up, with props and stages carried by additional trailers and/or dozens of corps members, while others carry the multiple brass instruments they will swap in/out during the show, lugging huge speakers, running dozens of cables in two minutes flat. You think these same corps will balk at woodwinds because that would require too much extra care?)

Well, OK, so let's concede "defeat" and presume that WW do become normal field instrumentation in drum corps. The question begs, then what?

We already know you (and many others) will stop attending but, more likely than not, the instrumentation will open the activity to a whole new crop of MM's who have never been able to do summer professional marching band (DCI) before. Along with them will come their parents, relatives, and band friends buying up the tickets that you and others stop buying.

Will drum corps die as a result of WW? I doubt it. Will WW draw a new crop of fans mostly excluded until then? Likely, IMO.

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I'm still waiting for the post that just said "in Indianapolis" :tongue:

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php/topic/164649-where-is-dci/page-3#entry3551721

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Well, OK, so let's concede "defeat" and presume that WW do become normal field instrumentation in drum corps. The question begs, then what?

We already know you (and many others) will stop attending but, more likely than not, the instrumentation will open the activity to a whole new crop of MM's who have never been able to do summer professional marching band (DCI) before. Along with them will come their parents, relatives, and band friends buying up the tickets that you and others stop buying.

Will drum corps die as a result of WW? I doubt it. Will WW draw a new crop of fans mostly excluded until then? Likely, IMO.

Yes just like the rush of synth fans who have been coming to cheer on the Synth players the past few years. If they add WW there will still be the same # of MM on the field just a different variety of instruments. Still the same # of Corps.

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Yes just like the rush of synth fans who have been coming to cheer on the Synth players the past few years. If they add WW there will still be the same # of MM on the field just a different variety of instruments. Still the same # of Corps.

Meh. Why not just add another bus for 50 woodwinds. :ninja:

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is that as corps demonstrate incremental improvement, they attract a few more members and/or a few new sponsors, both of which help with the budget ...

Except that most corps in World Class, right down to the bottom, are already marching close to, or at, 150. Surf marched 142 last year at Indy, I believe - adding 8 more people certainly wouldn't hurt, but isn't really going to make an appreciable difference in their overall budget (~$28k).

What I see as one of the biggest financial hurdles is that when a player moves from a lower-placing corps to a higher-placing corps, and then ages out and is an alumnus of both corps, which corps do you think is going to see the most donations from that player?

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The shows presented today require a lot more from the audience than in the "good old days". In the 60's (my generation) there were lots of "toe tapping" numbers and outstanding soloists who created entertainment from a crowd that, well, "knew what they liked". Today, you'd better read up on your Shakespeare, study the Corps' program notes, listen to recordings of the source materials, be up on your understanding of how judges score, understand current drum techniques, have an understanding of dance movement . . . need I go on? I have to study today's shows on the internet to appreciate them.

Do I enjoy today's shows live as much as those of yesteryear? Well, let's get real. Yes. In 1968, for example, sitting in the stands in Detroit, the shows mostly washed over me. Yes, a few highlights stuck out, but no more or less than today. I created my treasured memories of that period by listening to Fleetwood records repeatedly, so that I could appreciate the music more fully. Sound familiar?

Okay. So here's the deal. The kids love their activity just as much as we, the dinosaurs, did. They'll have the same memories and nostalgia as we do. Now as to the fans sitting in the stands (or at the computer screen), you have a choice. You can either accept that today's activity has grown more sophisticated and educate yourself accordingly or you can reject today's activity because it no longer resembles the activity you participated in. Or because it no longer "entertains you". It's your choice. But beware that your claim that drum corps just isn't as entertaining to you as before marks you as unwilling to grow. I say this to myself as much as to my fellow dinosaurs. I don't mean to sound condescending.

One more anecdote. I brought my 81 year old Mom to the Rosebowl this year. She chaperoned my corps back in the 60's and has very fond memories of the corps music played in those times. Today, she can barely hear, but when I asked her whether she wanted to come to a show (as she has for the last 10 years), she emphatically said, "you bet".

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Except that most corps in World Class, right down to the bottom, are already marching close to, or at, 150. Surf marched 142 last year at Indy, I believe - adding 8 more people certainly wouldn't hurt, but isn't really going to make an appreciable difference in their overall budget (~$28k).

What I see as one of the biggest financial hurdles is that when a player moves from a lower-placing corps to a higher-placing corps, and then ages out and is an alumnus of both corps, which corps do you think is going to see the most donations from that player?

Youre going to find out quick. Hop will haunt you till death...lol

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Well, OK, so let's concede "defeat" and presume that WW do become normal field instrumentation in drum corps. The question begs, then what?

We already know you (and many others) will stop attending but, more likely than not, the instrumentation will open the activity to a whole new crop of MM's who have never been able to do summer professional marching band (DCI) before. Along with them will come their parents, relatives, and band friends buying up the tickets that you and others stop buying.

Will drum corps die as a result of WW? I doubt it. Will WW draw a new crop of fans mostly excluded until then? Likely, IMO.

I will try to answer this briefly (but in doing so, risk having every phrase challenged in counterposts).

Historically, competitive drum corps has had a unique audience draw unlike that of marching band. However, competitive marching band has had a uniquely larger participant base for whatever amount of time there have been 4,000 such bands. If DCI waits long enough to make this change, generations of that participant base should provide enough of an audience to sustain DCI as a band circuit. Making that change too soon would be certain death for DCI. (Imagine 1972, for example.)

How long is "long enough"? I think 2030 would be safe. 2010 would have been too early, IMO. In between? Not sure... but I suspect we will find out, firsthand.

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