Where is DCI?

[jwillis35]

bravo.

i admit when the electronics first came about i #####ed more than anyone. then the narration, the bleed over from indoor...ugh.

then something happened...corps started figuring it out...and doing it well. Sure I still have some complaints, but it's more about specific corps design, not that they're using it. trombones have yet to really wow me. I really just dont like the instrument in general. But corps will make it better yet.

better yet, the DCI leadership has finally applied some long forgotten lessons....entertain, find ways to rope fans in, using things like Soundsport to help facilitate growth....and the dark days of even 10 years ago seem like a distant memory.

Is everything perfect? No, never was. I've learned nostalgia tends to shade one's perspective

Oh, I'm with you on all of this. I think we can all agree that when we hear too much synth bass and other types of amped-up "gooo" that we likely cringe. With all the advances in how to use the electronics in the pit I am still baffled by the lack of musicality that some corps show for balancing bass.

No matter what these corps do and how they use all the voices they have in their palette, there has to be more moments where we hear drums and brass. I can take some synth, a mic'd solo, some voice, strings, and other sounds, but ultimately the best shows can feature their brass and drums more than the other sounds.

I still find narration unnecessary, usually cheesy, and often preachy.

[BlueStainGlass]

Since this topic is still going. I hate 70s,80s, and most of 90s drum corps. I got into the activity in 2003 with Harmonic journey. I have not had any problems with the use of electronics, narration, or props. Early drum corps is boring to watch while current drum corps is entertaining musically and visually. Every year we literally hear people say drum corps is dying (posted on the Madison touch yesterday) and people saying I've had enough with "insert new age problem". But the funny thing is you come back every year so either it's just a front or we get angry at the smallest things. You may not like how it's changed but the hundreds of new fans it's making a night is huge. Last year at finals they were selling end zone seats in the top and lower level. I don't recall a time at LOS where that has happened. Adapt or die. Dinosaurs want it to be like it was in the 70s and then this activity will be gone. We will complain about how they didn't do anything to keep it alive and it's just a giant circle.

[snare_guy_83]

Everything evolves, and if you don't accept or try to understand the change you will complain about it.

It's like people with their smartphones/computers; they complain that they don't know how to do certain tasks but yet they have not even tried to learn how the device works.

I do not love every show design these days, but I can appreciate the skill of the MM, especially when they push the boundaries.

[cfirwin3]

That may be due to the fact there are less corps...............

I think it is reasonable to point out that in the good old days, when drumcorps was a larger part of the general local culture in many places in America (particularly in certain regions) there were many, many, many bad drumcorps with lots of low talent. It followed as a display of hometown pride to just be involved in these groups.

Today, drumcorps mostly survives as a subculture (not a part of the general culture) and those groups typically only survive as members of DCI or DCA (competitive rather than parade and field exhibition).

When you consider those people who are recalling the good old days, we are only hearing from a small few who have followed out of the cultural norms of yesteryear into the subculture of today. We only hear about the unicorn, cotton candy goodness, and not the typical scrappy 'here kid, hold this horn and go over there' stories.

DCI is wonderful today... the OP may just be finding that you aren't fitting in to the subculture that drumcorps has become. It is only a faint reflection of what it was, and is now mostly its own idiom.

Edit:

I went back in the thread and saw that several people already made essentially the same points. I didn't intend to be redundant.

Edited July 19, 2016 by cfirwin3

[cixelsyd]

The growth isn't negative. The activity is not a zero-sum game. Those "500" itsy-bitsy corps experiences of BITD are now the high school programs, winter programs, and big-time drum corps of today. And there's a HECK of a lot more money in today's drum corps than the founders ever dreamed possible in 1972.

There may be more money, but less drum corps. And the more I think about it, the more profound that inelegant phrase becomes.

We should try to remember that one of the primary reasons there ever was a drum corps activity is because it was so much cheaper to do. The founders of the activity (Legion, VFW, etc.) had marching bands too, but the higher cost of instruments was an obstacle for most posts.

Drum corps was never where the "money" was. The real money is in marching band. Instrument/equipment sales are an actual industry, whose customer base is largely subsidised by scholastic budgets. Drum corps, once a relatively popular and populous activity with hundreds of competing corps, has shrunk so precipitously that what remains appears to be more of a showroom for the marching band industry than anything else. The entire direction of the activity is driven by the industry. Show design, instruction and competitive results are determined by a surprisingly small cadre of people with overlapping interests in DCI, WGI, marching band circuits, scholastic teaching jobs and industry sales/endorsement positions. The tour swims in industry sponsorship dollars, hosted at stadiums awash in manufacturer banners. Shows themselves are exercises in "product placement", with the latest newly legalized band item (this year, trombones) inserted at the urging of sponsors in a manner similar to that of cigarettes in movies and TV.

Ultimately, this process will push woodwinds into the DCI activity. More money... less drum corps.

[ajlemm]

Okay, I live an hour to an hour and a half South depending on traffic from Alexandria. I clear $400 every two weeks. With all my bills, plus in the middle of getting my degree, that wouldn't exactly be feasible. I'm not complaining. Someone just mentioned after my Delorean comment that DCI can't lower prices. I never said anything about lowering prices. I just said that once I make enough money, #### straight I'll be going to more shows. Until then, I have to settle for just the one this year.

I apologize since I haven't read every post in this thread, but do you have a membership to the regular season of DCI Live? It's the cost of two tickets ($70), and you can watch several shows. Obviously it's not the same as seeing shows live, but it's still pretty great.

[ajlemm]

Since this topic is still going. I hate 70s,80s, and most of 90s drum corps. I got into the activity in 2003 with Harmonic journey.

You may not like how it's changed but the hundreds of new fans it's making a night is huge. Last year at finals they were selling end zone seats in the top and lower level. I don't recall a time at LOS where that has happened. Adapt or die. Dinosaurs want it to be like it was in the 70s and then this activity will be gone. We will complain about how they didn't do anything to keep it alive and it's just a giant circle.

2003 PR is a great show to have brought you into the fold!

I agree about Finals last year,, and this year for that matter. I had a heckuva time finding good tickets last year and this year. Attending Finals last year, I understood why. There were more people at LOS than I have ever seen there.

Like you, I have my favorites and non-favorites. The shows prior to the mid to late 80s don't have much appeal to me. Not surprisingly, my indoctrination to drum corps came on a limited basis in 1987 and fully in 1988. i have immensely enjoyed every year since.

I see it as art that evolves over time. In art, looking at a hundred year snapshot, realism gave way to Impressionism, which in turn gave way to post-impressionism, then expressionism, cubism/futurism, then surrealism. You may appreciate one of those time periods more than others, but it doesn't make the process any less valid, or those that appreciate one period over the others as invalid. Surrealist Art appreciators may see Realist art appreciators as dinosaurs. Yet art keeps moving forward, losing some fans and gaining others.

[snare_guy_83]

I see it as art that evolves over time. In art, looking at a hundred year snapshot, realism gave way to Impressionism, which in turn gave way to post-impressionism, then expressionism, cubism/futurism, then surrealism. You may appreciate one of those time periods more than others, but it doesn't make the process any less valid, or those that appreciate one period over the others as invalid. Surrealist Art appreciators may see Realist art appreciators as dinosaurs. Yet art keeps moving forward, losing some fans and gaining others.

[Jurassic Lancer]

2003 PR is a great show to have brought you into the fold!

I agree about Finals last year,, and this year for that matter. I had a heckuva time finding good tickets last year and this year. Attending Finals last year, I understood why. There were more people at LOS than I have ever seen there.

Like you, I have my favorites and non-favorites. The shows prior to the mid to late 80s don't have much appeal to me. Not surprisingly, my indoctrination to drum corps came on a limited basis in 1987 and fully in 1988. i have immensely enjoyed every year since.

I see it as art that evolves over time. In art, looking at a hundred year snapshot, realism gave way to Impressionism, which in turn gave way to post-impressionism, then expressionism, cubism/futurism, then surrealism. You may appreciate one of those time periods more than others, but it doesn't make the process any less valid, or those that appreciate one period over the others as invalid. Surrealist Art appreciators may see Realist art appreciators as dinosaurs. Yet art keeps moving forward, losing some fans and gaining others.

Very good analogy!

[ShortAndFast]

Drum corps was never where the "money" was. The real money is in marching band. Instrument/equipment sales are an actual industry, whose customer base is largely subsidised by scholastic budgets. Drum corps, once a relatively popular and populous activity with hundreds of competing corps, has shrunk so precipitously that what remains appears to be more of a showroom for the marching band industry than anything else. The entire direction of the activity is driven by the industry. Show design, instruction and competitive results are determined by a surprisingly small cadre of people with overlapping interests in DCI, WGI, marching band circuits, scholastic teaching jobs and industry sales/endorsement positions. The tour swims in industry sponsorship dollars, hosted at stadiums awash in manufacturer banners. Shows themselves are exercises in "product placement", with the latest newly legalized band item (this year, trombones) inserted at the urging of sponsors in a manner similar to that of cigarettes in movies and TV.

This is a great 1 pgph summary of where DCI has landed in 2016. We're running out of band stuff to legalize in DCI - solo woodwinds seems like they'll happen soon, and I don't think there's much appetite for expanding corps sizes to accommodate full woodwind sections - so where do you think it goes after that?

By far the most interesting move is the decision of BD to become a manufacturer with System Blue. I'm fascinated to see how this changes the ecosystem in the next couple of years.