Where is DCI?

[emc2]

You can look at what Boston has done with Inspire Arts & music at their Hyde park community theater and office. Which gets the kids involved with music, dance, theater, school bands, singing/voice, winter guard etc. It just started and is working out pretty good.

[drumcorpsfever]

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.

It will be at that point that they expand to 200 members, add another bus to the entourage, and off they go. The idea of expanded corps size was floated a few years back. I suspect if they ever add woodwinds, it would coincide with more members. It's proven that a full bus load of members pays for itself.

[UKSuperman]

It will be at that point that they expand to 200 members, add another bus to the entourage, and off they go. The idea of expanded corps size was floated a few years back. I suspect if they ever add woodwinds, it would coincide with more members. It's proven that a full bus load of members pays for itself.

Everybody complains these days about not utilizing the entire field, myself included. Uping the max number would help that. You can't exactly keep 200 marchers in front of the back hash, between the 30's, and make it not look cluttered and horrible.

[garfield]

It will be at that point that they expand to 200 members, add another bus to the entourage, and off they go. The idea of expanded corps size was floated a few years back. I suspect if they ever add woodwinds, it would coincide with more members. It's proven that a full bus load of members pays for itself.

Ya' know, I just don't think that expanding to 200 will ever happen.

If you've been to a housing site recently and looked into the gym where the kids sleep, I just don't think there's physical room on a typical gym floor to put down another 50 airbeds and two suitcases each. You may think I'm joking, but I'm not.

We meet the corps as they arrive for our show each year and I see first hand what room the kids take on the floor as they "move in" for their few hours. They're nearly touching one another on the floor now; I can't imagine another 50 of them stuffed into the gym. And what of the extra food necessary to feed another 200 meals a day? And storage? And people to cook?

It's easy to say "Just add another bus!", but the logistics of moving another 50 kids down the road don't make it as easy as it sounds, IMO.

[garfield]

Everybody complains these days about not utilizing the entire field, myself included. Uping the max number would help that. You can't exactly keep 200 marchers in front of the back hash, between the 30's, and make it not look cluttered and horrible.

I've not heard this complaint, and I wonder if it's even a real concern. Maybe the smaller corps do this intentionally to hide their size, but most larger corps use darn near all of the field don't they?

[UKSuperman]

I've not heard this complaint, and I wonder if it's even a real concern. Maybe the smaller corps do this intentionally to hide their size, but most larger corps use darn near all of the field don't they?

I haven't really seen a whole lot of corps this year that cover from endzone to endzone. Most of what I've seen has been between the 30's, maybe 25's, and in front of the back hash. Few corps have went behind the back hash this season. Guard frequently, corps no.

[gak27]

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".

In general I agree with your points (I went to my first show around 1967 and marched from '75-'82). As a "seasoned/experienced" fan, I'm willing/look forward to learning about the shows prior to the season and, while I don't necessarily go ga-ga over all the dance/body movement embodied in today's shows, I truly appreciate the talent level and there are times that I am blown away by the performances.

What today's shows do, however, is tend to diminish the appreciation/enthusiasm of the casual/walkup/non-fanatic fan for the shows versus yesteryear. Your points that I emphasized lend credence to this - you have to spend time learning/studying/viewing these shows (in many cases several times) to truly get them. This doesn't necessarily mean that someone is "unwilling to grow". For example (not a comprehensive one by any means), if you went to a show in the late 70s and saw the Blue Devils, you would likely experience a thorough "WOW!" from what they were doing. Even if that was your only show that year, you "got it". Contrast that with the past few years: going to a single show and seeing the Blue Devils would just as likely cause a "HUH?" from what you just experienced.

Is this always the case? No. In general, however, I would say that the one show a year/casual fan is likely to be less entertained/drawn in to the shows than in years past. Not all of them are dinos/old-time fans that remember "how it used to be". A lot of them don't have the time or level of interest that we do to LEARN about the shows to appreciate them. The shows have become more sophisticated and thus less likely to be FULLY enjoyed on first/only viewing.

I can't wait for my lone show this year in Massillon!

[cixelsyd]

Are you really comparing the maintenance of a HS woodwind after 2 hours of rehearsal 3 times a week to a drum corps rehearsing for 5-6 times more a day???

Let me tell you, I marched piccolo in high school. Do you know how many times I had to have the pads changed due to moisture each season? 4. Do you know how many times I had a broken spring or stuck key? Pretty often. And that's just in high school, with a piccolo. Start adding in saxophones, clarinets, etc and in a drum corps environment, it will add up.

And despite all that, your band kept right on using them.

[cixelsyd]

We agree, and this is a point that I was keeping in my quiver to bring out if the needed. You made the point nicely.

The DCI "Who Are You" study done by Vaticinate 3 years ago (I think, maybe 4? Time flies...) showed that the average duration of today's drum corps fans is less than three years.

I think it was between 3 and 4.

So your point (and mine) is very valid that the fan base turnover will likely produce very short memories very quickly. I would suggest the transformation has already occurred and that most fans in the stands today (the DCP fanbase mostly excepted) has no idea of G horns, grounded equipment, or analog no-amped sound. Frankly, I'd think most of them are wondering why there are no clarinets or saxes on the field even as they appreciate (by may not understand why) the extra sound coming from the brass (and amps...ahem).

Essentially.

But before someone speed reads this and thinks the entire fan base turns over every 3-4 years, no - that is an average. For example, some are only fans while their beloved son, daughter, fiance(e), BFF, etc., is marching. In contrast, some are alumni or long-term fans, and follow the activity until it loses whatever held meaning for that person, possibly for decades like us. The longer term fans are more important than their raw percentage of the population, because they are repeat customers. Therefore, it is important that some portion of the long-term fan base be amenable to the change.

Are we there yet? Maybe.

[N.E. Brigand]

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).

That's a good point. Maybe I should have said that when a corps that normally places around 20th manages to place 17th, they attract a slightly higher caliber of player for the next year's auditions.

The next question would be: where are those higher-caliber players coming from? Is drum corps membership recruiting a zero sum game?