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This saddens me greatly


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What do you mean a difference in 150 versus 128?

I have observed with a larger group people tend to retreat into smaller groups. Again, the maturity level of the group plays a huge factor.

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dont we all drink the kool ade so to speak. We are asked to buy into something that we fling ourselves into and not to go in and voice an opinion or be in on decisions. Same can be said for some work situations. Now drinking the Kool ade doesn't have to be a negative if one fits into the narrative.

I can't imagine joining a corps and going in and give my opinions about what's "best for the corps" when I'm simply a marcher. I'm there to execute and perform and enjoy myself. I'm sure you're not being extremely literal.... but no corps member is really "drinking to kool aid" they're there out of appreciation and progression of the corps, they don't even know what "kool aid" they're drinking till they're really all together when the season starts.

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I could throw the word 'shtick' in here somewhere if you wish... it may bring us closer together.

Your assessment of my environment is essentially nonsense (and I think you know it... and are merely being sporting in our discussion).

In fact your whole last post is pretty silly... I mean that with the friendliest tone.

Life (and most occupations) is not a production... with a concrete hierarchy of subservience. If it were... it would be an awful cult indeed. Drumcorps is a production, with a necessary subservience. This is the part that seems to have broken down here.

It's a bummer. The kids would serve themselves well to go out and outperform their show and go home at the end. It's easier said than done...

On a final quip...

If you (anyone, not you specifically) honestly think that drumcorps isn't a cult following... then you are hopelessly lost, having had a necrotizing fill of the proverbial cool aid. Just look at this forum for goodness sake!

Schtick and quip seem to be the extent of the weight of your viewpoints, and you regularly seem to forget qualifiers such as "in my opinion" or "in my view". I tired quickly of your approach during our last discussion and I have no plans to go down that path again.

Your myopic view of life is yours - you're welcome to it. I can see how you reach your viewpoint based on your admission of your surroundings and daily practices. Perhaps if you were in a different profession you might view the world, and drum corps, differently.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, have used the phrase "drum corps is life" in these threads and discussions with me over four decades. Your viewpoint, or opinion of my being "hopelessly lost", is irrelevant to me and seems to be to those who differ from your view. Keep your opinion! It's yours, you can have it! But make no mistake, yours is the minority viewpoint to be sure.

2008 Carolina Crown. I'm headed to Indy to enjoy drum corps sans your silliness, and despite it.

Edited by garfield
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page 1 was about how corps members can be at each other's throats

and now it's about cults

that makes me sad

I'm talking about what the word means... Garfield is talking about what he thinks it means (he tends to do that).

So... blue pill, red pill...

Be sad and frustrated with Garfield,

or

Well... be right. 😉

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I have observed with a larger group people tend to retreat into smaller groups. Again, the maturity level of the group plays a huge factor.

Correct.

150 makes the group dynamics extremely tricky

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Schtick and quip seem to be the extent of the weight of your viewpoints, and you regularly seem to forget qualifiers such as "in my opinion" or "in my view". I tired quickly of your approach during our last discussion and I have no plans to go down that path again.

Your myopic view of life is yours - you're welcome to it. I can see how you reach your viewpoint based on your admission of your surroundings and daily practices. Perhaps if you were in a different profession you might view the world, and drum corps, differently.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, have used the phrase "drum corps is life" in these threads and discussions with me over four decades. Your viewpoint, or opinion of my being "hopelessly lost", is irrelevant to me and seems to be to those who differ from your view. Keep your opinion! It's yours, you can have it! But make no mistake, yours is the minority viewpoint to be sure.

2008 Carolina Crown. I'm headed to Indy to enjoy drum corps sans your silliness, and despite it.

I'm going to the beach with my beautiful 1 year old daughter (who has never been there). I'm pretty sure that of all the life lessons that I earned (not learned) from drumcorps... embarking on my adventure was not one of them. And I think my adventure trumps yours (in my opinion, of course).

I'm sure my Bluecoats will do just fine without me. Win or lose, of all the circus acts in the history of the world to ever pipe up a cult following... I happen to think that the Bluecoats of Canton are 'the greatest show on earth'! (that's the loyalty thing I was talking about).

Drumcorps did teach me one thing though, Garfield. I learned that some unique and strange activities are worth working hard for in an effort to entertain people. I learned the value of humility and self deprecation as I evaluated the oddness of playing fine music in a uniform costume, on a football field, in bizarre formations and movements, conveying vacuum-formed esoteric ideas, ... on strange instruments in unsuitable/non-traditional transpositions... all under the strict regiment of military-like commands and boundaries. I learned that my greatest aspirations at that time were insignificant and uninteresting to most, yet fulfilling to enough to be worthwhile.

People who take themselves too seriously to submit to the contract while members, and too seriously to see the activity for what it is after they are done, may risk becoming bitter, crotchety and obsessed critics... who get personal with their attacks.

Of course... once again... this is all just my opinion... in case my assertions on an internet chat forum about a relatively obscure subculture medium would be construed as gospel truth... clarity, clarity, clarity!

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Correct.

150 makes the group dynamics extremely tricky

That is a fascinating point. I think we were still around 125 when I marched and tended to heard around as fairly complete sections/subsections off the field. I wonder if the staff and leadership have observed a difference in moral and relationships as the size has increased...?
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That is a fascinating point. I think we were still around 125 when I marched and tended to heard around as fairly complete sections/subsections off the field. I wonder if the staff and leadership have observed a difference in moral and relationships as the size has increased...?

Look at it this way... those last 25 members would have been cut if not for roster increases. In professional sports, the last guys to get cut are either the overachievers who just don't have the talent, or the physically talented who just don't have the mental makeup to succeed. You put those two groups together and you have a perfect recipe for conflict. The first group hates the second for wasting their talent and the second group hates the first for being "go-getters" and reminding them just how lazy they might be.

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Look at it this way... those last 25 members would have been cut if not for roster increases. In professional sports, the last guys to get cut are either the overachievers who just don't have the talent, or the physically talented who just don't have the mental makeup to succeed. You put those two groups together and you have a perfect recipe for conflict. The first group hates the second for wasting their talent and the second group hates the first for being "go-getters" and reminding them just how lazy they might be.

Well... you are certainly mathematically correct...

But keep in mind that the mean age and experience of world class members has also gone up. There are many more collegiate music majors on their primary instruments in these groups than ever before.

I think that the implications of the point have more to do with sociological phenomenology as the numbers increase... a la "2 is company, 3 is a crowd".

I think that's what the point was geared toward. Not to say that your observation can't play a role... but I don't think that the talent pool is ever quite so static... even in major league sports. There is great talent out there simply not participating.

Edited by cfirwin3
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