jeffdm61 Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 i haven't posted in years.my best friend larryp, has kept me abreast and informed of the general scene as i ask him questions about junior and senior--oh sorry-"all age " drum corps as i follow now by reading and watching videos on this site. i have grown apathetic about the activity. my last corps-the kilts- have slowly slid downward in so many ways. people will ask " well why didn't you heip"--yhe answer is i would have if some one asked . however it is no longer an older persons game. the enthusiasm has wained for the general age group of 40+ agers in the activity. many of my contemporaries find junior corps fascinating but we seem out of touch with being able to relate to the programming. it's beautiful, it,s great blah, blah, blah, buts it is missing something for me.i will never take away the obvious high performance standards of the kids in the activity, but appreciating the excitement of a great "drum and bugle corps" has certainly disappeared for me. just by reading the podcast information it seems that everyone is a judge and watches critically. unlike most people my age, i am in good shape relative to competing in corps. however, since my last year of competing in2006, i wanted to return but felt out of place. i am a dinosaur, in search of the comfort of other dinos. i can't believe i am alone in the feeling that a great performance of the large corps of the earlier dca era would bring tears to my eyes. bring on the matadors, the sunrisers, hawthorne, the yankee rebels and the hurricanes and even the buccaneers with george the great. i will disregard those that say- you should be in alumni corps. this is not my point. the long discussion started by my friend larryp about cadets 2 only got me thinking more. when we were in junior corps, we were in envy of the great"senior corps" of our times. we would finish our season and look forward to dca weekend --it was a corps form of "hero worship. " it was everything we wanted to be--exciting, loud , dramatic , and the soloists were fabulous. tin seems now that juniors are seniors-- they've become homogenous. so whats the point-merge the 2 and have no age limits anywhere since the program differences hardly exist anymore. senior corps used to have professional 3rd sopranos because of how long they played --i guess juniors now have them anyway. larryp told me that parts of hawthorne's show was based on past musicality and performances and that it was really well received. i started tearing up-- someone send me a podcast. jeff thomas mchenry viscounts 1965-66 soprano chicago cavaliers 1966-73 lead soprano horn instructor 1974-79 chicago connection1977-78 horn instructor soprano french horn racine kilties 1999 2004 2005 2006 drummajor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Holland Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Junior corps is specifically a youth activity, designed to operate over the course of an entire summer, and during the weekdays, not just weekends. There is availability to funding that is only for youth programs which helps to sustain many of those corps. Changing their age status would eliminate those options for funding. You are correct in that Jr corps followed Sr corps, with Sr corps leading the way in execution, and design. At some point that changed. For many reasons. Jr corps attracting 18 years olds instead of 10 year olds, writers being able to create more freely, education being pushed with each ensemble.... etc etc etc. However, Jr corps will not merge with all-age. Again, due to funding available for youth only programs, and differences in mission statement. Education in DCI vs entertainment in DCA. At least on paper, that's how the mission statements between the two read. Whether they are executed as such, is a different story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffdm61 Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 you are the fanatic . i knew you would be the first to reply just by reading your previous responses.i enjoy your replays and posts. but i knew or realized the points you made when i made my points. it,s just difficult conveying an older corps persons emotions and experiences on this subject IMEE iron men of an earlier era Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 you are the fanatic . i knew you would be the first to reply just by reading your previous responses.i enjoy your replays and posts. but i knew or realized the points you made when i made my points. it,s just difficult conveying an older corps persons emotions and experiences on this subject IMEE iron men of an earlier era I think your opinions are certainly valid, but they are just yours. There are absolutely "iron men of an earlier era" out there doing it full-bore now. We had several in our corps this past season (we have several 40+ members, and one very famous 70 year old in the horn line). It's really just a matter of not rolling with the changes as the activity evolves. If you can do that, great...if not, its' time to retire. I suspect you haven't been to a show or rehearsal by a good DCA corps in a few years. I invite you to do so...I think you'll be surprised what's going on. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffdm61 Posted September 24, 2016 Author Share Posted September 24, 2016 you are correct that i haven't been to a good rehearsal in years. and i am in agreement that it is in my own opinion-- but there is space for this opinion and realizing that things evolve also. i just have an educated opinion about how i miss certain aspects of the activity that could still be entertaining-- didn't your corps include some of these nostalgic aspects in your performance this year even in warmups much to the crowds approval? thats what larry told me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 (edited) you are correct that i haven't been to a good rehearsal in years. and i am in agreement that it is in my own opinion-- but there is space for this opinion and realizing that things evolve also. i just have an educated opinion about how i miss certain aspects of the activity that could still be entertaining-- didn't your corps include some of these nostalgic aspects in your performance this year even in warmups much to the crowds approval? thats what larry told me. There were nostalgic elements in the show, yes. It was an anniversary show after all. I don't believe we did anything old-school in the warmup though. I do think you're making a lot of assumptions based not on your own observations, but rather what someone else told you. If anything, this was easily the most entertaining and quality-filled season since I've been associated with DC. Edited September 24, 2016 by Kamarag 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 If anything, this was easily the most entertaining and quality-filled season since I've been associated with DC. I've only been following DCA for five years, but I have also watched the previous ten or so finals on video, and from a fan's perspective, I absolutely agree with this statement (for Open Class, that is; it was an off year in Class A, as compared to the recent past, in part because the previous best A corps have moved up to Open). At any given position, I might be able to name a show from another year that I preferred to this year's in the same slot, but taken as a whole, this looked like the best slate yet to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I think your opinions are certainly valid, but they are just yours. There are absolutely "iron men of an earlier era" out there doing it full-bore now. We had several in our corps this past season (we have several 40+ members, and one very famous 70 year old in the horn line). It's really just a matter of not rolling with the changes as the activity evolves. If you can do that, great...if not, its' time to retire. I suspect you haven't been to a show or rehearsal by a good DCA corps in a few years. I invite you to do so...I think you'll be surprised what's going on. it's far from homogenized. As someone who grew up with a DCA first, DCI 2nd mentality, you see and hear more variety in DCA now than ever. Sure, you don't get the traditional closers of days gone by like you used to...Rumps, Mag7, NYNY, etc...but you still have outstanding soloists, and more so, incredible percussion thats about far more than just the snare line. Sure, I listen to old DCA stuff. I listen to new stuff. Each has their time and place, and to stay relevant, DCA had to adapt to the times. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 it's far from homogenized. As someone who grew up with a DCA first, DCI 2nd mentality, you see and hear more variety in DCA now than ever. Sure, you don't get the traditional closers of days gone by like you used to...Rumps, Mag7, NYNY, etc...but you still have outstanding soloists, and more so, incredible percussion thats about far more than just the snare line. Sure, I listen to old DCA stuff. I listen to new stuff. Each has their time and place, and to stay relevant, DCA had to adapt to the times. Gee, given the remake of Mag 7, maybe if the Hurcs do "Relentless, too" as their show, they could use it as a contemporary piece! Plus there is probably a stagecoach prop available pretty cheap. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I've only been following DCA for five years, but I have also watched the previous ten or so finals on video, and from a fan's perspective, I absolutely agree with this statement (for Open Class, that is; it was an off year in Class A, as compared to the recent past, in part because the previous best A corps have moved up to Open). At any given position, I might be able to name a show from another year that I preferred to this year's in the same slot, but taken as a whole, this looked like the best slate yet to me.There were great shows this year. It's hard to choose a favorite but I'll choose Cadets2. :-D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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