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Life Lessons Learned


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I was fortunate to have marched in both a junior corps and an all-age DCA corps that were open to people from all walks of life. For example... black people in the corps, women in the horn line and drum line.

Now... in this day and age, that may sound downright strange that "open to all walks of life" would be as big a deal as it was. But back in those days, it was not uncommon for corps to have all-male horn lines and drum lines... and, quite frankly, there was at least one corps from that era that was not exactly, shall we say, welcoming to people of color. Putting it mildly.

My years with DCA's Sunrisers in particular... that corps was known for "doing things differently" in the senior/all-age ranks, and was a pioneer in welcoming women to participate in sections other than the color guard... heck, even with the color guard. (There were some corps that had all-male guards well into the 1970s... and beyond, in at least one case.)

Honestly, we didn't care who you were, what your color or ethnic background was, whether you were a corporate executive or a college kid without a dime to your name (trust me, we had both, and seemingly everyone in between...LOL).... as long as you did things the "Sunriser Way".... you were good to go. We all bled orange and blue.

We won championships that way. I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Edited by Fran Haring
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Don't use someone else's toothbrush

LOL!!!!

Edited by Fran Haring
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This is probably a more recent phenomenon -- Want to make new friends in a hurry? Carry a power strip with LOTS of outlets.

I do like the observation about whether there's a self-selection process going on in the activity. Interesting.

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What a great topic/question.

I've thought about this a lot. My $.02 below.

Similar to some of the other responses, I think one of the core values to the drum corps experience is learning that you can push yourself harder than you ever thought you could. And I think that falls under the category of a "life lesson." A really important one. I know any time I look at an existing or upcoming challenge in my life, I think to myself--this can't be as hard as **** from drum corps.

Here's how I see that happening in a unique way for this activity: the competitive aspect puts a weight (you can call it artificial or not) on every choice you make, and every action over the course of a summer. And for most "kids," up until the summer they march, they've never had so much weight put on their actions. So even though it's just marching band, it feels (and IS) SO important. You learn what it feels like to succeed and to fail with (artificially) incredibly high stakes. It feels like life or death, but it's really just band. Which is good, because you can fail, but with a safety net. And if you take a kid who doesn't march corps, most of them won't be put in a situation that feels like the stakes are that high until at least their mid twenties, if not even later than that.

Basically, it gives you a chance to test/prove your mettle in a safe environment, and that helps kids grow up.

I dunno--it made more sense in my head.

I thought this made a lot of sense. Great answer.

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This is probably a more recent phenomenon -- Want to make new friends in a hurry? Carry a power strip with LOTS of outlets.

I do like the observation about whether there's a self-selection process going on in the activity. Interesting.

yes... only the ones that are a little crazy self-select to actually show up to auditions, haha.

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yes... only the ones that are a little crazy self-select to actually show up to auditions, haha.

Well, sometimes crazy helps. Lol

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1. Dream outside your comfort zone.

2. Nothing is impossible.

3. Winning trumps losing. (Cadets never preached that but my personal experience).

4. Loving 149 other people you just met because you all had a common love, goal. (A lesson I wish the world would learn).

5. Being so tolerant of different people. Straight, gay, black, white, introverted, exoverted. We never judged anyone unless you didn't get to your spot especially in a big show.

6. One of the greatest experiences of my life and best life lessons.

Edited by Tobias
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Was in a Senior/All Age corps at age 16 (yikes). Learned to work with people of different EVERYTHING you can think of. Worked real well with working overseas with my job and being about the only white guy in the group.

Also learned age means nothing in regards of responsibility. IOW my screw up on the field costs as much as the adults field screw up. So everyone got treated the same (be in praise or screamed at). now I'm the old one in the group and that don't mean I have all the answers.

Learned no BS when dealing with problems. Still remember have a PO'ed 40ish drill instructor yell "What happened" at me when our group mugged up in practice. Looked him in the eye and said "Beats the #### out of me, never happened before". His response to the 19 yr old (me) "Yeah me either... I'll watch next time". Comes in real handy when a high up boss or Navy officer tries to get things done thru intimidation (it don't work with me).

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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