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13 hours ago, Grenadier said:

I know I said good bye but you are all full of it.  The corps of the 50'single and 60' and even tell early 70'so were real.  They were every day kids playing their hearts out.  They weren't  music majors or dance majors getting college credit.  We did not have to pay.  We were every day kids.  You pompous #####.  Corps was home town USA. Not what it is today.  Real corps has died.

Well, now you've crossed the line. You, sir, are the one who has been full of it all along. Period. I'm going to dissect everything. At first I thought you were someone wanting to reach out. I've concluded you were looking for folks who just want to sit and shout at the rain for making them wet. That ain't the way it rolls here. People here do what they can to keep this activity alive instead of grouse that it's not exactly the way they'd like it to be.

 

Corps of every decade have been "so real". Define what you mean. Be specific. Can you do it? Maybe I can. Do you mean provide a great 'experience' for their members? Do you mean to provide chances to perform for enthusiastic audiences? Do you, heaven forbid, mean that learning and personal growth takes place on multiple levels for the membership? If so, Corps post 1972 are "real". Quite, quite real.

 

I've also been offended by your rotten and nasty attitude towards any of us who participated in the activity that ended up getting Music Education degrees. Heavily offended and totally insulted. Has it occurred to your thick skull that maybe my experiences with the Westshoremen were a heavy influence on me to become a Music Educator? Then again-- according to your thinking, I never marched in a "real corps" since I was with a corps that had mallet percussion, tympani and later on- much later on I used a 2 valve bugle. The real legacy of the corps I marched with wasn't the 1996 Championship. It's the fact many of us went on and taught local High School bands and passed on our knowledge and enabled them to be insanely successful. Many of us also went on and became adjudicators, again, passing on our knowledge to others and helping to keep the marching activity alive and vibrant.

 

I was an "everyday kid" in my era. How dare you assume otherwise. I was fortunate to have grown up with very supportive parents who made sure I got away from some difficult and painful family situations by traveling with Westshore and doing somehting I loved and believed I was good at. A place where I could compete against any DCA corps extant at the time and have a shot at beating them- and over the six years I was there- we did just that. I never received any college credit during my six seasons for my performing with Westshore. No one did. And, may I ask, what would have been so wrong with that!? Explain, if you can why that would be so bad. I dare you to try. You're gonna come up empty. I've been on record here as saying I felt my experiences from a fantastic instructional staff should ###### well have been worth at least 6 credits a season in terms of Phys Ed, Music Performance, and Music Theory given I did less and learned less   in most of my college performance courses in terms of work and preparation for those earned  credits. So, please explain what that would be a negative. Hmm? Do it! I know you can't. It strikes me you have some kind of serious envy for any of us lucky enough to attend college. I humped hard to get scholarships to afford it and take financial burden off my parents. I happened to have learned a lot about working pretty hard in corps and it gave me an edge over those who did not. Wow!  You shouldn't have the jealousy you do towards anyone with college credits. Society's evolved, too. One needs post- high school education of some sort today unless they want to flip burgers, toss boxes, or do the checkout at Wal-Mart.

 

Whether you like it or not, Corps is not dead, and if you can get it through your thick skull, and I unfortunately doubt you can- it evolved to survive serious threats to its existence as a whole. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than some amusing curiosity in a few towns that would come out and stumble around for Christmas and Memorial Day, sound awful, and be embarrassing next to the local High School Band.

 

Finally:

Let me tell you, pal, I played my freakin' heart out every time I went on the field with the Westshoremen or on stage with the Westshoremen Alumni. I compete. Hard. There are those who know me here that will back that statement. I find it incredibly offensive you would think otherwise about me, or frankly, ANY individual marching in DCA or DCI right now- or in your perspective, since 1972. You can tell me I can't play worth a wick, I can handle that. I'll practice harder and prove you wrong. You might tell me I can't march for s##t- and you might be right on that, I heard that a lot as a kid. I got better at it. But don't ever dare insinuate that I didn't go out there and throw down hard every freakin' time I set foot on a field for a number. With your lame attitude, I could still prolly compete against you on any field, any time. Name your poison in terms of a low brass bugle- G-D, Piston-Slide, Piston-Rotor, and I'll lick you by 15 points with a week of practice on my lunch break sitting on the rear bumper of my VW working it out. And it won't be because I have a degree and you don't.  I have way more moxie, period.

 

 

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