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Pioneer Member Rant


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4 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

It changed in the late 90s or early 00s when DCI changed the tour so all World Class Corps were required to tour beginning mid June - finals in Aug.  Prior to that tours were broken down into a June tour, back home for a few weeks in Jul (which is when the DCM championships happened), followed by second DCI tour mid-July to finals.  This is what allowed Madison to completely redo show in 1976 - they pulled out of a bunch of DCM shows. It was also cheaper because the members were 'home' therefore the Corps didn't need to feed them.   But, because by the early 00s Corps members weren't from where the Corps was based, it didn't make sense come 'home' in July.  When Phantom, Cavies, Madison, Glassmen, et al pulled out of DCM it was only a matter of time before DCM died  (SF Renegades came at least once to compete w MN Brass & Kilties, that propped it up for a while. (funny aside - between prelims & finals, the ReneGuard went to the mall to kill time - they stayed in their BDSM-inspired black leather uniforms & made quite an impression on the locals)) .  At the end, Pioneer was the only World-class Corps, so they were by default the DCM Champs.  But they were also in last place as well

I didn’t know there was a DCM in 1976.  My memory must be getting faulty. 

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22 hours ago, Mello Dude said:

Those were the days where we had a local drum corps circuit.  So many people wouldn't be able to stand listening to younger kids learning anymore.  It's sad that the snobs have taken over.  I really miss those days in this context of watching all the younger kids learning to play and march drum corps.

 

 

I too miss the circuits like we had in Massachusetts: CYO, Eastern Mass, and Mayflower, but in the last days of the circuits, there were times when I was one of a handful of people that did not have a loved one marching. The stands would fill up prior to a corps performance and people would leave afterwards. Very few watched the entire show. 

However, there is a solution that could work. At SoundSport this year there was a corps the Diplomats of Windsor, Ontario. A good number of the marchers were probably between 5th and 7th grade, and even without taking age into account, they were good, not quite Open Class, but they could play, march, and had a creative show. DrumLine Battle had a group Vibes, of Casper, Wyoming. Solid percussion skills, most members were probably middle school, some younger, a few older. I see great potential in organizing similar groups, perhaps within a certain radius, have some competitions, perhaps a few joint concerts in the off season. One day could be completely social such as meeting at an amusement park. The groups could be a bridge to drum corps or WGI music ensembles or color guards. It may not be the circuit days of the past, but it would help get kids involved in music.  

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My understanding is Canadians schools do not have the music programs like lot of schools in the US have. So Sound Sport and the like could provide an opening schools do not

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10 minutes ago, Tim K said:

I too miss the circuits like we had in Massachusetts: CYO, Eastern Mass, and Mayflower,

The CYO has been at it a long time. Somethings things go full circle. Posted from the best corps name site.

In 50's, CYO in NYC area had a huge standstill circuit. Had competition
classes by the carload. Sometimes it seemed there were 100 units. The
competitions went on for hours and hours and hours. Sunrises started
out as a standstill unit- Fred Rose was the Director. 

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7 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

My understanding is Canadians schools do not have the music programs like lot of schools in the US have. So Sound Sport and the like could provide an opening schools do not

That I do not know, though I believe that Les Stentors did train most of their musicians from scratch. Most school systems in the United States have athletic programs but your best athletes often participate in AAU programs. Kids in drama who dream of being on stage are often in theater programs in addition to what schools offer. Schools certainly teach English but a local adult education program for aspiring writers has a summer program for high school students who want to write professionally. I know a friend of mine who teaches music has directed non school related music programs. I’m not looking at replacing school programs as much as “in addition to” music programs.

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4 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

I know Madison pulled out of "local" shows in 76.  Apparently that is the era when DCM was born.  Remember the back page of Drum Corps World w/ the 40+ show add?

Edited by IllianaLancerContra
bad speling
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