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Time to Say Goodbye, after 15 years


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58 minutes ago, Guitar1974 said:

YES- thank you!  There are a bunch of ww players in DCI now.  Always have been.  A great player is a great player.  With hard work a talented ww player can certainly learn brass and participate.  I did.  Lots of other kids I know did.  Would any of us rather played our woodwinds in DCI?  NO WAY!!  Then it wouldn't be DCI, would it?  Being a woodwind player made the experience even deeper and more meaningful to me.  Opened my eyes to a completely new family of instruments.  After starting from scratch and going through all the work it took, I truly learned you can do anything you set your mind to do.  Would I have wanted to be in DCI if it were just summer marching band?  No way.  

Completely agree. My brother and I marched Phantom Regiment together in 1985. He was a saxophone player and learned to play tuba so he could march contra with the Regiment. 

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3 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Their inclusion won’t make them better either. 

For these WW kids that apparently want to be in Drum Corps so bad, why can’t they learn how to play a different instrument. I did, and so did others. It’s not that hard if you’re motivated

Why should they, have to in  2019? Yes, there are some who do. But given the audition approach of today, it is much more difficult to just pick up a horn and make the BD hornline.

 

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1 minute ago, MikeD said:

Why should they, have to in  2019? Yes, there are some who do. But given the audition approach of today, it is much more difficult to just pick up a horn and make the BD hornline.

 

They’re not entitled to make BD’s horn line, or any other, until they practice and become good enough to earn the spot. Not everyone gets a trophy. I played snare and trombone. I wasn’t good enough in one and Drum Corps didn’t allow the other, so I learned baritone instead and started in a local corps until I was good enough to be in the Kingsmen. 

Many others did the same.

 

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16 minutes ago, MikeD said:

Why should they, have to in  2019? Yes, there are some who do. But given the audition approach of today, it is much more difficult to just pick up a horn and make the BD hornline.

 

2019 has nothing to do with it. If my kid wants to be on the swim team, they need to learn to swim. If not, there’s always soccer. 

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I have attentively read every reply to my original post.  I have learned some aspects that were unknown to me, I appreciate the opportunity to learn and hear from so many.  From time to time I started typing a bit more of the story, it ended up being quite lengthy.  I attempted to post the reply but was getting some error messages that I guess might be because of the length.  So I have put my comments on a website.  Here is the link to it http://weberafterdark.com/dcpfollowup/

Best regards to all

Ray

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21 hours ago, HockeyDad said:

Include WW and there is no reason for drum corps. Except for the vague “excellence” argument. One person’s excellence is another’s mind-numbing boredom. “Excellence” is not a compelling reason to pay $5000 to do something you can do for free in high school or as part of your college curriculum. 

Brass, drums and guard - everyone but woodwinds - already do that.

Mike

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3 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

They’re not entitled to make BD’s horn line, or any other, until they practice and become good enough to earn the spot. Not everyone gets a trophy. I played snare and trombone. I wasn’t good enough in one and Drum Corps didn’t allow the other, so I learned baritone instead and started in a local corps until I was good enough to be in the Kingsmen. 

Many others did the same.

 

I'm following along but don't want this point to go unnoticed:  Today's competitive HS marching programs give the same, and probably better, experience and make them more qualified to make the BD horn line than a musician that has switched his instrument several times.  Sure, there are exceptions, but MikeD is consistent in saying that band programs today prepare kids to multi-levels-higher talent levels than did band programs of the 50's and '60 just before DCI was formed.  Compare the path you took to Kingsmen to that of most MM's who started on a brass instrument in 5th grade and auditioned that instrument to make a corps.  Yours was honorable and developed/shows character.  The other gave lots of practice time. 

Please return to your regularly scheduled discussion...

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2 hours ago, MikeN said:

Brass, drums and guard - everyone but woodwinds - already do that.

That's a completely reasonable point.

On the other hand, think of the big string quartet competition that happens every other year up in Banff. If you're a string quartet aficionado, and you learn that this year the competition is for quartets of any instrumentation, you know that means you'll be hearing less string quartet music.

My objection to woodwinds in drum corps is that it would become a de facto "required" element, just like nearly every other supposedly optional element that's been added.

Right now we get lots more brass playing in drum corps than we do in marching band.

Add woodwinds and there would be less.

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5 hours ago, MikeD said:

Why should they, have to in  2019? Yes, there are some who do. But given the audition approach of today, it is much more difficult to just pick up a horn and make the BD hornline.

 

Yah, it wasn't easy back in the 90's, either.  Kids now have way better access to online tutorials, lessons, audition tips, etc than we ever did. A ww kid picking up a brass instrument and immediately making BD's line is far fetched, I agree with you.  But that kid certainly could go to a lower placing corps, get experience, and then eventually make BD or whatever.  If/when woodwinds are added it won't be much different- a handful of talented we players will get in and the large majority cut.  Sounds like your pipe dream is a large/all instruments/give everyone a chance/etc ensemble.  Well, you are in luck!!  I hear this already exists.. Called high school/college marching band.  They do that very thing already!

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3 minutes ago, Guitar1974 said:

Yah, it wasn't easy back in the 90's, either.  Kids now have way better access to online tutorials, lessons, audition tips, etc than we ever did. A ww kid picking up a brass instrument and immediately making BD's line is far fetched, I agree with you.  But that kid certainly could go to a lower placing corps, get experience, and then eventually make BD or whatever.  If/when woodwinds are added it won't be much different- a handful of talented we players will get in and the large majority cut.  Sounds like your pipe dream is a large/all instruments/give everyone a chance/etc ensemble.  Well, you are in luck!!  I hear this already exists.. Called high school/college marching band.  They do that very thing already!

WW players already started their instruments in grade school, like the brass and percussion players today. To make a line in any section of a modern WC corps a player needs to have a certain skill level, due to the audition requirements today. Scholastic programs prepare students to audition for DCI drum corps, except for the WW players. No real reason they should not be part of DCI corps in this day and age, IMO. 

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