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Disturbing DCI rumors


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8 minutes ago, Glenn426 said:

Here I thought I was being nice for holding the door, Didn't think it to be taken as an Insult.

But perhaps you are right, Perhaps DCP is the place of people who will never change their minds and are set in their ways, A Safe place where the norms are not challenged, and organic growth is frowned upon because the Donors/ Elders are the only ones that matter here. 

Reddit seems more my speed anyway, Anyone mind holding the door?

Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya. 😉

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28 minutes ago, Glenn426 said:

Similar to other "liberal" political Wants, I will keep championing the cause, to have everyone be equal no matter what instrument they choose. No matter if they want to press 3 Valves or 12 Buttons. No matter if they want to Buzz their lips or buzz a Reed..

Funny how much these things align.

You're never going to address the financial realities, are ya? 

The corps can't afford to grow in size since every member costs them much more than they pay in tour fees and they're losing money as it is. There would be no noticeable uptick in ticket or media sales (if anything, it might decrease). The legacy fans who provide most of the charitable contributions that make drum corps viable now don't want it, and would be turned off by it. There is no chance that a major corporate sponsor will say "oh, they have woodwinds now? Let's sponsor the summer tour!"

Financially, it's a total loser of a proposition, and would provide nothing except for a few individuals to feel all virtuous about their "inclusiveness." I would suggest that those who want summer marching band talk to DCI about creating a division for them, and start building their own bands with their own free-standing non-profit orgs to sponsor them. Surely there must be at least 7 or 8 groups that would form. Let them have their own class championships during Finals week - in fact, go to three bands and nine corps for Finals night and call it a thing. 

Have the courage to run with your big idea and start it up from scratch, the way the founders of the corps did with their organizations. Problem solved!

Edited by Slingerland
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And if corps grow I predict it will be harder to find practice and rest facilities. Getting harder each year based on pleas to find spots at DCI East and other major shows. With more bodies to host and worry about, sites on the tipping point of host/no host will decide not to

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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53 minutes ago, Glenn426 said:

Similar to other "liberal" political Wants, I will keep championing the cause, to have everyone be equal no matter what instrument they choose. No matter if they want to press 3 Valves or 12 Buttons. No matter if they want to Buzz their lips or buzz a Reed..

Funny how much these things align.

That's an interesting statement "to have everyone be equal no matter what instrument they chose".

What''s the next step,have everyone be equal ,regardless of how well you play that instrument.

No more auditions.
Each corps just holds a lottery.

Oh,and how can the activity be equal ,if you have to be able to march.

As has been posted here,not everyone can participate in every activity.

Also,if there is this overwhelming desire for making drum corps into marching bands,why 

isn't,to the best of my knowledge, there  a Summer marching band circuit like DCI ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by rpbobcat
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1 hour ago, Glenn426 said:

Imagine being a kid in 7th grade beginning band not knowing anything about DCI or any of its offshoots. and choosing to play Alto Saxophone because you like the sound and your dad always played Coltrane and Charlie Parker on Sunday mornings growing up. Your best friends choose Trombone and Trumpet. You go all through Middle School and you are killing it on Alto, All-state First Chair etc.., Highly decorated. Your friends are holding their own but they don't practice as much and while talented, do not earn the accolades that you do.

 

Then you go to HS and you are introduced to Marching band, and by osmosis DCI. You and your friends love the Blue Devils and are their biggest fans. You go to see BD live at a local show and you fall in love, Your friends immediately decide they want to be a Blue Devil one day. And your friends start working on their skills. you on the other hand (the better musician of the three and most decorated musician in your school) also want to march BD but you have to learn a brand new instrument to try and make BD because WW's aren't allowed. The three of you go to auditions and your friends both make it, but while you can march just as good as they can, you don't have a great tone quality, your range is limited and your articulation is not as pristine as a natural brass player. You are Cut. and cant march BD with your friends. Even though you are the most dedicated musician of the three, the most talented, the one who would likely pursue music performance as a profession because you already have a scholarship to prestigious music school for Alto performance. 

This somewhat describes my history. If I had known about drum & bugle corps when they we 'fitting' us for instruments in 6th grade, I probably would have taken up trumpet instead of saxophone.

What would I have done in your scenario above? I would have auditioned for a lower tier or open class corps, learned a brass instrument, and tried for my 'dream corps' the following year. 

To me the brass sound with froward projection is what makes drum & bugle corps distinct from other marching activities.

There will always be things that don't work out because of decisions and circumstances earlier in life. 

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1 hour ago, Glenn426 said:

Similar to other "liberal" political Wants, I will keep championing the cause, to have everyone be equal no matter what instrument they choose. No matter if they want to press 3 Valves or 12 Buttons. No matter if they want to Buzz their lips or buzz a Reed..

Funny how much these things align.

You’re such a hero. 
I have a 2.0 in sports management but I want to go to medical school but they won’t let me in. It’s not fair. 
This whole argument about letting the poor WW players in is moronic. 

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33 minutes ago, PresentArms said:

There will always be things that don't work out because of decisions and circumstances earlier in life. 

Most snare drummers in today's corps had to learn traditional grip in order to do drum corps, since almost every band program teaches match grip from the beginning and has for 30 years.

Every kid spinning a rifle or a sabre had to learn that skill, since it's not taught as part of classroom curriculum anywhere that I know of.

If a saxophone player is so into drum corps that they really want to march, they can learn one of the skills necessary and audition. There have been and are plenty of members whose primary instrument is a non-drum corps instrument and they were able to figure it out.

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18 minutes ago, Slingerland said:

If a saxophone player is so into drum corps that they really want to march, they can learn one of the skills necessary and audition. There have been and are plenty of members whose primary instrument is a non-drum corps instrument and they were able to figure it out.

A few years ago my wife and I were sitting the stands in Bayonne,waiting for the first Bridgemen Alumni Corps show.

The guy sitting next saw my OHIO jacket and said he was in the Marching 110 and was now a member of the Bridgemen.

I asked what he played.

Saxaphone .

He said he wanted to march with the Bridemen,so he learned to play a horn.

Don't remember which horn.

Would have liked to get into more detail with him,bit he had to leave to warm up with the corps.

 

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Continued good holiday seasons, everyone!

Dinosaur here; 48th year into drum corps fandom. Have to say, for me, I have never enjoyed the activity more than right now. Certainly I can still conjure the initial, youthful goosebumps reliving shows from my early decades, but as long as the performance levels are as high as they continue to be, I'll be a half-centurion!

Only potential downside to the woodwind addition; many of the most competitive bands just-might-almost-perhaps score in the upper teens now. Beef up percussion packages and guard performance, and -- cough, cough -- what's to say they have the ability to be finalist caliber?

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14 hours ago, MikeD said:

It is more along the lines of....

Corps style competitive HS marching bands generally consist of percussion, brass, guard and woodwinds.

Corps style college marching bands generally consist of percussion, brass, guard and woodwinds. 

Time to audition for the epitome of Marching Music...DCI  corps.

Percussion...you are very welcome to come on in and try out. We'd love to have you.

Brass...come on down and audition. We welcome you with open arms.

Guard....as soon as WGI season is over, give us a shot.

Woodwinds,....stay away. No room here for you people.

It just makes no sense anymore, when scholastic band programs make  up 99+% of the pyramid of marching music, with DCI corps sitting on top, to exclude woodwinds from the top level of marching music. If the corps that vote for these things want to legalize woodwinds, GREAT! Long overdue, IMO.

To me your post reads as: "I don't like what drum corps are, and I want them to be something else."

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