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Costs vs fees


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3 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

Mr. Warren used to get kids from the juvenile detention facility for the color guard.  I heard that right from guys who marched in Cavaliers way back.  I marched with them in the RA Reunion corps.  The stories I heard those two years… 😳😂

read Warrens book! 

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The Drum & Bugle Corps activity is much more like a semester abroad for marching members. From 1985 to 1987 I attended the Eastern Music Festival in the summer (orchestral camp) and even in the 80s the tuition was in the $6,000 range, and that did not include your flight and extra money for other things. Interlochen, Aspen, Tanglewood and other were at least that or more in the 80s. I believe that in order for drum corps to survive this was the model they needed to take, especially if they wanted the product to be high quality. There are other ways, but I don't think they would attract as many fans or bring in the talent pool. The activity would not be as well liked by the music education community, who these days very much love drum corps and do think of it as the Major League of Marching Music. 

Drum corps is essentially a roving music camp, and may of the members can get college credit, and perhaps in some cases H.S. elective or arts credits as well. It is expensive and there are not a lot of ways around that. Touring for 2 months on charter busses is expensive. Food, housing, spring training residence, instructors, designers, physical trainers and nurses (some may volunteer), instrument leases and repairs, and drivers, gas, and insurance for equipment and food trucks (again some may volunteer) all cost big dollars. 

More regional touring could help bring the cost down some, but even in those regions the corps are spread out enough that the distance in travel would still be significant. 

The difference between DCI and many summer music camps (like the orchestra camps I mentioned) is the later often provide numerous scholarships based on audition and / or need. Could DCI get to a point where they get more underwriting and scholarships that allow tuition to come down to an average $2000 per kid, with the scholarships, sponsors, etc. picking up the other $7,000 or more. Some members do get some sponsorship and that is a good way to go, but a better way would be to setup endowments (music like colleges) that over time grow and provide substantial dollars on the basis of need or merit. 

Edited by jwillis35
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MY HOT TAKE... 
(disclaimer. I have worked with a few Top 12 corps on a fairly high level)

I took a deep look at the top 18 drum corps 990's and gross receipts from 2018 and found this:

> 7 out of the top 18 have gross receipts over $2 mil.

> 11 of the top 18 were under with the lowest dollar amount being roughly $1.2 million.

I have analyzed these numbers and others (office pay, money raised vs placement etc)  for a few different purposes, but let's continue with this exercise.

1) Let's use $1.8 million for this exercise. Which is super close to a 7-12 corps budget.
Divide that number between marching members and alternates.
1800000/160 = $11,250.00 per student.

Subtract, say, $5000 (the high end of what a student pays for tuition/dues for the summer)

So, now what the corps needs to raise in funding is roughly $6,250.00 per member through fundraising, sponsorships, running events, camps/clinics, auditions/learning experiences, side hustles (stores/bingos) etc.

2) NOW... Let's look at the length of a summer.
A lot of corps moved in last weekend - May 20
And will be on tour until - Aug 14.
Total number of days on tour = 86 days.
Cost per student/member per day of tour = $58.14

3) Food...
If this member was to stay at home and eat 3 fast food meals a day at $8 a meal (of course a corps does not pay this per meal, but a college age student could pay this much if they stayed at home, so follow with me) = $24.
86 days times $24 a day = $2,064.00

Subtract $2,064 from $5000 and you get = $2,936.00

or for 86 days, roughly $34 a day for a great drum corps arts education experience and a great resume builder for potential Music Teachers / Band Directors.

4) Thoughts.
> Could there be less staff to reduce costs for members (bus seats, salaries, airfares etc)? Sure. Many would say that it would adversely affect the quality of education and no 30+ yo person wants to go on tour all summer away from their families now.
> Could the tour be different to save corps money? Sure. I still think the regional model until SATX is the best.
> Could the prop wars go away to help save money? Sure. If your corps is on the financial edge, props will not help your group competitively. You have other issues to work with before props. I see the prop graveyards at schools all the time and think of the money wasted.
> Could the sound system wars (mic'ing members especially) save money? Sure. $100k for a sound system sounds nuts to me.
> Could the corps do more remote camps (zoom or smartmusic/musescore or videos) to save money (and airfare for members)? Sure. I think this is more of the future.
> Could members give up a season (indoor winds/perc/guard or drum corps) to reduce the financial strain on themselves or their families? Sure. Young people need to be taught that they cannot have everything and then just go to a gofundme page to get it. We are teaching the wrong things by doing this.


5) Conclusion.
Try finding a soccer, cheer, music, football, arts camp that is the bargain as drum corps is for the time spent away from home and the education the young person gets through music. 

Even though I spent $500 for yearly dues to win a few World Championships, I still believe that drum corps is a bargain.
 

Edited by njthundrrd
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/23/2022 at 10:27 AM, Slingerland said:

1960s drum corps still exists, but it's called "high school marching band." The kids live at home, they don't travel for rehearsals, few overnights, parent volunteers managing a lot of the logistics,. they ride on school busses to shows, etc, etc.

The current members in DCI drum corps have already had that experience. They want to push it to the next level. Going back to the old style makes little sense (it already exists - see above), and would kill the activity dead.

If drum corps alums from the 1960s and 70s and 80s want to keep the activity affordable for lower income members, there are sponsorship programs out there at every corps that are designed to offset the touring expenses.  

Though many see today’s school music programs as the successor to drum corps, I agree to some extent, but I don’t completely agree. I do think better school music programs are why it is difficult to form new drum corps, but I don’t think they replaced drum corps. Other than finances, there are many reasons why drum corps of the 60’s, and in Massachusetts where I live, the 70’s decreased, and school programs were not a big reason. As a matter of fact, school music programs were slashed in many school systems in my area at the same time many drum corps folded.

I knew quite a few of the founders of drum corps in the Boston area. Only a few had any kind of musical knowledge, and I don’t know of any who founded drum corps, non academic bands, or drill teams that did so for musical reasons. Drum corps was viewed as a way to keep kids occupied, teach skills of working together, and it was a “catch-all” activity that appealed to athletic kids and those who might not readily join a sports team. Music and drill were priorities of the instructors, but for the founders, the music and drill was a means to an end, the end being keeping kids occupied.  If you look at when drum corps began decreasing, more athletic opportunities such as soccer, rugby, lacrosse, gymnastics, etc grew in popularity. Community playhouses improved. There were schools for the arts that offered after school programs. 

 

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