Abuse in Drum Corps

[IllianaLancerContra]

51 minutes ago, greg_orangecounty said:

No one should be belittled or harassed, but If I'm paying $5K to march and the kid next to me is being a goof, or not giving his/her all, I WANT them to get yelled at by staff.  But that rarely happened as we policed ourselves - behind the stands, after sectionals. 

I understand, but part of the problem is when self-policing goes wrong 

[Phantom56]

As a Phantom alumni from the 70's, I'm sickened to hear that this kind of abuse may still be going on. It went when I marched, but those were times when all sorts of abuse were common--among all corps.  NOT acceptable in this era. 

[Cappybara]

1 hour ago, greg_orangecounty said:

No one should be belittled or harassed, but If I'm paying $5K to march and the kid next to me is being a goof, or not giving his/her all, I WANT them to get yelled at by staff.  But that rarely happened as we policed ourselves - behind the stands, after sectionals. 

Yelling accomplishes nothing. I’ve watched numerous BD rehearsals over the past decade and have never seen staff raise their voice. And they seem to find a way to succeed more than anyone else. The idea of physical and verbal harassment to get the outcome you want is very old fashioned and thankfully has gone out of style. Those who don’t catch up will eventually be put out to pasture thanks to whistleblowers like this brave colorguard member 

[drumcorpsfever]

Examples such as this - and more that I am familiar with - is exactly why my previously unwavering support of drum corps has dwindled. Although I do keep up with much of what goes on with the activity (performances MOSTLY), my love and passion is no more. So much in fact that I would dissuade anyone with an interest in participating. It’s sad but true. If the whole thing crashed and burned, I could care less. I really think the future of DCI is bleak if these issues persist. And it seems like they never stop.  

Edited July 5, 2022 by drumcorpsfever

[drumcorpsfever]

1 hour ago, greg_orangecounty said:

No one should be belittled or harassed, but If I'm paying $5K to march and the kid next to me is being a goof, or not giving his/her all, I WANT them to get yelled at by staff.  But that rarely happened as we policed ourselves - behind the stands, after sectionals. 

And on and on it goes. “Policing ourselves” Yelled by staff. $5,000 to march. 
 

Why?

[craiga]

7 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Yelling accomplishes nothing. I’ve watched numerous BD rehearsals over the past decade and have never seen staff raise their voice. And they seem to find a way to succeed more than anyone else. The idea of physical and verbal harassment to get the outcome you want is very old fashioned and thankfully has gone out of style. Those who don’t catch up will eventually be put out to pasture thanks to whistleblowers like this brave colorguard member 

The same is true of BAC. Because I am recently retired, I had the good fortune to attend more than half of rehearsals in Vermont, sometimes literally being the only spectator.  I never heard a staff person raise their voice let alone use profanity or belittling language.  

[JimF-LowBari]

50 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Yelling accomplishes nothing. I’ve watched numerous BD rehearsals over the past decade and have never seen staff raise their voice. And they seem to find a way to succeed more than anyone else. The idea of physical and verbal harassment to get the outcome you want is very old fashioned and thankfully has gone out of style. Those who don’t catch up will eventually be put out to pasture thanks to whistleblowers like this brave colorguard member 

Agreed, I was one of those if I screwed up I was the one most mad about it. And if I screwed up because I misunderstood then don’t yell… explain.

Had a Bari tech who connected with us best of all. Knew Bari line was bunch of self starters and included music majors, other students and blue collar types. Never yelled, at worst it was a sneering “I thought you could do better than that… my mistake”. Count 3 for everyone to get ###### at themselves and “yeah much better”

[greg_orangecounty]

42 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

"Yelling accomplishes nothing."

It accomplished quite a bit actually; 5th place, 1st place, 6th place, and 3rd place.  It didn't happen that often but getting yelled at by Bobby Hoffman, Mike Duffy, Ralph Hardimon, or Tom Float was quite a motivating factor to change unwanted behavior - it was never about making a mistake in drill or playing. 

[Liahona]

52 minutes ago, craiga said:

The same is true of BAC. Because I am recently retired, I had the good fortune to attend more than half of rehearsals in Vermont, sometimes literally being the only spectator.  I never heard a staff person raise their voice let alone use profanity or belittling language.  

Speaking to many folks around rehearsals that's exactly what I've heard. BAC also has a zero tolerance policy which I've realized is not just a policy for policy's sake, but something they've taken very serious action on as well over the years.

Edited July 5, 2022 by Liahona

[Cappybara]

1 hour ago, greg_orangecounty said:

It accomplished quite a bit actually; 5th place, 1st place, 6th place, and 3rd place.  It didn't happen that often but getting yelled at by Bobby Hoffman, Mike Duffy, Ralph Hardimon, or Tom Float was quite a motivating factor to change unwanted behavior - it was never about making a mistake in drill or playing. 

Sounds like yelling is just a confounding variable that you are treating as the solution to a problem (the unwanted behavior). You are confused, but it’s okay. 
 

Yelling accomplishes nothing.