A follow up message from CA&E's Board Chairperson

[LabMaster]

2 hours ago, dbc03 said:

What are your chances of becoming a pro marcher? or a marching scholarship?

There are more effecient ways to become a better player than doing drum corps.

Funny.  Pro marcher. Ha ha. You don’t do drum corps specifically to become a pro. But you know that, you’re just being argumentative for the sake of arguing.  There are many former DC people who go on to become pro teachers, musicians, choreographers.  DC was just a fun thing to do and helped them with their future endeavors.

[rpbobcat]

2 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

 I was reading that the Ohio State Marching Band only has about 10% music majors.  I expect it’s probably not much different with the Marching Illini. I don’t really know about other college Marching bands. 

I know that the Ohio University Marching 110 (240 MM actually, long story) are less then 20% Music Majors.

 

 

[scheherazadesghost]

3 hours ago, LabMaster said:

Your chances of becoming a musician or dancer are far better than becoming a pro athlete.  You may even have a better chance of getting a scholarship for music or dance that getting one for sports too.

Erm, but are those good career choices for young people? And by extension, should they be giving up as much time as they do in drum corps to pursue them? It really really didn't work out for me well. Nor my partner. And we were escorted through all of our arts programs, celebrated the whole way with scholarships and awards. Being a soloist and excellent colorguard teacher on top of that led me to think it might've been a viable career choice. Not to mention the debt and cost of this career choice without the jobs to pay it off afterwards.

We also found that we had extremely limited sustainable work skills by the end of it all. Excellent artists! But that only gets one so far. And the marching world either paid pennies or I was beholden to misogynistic tyrant directors. The transition to viable sustainable careers was, uh, let's just stick with "tough."

I'm not arguing against drum corps here. Just saying any youth programming should either be super transparent with young people just how fluffy and niche it is, or work harder on pipelining young people into the industry. Otherwise, one might be tempted to recommend young people do summer internships, apprenticeships, or more college instead.

Edit to add: naughty naughty going off topic. To be clear DB gets no love from my corner of DCP. She was staff coordinator at SCV 04, and most know how that went for some of us members and staff.

Edited October 17, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
typo

[dbc03]

20 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

Funny.  Pro marcher. Ha ha. You don’t do drum corps specifically to become a pro. But you know that, you’re just being argumentative for the sake of arguing.  There are many former DC people who go on to become pro teachers, musicians, choreographers.  DC was just a fun thing to do and helped them with their future endeavors.

You think that you are arguing against my original point when you are agreeing with it

[NewToPosting]

23 hours ago, fsthnds said:

I look at one common denominator with Cadets and SCV going inactive. Denise Bonfiglio leaving both organizations! Both corps issues were caused by several of years of prior mismanagement and POOR financial decisions.

I guess no good deed goes unpunished. 

What if she ended up being the person who was keeping it held together? I don't know that to be fact, but I do remember her having nearly weekly fundraising efforts for the Cadets. She brought back pre-GH folks (who were still interested in even discussing the Cadets publicly). 

Prove that unexpected bills received in October 2023 had anything to do with Denise. If you're going to call her out like that, pony up the proof.

Emerald Marquis is no longer around. You wanna blame Denise for that, too? After all, she was the lead tech there and is clearly the cause of the activity's woes (I'm being incredibly sarcastic).

[LabMaster]

39 minutes ago, dbc03 said:

You think that you are arguing against my original point when you are agreeing with it

Then you don’t understand my point if you think I’m agreeing.

[LabMaster]

41 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Erm, but are those good career choices for young people? And by extension, should they be giving up as much time as they do in drum corps to pursue them? It really really didn't work out for me well. Nor my partner. And we were escorted through all of our arts programs, celebrated the whole way with scholarships and awards. Being a soloist and excellent colorguard teacher on top of that led me to think it might've been a viable career choice. Not to mention the debt and cost of this career choice without the jobs to pay it off afterwards.

We also found that we had extremely limited sustainable work skills by the end of it all. Excellent artists! But that only gets one so far. And the marching world either paid pennies or I was beholden to misogynistic tyrant directors. The transition to viable sustainable careers was, uh, let's just stick with "tough."

I'm not arguing against drum corps here. Just saying any youth programming should either be super transparent with young people just how fluffy and niche it is, or work harder on pipelining young people into the industry. Otherwise, one might be tempted to recommend young people do summer internships, apprenticeships, or more college instead.

Edit to add: naughty naughty going off topic. To be clear DB gets no love from my corner of DCP. She was staff coordinator at SCV 04, and most know how that went for some of us members and staff.

My point was that you have a better chance, through dc or band, of being a “pro” musician or dancer, than making it to the “Pro Athlete” level through athletic programs  in towns or schools. The number of people making it as a pro athlete are less than one half of one percent, if even that much.  

[scheherazadesghost]

12 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

My point was that you have a better chance, through dc or band, of being a “pro” musician or dancer, than making it to the “Pro Athlete” level through athletic programs  in towns or schools. The number of people making it as a pro athlete are less than one half of one percent, if even that much.  

And respectfully, my point, as someone who pursued the professional dance career route, is that finding a successful career in dance is just as bleak for most. Precious few make it to a professional dance company, and those that do find that such roles don't include benefits that even remotely cover damage done to the body. The vast majority of us have side gigs. And the vast majority of us don't last in the field. It's not a viable career direction for most, especially if you don't come from money or pedigree. Drum corps, if anything, would hold most back because the dance training in drum corps is far less developed than college programs; it's a big reason for so many injuries actually. I had to unlearn so many bad drum corps dance habits and Isee it every season when I watch shows.

Thus, my experience might disprove your theory that becoming a pro dancer is more straightforward than either athlete or musician via drum corps or otherwise. It's simply not, and arguably more difficult because the underlying dancer industry infrastructure is so flimsy. And in turn, it's not often the best route for young people to rely on. Again, all based in the lived experiences of myself and others in my career cohort.

[OldSnareDrummer]

It's probably a little late for my dance career.

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, LabMaster said:

Funny.  Pro marcher. Ha ha. You don’t do drum corps specifically to become a pro. But you know that, you’re just being argumentative for the sake of arguing.  There are many former DC people who go on to become pro teachers, musicians, choreographers.  DC was just a fun thing to do and helped them with their future endeavors.

Only professional marchers I am aware of is USMC D & BC.  They are paid to march Drum Corps, and that makes them professional.