IllianaLancerContra Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 2 hours ago, Vuitton said: I would bet this number is extremely low. Wasn’t always the case. But now the tour is in a rut. Except for all the shows that are canceled or don’t seem to have a home along the rut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted April 21 Author Share Posted April 21 What boggles my mind is that attendance was highest around the time of my birth, the 80s, before the interwebz could be used to share the artform widely. By the time I marched Pathways, we'd barely recovered to the 20k mark. That's a quandary only my elders could really begin to reflect and respond to. I'm stumped. Unless AL/VFW and the mid 20th century wars/required enlistment played that big of a role in drum corps recruitment?? Or am I way off base? Pathways was quite the departure from drum corps's militaristic roots... artistically anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 3 hours ago, Vuitton said: it doesn't matter. If I had to sit behind the stage to see U2 or Bob Dylan, I would do it. People fill the cheaper seats behind the symphony at the San Francisco Symphony just to see the concert. The point is there should be enough fans that people are willing to get cheap tickets in the end zones and at the back stands just to be there. In the 80s and 90s as a poor college student I would have paid to sit in the back stands at finals rather than not be there. Now, that I have money, I won't even both to go to a drum corps show today. It's not worth it to see 1-2 shows that are actually good and entertaining. Much of the front sideline is full of the corps that performed earlier in the week and family members of all those corps. Joe Blow off the street just isn't walking into Lucas Oil to see the show. So you are upset because..... 1. Joan from Accounting and John from Marketing isn't paying money to sit in the end zone at a drum corps show made up of a bunch of 18–21-year-old performers, but they would pay their money to see 22-time Grammy winning U2 who is in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. 2. The 22,000 that was packed into Lucas Oil is "allegedly" all family members who paid their own money to travel and support their kid in the final week of the drum corps season, even though we have no actual proof without the raw numbers and data of who attended Finals week and what was the reason they came. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said: What boggles my mind is that attendance was highest around the time of my birth, the 80s, before the interwebz could be used to share the artform widely. By the time I marched Pathways, we'd barely recovered to the 20k mark. That's a quandary only my elders could really begin to reflect and respond to. I'm stumped. Unless AL/VFW and the mid 20th century wars/required enlistment played that big of a role in drum corps recruitment?? Or am I way off base? Pathways was quite the departure from drum corps's militaristic roots... artistically anyway... Back in the AL/VFW era there were posts in almost every town in America, and in cities often one in every neighborhood. Many had Corps (usually smaller) and these Corps went to the state & sometimes national conventions, where the competition was part of the general festivities. And the members of each post would be there to cheer on their Corps. And some of these fans followed into the DCI era. As the WW2 generation died off, fewer young veterans joined the VFW & AL. Also, the tour is now the smallest ever (barring perhaps 2022). So less opportunity to recruit new casual fans. Also doesn’t help that DCI killed the regional circuits like DCM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted April 21 Author Share Posted April 21 3 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said: Back in the AL/VFW era there were posts in almost every town in America, and in cities often one in every neighborhood. Many had Corps (usually smaller) and these Corps went to the state & sometimes national conventions, where the competition was part of the general festivities. And the members of each post would be there to cheer on their Corps. And some of these fans followed into the DCI era. As the WW2 generation died off, fewer young veterans joined the VFW & AL. Also, the tour is now the smallest ever (barring perhaps 2022). So less opportunity to recruit new casual fans. Also doesn’t help that DCI killed the regional circuits like DCM. I was a product of a state that piggybacks music education funding on top of football funding. Is Texas the biggest or only state that can say that? Put another way, are other big drum corps states a result of football funding or some other holdover like AL/VFW legacies? I ask because Texas still seems to be going strong for this reason, but I'm concerned for other regions. I'm also thinking arts education funding is trending downwards in general... thus the widespread willingness to spend money on pop concerns rather than educational/amateur/ fine/performing arts. It takes some literacy in the arts to appreciate these forms. LOL Pathways was super-not-user-friendly. Many drum corps shows trend in that direction too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said: I was a product of a state that piggybacks music education funding on top of football funding. Is Texas the biggest or only state that can say that? Put another way, are other big drum corps states a result of football funding or some other holdover like AL/VFW legacies? I ask because Texas still seems to be going strong for this reason, but I'm concerned for other regions. I'm also thinking arts education funding is trending downwards in general... thus the widespread willingness to spend money on pop concerns rather than educational/amateur/ fine/performing arts. It takes some literacy in the arts to appreciate these forms. LOL Pathways was super-not-user-friendly. Many drum corps shows trend in that direction too... I was stationed in San Antonio for a few years & lived by one of the big HS football powers. And they also had a very good & large band. I suspect the success of Corps in Texas is a result of having so much local talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
year1buick Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 14 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said: I was stationed in San Antonio for a few years & lived by one of the big HS football powers. And they also had a very good & large band. I suspect the success of Corps in Texas is a result of having so much local talent. My daughter’s experience at Reagan was VASTLY different than mine in Commerce, Texas. (I think we had around 65 members the year we made state finals. I was half the trombone section.) It was pretty easy to run into people around SA who were associated with or knew about DCI. Once, when I was wearing a Regiment hoodie, the guy making my Mod Pizza recognized it and said he was marching at Boston that summer. (He was at another big SA high school.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 31 minutes ago, year1buick said: My daughter’s experience at Reagan was VASTLY different than mine in Commerce, Texas. (I think we had around 65 members the year we made state finals. I was half the trombone section.) It was pretty easy to run into people around SA who were associated with or knew about DCI. Once, when I was wearing a Regiment hoodie, the guy making my Mod Pizza recognized it and said he was marching at Boston that summer. (He was at another big SA high school.) Agree that there is a ton of talent there. Makes me think that if they recruited hard locally, Crossmen could be a perennial top 6 Corps. Have to look at why potential members are going to Boston (for example) rather than staying local. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 16 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said: Agree that there is a ton of talent there. Makes me think that if they recruited hard locally, Crossmen could be a perennial top 6 Corps. Have to look at why potential members are going to Boston (for example) rather than staying local. Quite a few Texas kids are making the trip out to California as well. They are well represented here in the Golden State amongst all the corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 11 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said: I wonder if DCI tracks the demographics of attendees? In other words, how many are parents/family of performers? How many are alumni of extant Corps? How many are alumni of extinct Corps? How many are HS band students? How many are fans that just enjoy Drum Corps? How many are locals that want to see what Drum Corps is? Etc? As DCI paid attendance is the biggest source of income, I would hope that corporate DCI understands who these people are. DCI does track the demos based on surveys I’ve gotten even just after ordering tickets 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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