Corps Abuse

[mbandguy]

While I am a life long band person, and have been watching Drum Corps for years, I have just recently becoming more involved in the activity. I have a child in a corps and the experience has done a lot for them personally. I was just wondering if it was a normal part of the activity for a tech to constantly scream obscenities about mistakes and issue physical punishments such as push ups or running line sprints or laps, regardless of the weather. Is this just something my child needs to learn to accept if continuing in drum corps is desired?

[mistertoo]

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Edited July 14, 2006 by mistertoo

[Segundulla22]

I think most of the vibe in corps is positive. Some are different than others, but when you deal with quality staff, they have more effective ways to communicate than yelling. I know some corps are big on push-ups and punishment, but in general it really isnt that constructive. And, as fun as beating high school and college kids may be, the staff is there to help them improve, not demean them.

[Jason]

Question,

Has ANYONE involved in the activity seen this first hand? Has ANYONE whom has been around a corps when they reherse senn ahything LIKE this? Has ANYONE whom volunteers for a corps seen such behavior from a staff?

I certainly havent. I've HEARD about hard #####, but my first hand experiance in a NUMBER of different postions within the activity has been otherwise.

I'm honestly wondering WHAT program Mr. Band Guy has seen this happen to. Something just does not ring true..

[Ryan H. Turner]

Well Jason--perhaps now as we're well under way in the 21st century and instructors are "kinder and gentler", I can definitely state in all honesty that there were a couple of instructors in my VK years that a times resorted to the obscenity route with their teaching. By the time I got to 1987, things had calmed down quite a bit--either because the staff was more mature, the kids were better, or maybe someone higher up put their foot down. I don't know.

I know for a fact nowadays that Impulse and PC both have very professional staffs that can do their gigs without resorting to shouting obscenities.

For the dad that originally posted his concern, if your kid is in a corps where this is occurring, and you don't like it, voice your disapproval with the corps director, or go to their board meeting and threaten to remove your financial support if they continue to empower one of their staff members to do this. I can guarantee that the staff member will lose in this case, and should. It's a sign of extreme immaturity in my book to have to resort to "shouting obscenities". I can motivate a herd of 500 band kids with the volume and tone of my voice--I don't need a cuss word to help me.

[Jason]

Ryan,

I u8nderstand how it was "back in the day"...however, back in the day seems like a long time ago in a galazy far far away.

Not to say it COULDN'T happen, but to see it in this day and age, doesn't really seem to make sense. Once and a while...when someone needs a good boot in the seat, will they get a nice little tounge lashing, or run to the nearest (or furthest) tree to find a leaf. But someone being a continued hardass seems...well...almost as real as the Loch Ness Monster.

[ScribeToo]

I've seen both extremes in use (both back in the day and recently) and I can say that the better results are had from treating the members like adults, telling them what's expected of them and being clear on the consequences if they fail to meet expectations. Gives the KID the power to control his or her destiny...

Also, as for "corporal punishment" -- most corps I know don't stop rehearsal for mistakes that "cost" pushups or laps.. but most kids will self-discipline.. meaning, they can be seen when the corps stops to address another issue on the field, dropping to do pushups or crunches on their own.. While I've never asked them, I've always presumed it was because they knew they had made a mistake and were physically reminding themselves of the hardships of making a mistake (or twelve).

Unless it's pushed to the extreme, I think the physical conditioning can't be harmful -- even if it's used in a disciplinary way.

[Scerpella]

While I am a life long band person, and have been watching Drum Corps for years, I have just recently becoming more involved in the activity.  I have a child in a corps and the experience has done a lot for them personally.  I was just wondering if it was a normal part of the activity for a tech to constantly scream obscenities about mistakes and issue physical punishments such as push ups or running line sprints or laps, regardless of the weather.  Is this just something my child needs to learn to accept if continuing in drum corps is desired?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm, you just described my junior corps experience!

I would say your child is probably not a hothouse flower and will take on the challenge head on and end up loving it, provided real values are at the core of the hard work.

Note that I am not condoning any real abuse. I dont think that being yelled at necessarily constitutes that nor is running laps or doing pushups. Do you have a son or daughter in sports? I'll wager that experoence has more of this "abuse"

[ACustom19]

As for the oringinal question, the answer is almost always..yes.

[mbandguy]

I just got back home from Denver, so am just catching up on replies to my original post. I did want to answer one question...has anybody actually seen it? YES...and to blend the response with other posts, the obscenity was constant, and the physical punishment was constant, and certainly would not be construed as "conditioning." However, the corps director did take care of it, and is cleaning house on a portion of the staff. As a music director, I can not afford to recommend an activity to parents of my students that will lead to bad situations, so I will do my part in my own small way, to see to it that corporal punishment is not a part of the activity anywhere!