Corp Loyalty

[Gige]

When I marched, the people around me were like family and they would have done anything for me or for the Corps. That unity is what creates great Drum Corps. Without the unquestionable loyalty to the group, I don't think that we would have had the dedication to become as good as we did.

I can understand it if you have to move to another part of the Country, or if your Corps folds and are forced to change Corps. I can also understand wanting to move up to a better level of competition. However, I can not understand changing from one Corp to rival Corp in the same region. Unfortunately for you, the sense of family and commitment to the group must have been missing from your Drum Corp experience(s) or else you would understand the loyalty that I felt during my years in Reading.

I BLEED BLUE,

Gige :ramd:

[twillms73]

I can only speak for myself on this issue. My belief is that you are a free agent after each season. Some choose to stay, some choose another corps. Some retire. I'm not gonna get into the reasons why i've made moves but i'll tell you one thing. I'm proud to be a part of the Sound of LI, Sunriser and Bushwacker families. Every member of those corps past, present and future will hold a very special place in my heart. Every corps motto should be "Once a (corps name), Always a (corps name)!"

[bugleboy1048]

I can only speak for myself on this issue. My belief is that you are a free agent after each season. Some choose to stay, some choose another corps. Some retire. I'm not gonna get into the reasons why i've made moves but i'll tell you one thing. I'm proud to be a part of the Sound of LI, Sunriser and Bushwacker families. Every member of those corps past, present and future will hold a very special place in my heart. Every corps motto should be "Once a (corps name), Always a (corps name)!"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:) I agree. Every corps I was in was very special and I hold each one with fondness and highest regard. The only reason I had to change was due to life circumstances(jobs or schooling) I feel a special loyalty to Reading as they were the best drum corps I was ever in, but the others were also very positive influences on my young life. So....BEWARE THE JOLLY ROGER OR YE MIGHT BE WALKIN' TO DAVY JONES LOCKER ARRRGH! :P

[Windsor]

Unfortunately for you, the sense of family and commitment to the group must have been missing from your Drum Corp experience(s) or else you would understand the loyalty that I felt during my years in Reading.

I BLEED BLUE,

Gige  :ramd:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello? Earth to Blue guy....... I was not attacking your decision to stay with one corps, but rather giving you my perspective as to why I think it's cool to make other choices. There is a sense of family and commitment in every corps that I have marched with and I would think that most people who have marched in any corps would agree to the same. I guess one could say (not that YOU would) that I have been blessed with being part of a much larger drum corps community. I just love it when people that know nothing of other people's experiences attempt to circumvent their memories with such unpleasant drivel. You asked the question, and apparently didn't agree with my response. Yeah, well, I've been around the block a few years and it happens. However, you will not convince me that your decision to only march with one corps has somehow elevated you to Grand Visionary of the drum corps experience. To make MY point, just imagine what YOUR drum corps would be like today if staff members had not come in after marching in RIVAL corps.

[JimF-LowBari]

For me, each group has a special yet different feeling. Westshoremen in the 80s was different from the group I started with in the 70s. But the year I did WSM Alumni I ran into people from both decades and felt like I was a part of both groups. And doing Alumni with one of Westshores big rivals from "way back when" is a real hoot and yet another close knit group that I'm part of.

[Jeff Ream]

When I marched, the people around me were like family and they would have done anything for me or for the Corps.  That unity is what creates great Drum Corps.  Without the unquestionable loyalty to the group, I don't think that we would have had the dedication to become as good as we did. 

I can understand it if you have to move to another part of the Country, or if your Corps folds and are forced to change Corps.  I can also understand wanting to move up to a better level of competition.  However, I can not understand changing from one Corp to rival Corp in the same region.  Unfortunately for you, the sense of family and commitment to the group must have been missing from your Drum Corp experience(s) or else you would understand the loyalty that I felt during my years in Reading.

I BLEED BLUE,

Gige  :ramd:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I kinda understand how ya feel. i grew up in a Shore household where Bucs was a bad word.

however when Shore went down, i had no home anymore. I was asked to teach at Bucs, and with dad's permission :P I did.

then wehn the drum staff was changed we went to Empire.

it felt weird both years...and that's no offense to Bucs or Empire. Both corps treated me great and made me feel very at home.

but it wasn't home.

would I do it again? maybe. my "home" is alumni only, and if i want to do competitive again, i have no choice...i have to go elsewhere.

[sop16]

This is my fifth year marching in all-age corps, and also my fifth corps, so I might be able to give a unique perspective.

There used to be a time when just about every community had a drum corps and if you lived there, that's where you marched, period. Now, with so many great "all-age" corps out there, but unfortunately not one in every community, it is possible to look around a bit before you can find the corps in which you truly belong.

Some people choose their corps in a given year because they like the show they will be putting out.

Some people choose a corps based on location. If they move, they change corps.

Some people are loyal to an instructor and move where they move. This, in my observation, is most common in guard and to a lesser extent percussion. It seems to rarely happen in the brass section. On the same token, if a person really doesn't like an instructor, they will not return to the corps, and that does happen with horn players more than those in the other sections.

Some people move because there is a person or a group in the corps they just don't get along with, and they know that person or group will be staying. People also stay in a corps because they have found a group of great friends to the point of being a family, and nothing else matters.

Some people were literally born into a corps and that is where they will stay, in various capacities, for life. Quite often, if heaven forbid their corps folds, they retire from drum corps.

Some people will leave a corps because of philosophical differences. For example, if they feel the music is sacrificed for the sake of super tough drill, or if the show is too easy, or too difficult, or they don't agree with what is done in rehearsals, or they feel their section is put down for the sake of another, or even the attitude that people who marched junior corps are automatically more talented than anyone who didn't.

Some people feel free to change corps from year to year, but they will stay with a corps unless they have a specific reason to leave.

If a corps decides not to compete for a season, or folds altogether, quite often the members will migrate to another corps. Whether thay stay with the second corps, or go back to the original corps when they compete again is something they have to decide.

I don't think that when an individual switches corps it softens long standing rivalries. If anthing, the rivalries are given new life, but in a friendly way. The rivalries and other traditions are part of the life blood of the drum corps activity, and when a corps folds or goes inactive it hurts everyone.

Every corps I have marched with is a part of me now, and I have gained something from each corps. While I marched, I gave 100% to the corps I was in, and to the uniform I wore, as I do now.

I started in Westshore in 98, and when they decided not to compete, I went to Bush, though I still performed with the Westshore minicorps that year. I stayed with Bush through 99, when personal differences caused me to leave after the season. I took a few years off from drum corps, and then I felt the call to march again, and I remembered how impressed I had been with the Bucs when I saw them in 98 and 99, so I joined that corps for the 2003 season. I left at the end of that season because the corps was just not the right fit for me. The drill was great but the horn book was watered down enough to sink a ship (excuse the nautical analogy). In 2004 I marched in Brigs. I had a good time and at the end of the season I intended to go back to Brigs but in the meantime I joined the Sunrisers instead because I knew a couple of people in the corps and they convinced me to try it out, and the music is so cool and challenging. There has never been a split second since I joined Sun that I haven't felt completely welcome and part of the family, and I can't wait for the season to start. As for the other corps I have marched with, I wish them the best of luck, but I'm not looking back.

[Sean1]

I kinda understand how ya feel. i grew up in a Shore household where Bucs was a bad word.

however when Shore went down, i had no home anymore. I was asked to teach at Bucs, and with dad's permission :P I did.

then wehn the drum staff was changed we went to Empire.

it felt weird both years...and that's no offense to Bucs or Empire. Both corps treated me great and made me feel very at home.

but it wasn't home.

would I do it again? maybe. my "home" is alumni only, and if i want to do competitive again, i have no choice...i have to go elsewhere.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Im with ya, I grew up Sky and only thought once of going somewhere else. SKY is my home

[DMCK]

I started in Westshore in 98, and when they decided not to compete, I went to Bush, though I still performed with the Westshore minicorps that year. I stayed with Bush through 99, when personal differences caused me to leave after the season.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who are you? You don't have a signature and your name isn't listed in your profile.

Back to the purpose of the thread, I think it comes down to the individual. I can't tell someone they should stay with one corps just like someone can't tell me that I've missed out on anything because I haven't sampled several corps. Bush is all that I know, and I don't regret it at all. What I look for in a drum corps I have found.

[Seahawk]

WOW ~ i see that as silliness and stubborness.  you moved.  you are denying yourself something you enjoy doing because of some "tradition" that died out years ago.  :(

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry Liz, I disagree with you. It has nothing to do with any kind of tradition. What you may see as "silliness and stubborness", others see as loyalty, which is what the original post from Gige was talking about. I don't feel like I have denied myself anything by choosingnot march with anybody else. I have now been a part of three national champion corps...Blue Rock, the Bucs, and as a volunteer with Magic of Orlando in '02. I still remain active as a volunteer and avid fan. For me, the only thing that could make it better would be the opportunity to march in Reading again and win another DCA title.