MikeD Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 You're right about kevlar and huge pits and boring music.Themes are o.k. BUT here's a tip to all of the designers.IF YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT ...YOU DID IT WRONG. Start with Phantom Regiment handing out libretto's for Sparticus and it goes down hill from there. Go back 10 years before that...we (Garfield) passed out a libretto in 1971. I fail to see the problem with librettos or narration, if they are done well. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxwellNotes Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 Um...you are off by 34 years. The Day Drum Corps died was in 1971 with the Scouts, Caveis, and Cadets themed shows...there were t-shirts made to that effect...and editorials by Dick Blake in Drum Corps News.I think WW in I&E is a great idea. Mike I have one of those T-shirts still. Also a Galaxy drum corps t-shirt, a corps that never existed!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambassadorhorn Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 (edited) I have nothing but respect for your opinion, however, it was this attitde that gave drum corps its uniqueness. As for the declining membership, sorry about your corps, by the way, it has more to do with the fact that the average kid can't just walk up to a corps and join any more. ... Leave the opportunity for kids that would never have a chance to do this thing we call drum corps intact. Aw enough...bring it on. Mike, This is the best and most passionate descriptions of Drum Corps I have ever seen. I'll link to it whenever people want to claim that the differences between corps and band are illusionary. My first corps and even my last corps had this spirit. We didn't claim to be educational and we didn't expect any support from the "legit" music teachers in our town but we were proud of what we accomplished. One of the local music teachers spoke of the Ambassadors in a dismissive tone: "Drum Corps only play at two volumes: loud and louder." Amen brother. (edit for spelling :P ) Edited October 23, 2005 by ambassadorhorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffernbus3 Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 (edited) I remember walking into an ex-band director's office at a different school a few years after he had taught us.....and me and another guy had taught that band to march corps-style as best we could....and seeing this notation on the blackboard re: an upcoming parade. "....Lakewood Ambassadors Drum & Bugle Corps: watch how they march...." Which I thought semi-funny as Lakewood 66 was not a good year for that corps and one of the last times they even competed at even a State level contest, but nonetheless, they still marched better than his then current band.....heh! RON HOUSLEY Edited October 23, 2005 by ffernbus3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 Look, I'm in general agreement with your's and Tansea's postings, but I obligated to correct one thing.The members of the junior corps in the 50's and 60's were not, generally, high school drop outs. I also doubt if we would have become criminals if we hadn't been in a corps. It is true, however, that we came from the lower middle class and didn't have a lot of access to more formal musical training. "Hello Olde Baritone": You most definitly nailed it. Had it not been for DRUM CORPS in our areas we would have had no musical ANYTHING to speak of. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsmama Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 "Hello Olde Baritone":You most definitly nailed it. Had it not been for DRUM CORPS in our areas we would have had no musical ANYTHING to speak of. Elphaba WWW Drum Corps did die in 1971 with Alice in Wonderland, the Circus show,etc. DCI is now a shell of what it was formed to do-help the smaller corps out "There will be Winds Of Change Blowing in the wind" Eric Burdon and the Animals-1967 <**> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 (edited) Some great comments here. My two cents - the things I miss are the fact that drum & bugle corps gave kids who otherwise wouldn't have got any, some discipline, and the self-respect comes with it. Second, they got a chance to learn a musical instrument or become proficient with guard equipment when they couldn't, or didn't want to, join the local marching band. I don't know where you go to get those things now...there are so few 'street' or 'parade' corps if any, and what is now Div. II and III are mostly just a bunch of Div. I wannabees. No where for the average kid to start from zero, to find a passion, and see good competition. If there is, I don't know where. So what we knew as drum corps is, in that sense, dead. I distinctly remember the days when the marching band geeks looked down their noses at us, thinking we were rudimentally obsessed and were overblowing. Yeah, it was 'beat and blast', back in the day. It's some consolation that all the chumps who were, in my day, either in or led the local marching bands, now look at drum & bugle corps as the role models of the activity - it seems we had the last laugh after all. Edited January 3, 2006 by Achilles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbg Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 IMO, these threads of how bad DCI has become because of rule changes and such are just so mind draining. They are filled with the same recycled stuff in every thread. Someone said that the solution to the problem is DCA. Look at it this way, who do you think is going to get a high school student more hyped about the activity, a DCI corps or a DCA corps. The correct answer to that is a DCI corps, because the high school student of today can look at a DCI vs. a DCA corps and see the difference. The difference is in the quality of the music and the quality of the visual program. Lets take the 2005 DCI champion and the 2005 DCA champion have them switch shows and give them a month and see who can pull off each others show. Yes, I know this will never happen it is totally hypothetical. After all, if many DCA members tried marching DCI quality drill they would probably break a hip. Lets not all get bent out of shape, the breaking of the hip thing was a joke...........but you know it could be true.. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felixh Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 IMO, these threads of how bad DCI has become because of rule changes and such are just so mind draining. They are filled with the same recycled stuff in every thread.Someone said that the solution to the problem is DCA. Look at it this way, who do you think is going to get a high school student more hyped about the activity, a DCI corps or a DCA corps. The correct answer to that is a DCI corps, because the high school student of today can look at a DCI vs. a DCA corps and see the difference. The difference is in the quality of the music and the quality of the visual program. Lets take the 2005 DCI champion and the 2005 DCA champion have them switch shows and give them a month and see who can pull off each others show. Yes, I know this will never happen it is totally hypothetical. After all, if many DCA members tried marching DCI quality drill they would probably break a hip. Lets not all get bent out of shape, the breaking of the hip thing was a joke...........but you know it could be true.. :P I guess what disturbs me is how easily you can categorize a group (high school students) into one category, and then claim to have the "correct" answer....I know there many that ramble on this site, as well as myself at times,....but you are no different IMO...the many ladies and gentlemen that contribuite to this thread have some pretty strong feeling about the activity....please respect those feelings....as yours are respected as well! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Drum Corps did die in 1971 with Alice in Wonderland, the Circus show,etc. DCI is now a shell of what it was formed to do-help the smaller corps out I don't think that has anything to do with why DCI was formed ... as far as I understand what happened, it was organized by a relatively small group of highly competitive corps in order to further their own interests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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