Keith Laubhan Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I've been a drum corps fan since 1996 when I was first introduced to it, I marched in 2001, and I continue to work with my old corps to try and help out. Every year I go to my big local show, and almost every year I make the financial sacrifice to go to championships. I evangelize the activity to anyone willing to lend an ear or 10 minutes to watch a show. I beg my drumline students to watch telecasts, classic countdowns, and cinicasts. I buy corps merchandise and DVDs, not only for myself, but to support the corps financially as well. I love the activity. I love the new stuff, I appreciate the old stuff, and I am exactly the kind of fan that DCI needs. That being said, drum corps isn't about me. And that's the way it should be. Did you march in the past, before amps? Before Bb horns? Before asymmetrical drill, grounded pits, and other numerous superficial changes to the activity? Awesome! You paved the way for the activity to continue thriving. Do you hate what drum corps has become? Fair enough, but drum corps isn’t about you either. And that's the way it should be. That's right. Drum corps isn't about the people who support it. It's not about the people who like it, and it's certainly not about the people who used to like it and can't stand any deviation from what they themselves experienced. Quite frankly, we need to get over ourselves and stop expecting the creative and artistic element to cater to us. It's not our place. That may be a weird, confusing, and unexpected thought for you, my fellow drum corps enthusiasts, to chew on. Shouldn't we, as the people who pay the money for tickets and merchandise, spend hours analyzing scores, and stroke countless keys while "armchair-directing" over the internet, expect to be the first priority of the activity? Absolutely not. That's right. We are not the main priority of the activity, and that's the way it should be and always has been. Simply said, drum corps is about the kids that are in it. The activity, in every way, should and does cater to them. This is not the professional theatre, where the performers are paid and the show designers job is to create a product with the sole purpose of entertaining an audience. This is drum corps, where for decades, the performers have been paying, both monetarily and with hard work, for an experience. It is them that that the activity is about, and it angers me when I read posts on this board that have lost sight of that. Why has drum corps changed from the hallowed activity that you enjoyed in your youth? Because music has changed. Because the economic climate has changed. Essentially, drum corps has changed like any other activity has changed over the same period of time. But most importantly, drum corps has changed because the make-up of the performers has changed. Let's be frank- back in the day, there were much more participants of the activity that were untrained musicians. Drum corps was the be-all and end-all of many performers' musical experience. I am not questioning the work ethic, dedication, or desire of these old-schoolers, but can you imagine handing a minimalist Bartok piece out to the kids that chose the police boy's club drum corps over juvie? Can you imagine trying to explain an esoteric and complex show concept to several kids that just started to learn how to play their bugle a couple seasons ago? I can't. But the inverse applies as well. Give a 1960s arrangement of "A Foggy Day in London Town" to a current corps performer, and watch the reaction. As corps have folded to mismanagement or insufficient funding, and the competition to make an elite corps has become more intense, performers have become more trained prior to joining the activity. Most of the kids who do corps now do not consider drum corps to be their only performance avenue. They view it as part of a diverse music education that includes wind ensembles, marching bands, orchestras, jazz bands, etc., more so than their predecessors. Drum corps has evolved to be more interchangeable with other performance opportunities because it needs to. That's what the performers of the day are gravitating to. Bb horns are different than the bugles of way-back-when, granted, but now kids who have spent 8 years of elementary, middle, and high school band come in with more knowledge of their instruments right of the bat. Sure, mics and amps didn't make their way to the football field until recently, but now keyboard players who have aspirations of playing elsewhere in life can use those 12 hour rehearsal days perfecting a proper technique instead of banging the crap out of the bars so that it'll speak over a large hornline. This will be my last post on these boards. Not because it's poorly run, not because there aren't cool people that frequent it. To the contrary, really. The reason that I have no desire to come here and read the posts anymore is, truth be told, that I can't stand the vocal minority of so-called "purists" that can't seem to see the purest element of what we are discussing here. Drum Corps is a youth activity that supports the interests of its participants. It’s downright masturbatory of you if you think it’s about you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Maybe I can coax you back to answer a quick question Know this is posted in the Junior corps section but you keep saying "drum corps" as if this includes all aspects of the activity. If you say "DCI corps" I could agree with you more. However the Senior and Alumni parts of drum corps definitely have different view points on how important the spectators are. Did you mean all corps or just the Juniors? PS - With the exception of the insulting last paragraph, this is a good thought provoking post. (And this is coming from one of the 30 yrs ago folks) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apoch003 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 "Simply said, drum corps is about the kids that are in it. " Awwww! Now when I said this, KingMargaret had a hissy fit. Selfish selfish me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreakInRanks Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I couldn't agree with you more. I will add that many who do complain about DCI, are people who don't even attend a DCI show. I have asked people who sit next to me and or around me if they have ever heard of DCP, RAMD or Sound Machine. There has been more no's than yes. However, one adult who had a daughter in one of the corps competing said to me in anger, that those fourms are for drum corps misfits, that represent the ***hole of the drum corps activity. I was like Ok Fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Drum Corps is a youth activity that supports the interests of its participants. It’s downright masturbatory of you if you think it’s about you. A few things: 1) While "drum corps is a youth activity that supports the interests of its participants", the money to keep it afloat has to come from somewhere. People don't buy CD's, DVD's or other paraphenalia if the product isn't at least engaging. Fans may not expect the be the "first priority", but in order to attract sponsors, sell tickets and keep corps going, there has to be at least an ancillary involvement of your audiences somewhere along the way. 2) No one here doubts that kids are at the heart of the activity. To paint those that disagree with amps, or what have you as somehow against the kids experience is a straw man argument. However, let me offer this...even in the corps themselves, kids have differing ideas of what drum corps is. So, really, the posters here are no different. I've seen kids who march now that want to go back to G, kids that hate amps, and all kinds of opinions in between. I imagine the posters here are of that same wide swath of opinions, so where do you draw the line? 3) Again, no one doubts that the kids themselves have changed...that there's a higher degree of musicianship there, and that there's definitely a "music education" vibe, rather than the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Let's put on a show!" mentality of the early years. However, that doesn't preclude corps from the entertainment factor, nor the designers from providing the correct vehicle for their talent. It's equally as "masturbatory" to see kids in smaller corps (and in some of the Divison I's) get shows that are over-written, overwrought and too much for them to handle. It happens every year, where design team ego trumps what kids can comfortably do. 4) It's sort of a "hit and run" when you offer up such strong opinions, and then say "Well, this is my last post". The point of DCP is to try to encompass all the opinions out there on the idiom, from the 2005 Blue Saints marcher to the VFW fellow who marched Holy Name. You do yourself a disservice by not debating anymore, as you've raised some pretty good points, although you are villifying an awful lot of people who happen to differ with the way things are going now. In closing, I disagree with your analysis of the fan: Drum corps and its fans enjoy more of a symbiotic relationship...you really can't have one without the other. In order to program the shows, the kids and the money must come. In order to keep folks paying 75-150 dollars a night for Finals tickets, the impetus has to be there. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKBari Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Maybe I can coax you back to answer a quick question Know this is posted in the Junior corps section but you keep saying "drum corps" as if this includes all aspects of the activity. If you say "DCI corps" I could agree with you more. However the Senior and Alumni parts of drum corps definitely have different view points on how important the spectators are. Did you mean all corps or just the Juniors? PS - With the exception of the insulting last paragraph, this is a good thought provoking post. (And this is coming from one of the 30 yrs ago folks) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm glad you pointed this out. There are more components to the drum corps activity than just DCI It is a sad day when people who claim to know so much about drum corps also display an amazing amount of ignorance about that which they love so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I'm glad you pointed this out. There are more components to the drum corps activity than just DCI <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just too many years of hearing "This is Drum Corps" during the PBS DCI telecast and no mention of the "other guys". Talk about fingernails on the blackboard...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankBeMe Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Drum corps isn't about the people who support it That's a nice thing to tell the people who pay the bills for every corps in the country by buying their stuff and DCI's stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAMystreaux Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I would hope that just because some of the statements offended some of you, you won't discount everything he said. Although I do not fully agree with him, he has some good points. We should not expect drum corps to be just the way we want it all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmarnl Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Right on the $$$$$$$$$. I couldn't agree with you more. I will add that many who do complain about DCI, are people who don't even attend a DCI show. I have asked people who sit next to me and or around me if they have ever heard of DCP, RAMD or Sound Machine. There has been more no's than yes. However, one adult who had a daughter in one of the corps competing said to me in anger, that those fourms are for drum corps misfits, that represent the ***hole of the drum corps activity. I was like Ok Fine! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.