Why drum corps has changed and why it's good

[felixh]

Felix,

Nothing personal, but it's a pot shot because you're basing your belief that he can't POSSIBLY have anything worthwhile to contribute simply because he's been "around" the activity for less than 10 years.

Quite honestly, I've learned more about this amazing activity from people who had "done" less time than the original poster of this thread!  I learned a long time ago not to take anyone's perspective on drum corps for granted based solely on how long they had (or hadn't) been around.. sometimes the greatest wisdom comes from the mouths of babes.

Stef

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

While I feel your intro is a bit of an exaggeration, I can understand how you can come to that conclusion, but I genuinely do not agree with it being a pot shot . I have heard amazing things come from the mouths of my children as well. As, a matter of fact, I did not disagree entirely with what the original post said...it was the choice of words and using terms such as "masturbatory" that kind of got my goat. All things aside, there are very passionate feelings in drum corps and these threads are very healthy for all IMO....notice that I end just about every post with a smirk and sunglasses...I would gladly have a beer with anyone on this site and talk drum corps.....just good, clean American fun....and maybe even a little bias on my part. B)

Edited August 18, 2005 by felixh

[ScribeToo]

I would gladly have a beer with anyone on this site and talk drum corps.....just good, clean American fun....and maybe even a little bias on my part. B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I will gladly take you up on that in California.. 2007. :)

Stef

[dckid80]

I'm not so sure that we are being ignored Jeff. Instead we are funding the future changes in the activity...

I have been saying this for years, and i just get back marketing speak about the power of teenages and their parents disposable income.

I work in finance, I see what their parents disposable income has done to kill their childrens future inheritance.

However, the fine line is an issue, IMO that's being ignored, and that's sad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Edited August 18, 2005 by dckid80

[glory]

If you choose to nit-pick, I believe his reference is to the "company front' more than the back line. However, Even when the starting line was the goal line, some corps "beat the system" so to speak by lining up on the sideline,but moving around to the endzone(staying off the field) and actually entering the field across the goal line.

27th Lancers in 72(I believe) is an excellent example. check out the video at www.beanman.net

You can call it nit-picking. I prefer to call it the end of one tradition and the start of another. That's what we're talking about here, isn't it? Some traditions come, some go?

HH

[bawker]

Some traditions come, some go?

HH

...for the sake of...what, exactly?

Ego? Proposing the same thing over and over again until it's passed? Just to do something different?

I've yet to read a rationale from those that proposed either amps or woodwinds that I can support fully, with showing that it's part of progressing the activity naturally.

It seems to me we were just fine in 2003, with just as much revenue and entertainment value, before amps/I&E woodwinds were a reality.

Change is good... evolution is inevitable... in an artistic form such as ours, but at the same time, you're also dealing with a product that is marketed as entertainment. Thus, there's a core audience and group that should figure in (even if it's only as an afterthought) to decisions that change the activity.

Where were the polls? The "try out" period before tour started, to gauge reaction? An attempt to speak to the booster, alumni, member and even fan about what these changes are for, how they bring the activity forward?

With the Board of Directors last few decisions, lately its been about taking things and just throwing them out there, and then putting a spin on it to make it work, no matter what.

That's not a real savvy business model to me.

No one with any sense proposes that we go back to the 1970's way of doing things... it's just that the move to "evolve" has accelerated since 2000, when any key was passed. That rule change shouldn't have signaled to designers and directors that the door is wide open...because seeing the problems it causes for fans (and to read about it each day on DCP) is disconcerting.

You know how you build a drum corps these days, right? Like Arizona Academy...the adage goes: "Slow and steady wins the race."

It also builds a fan base. No one wants drum corps to freeze in time, immutable...but additionally, no one wants it as rushing headlong to embrace anything that's put out there as "good for it", no matter what the consequences.

A modicum of hesitancy, a little restraint...I don't see it as too much to ask. But...that's just me. :)

Edited August 18, 2005 by bawker

[audiodb]

The Pro-Change Theory of Evolution:

- One amoeba lobbies for change year after year until 11 other amoebae vote with him

- The ratified change proposal is declared "merely an option", but then immediately implemented by all the top-ranked amoebae

- Soon, even the staunch, opposition amoeba that said "not now, not ever" is implementing the change, citing a brand-new nucleus for the change in philosophy

(withdraws tongue from cheek)

Alright, let me just admit that I don't believe all the changes we've adopted qualify under the definition of "evolution".

[wesleyrp]

I have had a little bit of an abcense as i just finished the 5th and final week of HS band camp. Whew!! Interestingly enough when i left, a similiar topic was raging. So I thought that I'd give mt two cents.

While I know that drum corps has changed a lot recently, I ask this question. What activity has not changed or evolved. As an avid San Antonio Spurs fan and a former basketball player, do I think that Dr. James Naismith's game should still be played using a peach basket attached to a pole? When the three point line came about, did that make basketball something less than basketball? Should football go back to using leather helmets and one bar face masks? No and do you know why? It is actually quite simple. Since those games have been around a long time, there have been significant strides made in equipment and other avenues. I think that the same arguement can be made here. Why should Corps go back to older drill where movement was minimal and the quality of equipment was not what it is today. Trust me, i marched the G's and loved every minute of it. In fact I was opposed to both the Bb movement and the amps. But, I can see the logic!! There is a market for it. Not only the equipment, but a market for new genratioms of fans as well.

i guess my big beef with all of the non-entertainment stuff is that every show is entertaining to someone. I mean come on, can we really say that entertainment is going by the wayside? Even the "purists" have to agree that shows like Shaharazaad (sorry Spelling) are timeless and enjoyable. This year there were some fine programs, such as the Caravan show, the Carmen Project, Phantom doing Gershwin and others. Is this really that different from the 80's Devils playing One More Time and other great Latin and Jazz Charts???

Does drum corps really need to change any further? I hope not as I like it where it has been and is now. But, I guarentee that if you went back to the VFW days, some of those members would have been mad at changes that were made in the 70' 80' 90' and now. I don't think all change is good, but I can only say, what if no activity had any change. Would we really like it?

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

[MikeD]

There is absolutely no reason Jr. DC can’t be both entertaining for the fans and challenging for its members. Last year at the TOC I’d thought that Jr. DC had gotten away from the artsy-fartsy curse of 93 Star. With the exception of PR, Madison, SCV, Boston and to some extent Cavies it looks like the curse lives on!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

2005 DCI drum corps does entertain the crowd....and not just the few corps that you liked.

Cadets, Crown, Xmen, Spirit, Troopers, Cascades, etc....all of these corps provided great etertainment when I saw them. I am guessing that you might really hate the Cadets show...but the band kids we took to watch DCI East ate them up, and our guard captains who watched them in early July loved them...as did the crowd at both shows.

As has always been the case, there are shows for everyone.

Mike

[MikeD]

It's only countless because you haven't counted.

It IS for the kids though.  It's just got more elitism now.  Drum corps used to be for poor kids on the street with nothing better to do in the summer.  Now it's for the kids who can pay a $3000 touring fee.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First off, drum corps was not ever JUST for the poor street kids, as your post appears to imply. Plenty of suburban kids marched back in the 60's. There were little corps in many non-urban towns, and a lot of those members worked theri way into the big class 'A' corps, even those from the cities such as BS and St Lucy's in my area, to name a couple.

The problem with the model you mention is that it disappeared...starting before DCI even existed. It's not the fault of those corps that exist today..they managed to hang on and change with the times...or in soe cases started long after the decline in the local-based corps.

It's not elitist...it's survival.

Mike

[MikeD]

Maybe the real problem is that the drum corps world has evolved, but the fans haven't!  Or maybe the fans/former corps members haven't kept up with all the changes and/or don't understand the changes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, from talking to alums from St Lucy's and St Rita's at shows the past two years, I'm not sure that even many oldtimers have not changed (hmmm..double negative)...they attend shows every year, and nary a complaint about amps or Bb was heard from them.

And in general, general audience reaction at shows I've attended has been great, for ALL the corps performing.

And of course, newer fans like what they see...it's what they know.

Mike