KeithHall Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 With all the knowledge that is out there, can't we come up with a plan to assist the growth of drum and bugle corps? Everyday I read posts from extremely intelligent, drum corps-minded people. We sit here and type away....and that's it. Is there something that all of us can do to make this activity grow? Okay I opened up my mouth and started this, what about the rest of you? Chime in here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dckid80 Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 It is a lot easier to sit and type than get up and do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deftguy Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 It is a lot easier to sit and type than get up and do... I am not so sure that volunteering is really going to make a change on anything. It may help a corps out, but it will not envoke any change in drum corps. I don't think there is anything we can do. Nobody really wants to hear a dinosaours suggestions about how to improve the drum corps experience. If they did, we wouldn't see DCI headed towards marching band. This is obviously the course the BOD wants, and I don't see anything changing that course. As long as this is the course, you are going to have loads of disenchanted fans along with ones that find super bands perfectly exceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted August 29, 2005 Author Share Posted August 29, 2005 I do remember a bunch of guys got together in the 1970's because they didn't want to be ruled by the American Legion and VFW anymore. They got together and formed this drum and bugle corps organization. Just saying.... It may not be easy, but it couldn't hoit (hurt). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
^Michael^ Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 With all the knowledge that is out there, can't we come up with a plan to assist the growth of drum and bugle corps? Everyday I read posts from extremely intelligent, drum corps-minded people. We sit here and type away....and that's it. Is there something that all of us can do to make this activity grow? Okay I opened up my mouth and started this, what about the rest of you? Chime in here. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Keith, I offered a sincere and feasible antecedent for drums corps fans (specifically disenfranchised/unhappy fans) to grow drum corps at the grass roots level in the image of what they think drum corps should "look like." However, if one reads the thread, Build it and they will come?, you'll get the sense that most (perhaps not all) would rather talk about what's wrong (in their opinion) with today's drum corps and snipe at it negatively than take a chance on their vision, put in the effort, and make it a reality. Oh well... "you can lead a horse to water" and all that. Yeah - the same ones who are so persistent and loud with their views on how it should be (according to them), are also the most vocal about how it can't be done. But you know what? They're telling that to someone who did it! Someone who founded and ran a corps on a shoestring 25 years ago that is still going strong today. (and no, it's not among the DCI top 12). So, I don't buy their excuses. Southwind has had its ups and downs (and even off/inactive years), but it's still on the field today and giving the members a great experience they can be proud of! Respectfully, Michael Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apoch003 Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 Voicing your opinion IS doing something. At least DCI.org reads this stuff (don't they?). But if you're saying you want to do MORE, I'm with you. Just send me the money to move where you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
^Michael^ Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Voicing your opinion IS doing something. At least DCI.org reads this stuff (don't they?).But if you're saying you want to do MORE, I'm with you. Just send me the money to move where you are. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> From where I sit, voicing your opinion is just talking. The only action is the expellation of breath. It's nice to be heard, but it's even better to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancerlady Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Some of us have been trying to do things to get our voices heard. So don't sit there and preach about us not doing anything. We have personally talked to the board of directors or written letters or at least TRIED to get our voices heard. I even went to the BOD meeting to try and see what could we do to get our voices heard....and I tried but to no avail... They just don't want to hear it, they'd rather we leave them alone and throw all those wonderful adages at us. "There's always DCA, if you don't like it, leave". Yeah, those are constructive for the activity right? :sshh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Yeah - the same ones who are so persistent and loud with their views on how it should be (according to them), are also the most vocal about how it can't be done. But you know what? They're telling that to someone who did it! Someone who founded and ran a corps on a shoestring 25 years ago that is still going strong today. (and no, it's not among the DCI top 12). So, I don't buy their excuses. ..and again, Michael, not all of us can devote such time and energy to starting a drum corps from scratch. Most of us work full-time, and look at drum and bugle corps as a hobby. An obsessive hobby for some to be sure...but nothing more than that. Most people don't have the time or money to...as the "Guide to Starting a Drum Corps" published by DCI says..."take on a second job". To schedule shows, and drivers, and cook staff and everything else that goes along with it. Most of the "older" people who are fans of the activity only see the product on the field, and only have that as a barometer for discussion...thus the arguments of new v. old, modern v. classic, and so forth. As people talk about their favorite sports teams on message boards....and "lament" the choices that they make, so, too, do drum corps fans. It's nothing different to offer a constructive criticism of show "X" than it is to wish your favorite quarterback had called a different play, or your favorite shortstop hadn't hit into that double play. A differing opinion doesn't really translate into starting your own minor league baseball or arena league football team. Nor should it mean that if you have some differing opinions should you have to start another circuit/corps/parade unit. I think it's great that you started a corps in 1980. Truly! You've created something big and amazing, that's still there to give kids a great expereince! Southwind is a great bunch of kids...but not everyone is in that same position that you were 25 years ago...and nor should anyone with differing opinions be discounted simply because they haven't the inclination or ability to start their own corps. In the long run (with a few exceptions), the entirety of the drum corps message boards are just hypothetical debates, personal value judgements and the like. An excuse to hear ourselves talk, and little more. The debate and conversation are good, solid tools to further our understanding of the activity. DCP has a chance to do something by offering sccholarships...we as supporters of the activity can also "do" by sponsoring members, giving to alumni and fuel funds...and work within our own means to give back. I think most of us, in one way or another, do these things each year. It's disingenious to suggest that because people don't do "this much" or "this amount" that they are somehow less a part of the activity or its associated opinions. I understand the gist of your argument...how those who are not happy with the activity should be able to get the same thing out of it that they did before...but, I think, deep down, most people know that junior drum corps is an evolving thing and that...to use a well-worn cliche..."you can't go home again". Even in that regard, people are afraid of losing things that made the activity near and dear to them...even if they are solely in the realm of personal preference. For some it's amps, for others, bugles...and so on. So goes the board discussions. As long as people push for change (good or bad) the "Chicken Little" mindset will always be there, as folks are forced to re-evaluate what they get from the activity, and why. The arguments are, for the most part really, a moot point. It's purely personal opinion to define drum corps as the experience OR the instrumentation OR the traditions it holds. Truly," Drum corps is what it becomes" is as much an egotistical statement as "Drum corps is 'X'." Starting a new corps/circuit would only bear that out, as some people want "G", some want no amps, some want this, others want that. All of it personal preference, just like with the current DCI Board of Directors. I would instead encourage each fan to seek what gives them the experience they crave. It doesn't have the be the stuff of starting a new circuit or unit. Maybe it's just attending DCA, or alumni shows or even just watching parade units. Or, maybe its making drum corps less of a priority as a fan or booster. Either way, ultimately it's a personal choice, a paradigm shift. That makes people uncomfortable in some ways, I understand. I think that steering people towards their own drum corps "nirvana" isn't a matter of redefining DCI... It's a matter of redefining yourself within the activity. :) As always, a pleasure. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 (edited) I was just thinking about something, being that finding GOOD COOK STAFF is hard to find, why couldn't the corps go to their nearest college or university and go to the faculty of culinary fine arts and get some undergraduate students to go on tour with them. They get to learn how to feed a mass of people, how to budget and even try some of their own dishes on the corps. The corps could work it out with the professor or whoever and the students get graded for their performance by the corps. Just a thought!! Edited August 30, 2005 by ODBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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