Not Marching DCA After Ageing Out

[Bleu Raeder]

If there was a DCA corps within 100 miles of me I'd be there in a heartbeat.

[lisard5]

I think alot of the reasons are probably the same reasons that make us want to take off a year or two now and then.

Family, Money, Weekends back . . . .etc. Sometimes you just need a break and time for yourself.

Especially after college (around the same time to aging out) there are 100s of things of "real life" that have to happen.

[MiamiSun76]

Secondly, I think overall people in the Midwest ( and west I suppose) feel that Senior Corps is mostly an "East Coast" thing. Has the Championships ever been outside the east?

I know it's before DCI, but the Skokie Indians were an institution in veteran's competition. They also provided much of the instructional talent in the early years of the area's junior corps.

There was a rumor that the great rudimental drummer Frank Aresenault of Skokie and Cavalier fame actually passed away in Cavalier hall (we all know about folk legends, but it's fun to tell).

Also, check out the pedigrees of DCI luminaries like Dave Richards, Terry Thirion (Blue Stars) and his brother John (Des Plaines Vanguard) and they all have senior corps roots.

Edited September 29, 2005 by MiamiSun76

[bill]

If there was a DCA corps within 100 miles of me I'd be there in a heartbeat.

The Kilties........*Character*Honor*Excellence*Tradition*

If you're on Earth.........it's close enough, and doable........many have, many are, and many will!!

"Wea Winnea Bea Daunted"

Edited September 29, 2005 by bill

[CFarley311]

I've marched 5 years of junior, with one left, and this season, I came directly off tour with the Bluecoats to join the Brigadiers the very next day. My experience: I LOVED IT! Was it as "hard" or "challenging"? No, probably not, but I still found a lot of people to look up to, learn from, and work hard to be more like. Sure, I didn't jazz run or 6 to 5 every other set, but, at least at the Brigadiers, I heard everyone give postive reinforcement to me, a junior corps kid who came in to help out as best I could. I wished I could have been there the whole season, and I found a level of commitment and wanting to be excellent just like any of my years in DCI. DCA may not be exactly the same as DCI, but I sure had a freaking ball doing it, and I can't wait to give an entire summer to the Brigs.

[84BDsop]

I guess I was somewhat fortunate after rooking out in 84...an enforced year off due to Air Force basic training and tech school...although there WAS a student parade corps in tech school that I participated in.

Discovered corps in England while TDY and marched there...discovered Empire which stationed in NY and marched them...

Came home and got involved with a start up corps in San Diego.....founded and fielded a corps in Los Angeles.....but until Dream in 02 there was simply no Sr corps even close...

[kevingamin]

They aren't close enough.... to some of us. It's do-able to drive 6 hours for juniors, once a month, but seniors meet more often. It interferes with school schedules. There need to be more of them, so it's more accessible.

Most Division 1 juniors meet at least twice a month during the winter and spring. Most seniors meet no more than that often a month until late May/early June. By then, you're out of school or about to finish up the year.

I like drum corps because it's hard. Senior corps drill and music isn't challenging for most people that just aged-out. It's basicly what most good college marching bands do. We get bored. I know these things because I have a few friends that did seniors right after the aged-out, and they hated it. They all said they'd try it again later. If the tempos aren't 180+, and the hornline doesn't make an attempt to have a "concert" sound, I'm not interested.

You obviously have not been watching senior corps, then. Empire Statesmen alone have been marching in the 180+ tempo range for years. Renegades have done the same ever since they came to DCA a few years ago. Wayne Downey has been arranging for senior corps as long as he's been arranging for junior corps and he does NOT water down the parts. These are just a few examples that I am directly aware of. I'm sure many DCPers who have marched or watched senior corps can add to the list.

But basicly, I was very turned off of seniors because of the seniors on DCP. I am speaking in generalization, but the majority of the senior corps members on DCP are very vocal in putting down DCI, and the activity I love, and will CONTINUE to love through all its future changes.

DCI is not an activity. Drum corps is an activity, whether it be junior or senior.

Yes, you are speaking in generalizations. Please be careful in painting with so large a brush.

[BigBoom]

Like so many others, I aged-out of drum corps (Colts), finished college, faced reality and got a job, started drumming for a rock and roll band, quit job, faced reality and got another job, fell in love, got married, had kid, paid bills, kept drumming, had little interest in the whole activity because I was so far removed from it. Over the last decade, things calmed down, caught up with old friends, went to some drum corps shows, got serious about drumming again, and now at the ripe old age of 46, working to get a minicorps off the ground in Phoenix, AZ. Hope to make this 21-piece endeavor represent all that is fun about drum corps and none of what sucks. If we're insane enough to agree to a parade, it'll be on a couple of flatbed trucks.

Boom

[JoeW]

I'd do it but there isn't an all age corps anywhere close to me (Cincinnati).....that simple

[Steve709]

I just aged out after marching 5 years (in the same corps). Definatly a bit burnt out, might check out the Buc's anniversary season though with a friend who also just aged out with me after 5 years, kinda a hike from Texas though. I think im gunna shack up with him and find a temp job up there and do the weekend thing. Should be fun, if we decide to do it.