A Canadian Alliance?

[Decals]

Sup all. I'm Canadian. And I love drum corps. Anyone else who is in a similar predicament knows things are different up here. The marching activity as whole is in pretty shabby shape up here. Let's admit it. Marching band is an American phenomenon and people up here for the most part just don't get it. That's why our corps are shrinking and disappearing, or, in the case of Kiwanis, moving south.

BUT, there are many people all over our country who love the activity. It's makes me really sad to think that the the only way future Canadians might be able to march is by heading south...

So here's my thinking... It's just a pipe dream, but I thought it might be interesting to see what any Canadians(or even Americans) thought of it.

Right now, nine out of 23 division III corps are Canadian(I'm counting the Bandettes). That's actually proportionately quite a lot if you think about it. We have the population of California and we're putting out more than a third of the div III's.

Noticing this, I thought: We have so many little corps scattered across the country. I don't think I'm being unrealistic when I say that many of these are struggling to stay afloat(or aren't staying afloat). So... why don't we just turn all these little corps into a big one?

I figure if we "allied" we could make a #### good div II corps. We could actually have full sections across the board and have an entire country to recruit from. Regional sections of the corps could rehearse separately in the offseason, and then meet somewhere central for alldays and tour.

Now... I realise there are some problems... There's a lot of politics involved. Whose uniform do we wear?(or where do we get a new one from?) Whose director is actually in charge? How much regional staff can we keep? The other problem lies in the realm of percussion and guard. Although I'm sure our combined horns wouldn't add up to too much, there's probably more than a few full guard and percussion sections across the country. There might have to be cuts... And that would ultimately be a shame....

I don't know. It's a pipe dream really. I just thought it would be interesting to discuss.

Edited February 18, 2006 by Decals

[bawker]

It would be sad, though, to lose all those units in the process.

Maybe there needs to be a "Drum Corps Canada" circuit instead (kinda like the old GSC), and let the kids just compete against each other on a more regional level, promote the activity as Canadians see fit, and the like. I wonder how the II/III DCI folks would feel about that.

Have your own regional championships, and get everyone together for it...make it a big deal, similar to the DCE championships! None of those guys are open class, yet they have a vibrant circuit in place over there.

Everyone's tour doesn't have to include going to Finals (which can break a lot of banks, I'm sure.) :).

[Geoff]

It would be sad, though, to lose all those units in the process.

Maybe there needs to be a "Drum Corps Canada" circuit instead (kinda like the old GSC), and let the kids just compete against each other on a more regional level, promote the activity as Canadians see fit, and the like. I wonder how the II/III DCI folks would feel about that.

Have your own regional championships, and get everyone together for it...make it a big deal, similar to the DCE championships! None of those guys are open class, yet they have a vibrant circuit in place over there.

Everyone's tour doesn't have to include going to Finals (which can break a lot of banks, I'm sure.) :).

Ontario has it's own circuit, www.odca.org, and does hold it's own Provincial championships. And weused to have a rather large National Championships as well.

Drum corps in Canada is a dying thing. Cuts to music funding in schools coupled with the fact that schools in Canada do not have marching programs, and it's easy to see why this is happening.

[bawker]

That sucks.

[DrumCorpsMom]

There are still some good music programs around, but with very, very few marching bands and no drum corps exposure, these kids don't know what they are missing. We need to attract some big shows up here, so that they come out to see what it is all about and say... "Hey, I want to do that!"

I think the Div III corps we have are great & I don't want to see them disappear. I'have been really impressed by how many of the the Div I and II instructors are from Canada - this certainly reflects the intensity of the interest, as well as the talent pool. My kids both went down to the US to gain the full marching experience, something they may not have done if someone had the commitment necessary to be successful up here. :(

Edited February 18, 2006 by DrumCorpsMom

[Decals]

It would be sad, though, to lose all those units in the process.

What I'm trying to point out is that we may soon lose those units anyways. So why not give those who are currently interested a few more worth while kicks at the cat?

[Boof96]

Drum corps in Canada is a dying thing. Cuts to music funding in schools coupled with the fact that schools in Canada do not have marching programs, and it's easy to see why this is happening.

Unbelievably high taxes and still no money to support the arts. Isn't socialism wonderful?

[audiodb]

Have you seen some of the huge grants corps in Ontario are netting from the Trillium Foundation? Let's not nail up the coffin just yet.

[CanadianDirector]

Let me say that first of all, I understand the original post, here are some points to consider

Most of the funding for the Div.III corps in Canada is local community based. Merging a couple or several creates the first big obstacle in running a corps, potentially losing a lot of funding. There are ways to combat that situation….more later on that…..Believe it or not there are several corps that as recently as 2000 have talked about joining forces…..mostly due to managerial and board issues it has never made it past the discussion stages for reasons the original poster mentioned….. politics

Now… we all know the lack of funding for arts in the public education system….the lack of marching programs in the schools etc… these are perhaps some of the biggest obstacles in putting together a group in Canada. One other obstacle is the marching programs that are in Canada often (as is my experience) are year round programs, forcing members to choose between drum corps and marching band. There are no real answers and it would be great to have a combined group for the quality, but at what point are we sacrificing the experience for an attempt to put together an elitist group. For drum corps to survive in Canada (I speak for Ontario mostly) one of the best ways is to involve the alumni groups that started in last few years, encourage their membership to encourage their children, grandchildren, use their resources to help start or operate a jr. corps…I know some already do this but, we need more exposure of the drum corps community, more public performances (unfortunately that probably means parades) for the corps, more funding from a government level, and the definite support of drum corps and associations that govern drum corps. More shows and shows in areas that may have had a corps in the past where there is no longer one around. Getting the message to the masses is key…. my long rant now done…..in a nutshell although a neat idea…..not realistic without inherent problems and the sacrifice of more corps.