idontwan2know Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Well I am not saying that it may not help, but let's be clear, drum corps has never been and is not meant to be a training ground for professional and master musicians and horn players. It shouldn't be either. The educational aspect has a lot more to do with learning about life, dealing with hardship, and learning how to be a team player than it does with learning to triple tounge really well. It seems to me that the original poster wants drum corps to provide more thorough and classical music training, even at the expense of learning to play the show with the line. I think that is not what drum corps is about. At the end of the day and the end of the season, it's to put a good show out there for the auidence, for the judges, and for yourself. If you want to really develop just your musical expertise, there are places much better suited and designed to do just that. Wow, John. I'm marking my calendar...that's the first time I've ever agreed wholeheartedly with every word of one of your posts. Drum corps is not music education, it's performance art. You're performing music and doing it with young people, so of course music education happens along the way...but if drum corps were really about teaching members to be the best horn players they could be, you wouldn't be running around a football field in a silly uniform and continuing to practice the music for months beyond the point where you're really growing as a musician from the experience. Most instructors that I know are excellent educators and try to develop their players as much as possible, but at the end of the day it's about the line, not the individuals in it. With that being said, there is a significant segment of the drum corps world, many of them instructors, who really need to shut up about how they don't get any respect from college music professors. College music professors are in the business of creating the best musicians and teachers that they can, and they recognize quite correctly that beyond a year or two in corps to pick up some rehearsal techniques and methods and a bit of technical brass instruction, there are a lot better ways to spend your time if it's purely about music education. Dedication, commitment, self-sacrifice, teamwork, tenacity, the true price of perfection....those are the most valuable lessons to be learned from drum corps, not how to interpret an arranger's hacked up version of a concert band piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 You don't seem to be taking into account the fact that members are running around on a football field during their shows. I once fell into the trap of "Oh, this music isn't THAT hard, I was expecting it to be much harder" in the winter. Then summer rolls around and it's like "You want me to get from the 20 to the 30 in 10 counts playing legato half notes at 198bpm?" It DOES take an entire summer of practice to be able to perform a modern drum corps show well. Ask any corps who has ever come in second place and they will probably tell you they would have loved to have even more time to get better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rut-roh Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 It DOES take an entire summer of practice to be able to perform a modern drum corps show well. Ask any corps who has ever come in second place and they will probably tell you they would have loved to have even more time to get better. Apparently not. It seems the author, Corno, marched with the Cadets in as near as I can tell either 2003 or 2004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CornoBehnke Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 this is the last thing I am going to say, how many brass players practice just 60 mins a day, EVERY day. It takes at least that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 this is the last thing I am going to say, how many brass players practice just 60 mins a day, EVERY day. It takes at least that. Inside drum corps or outside? Either way I imagine the answer is "not many" Maybe some music majors do this, and certainly professionals, but not your average brass player Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeromeyBush Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 this is the last thing I am going to say, how many brass players practice just 60 mins a day, EVERY day. It takes at least that. I do.How many brass players in drum corps are or intend to be professional brass players? Im a cook. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felixh Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 ok, to the person who said that practicing snare drum is more fun then practicing a brass instrument, just read that comment again, I promise you that is not the case. You play an instrument because you love it. It is also just as easy to find places to practice, I know. All I am saying is the kids have a lot more then is being asked of them as far as brass playing goes. But this will only happen if they practice and work on personal tech stuff all year round. read my 1 finger comment again, it has nothing to do with me thinking horn lines should play faster. "I just know that there are a LOT of brass players in DCI who learn the show music well at home and then stop practicing. Drummers will seak out cool stuff to play on the internet. Lets give these kids some etude books for brass at least." I think you are asking for a little too much and although you are fairly schooled in what it takes to become a great musician you are missing a key factor.....Discipline....these"kids" you speak about in DCI need to pick up their darn clothes off the floor, do their chores around the house, and practice their instrument :P ...let's not baby these children...lets face it, the best musicians I remember while in drum corps were the ones that always had their horns or mouthpiece with them and the ones who practiced unceasingly, without having to be pushed to private lessons or the like....just as in everything in life, you get out what you put in....DCI has nothing to do with this!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CornoBehnke Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 I do.How many brass players in drum corps are or intend to be professional brass players?Im a cook. :) And thats why are such a bad ### :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeromeyBush Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 And thats why are such a bad ### :-) well,thanks for the compliment.but that does not answer the question. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankA Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I do.How many brass players in drum corps are or intend to be professional brass players?Im a cook. :) i would guess not that many many people join because of the fun and life expiriences that they get from drum corps or because its the cool thing to do, maybe its something in the family people join to get better but i dont think it would influence them to continue in another field of performance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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