TommySopranoContra Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Ok, I'm not a physics major or anything so I can't explain entropy. But everything has an end to it. Remember when we had a top 25. Now it's 17 and barely that. What 4 corps didn;t make it. And yes I'll admit there are more corps this year.....but...I believe it's a bubble that will burst. Think about what it takes to start a TOURING corps. Horns at thousands of dollars and gas at $2.50 a gallon. It's not worth the money any longer. While there will always be people that will pay $3000 and up to march for a summer but theres more for kids to do now-a-days. Why is the activity (DCI Model) dying; Cost- Maybe 30% of the families in America can afford to march Cost- To start a corps and run one on a volunteer basis is getting harder and harder Competition- High School bands are doing things corps are and giving kids the education and challenge that corps are at a tenth the price (maybe more maybe less depending where you live) Outside interest- Kids have more things to do during the summer and working is one of them. And so many other things What can be done to help the DCI model of the activity. Follow the DCA model and have weekend shows and maybe a week or two tour before championships. Shhhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 I guess I've waited long enough to respond to this thread. I am the one who puts the North American junior corps census together every year for Drum Corps World. The numbers that have been posted to open this thread were based on old information which appeared in an article I did for DCW several years ago. To set the record straight........This census counts ONLY junior corps and ONLY junior corps from NORTH AMERICA. It also only counts those corps that actually performed during that year. You can say there are 100 North American junior corps at present, but there aren't 100 ACTIVE junior corps at this time. And yes, this census DOES include such corps as North Port High School Alliance-FL, Pride of Oakland-CA, Empire Cadets-NY, Grant Wood-IA, PAL Buccaneers-CT, Blue Jays-NY, Renaissance-PA and other corps that many people never heard of. Here are the numbers of junior corps that have been documented for each year of the DCI Era: 1972--483 1973--457 1974--432 1975--408 1976--396 1977--367 1978--318 1979--263 1980--267 1981--238 1982--220 1983--211 1984--176 1985--149 1986--130 1987--133 1988--141 1989--125 1990--118 1991--131 1992--134 1993--134 1994--130 1995--116 1996--126 1997--113 1998--105 1999--116 2000--101 2001--90 2002--84 2003--83 2004--72 2005--72 Brian Tolzmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dckid80 Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Take all the time you need. OK, give me a chance to go through all of the hidden smaller corps that are around that many people don't know about as well as create a list file that I can copy and paste. Might take a day or so. Be patient with me. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankA Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 2003--832004--72 2005--72 We lost 11 in 04? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackstar Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Blackstar, if this is comming across as a personal attack - I apologize. I just know how I would feel if I were a current kid in DCI reading your comments about "drum corps dying". Here the excited DCI kid is building dreams for his or her future in drum corps and then some old drum corps vet comes along and says "there is no future" (if I may paraphrase). That can do more damage to such a kid than you probably realize and it's just not right. No apology needed. I know I have a tendency to come across a little negative at times. I just want people to stop using rose colored glasses when this subject comes up. The post from Northern Thunder shows the decline. And we need to stop saying things are better because the corps are better. Theres still less Junior corps in this activity and something drastic needs to be done. Unfortunetly the people in power are doing well. The prize money is still coming in and hundreds of kids are still audtioning. The graph shows that this activity will be dead in 20 years. Unless something is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 We actually lost more than 11. When you factor in the ones lost plus the new corps organized there was a net loss of 11. Both the Strutters and Allegiance Elite were gobbled up in the Fusion merger, the Blue Star Cadets became a marching band, and these corps went inactive: Dimensions, Eklipse, Decorah Kilties, Rochester Patriots, Phoenix-NJ, Quebec Alliance, Quest, Revolution, San Diego Alliance and Scenic City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottalovit Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 Brian, Thank you for the updated information I see that in 99 we gained 11 corps, could you tell me which corps we gained in 99? That was great to see, too bad we lost more the next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Brady Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 WRONG AGAIN. VERY wrong. They have mearly divided the top 25 into quarters and semis and added a show and....with 24 corps in quarter finals last year - and ALL of which were division I corps - which has not happened since the EALY 80s! THAT'S A RECORD, my friend. Let's elaborate on this now. In the late 80s and mid 90s, top 25 was made up not only of division I (then Open Class) corps but also division II and III (then A and A-60 corps). This of course was an effort to FILL the top 25 because they didn't have ENOUGH division I/open class corps to FILL all of the top 25 BACK THEN - back in the day (so to speak). In the 90s. It got worse. MOST of the corps from about 15th place on down were all made up of division II and III corps. For a while, there were no more than about 14 - 15 total division I corps. TODAY??? The quarter finals (THE TOP 24) is COMPLETELY FULL and made up ONLY of Division I corps. This has actually not been the case in over 25 years. So, YES!!! There IS actually MORE than enough corps for a "top 25" and if they chose to STILL allow division II and III to participate in quarters, they would have a VERY HARD CONTEST TO make it and would probably have quite a few VERY FINE CORPS not make it in to quarter finals. For now, they are sticking to 24 in quarters. Big deal. It still proves your point to not be correct. So, TRY AGAIN! Better yet, DON'T because the kids in this activity do not need to read this kind of negativity. Wrong.Beginning in 1975, there was an entirely seperate competition for the Class A/All Girl corps.(later DivII/III etc...) Those corps were in no way a part of the top 25.(I know...my corps, The Glassmen, were one of the first Class A finalists) The "Open, or DivI competion was totally seperate. Just to use 75 as an example, 46 corps competed in Open Class prelims. This DOES NOT include the Class A/All Girl corps! Totally seperate show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 I guess I've waited long enough to respond to this thread. I am the one who puts the North American junior corps census together every year for Drum Corps World. The numbers that have been posted to open this thread were based on old information which appeared in an article I did for DCW several years ago. To set the record straight........This census counts ONLY junior corps and ONLY junior corps from NORTH AMERICA. It also only counts those corps that actually performed during that year. You can say there are 100 North American junior corps at present, but there aren't 100 ACTIVE junior corps at this time. And yes, this census DOES include such corps as North Port High School Alliance-FL, Pride of Oakland-CA, Empire Cadets-NY, Grant Wood-IA, PAL Buccaneers-CT, Blue Jays-NY, Renaissance-PA and other corps that many people never heard of. Here are the numbers of junior corps that have been documented for each year of the DCI Era: 1972--483 1973--457 1974--432 1975--408 1976--396 1977--367 1978--318 1979--263 1980--267 1981--238 1982--220 1983--211 1984--176 1985--149 1986--130 1987--133 1988--141 1989--125 1990--118 1991--131 1992--134 1993--134 1994--130 1995--116 1996--126 1997--113 1998--105 1999--116 2000--101 2001--90 2002--84 2003--83 2004--72 2005--72 Brian Tolzmann and thank you for your hard work every year. you do not get enough thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Ditto on the thanks Brian, interesting reading for a DC history nut. Thanks for posting the straight numbers and thanks for the explaination. Somehow I thought the numbers were for competative corps. See I was mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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