LancerFi Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 We had instructors leave us in April/May.....like a major one comes to mind...... It's que scoommbarie to say the least when it's an adult who's committed to 2 top 12 corps and either craps out on one or both. When it's members who are local and the lines have been picked and set in December, and they leave the corps high and dry, it's the same as above! Placing well is one revenge.....if you're interested in that kind of thing.... ^0^ ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 life happens, and sometimes, life is more important than drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soonerjeff Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 (edited) There is a variety of reasons why this happens. This is normal for division 3 but not normal for Division 2 and open Class. Money is a major reason. The Reality is that it is managements fault 99% of the time especially at the Div 3 level as most of the directors in Div 3 have no idea how to run a drum corps. Drum Corps is a business from a management side. I do agree that money can be a MAJOR reason for staff, from techs to caption heads, to leave. Especially for the 'lower ranked' Div 1 and 2 corps, these staff people are usually college kids who are still in school or recently graduated and need a real, sustainable income. I have seen wayyy too many times through my group of friends who marched where they were offered staff positions and were promised that they would be paid a certain amount and in the end they were either never paid or barely paid anything. It seems like sometimes corps aren't even having these younger staff members sign actual contracts, which almost means that the corps isn't locked into having to pay them. The staff member keeps hanging around in good faith, hoping that the corps will live up to its promise, but in the end the corps is basically cheating them and getting their teaching services for free for the winter camps, move-in and part of summer tour. Unfortunately it seems like a vicious cycle though-- The corps don't have enough money to pay the staff anything reasonable, and these staff members need a sustainable income ($500-800 for an entire summer won't help cover the money they lost by not doing a different full-time summer job), so there is never a 'meeting in the middle' and the staff member leaves. The 'big boys' have enough money to hire professional staff (most of whom already have full-time jobs away from the corps), leaving the lower corps to rely on young adults who need the income. What can you do? Edited June 9, 2006 by soonerjeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansasDC Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 (SNIP) Division 3 corps should be able to do the local drum corps circuits and do the local circuit chanpionships and that's it. If they want to tour nationally they will have to pass muster with DCI and have the money, staff. membership, management and volunteers to support that effort. What local circuits????? Those are all long gone! There used to be an entire level of drum corps that were locally-based and only competed within their own circuits, unless DCI happened to be really close (ex. Long Island Circuit, Garden State, Eastern States, Ontario DC Association, Penn-York, etc.). Unfortunately, the desire of many of today's youth to march either top 6 or nothing killed this entire part of the activity. IMHO, the format of the DCI broadcasts is responsible for alot of this problem, as they have not mentioned the lower level corps in years, so potential members don't even know about this part of the activity. It is really a shame, because the kids who really needed the activity to help them get out of problem environments can no longer benefit from the current activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arno0940 Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I don't think that it is the norm...but no means is it uncommon. During the 2004 season while I was on staff with St. John's our visual designer and caption head was getting married at the beginning of the summer and was to return after, but didn't for personal reasons. I ended up teaching the corps the last 1/4 of drill in the show and then acted as the caption head for the rest of the summer re-writting, cleaning and adding to the show. Things worked out in the end for everyone....and I find this is usually the case when there are staff changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicdesign Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 Yes there are local circuits, just not the way you remember them when we marched back in the 70's and 80's. Yes, I agree that the youth of today desire to march top 6. And yes alot of these kids who get cut from these corps then go on to do nothing in the activity and the Division I corps share alot of blame in that. They should be directing alot of these kids to other corps and promoting these corps as a way to develop the skills they need to make the cut with one of the Big Corps. The DCI Telecast is only for Division I, that is just a reality! Times have changed kids just don't come to corps. Corps have to go to kids and you have to think outside the box to recruit. Unfortunately you have a lot of Band Director and other people who become corps directors who have no idea how to run a drum corps. There is alot of corps out there being run like high school marching bands. This is a business even at the Div II/III level and corps directors and management need to start to change their thinking especially at the Div II/III level. That is why Div III is so bad off. DCI shares blame in this mess called Div III but most of the responsibility for this mess as I call it is corps managements fault! What local circuits????? Those are all long gone! There used to be an entire level of drum corps that were locally-based and only competed within their own circuits, unless DCI happened to be really close (ex. Long Island Circuit, Garden State, Eastern States, Ontario DC Association, Penn-York, etc.). Unfortunately, the desire of many of today's youth to march either top 6 or nothing killed this entire part of the activity. IMHO, the format of the DCI broadcasts is responsible for alot of this problem, as they have not mentioned the lower level corps in years, so potential members don't even know about this part of the activity. It is really a shame, because the kids who really needed the activity to help them get out of problem environments can no longer benefit from the current activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted June 10, 2006 Author Share Posted June 10, 2006 Yes there are local circuits, just not the way you remember them when we marched back in the 70's and 80's. ....as in, not in North America. There haven't been any local circuits staging contests in the past two seasons. And with DCM bowing out this year, there are no regional circuits either. DCI and DCA are the only remaining drum corps circuits in operation on this continent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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