The season almost half over and I'm tired of hearing

[sburstall]

Hopefully it's self explanatory.

I'm tired of the hearing about the Tiger's only having small amount of players going to the All-Star game while teams with a losing season are pretty much the whole infield. At least Roger's is looking to be the American League starting pitcher. :P

[Blackstar]

I choose:

Although I’m not sure of the intended meaning. Did you mean?

My wife yelling at me [while I’m] cutting the grass.

My wife yelling at me, “Cutting the grass[!]”.

My wife yelling at me [to begin] cutting the grass.

My wife yelling at me [while I’m] cutting the [cheese while I’m cutting the] grass.

My wife yelling at me [because I started another inane argument over why the season is shorter than it used to be while I should be] cutting the grass.

All of the above. My wife really likes to yell at me

[Tone Quality Matters]

It makes me sad to keep hearing all of the same negative arguments about this activity. It is also embarrassing, knowing that current marching members will possibly read some or all of this after the season.

They are all on the field now, for basically the same reason that you or I were years ago,...because they love what they are doing!!! They practice long and hard,...just like you did. They sleep on gym floors ,...just like you did. They DO eat better than we did. They don't have to perform on Labor Day,...with, admit it, 10-20 holes for the members that did have to attend college. They don't have to perform Memorial Day, with, admit it, most corps playing anywhere from 1-2 songs, or almost complete repertoires from the year before. Why try to recreate what was then,...enjoy what the kids are doing now,...they are getting the same enjoyment that you did then.

Drum corps has changed from years ago,...yet it remains the same. If it hasn't,.....most of us wouldn't be here checking scores ,complimenting,...or complaining.

Go to shows, buy some souvies,...sponsor a member or two, get to know them, feed them, cheer them on. They will carry a piece of you on the field with them every time they perform. They also will relish your stories of how it used to be,...and respect you for the legacy you have left them.

Believe me, ...they love the history of drum corps, the passion of drum corps, and the mark that they will leave. Don't dissappoint them with the negativity.

MikeD and Kunakusho. Please read and assimilate.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

If they tried to do that today, they would fail. That's a major reason the season is (rightfully) shorter.

Whatever happened to doing shows close enough to home that corps could come home? You remember, weekend trips, back in time for school on Monday. When I marched in Massachussetts, school went to the second or third week of June. That didn't stop us from going to New Jersey, western Mass, Rhode Island, Connecticut, etc.

[gcurrier]

Hopefully it's self explanatory.

THIS WAS SET UP AS A POLL I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED :blink

The choices were;

The Cadets show is ruining drum corps

Jester

Academy, never losing

Low scores

My wife yelling at me cutting the grass

Coke vs Pepsi

Singing

I pick Cadets are ruining drum corps--I saw the show--saw room for improvement, loved parts of it, but certainly don't understand how it could take down anything let alone the AWESOME activity that is drum corps--is it too artsy for some? is it too cutting edge? yes--but then again so weren't many things that moved us in any forum to where we are now. Elvis and Rock and Roll didnt ruin music, nor did Rite of Spring destroy classical forever. Things change and evolve--its a fact of life--and honestly I don't think this show will be the most copied show ever, so I doubt it will even change the activity as much as those other things changed life. I am not going to stop going to drum corps or ball after the Cadets beat a classical drum corps show...I will simply say, good for them and wait for the next production to blow me away!

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Earlier school year starts fixed that...

Finals were backed up one week to accomodate that. It doesn't account for everything. Perhaps drum corps need to go back to being a pillar of their communities and bringing in local talent instead of having all these out of state members and changing the entire circuit schedule for them. "Back in my day..." we had plenty from out of state. We still marched in early June.

[dbc03]

Finals were backed up one week to accomodate that. It doesn't account for everything. Perhaps drum corps need to go back to being a pillar of their communities and bringing in local talent instead of having all these out of state members and changing the entire circuit schedule for them. "Back in my day..." we had plenty from out of state. We still marched in early June.

Congratulations, you have successfully turned a thread about things people are tired of hearing into a thread about something everyone is tired of hearing.

[ScribeToo]

Finals were backed up one week to accomodate that. It doesn't account for everything. Perhaps drum corps need to go back to being a pillar of their communities and bringing in local talent instead of having all these out of state members and changing the entire circuit schedule for them. "Back in my day..." we had plenty from out of state. We still marched in early June.

Back in MY day, we didn't even HAVE a local corps.. the closest was 2+ hrs away and none of us were lucky or rich enough to own a car.. plus that 2hrs was through the desert.. even in June, that meant 110 degrees PLUS and if you were driving a beater, there was a good chance you'd break down on the way.. NO WAY was mom going to let me do that.. even at 18.

Not to mention that back in MY day, school didn't END until JUNE 6 at the earliest.

It's not all about the midwest, you know. It's not all about the east or Nocal, either..

In YOUR day, you lived in a microcosm (as did I).. and the activity had to do one of two things.. either become more globally appealing and eventually thrive (and change and grow) or remain as it was and eventually stagnate into oblivion. The "problem" with becoming more globally appealing was that kids from outside the "home area" got exposed to your corps.. and that's great for popularity, souvenir sales, ticket sales and all that.. but that also makes kids who can afford to WANT to come be in your corps.. but they may not live in the next town over.. By sheer numbers alone, as popularity of the activity grew, obviously there were going to be more kids from outside an area (with a greater auditioning pool comes a greater pool of talent to choose from) on their way to your corps camps.. so are you willing to say, "no, you're excluded from membership in this exclusive club because you're not local..." ?? Really? Even if it means that your corps turns away 50 REALLY TALENTED and REALLY DEDICATED MEMBERS?

I think this whole idea of going back to "the day" is a little backwards.. particularly because it would require the activity to drop out of the national eye and back into the insular confines of small communities. That would NOT cause this activity to thrive, IMO. It would surely snuff the life out of it.

Stef

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Back in MY day, we didn't even HAVE a local corps.. the closest was 2+ hrs away and none of us were lucky or rich enough to own a car.. plus that 2hrs was through the desert.. even in June, that meant 110 degrees PLUS and if you were driving a beater, there was a good chance you'd break down on the way.. NO WAY was mom going to let me do that.. even at 18.

Not to mention that back in MY day, school didn't END until JUNE 6 at the earliest.

It's not all about the midwest, you know. It's not all about the east or Nocal, either..

In YOUR day, you lived in a microcosm (as did I).. and the activity had to do one of two things.. either become more globally appealing and eventually thrive (and change and grow) or remain as it was and eventually stagnate into oblivion. The "problem" with becoming more globally appealing was that kids from outside the "home area" got exposed to your corps.. and that's great for popularity, souvenir sales, ticket sales and all that.. but that also makes kids who can afford to WANT to come be in your corps.. but they may not live in the next town over.. By sheer numbers alone, as popularity of the activity grew, obviously there were going to be more kids from outside an area (with a greater auditioning pool comes a greater pool of talent to choose from) on their way to your corps camps.. so are you willing to say, "no, you're excluded from membership in this exclusive club because you're not local..." ?? Really? Even if it means that your corps turns away 50 REALLY TALENTED and REALLY DEDICATED MEMBERS?

I think this whole idea of going back to "the day" is a little backwards.. particularly because it would require the activity to drop out of the national eye and back into the insular confines of small communities. That would NOT cause this activity to thrive, IMO. It would surely snuff the life out of it.

Stef

Are local community corps thriving now? No, for the most part they don't exist. So, we have accomodated the activity for the wealthier, able to travel, dedicated member by changing the season and the schedule so that the activity can prosper. Yet, there are fewer and fewer corps, communities don't support them as much because they are not part of the communities anymore and the leaders of the activity feel it necessary to become marching band to make it thrive.

I've asked this in other threads but I'll ask it again (not directed only to you Stef), if the parimount function of drum corps is about educating members, what message are they learning? It seems to me drum corps is teaching them to expect whole organizations to bend over backwards for them. Is this what DCI is becoming...the NCAA?

[Geoff]

Yes - I have my program from Ottawa nationals 1969 around here somewhere, but there were a bunch of classes that had finals during the day (standstill, parade classes etc, most of them with subdivisions of "A", "B", "C" etc, that's where I was competing) and at night finals there was, if I remember correctly, Junior B, All Girls, Junior A, and Senior A (Senior B having their finals during the day). 12 corps in Canadian finals after 40 or so more had finished/been eliminated during the day. What a show!

Now we have 4 junior and as of this year no senior competetive corps. :(

If I find that program I'll comfirm some of this stuff.

Cheers

Jim

I have a program from Canadian Nationals from 1986 and 1987 somewhere around here. Easily 30-40 corps listed in there. I'll digi it out and have a look.