is DCI killing drum corps?

[ScribeToo]

Could you explain "DCI limiting it's membership"?

Corps strive to make the Top 21 (for a while it was 17... before that it was 25) in order to become members. That's what I mean by "limiting" membership.

Full members of DCI are the current top 21 Division I Drum and Bugle Corps.

[billj]

So if we have woodwinds or bass guitar, the ballet and theater, then thats what drum corps want? Or is it what the Top 12 want? When Bd starts to march saxes we WILL know that its dead. Wait til a BOA unit wins DCI. It will then be too late. There is no way that smaller unit have any control over their destiny. Just as when the combine was organized, it was for the upper elites, and not the masses. You either followed or were left behind. You say "people come to see the best", and your right. But how many people in top 12 corps came from small corps. If you kill the feeders then the body dies as well. In this case the camelion is changing to survive and this is what we have today DCI Band Assn. Don't assume that whats good for top 12 is good for all. After all its Drum & Bugle Corps not Drum & Trumpet Band.

Isn't the reality that high school marching bands are the real feeders for DCI corps now? BOA is thriving and DCI does a lot to establish & promote relationships with BOA and high school bands. So, as much as I hate to see the small corps folding (man, there used to be 20+ smaller corps at DCM prelims in the 80's :-( ) , I don't think it'll impact the remaining corps in the short OR long term.

[SF2K4]

Has anyone looked at it this way before?

I don't go to drum corps to see a show per se. Let me clarify: I can see shows, even good ones, at many venues: Drum corps, marching band, the concert hall, Broadway, etc. I go to drum corps shows to see said shows performed by just brass, guard, and percussion. Don't give me this, "I go to see kids do well/work hard!" crap. No you don't. You go because you have been attracted to how the activity works, at least most of you do. I love hearing how differently groups play a song... drum corps with their brass/percussion, marching bands with brass/ww/perc, and concert ensemble with brass/ww/perc/strings. If you add ww to drum corps, then we lose that venue where there were none... thus slowly pushing to a state where all forms of instrumental activities will be extremely similar... and, I don't know about you, but that's a bad thing. I like the differences between drum corps and marching band, and by differences, I mean the actual way the shows are put on. I do not WANT to say marching band and then... professional marching band. Quality or not, that's still just more of the same. I want drums, horns, and guard out on the field. It's a very specfic formula that I enjoy.

[WOOHOO]

Has anyone looked at it this way before?

I don't go to drum corps to see a show per se. Let me clarify: I can see shows, even good ones, at many venues: Drum corps, marching band, the concert hall, Broadway, etc. I go to drum corps shows to see said shows performed by just brass, guard, and percussion. Don't give me this, "I go to see kids do well/work hard!" crap. No you don't. You go because you have been attracted to how the activity works, at least most of you do. I love hearing how differently groups play a song... drum corps with their brass/percussion, marching bands with brass/ww/perc, and concert ensemble with brass/ww/perc/strings. If you add ww to drum corps, then we lose that venue where there were none... thus slowly pushing to a state where all forms of instrumental activities will be extremely similar... and, I don't know about you, but that's a bad thing. I like the differences between drum corps and marching band, and by differences, I mean the actual way the shows are put on. I do not WANT to say marching band and then... professional marching band. Quality or not, that's still just more of the same. I want drums, horns, and guard out on the field. It's a very specfic formula that I enjoy.

I go to DCI shows to see kids do well.

[BOBSMYTH]

World War II killed drum corps. It kept all those young soldiers overseas for an extended period of time. Then - when it was over, all those soldiers came home and started the Baby Boom (often defined as babies born from 1946 to as late as 1964). This led to an unusually high number of potential marching members in the 1960's & 1970's. By the late 70's and early 80's, all those extra members were no longer available to march (junior) corps because they were too old. Corps by the dozens folded from lack of members. (I know mine did.)

Then Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan along with Fed Chairman Volker all worked together to kill drum corps.

Add in the hard economic times of that era (double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, gas shortages, a recession in 83/84, etc.) and many more corps folded.

And - youth soccer killed drum corps. Most little kids can kick around a ball at a much earlier age than they can be taught to play an instrument. All those evil soccer coaches (not to mention the soccer moms) conspired to influence those precious few baby-busters before the drum corps ever got the chance. It just wasn't fair - you could even say it wasn't a level playing field.

Can someone please explain to me which of these events DCI was supposed to control?

[MikeD]

Secondly, what DCP "staffers" are you referring to? I think Lance and MikeD are the only two who have posted from the DCP mod staff and except that Mike's comments are pretty much what he's ALWAYS said (even before he was a "DCP Staffer"),

At least I get points for consistency! :P

[84BDsop]

World War II killed drum corps. It kept all those young soldiers overseas for an extended period of time. Then - when it was over, all those soldiers came home and started the Baby Boom (often defined as babies born from 1946 to as late as 1964). This led to an unusually high number of potential marching members in the 1960's & 1970's. By the late 70's and early 80's, all those extra members were no longer available to march (junior) corps because they were too old. Corps by the dozens folded from lack of members. (I know mine did.)

Then Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan along with Fed Chairman Volker all worked together to kill drum corps.

Add in the hard economic times of that era (double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, gas shortages, a recession in 83/84, etc.) and many more corps folded.

And - youth soccer killed drum corps. Most little kids can kick around a ball at a much earlier age than they can be taught to play an instrument. All those evil soccer coaches (not to mention the soccer moms) conspired to influence those precious few baby-busters before the drum corps ever got the chance. It just wasn't fair - you could even say it wasn't a level playing field.

Can someone please explain to me which of these events DCI was supposed to control?

All of them, according to some in the tinfoil hat bridage.

interesting point about the aging baby-boomers.....hadn't considered that one...

Edited August 5, 2006 by 84BDsop

[81regiment]

All of them, according to some in the tinfoil hat bridage.

interesting point about the aging baby-boomers.....hadn't considered that one...

If that is true, then the baby boom echo is working its way the demography right about now...

Audition camps seem to draw really large numbers (weighted heavily towards drummers for some reason :P ), but it's a shame that there are not more corps to absorb the demand.

It takes a real entrepreneurial spirit and lots of cash to start from scratch these days. As hard as it seemed to pull off by the stories that have been told, Don Warren, Jim Jones, George Bonfiglio and the rest of those guys had it relatively easy by today's standards - at least financially.

[X DM]

[

Can someone please explain to me which of these events DCI was supposed to control?

Yes. DCI needed to abandon the national touring model when the recession hit during the Carter Presidency years. With high unemployment, high taxes, double digit interest rates, soaring gas prices and with the national consumer confidence index categorized as an "economic malaise ", DCI could have gone with Regional Competition. The NCAA Tournament model for instance. Take the winners of the Regionals and the runnerup in those geographic regions and have those 12 Corps go for a 3 day National Championship. The reason Corps folded is multifaceted. It was not for a lack of kids however, as the population still was growing, just not as rapidly. No, the main reason Corps folded was financial, not demographic. Corps folded because the national touring costs was more expensive than their ability to raise revenues to offset expenses. Corps incurred huge debts. Those debts were directly tied in most cases to touring costs at the end of the summer, when the banks and creditors called in loans that could not be paid. Corps folded under a mountain of debt. Not from lack of recruiting. Prior to DCI, Corps did not do national tours of 2-3 months duration. DCI adopted a national touring model that simply became unsustainable for many Corps despite these Corps lofty travel goals. DCI can be lauded for many things. But the fact that there are less Corps here in 2006 than in say 1966, is attributable in at least some degree to DCI's inability to adjust to the new economic realities in the pivotal early 70's when DCI first began it's aggressive push to put the DCI Member Corps on national tours for 3 months at a time.

Edited August 5, 2006 by X DM

[Boof96]

World War II killed drum corps.

And - youth soccer killed drum corps.

I wasn't aware drum corps was dead. I am always the last person to find these things out.