Of the top 6 corps this year

[soccerguy315]

When athletes go to a school, they're expected to be there for 4 (or 5) years. I don't think you could make the argument that that is the same case for drum corps. I also have no idea how many years the average drum corps marcher marches.

But the March 1 thing is not really equal to the NCAA thing. If you wanted to make DCI like NCAA, then if you march at one corps for a year, and then you wanted to march at another one, you would have to sit out a whole summer (as in, the whole sports season), so you would march at two different places, but it would be over 3 years.

[raphael18]

I think it would be pretty stupid to tell people where they had to march, and to actually make them do anything. I'm all for the Mach 1st rule (usually it coincides with the first drill camp). Think of it like this - if you think its tough to get people to check out div 2/3 now, when there is no long term committmen, then imagine getting people to do it for a year or two after you've told them that they are stuck there, and have no choice to leave.

Believe it or not, a lot of people perform with multiple groups, and it has nothing to do with numbers. Lets say you have learned all that the staff at your corps has to teach you, perhaps you just don't like the feel of the corps philosophy, perhaps you don't like your new staff/director, perhaps your friends aged-out and you want to move on...there are a million reasons why people change corps.

This reminds me of the Troopers threads - sure, it's easy to sit back when your too old to march and say you'd march there, but its something else entirely to put one of your precious summers on the line and do it yourself. Most people get around an average of 3 summers (lots of people don't march until after HS), and I think it is ridiculous to tell these people they can't go perform with their dream corps, because of pitty for another group.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Marching drum corps has such a high personal cost(time, $$, no-summer job, missing school, etc) that any of those rules would probably end up driving kids away. If someone marches a year at say, Pioneer, and the wants to march Cavies, but can't for no reason other than some policy, they may just end up saying f--- it and get on with their lives. Thee are only so many years one can march junior corps. Why force them to give one up just for some rule? And let's face the facts, kids today have TONS of stuff going on every minute of their lives. I know it was tough for me to save up enough $$, as well as postponing school and trying to arrange my life around camps.

Adding to the hassle that high school and college age kids already face is just asking for bad news.

This reminds me of the Troopers threads - sure, it's easy to sit back when your too old to march and say you'd march there, but its something else entirely to put one of your precious summers on the line and do it yourself. Most people get around an average of 3 summers (lots of people don't march until after HS), and I think it is ridiculous to tell these people they can't go perform with their dream corps, because of pitty for another group.

Someone's drum corps career is THEIR to do with as they see fit. It's supposed to be FUN. This isn't a job. We don't get paid. God knows it costs so much(and more than just $$) already. Why add to that?

Who has the right to question someone else's reasons and motivations to march? Who has the right to say "ring chasing" is not good enough of a reason? The drum corps community places so much praise and esteem on the top groups anyways. Is it such a surprise that a lot of people want to march there? Like you said, most kids get 3-4 years of marching. That's not a lot of time to make your mark and hope you get everything out of it you wanted. Those 3-4 years are yours to make as good as you can. And any rule that make it more of a challenge than it already is will probably do more harm than good.

Like raphael18 said, it's pretty easy to sit at your computer and tell other people how to go about their drum corps careers when you have already had the chance to do yours your way.

Edited September 5, 2006 by Morgoth Bauglir