The Drum Corps Activity is Healthier Than Ever!

[Morgoth Bauglir]

The fact is there are a lot more kids all over the country enjoying the marching arts than ever before. Just because it's not all with OUR circuit doesn't make their experience or joy with the activity worthless. As drum corps people, we really need to get over our selves. Yes we play a crucial role as "the top" and most skilled of the activities. But that in no way means drum corps is the only one that matters.

Some people point out "in my day, a corps could pull some kids off the street, hand them a horn and teach them how to play. Now you have to be a music major to even audition". Besides the fact that the "you have to be a music major" is false...HOW IS ANY OF THAT BAD?? The just proves that there are so many more kids who actually know about the marching arts and have experience. Even in the days of having 500+ drum corps around the country, how many members were in each one? How many of those members had any idea what the march arts even were? But now, we have tens of thousands of bands, each with at least as many kids as many of the corps of old. And we also have WGI, which gives an insanely more opportunities for kids all over to enjoy this activity at a serious and skilled level. Drum corps auditions are becoming much more competitive, and it's not just because the number of open spots is less. It's also because the number of skilled auditionees is growing exponentially every year. In my state alone, Michigan, from 2003 to 2006, 40 more indoor guards and drumline have become active competitors. There are now over 30 drumlines and over 70 guards, most with around 30 members in Michigan alone. And that doesn't even have anything to do with high school marching bands. I'm just talking about indoor, which is tiny compared to marching band.

If giving up 100-135 member corps means gaining a few THOUSAND 135+ member bands, I'm all for it.

The marching arts IS healthier than ever.

Edited October 7, 2006 by Morgoth Bauglir

[Blackstar]

I have one question, What happenes when we have 50-40-30-20 or 10 really great corps left. Will that activity still be healthier because these few corps have the very best the world has to offer or will it be dying.

Remember they were making state of the art buggy whips, hula hoops, or all the other things that aren't around.

[Lancerlady]

So numbers are falling.

What are you going to do about?

No, not DCI. Not Dan Acheson. Not George Hopkins or Jeff Fiedler. Not even Scott Stewart. You!

What are you going to do about it?

We can spin the numbers until we're blue in the face, but we gain nothing. We can talk about all the other opportunities that today's youth have, but what of the corps that fold with full membership? What of the corps that fold because adults failed to support them? Would they be here today if we, each of us, had done more?

Everyone one of us reading this thread would agree that the more healthy, active corps we have, the better off we are for it. I'm sure that everyone reading this thread would rather see the numbers go up, not down. Or would they? To be honest, some members of this board seem to almost revel in every piece of bad news that comes out. For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

This isn't an issue of old school versus new. This isn't an issue of traditionalists versus progressives. This isn't an issue of "artsy-fartsy" versus entertainment. This is an issue of economics, of how our corps are being run and of the support they get from we who profess to be fans of the activity.

Don't tell me that corps fold because they aren't entertaining any more. Bridgemen and VK are no longer with us. Don't tell me that corps fold because DCI only rewards finalist corps. 27th Lancers, Anaheim Kingsmen, Suncoast Sound are no longer with us. And did any of those corps fail to entertain either? Don't tell me that corps fold because they don't know the meaning of the word tradition. No corps is more traditional than the Troopers, but where were they in 2006?

I posted not too long ago about the Blue Knights being in trouble financially, and asked anyone who read to make a donation through their webpage. A couple of responses essentially said "well if they played better music, they wouldn't be in trouble". NO! They're in trouble because running a corps gets more expensive every year. They're in trouble for the same reasons that countless other corps before are. They need the same support that every other corps in the activity needs. From us. All of us.

Instead of pointing to the number of corps as if claiming victory over DCI, realize that we're all in this together. Nobody 'wins' if the number of corps reaches zero. As dissatisfied as you may be with the current direction of DCI, I don't see anything to be gained from sitting on the sidelines, doing nothing while the activity you used to love fades away.

If that happens, we're all left with nothing. So I challenge each of you. Rather than sitting at your computer, preaching doom and gloom, do something about it! Donate to your favorite corps, because they could all use the money. Donate to the corps that entertain you. Show your support. If things are as bad as you're so quick to tell us, then tell us what you're going to do about it.

Me, I bought Troopers shirt today. Welcome back in 2007, guys.

Matt you're going into a territory that wasn't brought up yet in this thread. I don't see anybody blaming anybody or pointing fingers. Corps fold for lack of money and management point blank. There is a reason why that is happening, and why drum corps is becoming so expensive to maintain. I was doing an interview with George B. the other night for this guy who is doing a paper on the history of the activity. He explained to me why they broke away from VFW..and in an eerie sort of thought I said, "hmm it's come full circle". I know how the activity began but I'm curious if some on here who post know the reason why the activity began in the first place?

All I said personally about the history is I wish more of todays generation would study it like they study todays drum corps. But there seems to be a lack of care about it. They would see that the corps didn't suck like they seem to imply just because there were more corps. There's disrespect on both sides if you ask me. Both sides need to learn how to embrace each other and then they would learn how to accept people's opinions better..in a perfect world.

I'm not saying it's about old vs. new, it's about learning where the activity came from, how to sustain it, and understand why the numbers are falling.

I have a closet full of drum corps t shirts, heck I'm even wearing a Bluecoats t-shirt right now. I have donated money, sponsored, volunteered, etc..etc..I don't know what else I can do to save these corps that are folding. I don't think buying a tshirt is going to fix this problem though. :(

Edited October 8, 2006 by Lancerlady

[OMello1]

I have one question, What happenes when we have 50-40-30-20 or 10 really great corps left. Will that activity still be healthier because these few corps have the very best the world has to offer or will it be dying.

Remember they were making state of the art buggy whips, hula hoops, or all the other things that aren't around.

I think this is an interesting point. It would be nice to say and prove the the bleeding has stopped, but it hasn't really. We still seem to loose a few corps each year. So here is the question: when do you think this will stop...when will the number of corps stabilize?

M

[SCVsopAaron]

I was first exposed to the drum corps back in the early 70’s when there were between 400 and 500 active drum and bugle corps in North America. In 2006 it was report there were 65. Wow!!! What a change!

But look what else has changed. The number of competitive marching bands has skyrocketed since the early 70’s. The color guard activity in the 70’s had its national championships in conjunction with DCI or some other national drum corps championship. Only a relatively small number of guards were active. Now there are hundreds and hundreds of winter guards who complete annually. And lets not forget this indoor percussion thing. It has kind of caught on hasn’t it?

Yes, there are fewer “drum and bugle corps” but certainly their offspring has increased to truly amazingly large numbers.

I would imagine most of us think of drum corps as this activity where a group made up of young adults from all over the country forms in November, gets together once a month through the winter and spring to practice, has an extended pre-tour training camp, and then embarks on 6 to 8 week national tour. Yes, there are still a few junior parade groups, local corps, and weekend warrior groups, but most that are left are like what I have described above or aspire to be the above.

Certainly 30 years ago this wasn’t the case. The category “drum and bugle corps” connected groups by instrumentation and style. Within that category there were quite a few subcategories. There were virtually no groups like I first described above. This evolution has occurred for a variety of reasons. Today’s drum corps is a whole different beast so I believe that is useless to make census comparisons unless one includes all of today’s offspring and the increase in numbers is staggering! If you do that you find that the marching arts, drum corps, is healthier than ever!

Drum corps, the groups that do the summer thing, is most certainly the “Marching Music’s major league” as the DCI promotional materials tout. We who have done and/or do drum corps know that that experience is something very special so very many reasons. Feel privileged to be one of the few in the marching arts that gets to do or has had the drum corps experience.

We don’t need to get all doom and gloomy. The drum corps activity is healthier than ever! It’s time for celebration!

I agree.

[SCVsopAaron]

UGH, I'm just gonna go ahead and get this off my chest. Some of y'all in this generation should really go learn your history. Some of you act like that when there were more drum corps that they all sucked or something. Here's a news flash..they DIDN'T. There were ALOT of good talented quality drum corps.

Heck my first time marching was in a drum corps that came in 19th place in 1982, out of how many corps? 307..That's not too shabby...besides we broke Spirit's record for being the highest place drum corps for a first years drum corps. Then Star came along and broke our record. (I'm talking about Memphis Blues)...

So while you want the old school folks to "get their heads out", I want you all to go learn your history and then come back and tell me how healthy the activity is! Then... if you can show me how it is "healthier then ever " HONESTLY with corps folding left and right..I'll give you a BIG hooray!

I love some of todays drum corps. And I respect what some of todays corps do but please quit trying to sell me the kool aid that all is well, I'm concerned for the activity actually.

The activity is so different now that I believe it's hard to compare corps 50 years ago to corps now. Honestly. If you had some random guy off the street and showed him a show from now and a show from them, hed probably say that they were NOTHING alike accept for the most basic of things. Also the decline in numbers is a direct correlation to the increase in better marching bands... Better HS programs = less need for a drum corps of similar quality. So saying that it used to be so much better is an insult to modern day units, who I believe have succeded more recently than the older corps... Drum corps are on ESPN2 now, being marketed as "Marching Music's Major League" and "Musical Athletes"... THINGS HAVE CHANGED! drum corps as you knew it IS dead, but drum corps as I love it is thriving. THRIVING!!!!!

Edited October 8, 2006 by SCVsopAaron

[monoemono]

The fact is there are a lot more kids all over the country enjoying the marching arts than ever before. Just because it's not all with OUR circuit doesn't make their experience or joy with the activity worthless. As drum corps people, we really need to get over our selves. Yes we play a crucial role as "the top" and most skilled of the activities. But that in no way means drum corps is the only one that matters.

I, personally, despise the term "marching arts", simply because it does glom all of these different activities together. I could care less about indoor drumline, could care even less about winter guard, and don't even get me started about BOA. That doesn't mean that those activities are worthless, bad, whatever. It simply means that for me, the news that these activities are healthier than ever means absolutely nothing. The very specific activity of drum and bulge corps, the only one of these activities mentioned that I care about at all, is not healthy, is getting smaller and less distinct every year, and may eventually vanish.

I had a moment this summer, during a certain Illinois corps' ballad (if you were paying attention at all you know which one), where I felt that glorious feeling of experiencing drum and bugle corps. It only lasted a moment, and then it was gone, but I hadn't had that feeling since I was marching myself. With every corps that folds, we're closer to a world without that special feeling, one that, at least for me, can only be aroused by a drum and bugle corps. So, please, don't expect me to jump up and down just because every third high school has a winter guard.

I'll save my excitement for this year's Troop.

[ScribeToo]

There is just something very special about sitting in the stands watching those hard working young adults perform on a summer evening, watching those buses head off to the next town, seeing a long line of sweating kids lining up a at food truck…

Bryan, I sincerely wish there was a way we could sell this as a t-shirt. I would buy 90 of them and wear one EVERY DAY of the junior season.

Thanks for saying it and thanks for offering a perspective that SO MANY of us really do agree with -- despite the typical doom and gloom responses from some others.

I think you're right. Drum corps IS healthier today -- as an activity. There may have been MORE corps way back when.. and some of the ones who are now gone may have been REALLY GREAT.. but the vast majority of them were fairly mediocre in comparison to what the majority of fans were in the stands to see. The bleacher society really hasn't changed all that much. People want to see what's good. Some are there to see everybody.. or their kid in whatever corps that kid marches in.. the most of the people want to see the best of the best.

I would venture a guess that those "really great" corps from way back when.. if counted up and compared to the number of "mediocre" corps would be at a greater percentage disadvantage than those "really great" corps vs "mediocre" corps today.

Our memories are sometimes more kind to the past than the past really was.

Stef

[oldbandguy]

I have to wonder...if drum corps is in any way responsible for the healthy state of marching bands, why is it that with OVER 25,000 marching bands in this country, graduating well over 250,000 members ANNUALLY, we have LESS than 25 division 1 drum corps? Why is it that the great majority of states don't even have a drum corps?

[Piper]

When I marched there were many more Corps' around, but sometimes I have to swallow my pride and admit that the one's today are much better than we were in my day. I've seen some Div.II/III corps that could have steamrollered some of the "Top Guns" back in that era. Oh well, apples and oranges.