boxingfred Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 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! Mission Accomplished! That little conflict in Iraq is going well too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxingfred Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 1981 was a healthy year for drum corps. 1 Santa Clara Vanguard 92.200 2 Blue Devils 90.250 3 Madison Scouts 90.200 4 27th Lancers 89.500 5 Bridgemen 89.150 6 Phantom Regiment 88.100 7 Garfield Cadets 86.050 8 Crossmen 85.900 9 Spirit of Atlanta 83.850 10 Cavaliers 82.550 11 Troopers 81.000 12 Freelancers 80.050 13 North Star 79.850 14 Sky Ryders 77.550 15 Guardsmen 77.300 16 Blue Stars 75.700 17 Defenders 73.250 18 Memphis Blues 71.300 19 Geneseo Knights 71.100 20 Seattle Imperials 70.300 21 Suncoast Sound 69.900 22 Avant Garde 69.800 23 St. Croix Rivermen 68.150 24 Valley Fever 67.950 25 Boston Crusaders 66.550 26 San Jose Raiders 66.400 27 Alliance (MA) 64.850 28 Colts 64.050 29 Squires 60.200 30 Pride of Cincinnati 60.100 31 Bluecoats 59.600 32 Imperial Guard 58.950 33 Velvet Knights 57.950 34 Les Eclipses 57.600 35 Arc-en-Ciel 57.550 36 Long Island Kingsmen 56.550 37 Saginaires 56.150 38 Glassmen 53.600 39 Southwind 51.800 40 Buckeye State Caballaros 48.050 41 General Butler Vagabonds 47.300 42 1st Canadian Regiment 46.300 43 Black Watch (NJ) 45.200 44 CMCC Warriors 44.300 45 Americanos 44.250 46 Patriots 44.200 47 Royal Grenadiers 40.950 48 Valiant Knights 36.350 49 Kilties 36.050 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) It surely cannot be true that the activity is healthier than ever. Assuming the same corps as last year compete at Quarterfinals, we will have exactly 21 corps there. Now the concept of Top 21 is meaningless. I cannot see this as "healthier than ever" and looks more like the activity is staring at the cancellation of Quarterfinals altogether due to lack of numbers. Edited November 2, 2006 by Tekneek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btracht Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 My original point was that if one expands the definition of the drum corps activity to include competitive marching bands, winterguards, and indoor drumlines, then one could say the drum corps activity is healthier than ever: more kids having more great marching/musical/competitive experiences than ever before. I believe many of the defining attributes (excellence, trend setting, family bond, goosebump factor, etc.) that have made drum corps so unique in the past are now attributes that many marching bands, winterguards, and indoor drumlines also have. I believe these cousins are part of the “drum corps activity” . They are not exactly the same as competitive junior drum corps but drum corps has always included a variety of different types of groups. If you don’t like including these other groups as part of the drum corps activity, then feel free to change my original post to “The marching arts are healthier than ever!” My point is that while the part of the activity most of us think of as drum corps has certainly seen a drop in numbers over the years, there are still some excellent corps out there plus so many other different types of groups that makes the whole very healthy. Celebrate that! It was not my original intent to start a critique the health of the junior competitive corps portion of the activity. I would never say it was healthier than ever. It most definitely has issues that need to be dealt with. Here’s hoping that the junior competitive corps portion of the drum corps activity remains a fixture in our lives for many years to come through the thoughtful working together of many for the good of the whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMichael1230 Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 My original point was that if one expands the definition of the drum corps activity to include competitive marching bands, winterguards, and indoor drumlines, then one could say the drum corps activity is healthier than ever: more kids having more great marching/musical/competitive experiences than ever before. Oh, so you mean "alter reality" to fit ones means....gotcha' ~G~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Ah. So, if you change the definition, then it is healthier than ever. That is a meaningless comment. The only problem is that drum corps does not include those other things. Marching bands are marching bands. Winter guard is winter guard. If they were drum corps, they wouldn't be called marching band or winter guard. Drum corps is NOT healthier than it has ever been before. I cannot see how anyone, even the most passionate and optimistic fan, could say that the drum corps activity is healthier today than it has ever been before. It may be healthier than it was at some point in the past, but you don't have to go very far back to find days when the activity was doing massively better than it is today. In my mind, the easiest way to determine this is to count the number of drum corps units that will be on the field next summer and compare them to...say...1995...and then 1985....and then 1975. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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