Morgoth Bauglir Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 (edited) Keep in mind that regionalization with WGI and BOA has one big difference. Schools. All BOA bands are school oriented and supported in some way. And the vast majority of indoor guards and drumline are also Scholastic units. This goes a long way to keeping the units alive, and thus the circuit. Drum corps, by being independent, has a much harder time surviving, and thus regional circuits are far more prone to collapse. Edited October 11, 2006 by Morgoth Bauglir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btracht Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 (edited) Okay, I was wrong. The drum corps activity is not healthier than ever since I don’t know of any post World War I type drum and bugle corps that have real bugles, a few drums, and display real flags that are in existence today. Drum corps has changed. It changes constantly. If you don’t like how I have lumped competitive marching bands, winter guards, and indoor drumlines into the drum corps activity, I guess that is your prerogative. I just have a difficult time not including these groups in a definition of the “drum corps activity” because so many attributes are shared. In the past when there were bunches of different types of groups that were part of the drum corps activity, they just all had the term “drum and bugle corps” in their name. Today, I believe there are bunches of different types of groups who I believe are part of this activity and they just all don’t happen to have the term “drum and bugle corps” in their name. Yeah, I stand my original statement that “The Drum Corps Activity is Healthier Than Ever!” Each and every year I have been involved in this activity I have believed this to be true and I plan on believing this for many years to come! Even if the number of junior summer corps continue to drop, I thnk I can keep this positive outlook. While I may truely miss sitting in the stands at Whitewater and getting blown away by two days worth of late '70's corps, I will celebrate the tremendous success of today's summer corps and other drum corps activity participants and keep this bright outlook! Edited October 11, 2006 by btracht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Yeah, I stand my original statement that “The Drum Corps Activity is Healthier Than Ever!” Each and every year I have been involved in this activity I have believed this to be true and I plan on believing this for many years to come! Even if the number of junior summer corps continue to drop, I thnk I can keep this positive outlook. While I may truely miss sitting in the stands at Whitewater and getting blown away by two days worth of late '70's corps, I will celebrate the tremendous success of today's summer corps and other drum corps activity participants and keep this bright outlook! I for one totally agree with you...which is most likely the kiss of death as far as many of the DCP 'regulars' are concerned. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 (edited) Drum corps has changed. It changes constantly. If you don’t like how I have lumped competitive marching bands, winter guards, and indoor drumlines into the drum corps activity, I guess that is your prerogative. I just have a difficult time not including these groups in a definition of the “drum corps activity” because so many attributes are shared. Not that I don't like, I just don't understand it. I can see how you can call them all part of the "marching activity" or some other broad base but sounds like you're placing everything into just one part of the "marching activity". I'm involved in antique cars and can place Ramblers, Model Ts, etc into the "Antique Car activity". But to follow your lead sounds like I be saying "I can get the Model T experience by driving a Rambler" because they share a lot of attributes. (OK youngsters - Model Ts were made by Ford). Of course I've never been a HS MB fan do go figure :P Edited October 11, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_S Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Of course I've never been a HS MB fan do go figure :P Everyone should be a fan of HS MB, if nothing else so that they can see Plymouth-Canton 2001 at least once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Everyone should be a fan of HS MB, if nothing else so that they can see Plymouth-Canton 2001 at least once. Old time Drum Corps spoiled me.... If I see 100+ instruments on the field I expect to get my face blown off..... Then reality hits and it's "oh yeah, woodwind volume...." :( :P Enjoy some of the PA state college bands due to the drill and precision some have. Of course I'm a graduate of Indiana Univ of PA and marched a year in the band with some DCI/DCA members so go figure again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOBSMYTH Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I watched as corps after corps folded throughout the 70's in the circuit I taught in and judged, the Garden State Circuit. Had nothing at all to do with DCI.It had a lot to do with... Increased expenses as their sponsors cut them adrift. The GSC corps used to have places to rehearse and store their "stuff"...that was reemoved for many. The original gas crisis of the early 70's where gas went from under 30 cents a gallon to three times that. Inflation at 18%+ during the Carter years driving up the costs of everything! The need for insurance as the old style 'mom and pop' operations were made to operate more as businesses. Along those lines...the lack of business acumen of some of the very best people in the world who wanted to "do good" for the members but just did not have the non-corps skills needed to do so. The difficulty in attracting members as kids were working in the summer due in part to some of the changes in society mentioned above. Plus, as the old sponsors cut them adrift the ready-made pool of kids dried up. Corps had to go "outside" to try and draw kids in. We had very little to do with DCI..outside of an occasional appearance at a show as a fill-in or if champs were nearby. This is exactly the way I remember it. The first corps I ever marched with (a long time ago) never had anything to do with DCI and we never did any kind of touring. AND YET - the corps folded in the mid 70's. All of our shows and parades were day trips - you can't get much more local/regional than that. Nothing against regional circuits - there may be a place and a purpose for them in some circumstances. BUT - having regional circuits didn't stop the decline, the lack of regional circuits didn't cause the decline and re-creating regional circuits is not the magic wand that you can wave to start up hundreds of new units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 If regionalization didn't fail, then where is it today? Mostly gone - which doesn't prove failure. Smallpox vaccination has been discontinued, so would you conclude that the smallpox vaccine failed? If local circuits remained capable of sustaining themselves, then what did it matter what DCI chose to do? Certainly this was all before my time, but it seems to me that if regional drum corps circuits were doing just fine, there's no reason why DCI's championship focus should have led to their demise. No reason why a 180°-opposing viewpoint should have any effect? Oh, if only it were that simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Mostly gone - which doesn't prove failure. Smallpox vaccination has been discontinued, so would you conclude that the smallpox vaccine failed? It was very successful, and now it's obsolete. If there were exigency for it, it would come back in a big way. So yeah, I guess the same could be said about regional drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 This is exactly the way I remember it. The first corps I ever marched with (a long time ago) never had anything to do with DCI and we never did any kind of touring. AND YET - the corps folded in the mid 70's. Which corps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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