The Drum Corps Activity is Healthier Than Ever!

[audiodb]

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.

OK, then. Let's pick a year you'd consider relevant - 1978. DCI Championships were in Denver, 2000 miles away from the Garden State Circuit. Eleven corps competed at GSC Championships that year. Care to guess how many of them also participated in DCI events in 1978?

[MikeD]

OK, then. Let's pick a year you'd consider relevant - 1978. DCI Championships were in Denver, 2000 miles away from the Garden State Circuit. Eleven corps competed at GSC Championships that year. Care to guess how many of them also participated in DCI events in 1978?

OK...go ahead. Tell us.

[SkyRyder_FMM]

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.

My experience in my early years was similar as well. When I started marching in 1978, I was in a cadet corps, so basically everything we did was local - parades, a couple of local shows, and miscellaneous events. The "A" corps didn't tour much either (the same was true when I moved up to the "A" corps). I didn't really experience a full summer of touring more like the modern model until I started marching with the Sky Ryders in 85.

Yes, the regional drum and bugle corps circuts are basically dead. However, the OP is pointing out one important fact that seems to be overlooked in this thread. There has been a HUGE increase in WGI and marching bands. The color guard and drum line activities in WGI are not like my experience in the regional drum corps circut when I first started out. Part time, locally based, perform your show at a few local gigs, and hit the occasional regional and maybe even nationals. WGI in many ways has replaced the drum and bugle corps local circuits for guard and percussion. Local marching bands too have replaced what many of the local drum and bugle corps used to do. While I too miss having more drum and bugle corps around, I think the OP has a very valid point - the decline we have seen in the drum and bugle corps arena has been offset somewhat by tremendous growth in other activities that look and act an awful lot like the old regional circuits.

I would be interested in knowing how many current members also participate in WGI (both guard and percussion), or participated in WGI before moving to a drum and bugle corps.

[Hrothgar15]

Everyone should be a fan of HS MB, if nothing else so that they can see Plymouth-Canton 2001 at least once.

Or Ronald Reagan 2003. Dear Lord.

[ScribeToo]

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).

But couldn't you get the experience and education about how a combustion engine works from either a Model T or a Rambler?

[JimF-LowBari]

But couldn't you get the experience and education about how a combustion engine works from either a Model T or a Rambler?

As long as you don't say what type of internal combustion engine you're gaining experience/education on that is a correct statement. But if you get specific and say you're gaining ed/exp on a Model T engine while working on a Rambler engine that's not a true statement.

(But true they both suck when going up hill. :P )

Edit: went back and got Bryans quote

"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. "

I read the above post that people can gain "drum corps experience" from performing in a marching bands. My feelings are the two experiences are close but not exact (like the two type of engines).

Edited October 11, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari

[ScribeToo]

As long as you don't say what type of internal combustion engine you're gaining experience/education on that is a correct statement. But if you get specific and say you're gaining ed/exp on a Model T engine while working on a Rambler engine that's not a true statement.

But we're not being that specific.

Can you get the basic education and understanding of combustion engine technology needed for a more advanced experience on one or the other from EITHER?

Yes.

That's the point.

You can get the basic education and understanding of marching and playing music as part of a youth oriented group activity needed to go on to a more advanced experience in ANY of the regionally based satellite activities (such as WGI, BOA or any of the other band circuits).

To move beyond that experience (as some -- not necessarily all -- are and have always been inclined to do), you can choose the opportunity of Drum Corps... the best of the best.

Not every corps ever was in existence with the goal to be champions.. that's been discussed again and again. I believe that. Some were just local corps for kids to get the experience at a level they were comfortable committing to.

SO how is that ANY different from being in marching band or in a WGI or winter drum line group today? Because it's not "drum and bugle corps?" Poppycock.

The BASIC experience.. at a level of commitment that's comfortable for that percentage of kids who were once "drum corps kids" is now being served by bands and WGI/winter drumlines.

Stef

[Tom Brace]

<WARNING...LONG WINDED>

I think this may have been discussed before...but to a certain extent, aren't the scholastic programs really filling the local/regional void that drum corps used to fill in the summer?

Many kids are now competing in the marching activity during the school year leaving the summer to get jobs for experience and money to go to college.

Parents most likely trust a highly scrutinized and supported scholastic program versus reputations of some of our drum corps...let's face it, without airing all the dirty laundry, drum corps has a reputation... and there are examples of serious ethics, management and moral shortcomings that have haunted this activity from time to time. When a corps was more local (back in the day) it had more local accounability. Today, not such the case. There was a corps I had experience with where instructional staff was outright told to "Don't F* The Kids!" OK, when you have to tell your staff this...it's probably already a problem. Not that this disgusting behavior isn't a risk in many youth activities, and apparently in Congress, but the more local scrutiny, the less risk the parents feel.

Costs and expenses are a huge issue as well. It costs far less to participate in WGI, any of the marching band organizations, etc. than it does for a DCI experience. Heck, I'm seeing Div. II/III corps talking about dues of $1,000 per season. I would argue that some families pay more than that for a one-week volleyball or basketball camp, but it's most likely a local school coach urging the parents to make this investment toward an eventual college scholarship.

Here's why my youngest marched...he loves it...he has seen how drum corps has developed him. He has friendships that last his lifetime and as a music major, he felt it gave him ultimate preparation for his eventual career goal of becoming a marching band director. He arranges, writes and teaches drill and is beginning his student teaching next semester. We feel, as a family that for his particular life goals, drum corps involvement was a wise choice.

If my son wanted to be an engineer, I might have steered his summer activities to the wide variety of offerings from engineering schools around the country to participate in one of their summer engineering camps instead. If he wanted to be a football player beyond high school, I might have sent him to a college summer football camp. You get the picture.

So, is the youth audience for drum corps participation dwindling? Yep, I think so. There are more opportunities for youth today and yet, many still get to sit in front of the computer (back in the day it was the tv) all summer long. Back then, in the nuclear family, it was usually mom...mad because her young, strong offrpring were "frittering away" ($ to Meredith Wilson) their summer, she encouraged them to find this or another local activity. My guess is that more young people, post WWII era (mid 1940s to 1965) found there way into drum corps than in any other era in history.

Now, you may not have a parent at home with these young people all summer. Both parents (if there are two parents present) may work and young people may have little supervision over their summer activities. I know I'm making generalilties...

Has DCIs recent endeavors to align themselves with the scholastic programs and marketing themselves more broadly to capture more interested music students helpful? I believe so...audition numbers for many of the top corps were up last year.

Does this focus bring more attention to the top programs as opposed to those who may really need new membership like lower tier Div 1s and II/III corps? Probably.

Is there more all of us could do? YEP. Support drum corps. My hats off to the Madison Alumni Project. Talk about doing it right. Got the alumni pulled together...they get to once again create some musical magic AND in the process, they can focus on helping the current madison Scouts in a bigger way. Nothing wrong with that at all.

For those of us doing our part...cool...can we do more? If you haven't downloaded an APD, bought a t-shirt, cooked for a camp or for a season (yeah I'm a nut.)...you should try it out.

Thanks for listening and sorry for being so winded.

[btracht]

In the past let’s say that drum corps A provided one type of experience and today’s drum corps B provides another type of experience. Here are some ways in which they could be different:

Size of group

Age of participants

Performance level

Instrumentation Mix

Number of competitions attended

Rehearsal Time

Educational Focus

Style

How lets add how today’s marching band C might compare to drum corps B. Here are some things that might be similar.

Size

Age of group

Performance level

Instrumentation Mix

Number of Competitions attended

Rehearsal Time

Educational Focus

Style

Here are some ways they would likely be different

Number of Nights spent sleeping on a bus and/or gym floor

Number of meals eaten out of a food truck

One having some woodwinds

Time of year competitions occur

I realize that the above lists of attributes are not all inclusive, but aren’t the similarities enough to make them all part of the same club? Might not drum corps B and marching band C be more alike than drum corps A and drum corps B ever were? I think you could do similar comparisons involving winter guards or indoor drum lines.

Or do we now honestly believe that the attributes they don’t share make them so different they cannot be part of the same club?

I think making them part of the club makes the club stronger and healthier. That is not to say that one particular type of type group within the club might be our personal favorite either from a participant standpoint or a viewer standpoint. But I want them all to be part of the drum corps activity! Drum corps is what gave them life or at least was one of their parents. They are part of the family!

[audiodb]

And still, the theme of this thread remains about the health of winter guard, winter percussion and marching band - not the activity identified in the thread's title.