The Case for Woodwinds in Drum Corps

[Matt_S]

I think the largest difference between drum corps and any other performing ensemble, Matt, is that there needs to be a set of governing rules in order to facilitate the competive aspect of the artform.

If a brass quintet features a saxophone player in their performance, their only consideration needs to be the aesthetic value of that choice. If a hip-hop artist decides to feature an R&B singer, it's the same situation... but because drum corps in not only an art, but a sport as well, I think there needs to be consideration for the necessity of as cut-and-dry rules as possible. Just like you wouldn't be allowed to use cricket bats in a football game to make your playbook work better, I think the use of equipment to create our product needs to be clearly governed as well.

I'd agree that if a drum corps, in an exhibition performance, featured a sax soloist, they'd still be be a drum corps at the end of the day... but the second you start using marching band equipment under a set of competition rules, you're treading in a different genre.

That's a good argument, and provides an explanation for why our instrumentation is what it is, apart from saying "but that's what we've always done". I appreciate that. But if the sake of competition is our only - or even our best - justification for why we don't allow certain instruments, I'm not sure that I'm convinced. Yes, you need a certain set of rules that have been agreed upon before each competitive season. But if the history of DCI has shown anything, its that rules can be and have been changed any number of times. To say woodwinds can't be allowed ever because a rule, once agreed upon, is always a rule simply doesn't fly. It's akin to rewording the "but its what we've always done" argument.

So then what barrier exists to changes the rules of competition? Can woodwinds be accurately judged? BOA, TOB, USSBA and many others do so all the time. If we can agree that brass, percussion and guard performance can be judged, then there's no reason to think that woodwind performance cannot. While we need certain rules in place in order to maintain the structure and the system in which our corps compete, that system is tweaked and changed all the time, and has been for as long as marching groups have been competing. Changing the rules to allow the performance of woodwinds, or electronic instruments, presents no dangers to the competitive requirements of our sport.

And if woodwinds are allowed, my perfsonal preference is that they be used as effects, to add to what the bulk of the corps is already performing. To that end, I'd rather see ww's or electronics added under the GE caption, rather than a seperate performance caption.

[Matt_S]

I disagree with this. As soon as wws become part of GE, the score will be used to reflect it. Corps X gets higher GE because of the added color from wws. It has already happened with amps, technically optional equipment, where judges have told corps they should be using amps.

Fine with me, as I think a sax solo or string quartet accompanying the right show would be more effective anyway, and should be rewarded as such. :P

[bawker]

Fine with me, as I think a sax solo or string quartet accompanying the right show would be more effective anyway, and should be rewarded as such. :P

...oh, it'll get rewarded all right. :P

[MikeM]

So, that's what won it for the Cavies this year. If they hadn't used amps, they couldn't possibly have won. :P

No they wouldn't.

It would been in "effect," as in, I don't think your general effect is being maximized here.

And the solution offered in critique certainly would have been "amp your pit, it might help"

So don't tell me you don't need amps or Bb horns to win in DCI in 2007.

I wish a corps would prove me wrong.

[ChicagoFan]

39 pages of vehement argument and, as far as I can see, only two of the contributors to this thread actually support the addition of woodwinds to drum corps.

[Lance]

So don't tell me you don't need amps or Bb horns to win in DCI in 2007.

You don't need amps or Bb horns to win DCI in 2007. Phantom didn't need either of those things to get second place this year. BD didn't need either of those things to get third this year....

[MikeM]

There's no way in hades either of those corps finish where they did if they were on G and didn't amp.

[jetman1287]

- Someone asked about the unique drum/brass sound argument. Personally, I don't care or notice the difference all too much. Here's the link to the band (EW BAND!) in my original post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUn8XEhjz94...ted&search= Listen to the two minute intro. Cool sax solo, followed by full-impact. Do you hear the woodwinds during the impact? No! You almost never hear woodwinds when a big marching band is playing full-out. You'll still get your uber-brass sound when you want it.

- This argument about having brass ensembles for brass, woodwind ensembles for woodwinds. If you're a woodwind player, there is no need to be in a brass quartet because there is an alternative, your woodwind quartet. If you're a roller hockey player, you can find a high-level roller hockey league, the alternative to ice hockey. If you play a string instrument, you have an orchestra, the alternative to band, etc. There is NO alternative for woodwinds in drum corps after high school, an activity so similar to high school band in both visual and music aspects that instructors are switching between the two without any difficulty at all. Woodwinds can't join any competitive marching activities after high school on their main instruments, unless you consider college band competitive.

- Creating a summer band circuit to watch it fail wouldn't make sense. Why would you do that, when DCI already has all of the fan base (aside from DCA in the northeast) ? It would obviously fail because it's VERY difficult to start a marching organization from scratch. If DCI created a woodwind division, that would make some sense, although it wouldn't last very long before the two merged. Before you know it, one of the start-up woodwind groups will be as good as the best brass/percussion groups, and the conflict between which one is better would cause them to merge.

- The point of the original post was to get this actually talked about, instead of all the immature jokes that are tossed about in other threads. Over the past year, there have been very few threads focusing on just woodwinds besides a poll that led to no real discussion. I don't see woodwinds getting passed for at least the next 7/8 years, but I think it's time we finally talked about it.

[bawker]

You don't need amps or Bb horns to win DCI in 2007. Phantom didn't need either of those things to get second place this year. BD didn't need either of those things to get third this year....

...yet both had them, anyway.

[jetman1287]

39 pages of vehement argument and, as far as I can see, only two of the contributors to this thread actually support the addition of woodwinds to drum corps.

That's because (looking at the recent poll), almost all of you have marched in drum corps already. I'll march and I'll let you know what I think afterwards, but I think my opinion is going to stay the same.