kusankusho Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 IMO it's selfish to demand that drum corps stop changing, as it has been doing for decades, just for YOUR personal taste. But it's perfectly OK to change it for your personal taste???? Do you see how the "for and against" ratio in this thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 There's nothing wrong with marching band, and if you want to see a circuit where non-scholastic groups can compete on national tours at the highest level, I urge you to take steps to make it happen... just don't #### on our parade to make it happen... that's all we ask. When the majority of the DCI voting members decide to implement WW at some future point is when it will happen, IMO. That is where the idea belongs, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 But it's perfectly OK to change it for your personal taste????Do you see how the "for and against" ratio in this thread? I don't care what the ratio is on DCP. It's meaningless in the totality of drum corps. Pretty much as it was for amps, esp voice. I don't know if you were reading RAMD back when multi-key was proposed...pretty much the same there as well. As for changing...drum corps has been changing for half a century or more...moving towards band instruments. All that is missing are the WW today. So yes, IMO it is OK for it to keep doing what it has been doing all along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_S Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 There are, in fact, many people who not only notice the difference in sound between drum corps and marching bands, but love the former to death. I am one of those people. There's something about that sound that inspires and excites me, and I've never felt the same sensation from even the best marching bands. It's not that I don't respect what the best marching bands do, it's just that I don't care as much about their end product as I do for drum corps. I understand that attitude, and I can sympathize. I listen to drum corps far more than I listen to high school marching band. But why is that? Does it really have anything to do with woodwinds? For me, ti's simply because drum corps shows are typically far better performed. Additionally, the members are capable of so much more, both in terms of playing and marching, and this also frees up the designers to create more challenging - and entertaining - shows. That has nothing to do with whether the marching members are playing bugles or kazoos. If marching bands were to eliminate woodwinds, would you then become as much a fan of BOA as you are of DCI? Probably not, and if you agreed with my first paragraph, then you probably would not because the obstacles blocking scholastic marching bands from achieving at the same level as Div I drum corps would still be in place. If you answered no for any reason, then ask yourself why you would like drum corps less, if woodwinds are used. There are many, many factors that contribute to the differences in the performance and design of a high school show versus a top drum corps show. Trying to pin those differences solely on woodwinds - or electronics - is an awfully narrow view of the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Have no fear, There isn't. Wine snob eh? I have a few bottles of 92' Berringer Knights Valley Cab I will sell you. Unfortunately California cabs are not my favorite. I much prefer cabs from Chile and from Pomerol and Medoc in Bordeaux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetman1287 Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 a lot of people do care and notice the difference. as you have seen here and elsewhere, many woodwind players cared so much they learned brass.in your second paragraph, you subscribe to this utopia that drum corps has to be all things to all people, and what people dont get is by trying to make that reality, you dilute from what makes drum corps in the first place. it is that uniqueness that makes it so special. ever go to a band show? other than parents of that band, who is in the stadium throwing burning babies at a great show? (cricket, cricket) exactly. oh and DCA is nationwide and growing. just thought you should be aware. why is it growing? because drum corps, the unique artform that it is, is attractive as hell to people What do you find wrong in taking that to all people? Look at the BOA schedule (as I commented in my original post) and compare it to DCI's. With DCI, you can find a favorite group and follow them throughout several seasons. With BOA, it's harder to do that, and you usually only get to see bands once a year, only if you go to Indianapolis. But more importantly, as Maedhros stated above, the quality of performances are so much better in DCI because they rehearse all summer and have the best staffs anywhere. It's not because somehow woodwinds are inferior and no one would ever pay to hear such trash and insults on the field. Someone else mentioned "I've seen tons of HS bands that shows look like ###". If you'd look at my original post, you would see that I said for every great HS band, there are a lot of bad ones that fit the stereotype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 it is OK for it to keep doing what it has been doing all along. I agree with this Mike, just not in the way you mean it. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Unfortunately California cabs are not my favorite. I much prefer cabs from Chile and from Pomerol and Medoc in Bordeaux. and I don't drink ####### Merlot! Sorry - the discussion, your screen name - just had to throw that in.... :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slow Adam Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 and I don't drink ####### Merlot!Sorry - the discussion, your screen name - just had to throw that in.... :P How 'bout some fava beans and a nice Chianti? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsFan27 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 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. Although I do not agree with woodwinds in drum corps, I have to agree with you that they can be judged accurately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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