"Tradition" in Drum Corps

[Martybucs]

Those that post here and have posted on the SPTDBCA thread in the DCA historical forum, all feel the same way. Our activity has been stolen from us because we trusted organizations to be the caretakers of the traditions. But there was never any conspiracy.

Unfortunately, the people that took over have their own agenda and self interests in mind and you can't blame them. A cottage industry has sprung up around what passes for drum corps today. Every corps has to have a huge staff and consultants. (we had a horn instructor that also did the arrangements, Joe Marello was our drum instructor and our drill instructor wrote and taught the drill - all for peanuts or for free). Even Tru taught us for a year or two.

Now, it's more about padding your resume. The activity is full of self important people and experts in an activity that bears little resemblance to its' heritage. And people are making money. There was no talk of copyrights when we were kids and you were happy to have a relative take a super 8 movie of your show or even a grainy VHS tape. All the people that make money from, at least junior corps, should be held to child labor law regulations since they make money off of their efforts.

All that in mind, there is no advantage to DCI or even DCA to go back to the old style shows. There's no money in it. If there was again interest from the VFW and American Legion to start over at a grass roots level it might happen again, but even these great organizations that essentially gave us our traditions are having their own problems. Maybe there is another way, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was last on the field in 1981, 26 years ago. It seems like it was only a few years ago, but in the passing of that same amount of time, I'll be an old man well into my 70's, Lord willing, I hope I see the rebirth of traditional shows.

[drumcorpsmama]

Those that post here and have posted on the SPTDBCA thread in the DCA historical forum, all feel the same way. Our activity has been stolen from us because we trusted organizations to be the caretakers of the traditions. But there was never any conspiracy.

Unfortunately, the people that took over have their own agenda and self interests in mind and you can't blame them. A cottage industry has sprung up around what passes for drum corps today. Every corps has to have a huge staff and consultants. (we had a horn instructor that also did the arrangements, Joe Marello was our drum instructor and our drill instructor wrote and taught the drill - all for peanuts or for free). Even Tru taught us for a year or two.

Now, it's more about padding your resume. The activity is full of self important people and experts in an activity that bears little resemblance to its' heritage. And people are making money. There was no talk of copyrights when we were kids and you were happy to have a relative take a super 8 movie of your show or even a grainy VHS tape. All the people that make money from, at least junior corps, should be held to child labor law regulations since they make money off of their efforts.

All that in mind, there is no advantage to DCI or even DCA to go back to the old style shows. There's no money in it. If there was again interest from the VFW and American Legion to start over at a grass roots level it might happen again, but even these great organizations that essentially gave us our traditions are having their own problems. Maybe there is another way, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was last on the field in 1981, 26 years ago. It seems like it was only a few years ago, but in the passing of that same amount of time, I'll be an old man well into my 70's, Lord willing, I hope I see the rebirth of traditional shows.

MartyBucs: I feel the same that you do. My last year was in 1974. Maybe when drumcorps will go back to traditional shows is when the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. In other words, I would not place any bets.

[KiltieKemo06]

How do we keep tradition in drum corps..just like the frog strangling the big bird trying to eat him...NEVER GIVE UP! I know we'll never go back to marching on the 50, valve/rotors or single tenor drums but we have to keep what we've got as far as what makes corps unique.

-call a high horn a soprano not a trumpet. It wasn't so much type of horn as a brass voice

-same for contra bass not tuba!

-NEVER EVER have anything thing other than brass and percussion making music, no amps, no voice, no STRINGS.

-bring the quard (not the auxillury) back into the drill proper not always on the outside of the main form.

-have the kids in your corps understand and respect the past or they will not have a future.

I march in an Senior corps not a "all-age" corps (which we are called) and the only way we can keep ANY tradition alive is to teach the kids that march with us what the Heritage of corps really is. And it did not start with DCI! If the younglings don't respect where we came from who is going to respect them when their done?

MARCH UNTIL YOUR DEAD! (or at least run out of money)

[LegalEagle50]

voice has been done in DCA many times without vocalization and when done properly it has been beautiful. to state that we shouldn't allow that IMO would be as much of a mistake as saying lets go back and eliminate the pit.

[retroguy]

voice has been done in DCA many times without vocalization and when done properly it has been beautiful. to state that we shouldn't allow that IMO would be as much of a mistake as saying lets go back and eliminate the pit.

"as saying lets go back and eliminate the pit."

OK let's do that, pits suck.

[LegalEagle50]

it's sad to see that people would actually want to eliminate one of the important sections of a drum corps. not a section that only was started in the last couple of years, but has been around now for a whole generation of people.

all in the name of "tradition".

[Jami]

yeah no kidding. we're part of the percussion section too ya know.

[Martybucs]

I don't think anyone wishes anyone in a pit ill or anything. It's just that the pit has become pervasive. They have completely taken over the sidelines and are a visual distraction. If you're a brass person sometimes you want to hear the blend and beauty of a soft passage and there is this constant tinkling and sound from the pit. If you're a pit person - it's music. If you're a brass person - it's a distraction because it's right up front, it's constant, and you can't filter it out.

The pits always play whether it's appropriate or not. I think that's more a problem of writing co-ordination between the brass and percussion. I'm sure there's a lot of times when the brass guy thinks, "I wish they would just be quiet", but they won't tell the percussion writer.

[LegalEagle50]

just as i know there are percussion writers who wonder what the heck the brass writer was thinking when he did his thing. :sshh: :sshh:

but nevertheless the pit has become a very important part of our drum corps history whether you personally like it or not. to flippantly say lets get rid of the pit because you think it sucks IMO is making brass the most important part of tradition and telling the percussion section they don't matter in the whole big picture.

[Jami]

That's all about design and a good relationship between the design team. Let me bring up a great example.

In 2005, we played Adagio for Strings. Clearly a time for the brass to shine. Our pit arranger wrote very minimally, and I mean very minimally. We played basically at the beginning of the song, ends of important phrases, and the huge impact before the end. Everything else was brass, and that's how it should have been. We were there for color purposes only.

If the design team's on the same page as to how to make a piece musical from all aspects, there are no "make sections quiet" from one section arranger to the next - whether or not it's said or kept to themselves.