Martybucs Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I would hazard a guess here and say that what goes on in All Age corps with kids under 18 is nothing compared to the average behavior of the crowd on a DCI tour bus. Not saying DCI kids are bad, but the ratio of minors to adults in DCI is not as great = less supervision in my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 You were reading my mind. Even when I marched in the 80s, some of the 'adult' behavior on and off the bus was a tad shocking. I know that there is no way I would, or could do some of the stupid things I did as a young adult cooped up on a bus. A couple of months back some of the Star United folks were treated to a nice video of some of the Shinanigans on the Star coaches back in the day. Lets just say that it is not something I would not show my mother, even now. I would be fine with sending my teen out with some older drum corps types. I would be far more concerned if they were out on the road with a corps full of there own age group, thinking and doing the things I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraNYC Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 You were reading my mind. Even when I marched in the 80s, some of the 'adult' behavior on and off the bus was a tad shocking. I know that there is no way I would, or could do some of the stupid things I did as a young adult cooped up on a bus. A couple of months back some of the Star United folks were treated to a nice video of some of the Shinanigans on the Star coaches back in the day. Lets just say that it is not something I would not show my mother, even now. I would be fine with sending my teen out with some older drum corps types. I would be far more concerned if they were out on the road with a corps full of there own age group, thinking and doing the things I did. Uh, I sat behind you in 1985 on the bus and I didn't think we were all that bad. I pretty much just sat and listened to tunes with my sunglasses on (at night...LOL) and well, you know, killed brain cells. Sorry if I killed some of yours too. ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsLives Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 WOW! You've got to be kidding me?! Camel Ed posted something positive about drum corps, even started a whole thread and it was positive about DCA even. Great work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 Uh, I sat behind you in 1985 on the bus and I didn't think we were all that bad. I pretty much just sat and listened to tunes with my sunglasses on (at night...LOL) and well, you know, killed brain cells. Sorry if I killed some of yours too. ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ Saradear, I wasn't exactly refering to the glorious and innocent T.R.E.E. years. Save for Bobby and the other Bridgemen on board, we were all bright eyed, and wet behind the ears. The TREE was indeed laid back, Good times. But later I moved on to Bus 3 which by 87'/88' had become a den of ........ Well, things which I cannot share here (FamilyShow). Later as the corps aged such events as 'drag night' and rookie talent show became traditions and spawned stories that are still told today. We watched some videos one weekend. Somewhere I have an audio tape the John, LuAn, and I made on the TREE. Really weird yet wonderful to hear what you were thinking and doing so long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsmama Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 It is not "all good" Example: The Racine Kilties Sr Corps(formed in 1993) and the Racine Scouts(formed in 1927). Both are from the same city. I have it on good faith that the Kilties are going all out to recruit in the SE Wisconsin area all HS and middle school students. Where does that leave the Racine Scouts? Granted, they are trying but give them at least a fighting chance to recruit. The Kilties all ready have a 13 year old to be marching with them. He should at least be marching with the Scouts or wait until he is mature enough. I have my fire resitant suit on. Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre le géant Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 It is not "all good" Example: The Racine Kilties Sr Corps(formed in 1993) and the Racine Scouts(formed in 1927). Both are from the same city. I have it on good faith that the Kilties are going all out to recruit in the SE Wisconsin area all HS and middle school students. Where does that leave the Racine Scouts? Granted, they are trying but give them at least a fighting chance to recruit. The Kilties all ready have a 13 year old to be marching with them. He should at least be marching with the Scouts or wait until he is mature enough. I have my fire resitant suit on. Ann That viewpoint does not compass the reality of the situation. The reason that the Racine Scouts struggle in recruiting in the immediate SE Wisconsin area (particularly Racine) is because there is a champion High School marching band (and corresponding middle school band program) run by the City's school district that kids are much more likely to join, which has better facilities, a summer tour schedule, better management, and qualified drum corp alumni educators teaching in a corps-esque atmosphere. It's an incredibly difficult environment for a corp like the Racine Scouts to thrive, and frankly I'm surprised they haven't yet gone the way of the dodo bird and the passenger pigeon. Its a shame more kids in general (and this applies everywhere across the country) don't consider a summer music program though. I'm all for competition on all levels of drum corps. I believe drum corps is superior to general summer camp programs in virtually every way. The Kilties, like all drum corps, are merely looking to grow its organization and provide an educational experience in a competitive performance environment. Recruitment can be very laissez-faire and thats just how it is everywhere...in academics, business, athletics, performance art, and so on. Ideally there would be enough performers stepping up to the plate on the front end such that recruiting overlap isnt a problem for groups. Most D1 DCI corps are at that point now, which allows them to focus energies on the performance aspect. For many D2/D3 corps and DCA corps, its just not there at this point in time. It takes fantastic management, motivation from within, and a winning attitude to really ascend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre le géant Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 anonymous of course. You didn't answer drumcorpsmama's question andre le geant. Why do they recruit 12 and 13 year olds? Your own horn instructor, bozo Larry, was disgusted by it himself. I guess he's gotten over it. Answer the question. Why? Because others chose not to ask me directly, and rather pose a question on a somewhat obscure blog, I offer this response to the previous statement: I am Eric, the 4th bass drummer for the Kilties...no need for speculation. The post from Drumcorpsmama that I responded to did not actually pose the question you just now raised. Go ahead, read it again. " I have it on good faith that the Kilties are going all out to recruit in the SE Wisconsin area all HS and middle school students. Where does that leave the Racine Scouts?" Going "all out" is subjective to say the least. I already discussed the Racine Scouts. One might ask, how would an organization like the Kilties have access to those individuals? The youngest members of the Kilties are involved as a sort of family activity in which their father/mother, etc. is/are concurrently involved. For the Kilties. things like positive word of mouth, music store postings and promotion by educators are viable avenues of recruitment. In SE Wisconsin, the high school marching programs have a strong hold because school districts control access to students, which seriously dampers recruitment activities for any growing corps on any level. The Kilties recruit young members because adding youth is a benefit to the organization--youth adds athleticism and helps to balance perspective towards the activity. The organization provides quality music education in a summer environment. This correlates to a "Red Queen Hypothesis" originating from Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" and is cited often in evolutionary theory (Van Valen, 1973). At the top of the hill, the Red Queen begins to run, faster and faster. Alice runs after the Red Queen, but is further perplexed to find that neither one seems to be moving. When they stop running, they are in exactly the same place. Alice remarks on this, to which the Red Queen responds: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place". Drum corps works in a similar fashion as co-evolution, as other corps are also evolving and striving to be on top...Recruiting youth provides a better opportunity to compete, and ultimately succeed as compared just sticking with only adults (which isnt inherently negative, but generally puts a lower ceiling on the size of the corps these days). The point of it all is that success is no guarantee....but if you don't try you're going to go extinct. DCA is an all-age activity, and your own biases and experiences surely have shaped how you look at this scenario. The Kilties, and other DCA corps, can provide a competitive musical performance summer activity without requiring the time commitment of a DCI corps. Lots of young people may prefer this schedule in order to still play sports/work, or look at DCA corps as an opportunity to gain music/marching experience before looking to move on to a DCI junior corps. It's a proverbial "niche in the market" that the Kilties and other DCA corps can provide that other comparable groups do not. It's up to individuals to decide to set a positive example for others, and really that appears to be your problem. If it was such a pervasive problem, there likely wouldn't be the "DCA: All Age - All Good" campaign that exists today. Now, I prefer civility, so please, if you must respond, do it here, and and do it directly. Thanks, Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroguy Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 <**> <**> <**> My previous reply was deleted. <**> <**> <**> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre le géant Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 <**> <**> <**> My previous reply was deleted. <**> <**> <**> Well if there was a previous reply here and it was deleted, then I retract the "chose not to ask me directly" statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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