The Death of DCI

[iwannamarchcorps]

But I like the one post on the first page of this--where the person says look at two recent examples of GREAT shows where babies and kitchen appliances are being thrown on the field by the spectators because they're going ####### about what's happening out there. The activity has changed, and some don't like it. But I was at Madison last summer, and there were about 30,000 people that agreed with me--there was a some GREAT stuff out there.

wow i cant' beleve that didnt get filterd

in b4 LOLBANNED

[audiodb]

Drum corps is still just as acoustic as pre-amp at least as far as pit amplification.

Huh?

Drum corps was 100% acoustic prior to amplification. Now it is not. How can you claim otherwise?

The instruments aren't going through effects pedals or anything crazy like that.. at least not yet.

Oh, great - what a relief. They are, however, going through equalization and who knows how much other circuitry that is not allowed under DCI rules.

[GMichael1230]

How do we know? :P

Because the day is going to come real soon that you and I meet at a show and sit together and realize we have a lot more that we both like than we dont.....imagine that

~G~

[WWonka]

after all this time, all that work i only got two spend 2 years in DCI. but it was worth it. i enjoyed every minute of it. the brothers i made there i will know for a lifetime. i know the things i accomplished there may be my largest accomplishments of my life.

You know you could have marched many more years than those 2 and if you were as good as you say you are you could have been a section leader. A Div II/III or lower level Div I would have loved to have you. And the deam corps would have still been there.

[audiodb]

--participation is dwindeling? yeah sure. i tried out with about... oh... 150 kids... for the drumline exclusively, and made it by the skin of the skin of my teeth. ive heard that other corps are picking new members from pools of over 300 kids. and from my experience ill bet atleast 200 of them are bamfs there to make the corps or die trying. video auditions? aud. camps in multiple locations? dwindling.... ok.

"Participation", as most commonly used, refers to a season with a corps, not just an audition. And despite the admittedly increasing audition numbers some corps have enjoyed over the past decade, the number of people marching has been declining as the number of corps declines.

--viewer numbers are falling, audiences dissappointed? certain regionals at big stadiums are pulling crowds of over 10,000 people, in both years i played at MTSU, that joint was packed. thats a realistic number for a place like that.

Great for those "certain regionals". Finals attendance, however, is down from DCI's own historical highs, as well as those of numerous pre-DCI major contests. I would argue that to be a fair tradeoff, except that the number of shows is also down. Thus, overall attendance activity-wide is down.

not only that, but dvd sales? ESPN?..........youtube? oh and no, not everyone holds your opinion i dare say that you may be the minority.

True, DCI sells more DVDs than they did in 1972. :P

DCI used to run off 15,000 sets of the championship LPs, from what I'm told. I don't think they make quite as many sales today. And how many people actually watched DCI on ESPN2? How many watched it on PBS 30 years ago?

im not a fan of the voice in drumcorps. but ill tell you this, the first time i saw a full size rosewood marimba i had to marvel at the acre of fine wooden and metal craftmanship at my fingertips. now if i want the top row of the RCA dome to hear how well that beauty can be played what am i supposed to tell the players? put giant lead balls in the mallets and spank that thing harder? c'mon you have to object to that. we NEED sound quality, therefore we NEED amps.

First of all, you can't hear anything properly from the top row of the RCA dome. But seriously, if you want anyone to hear the true sound of your rosewood marimba, you'd better bring them up close, because the noisy, distorted, artificially equalized, electronically-amplified reproduction of that rosewood marimba sound is not a satisfactory substitute to my ears.

[Iplaytimpani]

Huh?

Drum corps was 100% acoustic prior to amplification. Now it is not. How can you claim otherwise?

Oh, great - what a relief. They are, however, going through equalization and who knows how much other circuitry that is not allowed under DCI rules.

Wow, are you blind to the world. When an artist on tour pulls out his ACOUSTIC Guitar to play a song, do you know what they do? They plug it into their amp or the building sound system through a direct pass. The instrument just isn't loud enough by itself. Guess what? It's still an accoustic guitar. The marimba is still acoustic, even with 2 mic's helping get the extreme ranges to the tops of big stadiums. And as far as what they're going through on the boards, you really have no clue do you? And your other claim is simply asinine and not worth getting into how wrong and stupid it is.

[MikeD]

Because the day is going to come real soon that you and I meet at a show and sit together and realize we have a lot more that we both like than we dont.....imagine that

~G~

I hope you saw it was a joke about you providing us with your name. :)

I do agree with the above, though.

[KevinRomano]

I don't agree, I think DCI is just fine. Having said that I was not pleased with the finals and the audience reaction. It's not good for DCI when most of the audience is booing the results. I saw the ESPN show and some of the video reconfirmed to me that something was not right in the scores. I hope DCI is addressing this issue for the future. :)

[KevinRomano]

Sorry I posted it twice

Edited February 26, 2007 by KevinRomano

[Matt_S]

To be honest Mike, you are the only one that I have heard say that amps are not a drastic change.

Add me to the list. Drum corps today show off the same sets of skills as they did prior to amps. The only difference is volume, allowing for better technique and exhibition of those skills.