From: jglover@ducvax.auburn.edu
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: Re: A proposal (Re: flame)
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:11:23 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.002825.16983@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, chapek@cae.wisc.edu (Dave Chapek) writes:
> 
> OK, I'll bite.  (Are you tired of my postings yet?)

Almost.  :-)
 
> IMHO, there IS an *enormous* difference between band and corps.  And, yes,
> I am a veteran of a world class organization of each kind and love them
> both.  Besides the advantage of unparalleled comorodorie so elloquently
> mentioned earlier, the organizations esist for different purposes and
> perform for different audiences. 

And there is a world of difference between highly competitive marching
bands and "entertainment" style marching bands.  

> A band generally plays for a football
> crowd (no offense to high school competetive units) that will not appreciate
> the depth and emotion of performance a drum corps offers. 

None-the-less, a football crowd can be supportive of the band, too.
We proved our worth at competitions and the town loved us for it.
Sure, we were accused multiple times of being "unentertaining" or
"elitist" but we kept right on doing what we wanted, people be damned.
I've played to larger crowds to standing O's at a football game than
have been at some corps shows I've seen.  I've come off a field with
an adrenalin rush that had me jumping up and down at the bus and I've
come off the field and cried my eyes out in the bus because I flubbed
the entrance to a solo.  

The friends I had in band I will have for life.  They are the only people
from high school I still see or talk to.  We were together not just three
months during the summer but twelve months out of the year.  We slept on
the floors of buses and bandrooms.  We saw each other all day in class
and practiced eight hours a week after school in addition to games,
contests, parades and hosting our own contest. We shared good times and 
bad; winning competitions and a fellow band member dying in a car wreck.
The only things I will ( or care to ) remember about high school will
be band-related.

We went to school all day on a Friday, packed, performed a halftime
show, marched off the field to get directly on the buses to leave
for a contest.  We road the buses for six hours, got off and had four
hours sleep, got up and road another hour to do a run-through at a 
local stadium, got on the bus and road another two hours to the
contest site and ate.  Then warm-ups, and we marched prelims.  What
a show!  Watch other bands for the afternoon and await the results
to see who marches finals.  The top five scores ( any class ) make it
We're number five.  We have dinner, listen to the judge's tapes from 
prelims and rest.  Back to warm-ups, then march finals.  We finish
third!  We improved two spots.  We were the smallest band to ever
go to finals much less beat out two bands twice our size.  The #1
finisher was Tate HS out of Pensacola, Florida, more than three times
our size.  Anyway, it,s now about midnight.  Back on the buses. Nine
hours back to home, rest some Sunday and back in class on Monday.
BTW, finals were televised by Georgia public TV, more exposure than
a lot of corps get.

> Next point.  The hardware is different.  Corps don't waste their time with
> woodwinds (sorry, but they aren't as loud.  I still like them, tho).

Pretty useless, if you ask me.  But our director insisted on keeping them
despite our objections.  Even wanted them to be -heard- in some places.
Go figure.  We did get to play without them a couple of times when
we marched shows in the pouring rain.

> Percussion equipment can be the same, but I've never seen a band with a
> pit (excuse me, front line), no less a great one.

You need to travel to the south.  Tate (and other large bands with nice
size budgets)  had the pit from hell.  They pulled their trailer full
of equipment onto the field with their golf cart and unloaded timps, 
marimbas xylaphones, wind chimes, and God knows what else onto the field.  
As for other budget considerations; the Largo (FLA) 'Band of Gold' even 
marched prelims in one uniform and finals in another.  We were poor so
could only afford to have the best basses and field percussion money
could buy.  And new guard uniforms each year.  And 2-3 different silks
for the guard along with assorted other props.  

> After all that rambling, I just want to say that I like the idea of
> putting a flag on band postings, but no more categorizing than that.
> I am here for a DRUM CORPS group, not bands.  I would perfer not to
> have any band postings at all though. Perhaps moving this to a
> alt.marching.music group would eliminate confusion and open up discussion
> without giving jerks like me a reason to bitch.  A band is marching music
> too.

Amen.  Use the BAND designation.  Besides, all the trivial shit, 
including band discussions, will go away when the season starts 
anyway.  Until then, try not to take yourselves too seriously and
try not to be such ego-maniacs.  I apologize for bitching and
defending at such length.
 
> Dave

 - Jay G.