From: dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn)
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: Re: Drum Corps and the Media
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:45:57 GMT
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle

In article <15503713@um.cc.umich.edu> R.Vincent.Lamb@um.cc.umich.edu writes:
>dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn) wrote:
>Subject: Re: Drum corps and the Media
>Message-ID: <1992Sep1.183635.1070@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
> 
>(Begin quote--pretend that there is a > before every line :-) 
> 
>If drum corps becomes widely known and popular, I think what will happen
>is that there will a lot more local shows (presumably managed by the
>regional associations).  There may even be a few more big regional shows
>(although that depends on how long the season can be).
> 
>Furthermore, there will probably be more corps.  There was an interesting
>column in the latest Drum Corps World (Bob & Terry Fields' What's Happening
>Column) in which the opinion of the authors was that it is just too costly
>to maintain a successful Open Class corps, which explains the recent decline
>in numbers of Open Class corps.  Also, it was explained how difficult it
>is to host a show.  Much of the blame was put on the recession.  So where
>will the new corps come from?  They will probably be in the Div. II and
>Div. III.
> 
>Contention will be high for the big contests, but I think that if there
>are too many corps, then it might not be logistically impossible to have
>a "Finals Week."  It might turn into the situation in college football where
>there is no Championship Week.  There might be a few big contests at
>the end of the year (maybe two or three at the same time).  Everyone
>will have to judge for themselves who "No. 1" is, as some corps may not
>even compete against each other.
> 
>Back to costs of maintaining a corps.  If there are two or three big
>contests at the end and numerous local shows, then travel costs may
>actually go down, since a corps can book a thirty show tour without
>going traveling more than, say, 5000 miles an entire season.  Who
>knows.  The possibilities are endless.
> 
>Of course, this is all speculation based on the assumption that drum
>corps will be popular and that there will be 500+ corps competing
>in 500+ shows.  (Currently, there are about 100 corps and 180 shows.)
> 
>-- Donald
>(End quote.  I did this because the mail to news gateway at the
>University of Texas won't post articles with more included text
>than new text.  What a way to do an end run!)
> 
>Donald, what you describe is exactly the way drum corps was before
>DCI was instituted.  There were at least five shows that billed
>themselves as (US) National Championships--VFW Nationals, American 
>Legion Nationals, CYO Nationals, World Open, and US Open.  Not all
...
>beaten Troopers earlier that year.  Anyway, the winners of these
>major shows (most of which no longer exist :-( ) could each
>legitimately claim to be National Champion.

I was hoping someone would see the parallel between what I had suggested
and the pre-DCI days.  The difference, of course, is the style of shows
that corps play, performance levels, etc.

Another subtle difference is the structure of these (say) three big Finals
contests.  Instead of having three or five (essentially) INDEPENDENT contests
that are in some sense competing against each other for prestige, DCI could
have three contests all sponsored by DCI.  There could be a "monopoly" effect
where DCI has no incentive to put on a good show because they are "the
only game in town", but I don't think that will happen because the
DCI board is exactly composed of the top 25 directors.

We went from AL and VFW to DCI because of the creative/artistic reasons.
We might have to go back to the show structure of the pre-DCI days for
the business and growth aspect of drum corps, which is great because then
we can have creative shows ... and lots of them.

>The point of all this rambling is that such a state of affairs
>would not be bad for the activity.  People who marched back in
>the '60's remember drum corps as being healthier at the grass roots.
>(I'm not one--I marched in the '70's in both CA and Mass.  In CA,
>the small corps were already gone, while in Mass, they were in
>the middle of a mass extinction).  I think that having a lot of
>small corps with strong local competition would do a lot to
>increase participation (more parents, if nothing else :-) and
>spread the benefits to more young people.

Yep.  If local shows become the center of the "drum corps experience",
then people (I think) will become more involved.  Plus, the kids won't
be as obsessed with "winning it all" at DCI Finals (especially if there
isn't one!).

>I just reread Donald's post.  He said it might *not* be logistically
>impossible to have a finals week.  From the context, I think he meant
>that it might be logistically impossible.  I agree with what he said, 
>not what he meant :-).  DCI used to handle 50+ open class corps
>(back when there were that many) and should be able to if there are
>ever that many again.  The format used in 1983-1984 would be able to
>accomodate that many.  As for why there are fewer corps, have any
>of you thought that there aren't as many kids as there were in the
>'60's and '70's?  All those "kids" are now grown up with kids of
>their own, albeit in smaller families!  Just food for thought.

[side note: I reread my posts before sending them off, but I obviously
missed this error.  Too many negatives.  This is the argument for
having shorter postings ...]

Interesting.  In the "Entertainment and Effectiveness" posting, I also
suggested other reasons why corps numbers dropped: higher costs of
petroleum, anti-Vietnam sentiment, more things for kids to do these
days, etc.  I didn't think of demographics.

Well, DCI might be able to handle 50+ open class corps, but if drum
corps becomes as popular as I hope it will become, then there will
be a lot more than 50 open class corps (even though it is increasingly
difficult to maintain a big corps).  I think Div. II and III will be
the first kinds of corps to grow in numbers.  Then Open Class corps
may experience a rise in numbers (sort of a "trickle up" theory).

Question then for the 70's or early 80's people: were there many more
people in the stands at Finals other than corps members and parents?
If there are, say, 150+ corps at Finals, that's a lot of kids and
parents (as a percentage of the number of seats available) just from
the corps sitting in the stands.  It's no wonder drum corps can't expand
if all the good seats are taken by veterans.  There's no place for
newcomers to see and get blown away.

-- Donald
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps