From: R.Vincent.Lamb@um.cc.umich.edu
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: Re: Drum Corps and the Media
Date: 3 Sep 1992 11:08:21 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn) wrote:
Subject: Re: Drum corps and the Media
 
(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
corps went to all of them.  Not even all the big corps went to the 
biggest.  In 1963 or 1964, VFW was in Seattle and the only established
major corps that competeted was The Cavaliers.  Troopers came in
second and all the rest were west coast B corps.  Everyone else
went to American Legion (and I don't know who won).  In 1970,
VFW was in Miami and the West Coast corps (Vanguard, Kingmen, and
Velvet Knights, along with Commodores and Seattle Imperials)
stayed away (this time AL was in Seattle).  Vanguard and Kingsmen
would certainly have made finals (knocking out which two corps,
I don't know) and VK didn't have a better corps until 1984.
Vanguard would have even contended for the title, as it had
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.
 
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.
 
(If most of the growth is in Div. II and III corps, BTW, then
there shouldn't be much problem over who is the Division I champ.
It's better to have a small corps survive by not going to nationals
then to have it go to nationals and go bust, in the process--contrast
The Conquistadors from South San Francisco who went to DCI in 1980
and folded from the strain with Sunset Regiment, who had a good corps 
in the 80's but never went farther away than Denver (but lived
through most of the decade and gave many kids a good experience)).
 
...... 
 
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.
 
Vince
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps