Some opinions about DCM were recently posted on other threads.

Some think that DCM has lost it's focus and is no longer relevant. Others feel that DCM should be supported, because it supports the LOCAL,COMMUNITY based drum corps.

Of course, NO organization is perfect.

But ... supporting local corps, where kids can learn and enjoy corps, seems like a good thing to support!

Comments?

What did you do in the Corps? drummer, instructor

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Drum corps is dying because the small corps are disappearing. DCM supports the small drum corps and allows all corps, irregardless of size, to have a voice in making decisions. DCI gives voice to only 24 big corps. DCI has had a decline of 46.3% in the number of participating drum corps in the past 10 years (121 corps in 1994; 65 in 2004). Most of these corps that have folded have been small corps. I'm not saying to not support DCI (I still attend the championships every year), I'm saying that if you don't support DCM, drum corps could become a few dozen big corps and many kids who participated in DCM corps will have no where to march. Supporting DCM is a good thing. Let the people march.

Roman's cool, too.

Well said, Jim! If you go back even further, the number of corps who have folded is truly staggering. My Dad, in his infinite wisdom, predicted this in '72 when DCI started. If I were closer, I would definitely support DCM. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they are fighting a losing battle, as DCI will continue to suck the little corps dry of talent, and at some point, even the little corps like to win once in a while. How many years did Norwood win maybe one or two shows, but didn't think about folding? Would that have been the case if we NEVER won? Hard to say. And if we all had the wisdom then that we have now, maybe we wouldn't have added to the problem by going everywhere BUT Norwood for our last year or two.

I wish Roman luck. He certainly deserves it - he's probably worked as hard as anyone in DCI for the smaller corps.

Hope to see some of you guys this summer (don't know when yet - waiting for school schedule to come out).

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73, 78-79

Touring and competition are not the cornerstone of drum corps. There are many successful weekend corps (all of DCA for that matter). The problem is people want their corps to be a top DCI corps, so they adopt such a mind set that they must take month-long tours. Corps wanting to emulate the top DCI corps are considered a failure within their organization if they don't go on these tours. This attitude hurts all but a few dozen corps that have these grand budgets, yet it does not need to exist in order to field a successful drum corps (as long as success is defined accordingly).

The concept of competition is something that makes drum corps what it is and should be a constant characteristic in the future, but the level of preparation and the attitude toward competition is set by the corps' staff. If it's drummed into the members head that the only way the organization can be successful is by winning, the corps will not succeed as a smaller unit and many members will "burn out" on the experience. This is not a simple task because Americans are raised to be competitive and many members in the drum corps community base their judgements of corps solely on scores. But if the mind set is one that stresses performance quality within the organization and the fact that each drum corps is actually competing with themselves to do their best, then any corps can be successful.

Sorry, I got long-winded. Someday I'll write a book on this and save many drum corps. One conclusion I see is that any corps can thrive as long as the people running the corps has a realistic concept of what drum corps is and run the corps acccordingly.

Jim is right, as usual (when did you get so smart?) - as is Terri. The problem is one of reality vs. idealism. The REALITY is that DCI IS the one leading the activity, and no matter how hard someone tries to buck the system, they'll eventually either fold or fall in line - which is no different than the old VFW/Legion days until corps were fed up enough to change it themselves. But in those days, there were HUNDREDS of corps, so they had more strength. Today, with only a handful left, there isn't enough leverage to topple the existing order.

And as for DCA, it's not a fair comparison. First of all, they're almost all on the east coast, so they don't NEED to tour. Plus, the basic makeup of the seniors precludes touring, because they're NOT college kids taking the summer off with no responsibilities (God, I miss THOSE days...).

Enough philosophy for Friday morning...everyone have a great weekend!

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73, 78-79