Re: Weve done quads....

"TDOGGIEFIZZLE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Catherine,
> Your changing my topic of discussion. My simple point was that there are alot
> of things going on right now in the marching arts in general. Not debating what
> is "real drum corps" from "Blando bando" or whatever that term is that you use.
> I dont really care for that debate.

I do.  You are more than welcome to change (back) the thread in whatever direction
you like - just as I can take it anywhere I like.

> I have been a drum corps fan since i was 14
> (not that long i know!) but still, i manage to be a fan of marching
> band as well.

Some people can enjoy and support both genres.  I've also enjoyed good marching
bands.  I even made a point to watch the Whittier Cavaliers' saxophones when they
were featured - at our drum corps shows, even though in general the band "wannabe
corps" were mostly ignored.  In hindsight, we ought to have been more observant of
certain aspects of and participants in that phenomenon.  Of course, if we had had
more of the right information, we would have known THEN to watch out for such things
and people.  Better late than never...

> Thats where many kids HAVE to go today.

Kids don't HAVE to do anything.  In fact, the prevalence of this nonsense about what
people MUST do, of no substantive alternatives which are so genuinely excellent that
no hype-filled "selling" (or worse, coercion and manipulation) are necessary is
itself a red flag - and more proof of EVERYTHING which so corrupts and destroys
genuine corps AND other opportunities in music which all involved might be openly and
fully proud of.

> I dont know too many High school or middle school drum
> and bugle corps. Im sure they exist somewhere because of
> visionaries like yourself who do so much for the marching arts
> community,

please...

> however, they are certainly not in the majority of schools.

Yes, there's a whole lotta mediocrity, and less ethics.

> So whether you choose to accept it or not, marching band
> is where drum corps get their people from.

No - marching band is where blando bando DCI gets their people from.  More
specifically, it's blando bando wannabes without more genuine guidance from ethical
music educators and too much money and other resources at their disposal who seek the
DCI success track and buying their way into becoming "award-winners".  But, to the
credit of the kids, they are sucking down a well-developed fraud - and I don't blame
them for being so fooled.  I was once such a kid, although the nature of the fraud
has greatly changed - and continues its perversions for differing reasons.

> I know high school kids who march in both of the big drum
> corps circuits.

Do you mean DCI?  Or DCA seniors?  First off, DCI is NOT drum & bugle corps any
longer.  DCA seniors are a mixed bag, depending upon the loyalty of a particular
group's membership to the history and alumni of their corps and of drum & bugle corps
over "what it takes to be competitive".

> In any case, those of us that teach know that we do it for the
> love of the general activity.

"Love" has many meanings.  It can be the sort of love that will serve the beloved's
best interests, openly and genuinely, or "love" can be the justification of why an
abuser beats and murders their spouse, and all stops on the radio dial in-between.
It can also be the reason given to buy (into) something.  All depends upon the
quality of the factors and persons involved in the particular instance.  And anyone
who doesn't address such fully, particularly those alleging anything about ethics
and/or education, is probably a liar.

> Yes, drum corps and marching band are different genres with
> very distinctive features, however, in the same respect that
> i can watch NFL and college football, or arena football which
> are all very different, i can appreciate and respect each.
> As for your viewpoint that "Marching band and drum & bugle
> corps are completely separate and distinct genres with
> different values, offering different experiences that have not,
> are not and never will be attractive to the same audience",
> Well, i completely disagree.

So you believe that marching band and drum & bugle corps audiences, fans and members
are - or should be - completely interchangable?

> I think  that the amount of people that are instructors,
> arrangers, adjudicators and performers in both genres is the
> proof that those of us really involved with one, are oftentimes
> involved with the others.

Some participants can be in different activities without losing the specialness of
each.  But where mediocrities are concerned, I believe the specialness of each
activity loses.  Further, in each of the genres you mention - add car racing and
wrestling, for more examples often discussed on RAMD - there are a plethora of fans
who have loyalties and preferences for only one such genre, and are either lukewarm,
or dislike, or actively hate the other genres.

When there is no fraud and coercive practice, there's no problem with the variety of
likes and dislikes.  However, there are plenty of problems with drum & bugle corps -
particularly for those of us who believe that this is NOT a question of separate but
mutually interchangable (or at least interactive) genres, but an attempted
parasitizing of drum & bugle corps by people who really don't give a shit.  And now
that the "evolution" has become more advanced, what drum & bugle corps *is* has been
so corrupted that otherwise innocent people do not know what their critics are
talking about any longer - because to them drum corps has always been a faction of
marching band.

That EVERYONE allowed, encouraged and continues to lie about this may well be the
biggest educational lesson DCI could ever offer.

> I cant count the DCA, and DCI alumni that teach High School
> or College Marching band. Just a few thoughts.
> Tony Perez

Some are drum corps people.  EVERYONE are not.  It's not a question of age, but of
genuineness - and a willingness to do the right thing amongst all audiences, and not
sell out the achievements of decades of drum corps alumni for short-term gain or as
the result of cowardice, mediocrity and narrow self-interest.  Ethics, truth and the
duty to those who created, earned and grew drum & bugle corps deserve better - and
those who are to come after us deserve at least what was granted to us, in trust.

And EVERYONE deserves to be found out for the frauds and mediocrities - in BOTH drum
& bugle corps AND marching band - that they are.

-- Catherine