Drum Corps is not for everyone, but should it be?
I've said this for years, and I have meant and agreed with the idea that drum corps is not for everyone. While the activity in it's current form is celebrated for its precision, complexity, difficulty, and overall power and emotion of it's performances, it hides a lot of the less attractive sides of the season from it's fans and prospective members. Current members/alumni/staff of corps are quick to extol the virtues of competing for a summer in a DCI tour (and DCA to a lesser degree for other reasons), but slow to tell of the harder parts of a tour away from home. I understand that as a defense mechanism, we focus more on good memories and recollections rather than the bad ones, and even the bad ones are retold in a more humorous and softer manner.
On the whole, drum corps as it is now is not for everyone. I would even go so far as to say it is not for most people. Most people with physical and developmental disabilities/differences cannot partake in a season. People that cannot afford to pay the tuition, either through their own income or money generated from gifts, philanthropy or scholarships cannot partake in a season. People that are unable to handle the rigors of life on the road for several weeks cannot participate. People that have food allergies or overly specific diets may not be able to participate. Even people that are physically capable may be excluded if they cannot meet physical requirements set by the staff.
Hearing people talk about the differences from the 60s and 70s to today's current corps, one of the biggest changes is the consensus is that there is no place for the average youth in a drum corps today. They say the days are gone when a person can walk into a rehearsal, be handed a horn or a drum or a flag, and be taught how to use it. While I know some corps will teach people, especially in the brass realm, and also take preference to people that were unsuccessful in their primary audition, these corps are the exception and not the norm.
The point of this line of thinking aloud is to ask these questions: Should drum corps return to it's roots of being an activity for everyone?
I don't think there is a wrong answer on this, but I do have some opinions. I think regardless, the current model of the activity is untenable and eventually will crumble. Hopefully DCI sees this and helps to make positive changes that will benefit all corps. Things like a regional tour over national tours, with a final trip to Indianapolis for Finals could massively help reduce a corps' budget for travel. Because of this, the corps could lower their tuition a lot, and allowing more people to be able to afford it.
However, I do prefer that drum corps stays on it's current path of being an activity that focuses on excellence and performance for the audience while pushing physical and creative bounds. The drum corps I marched in may not have had the most talent, money or the best design, but we did have the drive to squeeze every last bit out of a show to make it as good as it can be. I also liked how everyone was there for that mostly singular reason. One of my biggest frustrations when I did high school band was that some people like myself enjoyed band for what it was, and others were there for social reasons and didn't have the same level of care as I and some others did.
So what about the people that could benefit from being in an activity like drum corps, but have no experience? Depending on their geographic location, I think the SoundSport and All Age(DCA/Senior corps/whatever you want to call them) groups can definitely fill that role if they want to, and many do already. But for others, I think things like a recreational band or sports league or arts program or anything of the like would be just as good for people. Drum corps in and of itself is not the important part of being a positive thing in people's lives, it's the act of being active, doing something you enjoy that brings people together. If you can create a community for people from a league that plays baseball, or a local band that plays in parades or gives concerts at a local social place like a park or ampitheater, than that is just as valuable to the individual and community as the corps were back in the 60s and 70s.
