Does Drum Corps still exist?

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"As for the declining membership, sorry about your corps, by the way, it has more to do with the fact that the average kid can't just walk up to a corps and join any more. Used to be, before even my time, corps were made up of kids that had never even considered playing an instrument in their lives, let alone performing with them - and some of them actually became credible musicians. Used to be that every town, at least back east and in the midwest, had a drum corps and they would have their little circuit and they were proud when they came in fourth in that circuit, because they did something that they never expected they could do. Oh and society hasn't changed that much; the gangs that drum corps were started to prevent, still exist, the disinfranchised kids that drum corps were started to give a place to go to, still are there. The face of drum corps has changed. It's a hustle now. Some call it business, but where I come from it is a hustle. I have been away for a while, so I need more information about the actual business structure of DCI to make any further comments."



"Drum corps came from violence. It came from the violence of war, it came from the violence of the streets and it's uniqueness was the violence of it's music. It was loud and brash, most corps sounded like crap, even by the standards of the day, but they were loud and they made the stands rock. There were corps that eixisted knowing that they would never win a national title, not even a local title, but they were loud and they had heart. Those kids had heart. Oh and there was some guy/girl standing in front of them making marks on a sheet every time they made a mistake. But they kept coming back - some of them into their late 20's(Muchachos)."



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link to post on Drum Corps planet forums