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The
Difference Between
Marching Band and Drum
Corps
(according to me)
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I spent three
great years in one of the worlds
best drum and bugle corps, The
Phantom Regiment. As part of that
group I had the opportunity to
perform on national television,
and in front of huge
audiences. Imagine playing
for a crowd of 40,000 screaming
fans who all came just to see the
show. It was fantastic.
As great as that was, it wasn't
centered on music or
education. It was about
competition. Drum corps spend at
least eight hours a day practicing
a ten minute show. They work
the music by rote, and spend hours
and hours refining and memorizing
very subtle nuances in a
competitive effort. It is
not and cannot be an exercise in
spontaneous creativity or ongoing
education, not if the corps wants
to win.
Bands read new music and play lots
of tunes, they practice
scales. When they play a
phrase they follow a
conductor. Bands teach tone,
intonation, blend, balance,
rhythm, style and interpretation
as elements of musical
performance. When Corps
teach those things it's as they
apply to raising the score at the
next competition.
Band should be, about forming
young musicians into expressive
artists.
Drum Corps is usually about
working a three year plan to win
DCI.
As much as I love drum corps, I
prefer band.
Update 2001
In the three or four years since I
first wrote the above statements,
I've received a lot of mail from
passionate drum corps veterans who
insist that their personal
experience in DCI corps was
different. They've told me
how marching band is great, but
that corps, or at least the one
they marched in, focused on
teaching concepts of music for
music's sake.
I enjoyed reading the letters, and
was glad to hear that some corps,
like the marching bands that
surround them, are more concerned
with music than with
winning. I should point out,
however, that none of those
letters came from people who had
marched in corps that consistently
place in DCI's top five.
It's sad but true. But
that's why band is nine months and
corps is three months. Lets
not throw out the baby with the
bath water. I'm not anti
corps.
I also get letters from a people
who say that DCI is destroying the
drum corps movement. I have
a strong opinion about that
too. To read about
that, click here.
Let me reiterate what I was trying
to say back then. Please,
please, please, don't try to model
your marching band shows after the
drum corps you see on TV. It
can't work in the long run because
in your band's limited rehearsal
time, with its smaller
instructional staff, it isn't fun
for the kids in the short
run. Make your marching band
a place where you foster of love
of learning and a create a
lifetime thirst for music.
That's what band can do
best. It's good for us, good
for our students, and good for
civilization. That's a noble
cause.
Update 2015
I've had a pretty good time these
past 14 years. Drum corps
changed - a lot. Band
changed - but not so much, and in
some pretty important and positive
ways.
Back in the day (as we old timers
say) marching bands would
move a little, then stand and
play, then move some more, then
stand and play. Gradually over the
past two decades, drum corps
figured out they could do that
too, IF they threw in some "body
choreography." So they march
a little, then pose, and stand and
play - lather rinse repeat. The
Blue Devils have made an art of
it. The running joke among
their rivals (who they keep
beating) is that they march well
and play well, but hardly ever at
the same time.
I think this has been good for the
activity. More music is
better.
Marching bands are doing it too,
and wise directors are choosing to
use limited choreography
vocabularies to accomplish
it. To see an example, check
out Red Lion's 2014 show. I
wrote the drill to the director's
specifications, and they won the
Cavalcade of Bands 4A State
Championship in
Pennsylvania. Notice that
they don't march as many pages as
a drum corps. They also take
smaller steps in general.
That's so they can play great
music. They did a great job.
Here's
a link to the design animation - http://youtu.be/j4HCurz9zB8
And
here's a link to an actual
performance - http://youtu.be/wrrGoFotX40
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