Post by ZorbOn Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:09:06 -0400, "Lee and Missy Wasson"
Post by Lee and Missy WassonAnd my grandpap told me about the days when every VFW, Moose, Elks, and bar
in every little town had a big band playing on weekends.
And football had leather helmets... damn them for changing!
Times change. Kids have internet and Playstation now. It's geeky to be in
bands.... the reasons go on and on right down to "It's a conspiracy, and if
corps were like it was in 1965, we'd have 100's of them again".... yeah,
right.
</sarcasm>
Well it was extremely 'geeky' to be in bands back then.
And there were 'other' things to do also.
Z
perhaps some of the factors include:
1)cost to march / run a corps these days
2)the definition of popular music now as opposed to then, and the role
of the band/community band/d&b corp then vs. now
3)parental support for these types of endeavors (hey, I used to come
home and have to practice every day, as my own children do - but my
students in my school band - HA, do you think mom and dad would actually
MAKE them do something they didn't want to do? Sorry, but there's a
lot of spineless parents out there - I'm thankful for the ones who value
committment and hard work)
4)changing face of the social life of potential corps members (did NOT
have the distractions - electronics to peer social issues, and more -
that teens now encounter)
5)what society values - when was the last time the conductor of a
orchestra, or the drum major of a drum corps, was on the front page of a
newspaper? I'm not a sports fan, and I'm the exception in American male
society today. Can you imagine if for one year, we flipped the budgets
of musical organizations - orchestras, drum corps, community bands and
choirs - with major league sports teams? From a purely economical
standpoint, there's little money/profit in musical organizations (by no
means do I think that their worth is lessened, that's just a statement
of fact).
summation - society has changed, forms of entertainment and expression
have changed.
parallel consideration - I adore symphonic/classical music. I live 15
minutes from Philly's Kimmel Center. Love going there. But the
audience for symphony orchestra concerts continues to diminish - and the
tickets aren't cheap, either. I don't see future generations eagerly
embracing the music, regardless of how magical or brilliant it was/is.
I seriously question if 100 years down the road, there will be even 1/2
the number of orchestras (or any!) in America that we have today - and
most of todays orchestras are struggling at best.
Now Drum Corps - the organizations that once spawned the D&B corps have
declined and have a far diminished role in society e.g. what they gave
us follows the track of their organizations as well.
Wow - when you look at these things, it does not paint a pretty picture
for the future of arts and arts entertainment. I'm sure I've missed
plenty of things here but that's my 2cents, fwiw.