A Weighted List of Pros and Pros: Discussing Drum Corps with a Practical Parent

Original article: https://whereismytroopersuit.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/a-weighted-list-of-pros-and-pros-discussing-drum-corps-with-a-practical-parent/

Drum corps can be a difficult thing to discuss with family – especially if you are not just requesting for permission but financial support as well; with the tour fees of most corps being between two and four thousand dollars, the reality is most young people interested in the activity will need help. The difficulty of this conversation can be multiplied substantially if your parents are like my own dad: practical, fact-oriented, and skeptical.

Many people involved in drum corps will suggest you win your family over with talk of life lessons to be learned and forever friends to be found. These things are without a doubt the greatest products to be found in corps, but they aren’t tangible – and to many people, tangibility is everything.

With people like this in mind, I want to help aspiring marchers get on the field. Listed below are a few points I have compiled of real, practical benefits of participating in corps. Take this information, and if you like it, share it, use it, and help to grow drum corps:

1. Drum corps techniques are a must for music educators.
   A large portion of drum corps members and aspiring members are music majors, and whether your official focus is education or simply performance, you will end up teaching (the most successful performers give clinics, master classes, and private lessons). The techniques you are taught in drum corps, whether on brass or percussion, can be applied to marching bands, concert bands, orchestras, and even private students – and your music program and students will only be successful if you are a successful teacher. The unfortunate truth is the successful programs are the ones with the most funding, and the most sought after clinicians often make more money teaching than they do performing.
2. Drum corps will open up doors to whole new career opportunities.
   This one is really quite simple: drum corps and marching bands are always in need of staff. Whether it is administration, instructional, or design, chances are these organizations will not hire you without drum corps experience. Even if you don’t want to be involved full time, these jobs are great supplements to your chosen career path.
3. Drum corps will kick down the doors you were already eyeing.
   Another simple one. People who know what drum corps is usually know that it’s really damn hard. And people who know what drum corps is usually know that members work really damn hard. And if a potential employer is one of those people? That gives you a fantastic advantage.
4. Drum corps will introduce you to people. Important people.
   Marty O’Donnell. Robert W. Smith. John Mackey. Do these names ring any bells? If not, I feel sorry for you, son. These are big names in the music industry, and all of them (and more) are involved in drum corps – I know at least one person who has met each of these people through drum corps.
5. Drum corps gets you in shape and gives you something to do.
   I lost 25 pounds participating in just one season of drum corps. That summer, most of my friends were either doing nothing or working minimum wage part-time jobs. And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of these things or any other personal decision (we all need a break from the draining nature of modern education), I know many parents who would prefer involvement in something a bit more full-time. 12 hours a day of physical activity is pretty full-time.
6. When you really think about it, you might not be spending that much money.
   Considering tour fees mostly pay for meals and travel expenses, and the amount of money many families spend on food and vacation during the summer anyway, it might be worthwhile to point out that net spending on drum corps might work out to only about a thousand dollars.

 

Drum corps is the most worthwhile experience I have ever had and the best money I ever spent. Don’t give up because your parents said “no” the first time you asked. Mine did – and I’m going into my third season.