I felt I should weigh in on this topic because I found myself in the very same situation you're in 2 decades ago. I had just finished high school and was getting ready to be a tuba performance major at Penn State. I also enjoyed marching band and thought DCI would be fun. I had gone to some DCI shows and was really smitten with the horn-line sound. To this day, one of my very favorite things is to sit in front of a horn-line warm-up arch. Wow. Drums are cool, but the pure sound of power brass alone? ...damn.
Anyway, I ended up marching Blue Coats in 1991 (not a fact many people know about me, but for some reason a pretty big calling card to my students). I now teach at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville, and many of my former, current, and probably future students have or will march Scouts. I do agree with much of the sentiment on this post that the times have changed and pedagogy in Corps these days is pretty darn good...esp. with the Scouts. I also agree that you can play "healthily" if you choose to. You may not think that you can find time to practice, but the die-hards always do. I did. I specifically remember standing in the shade after lunch and before the afternoon rehearsals with my G contra learning all my harmonic and melodic minor scales. I got to Penn State with all 48 scales ready to go, 3 octaves---and arpeggios...slurred and tongued....yeah, I found a lot of time.
But few others in the Blue Coats at that time were as driven as I was in terms of individually practicing their instrument, and those practice sessions (and my rooky status) earned me a pillow to the head now and again on some gym-floor in the Midwest. Yup, DCI ain't for the faint of heart or the thin-skinned. But you have to have a thick skin to roll in this career, and DCI did teach me some professional/networking concepts.
All in all, as you've seen in this thread, folks that really enjoyed their Corps experience say "DO IT!" Those who didn't march say "Don't." I say, go to a camp or two, and decide for yourself. Yes, camps suck and are not as hip as the summer, but if there are some signs along the way during a camp that this may not be right for you: run, don't walk, to the exit door. It'll be a very regrettable summer otherwise (for you and your corps-mates). If however you find the camps exhilarating, you're in for a great ride! It really just comes down to what kind of guy you are...and none of us can help you decide that.
All the best,
Mike
Sotto Voce Quartet
http://www.tubaquartet.com" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
