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What shows first turned you on to drum corps, and why?


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My Sister started marching with SCV in '69. Saw some local shows and it piqued my interested. However, when my family went to VFW Nationals that summer, I saw Troopers, Kilties and all the rest. I finally, really, "Got It" and vowed to march the next season.

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I love reading this stuff. It proves our common bond and the fact that drum corps fans can be made if they're not born into the activity. It gives me hope that we can continue to make new fans to keep alive the activity.

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Although I was already marching - I had never seen what could qualify as a big corps (just the smaller corps from my circuit). I enjoyed marching but never understood how great a drum corps could be. Then I saw the '82 Cavaliers. They weren't even top 6 back then - but I fell in love with the corps and more specifically their rifle line. I realized that I had to march that rifle line one day!!!

6 years later - I was part of the corps and that awesome rifle line!!!!

later,

Mike

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I marched in my High School Marching Band...

A friend of mine, the Drum Major asked me if I wanted to go check out this new drum and bugle corps thing... this was in 1978 mind you... lol

We went to the San Jose Raiders very first rehearsal after being reformed from the dust of the Knight Raiders. I joined immediately even though there were only 15 or 16 of us in the horn line. I had NEVER seen a drum and bugle corps before but was excited to be in one anyway... We went to the "EVALUATION" show in San Jose and we went on first... it was fun to get to do the show in front of people. What was more fun was getting to sit in the stands and watch the Freelencers, SCV and the Blue Devils perform. Seeing the 1979 Blue Devils made me want to keep doing what I was doing until I wasn't allowed to do it anymore and that is exactly what I did. When my corps changed direction both musically and financially in 1981 I left and went to BD to be in the corps that made me know I was already doing the right thing!

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"First Show/First Corps":

"POSSIBLY" (As this was a LOOOOOOG time ago) it may have been one of the mid 1950's "Parade of Champions" held by the Barnum Festival at the oldHedges Stadium in Bridgeport CT. I remember Hawthorne Caballeros and Norman Prince, as well as the old Stratford CT "Yankees" who were, believe it or not, actual National Contenders at that time.

The old Bridgeport PAL Cadets held their "Parade of Junior Champions" at the same stadium starting in the late 1950's and St Raphael's Buccaneers held a couple of shows each year (A "Circuit" and an "Open" show) and they featured many of the top rated junior corps of that era: St Vincents, St Catherine's, Blessed Sacrament, Garfield Cadets and Caimbridge Caballeros.

It took very little to get me "Hooked".

"Defy Gravity".

Elphaba

WWW

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When I was a kid in the 70s there used to be a DCA show at knox field in Johnstown every year. My dad would bring us every year, I remember the Caballeros, the Huricanes, Bucs etc. I never khnew about DCI until after my junior year in high school I saw a commercial for a DCI show in Rome NY and talked my dad into going. We saw SCV, Madison, Spirit, and the Troopers, plus some smaller corps. The lasting image in my mind was the encore where SCV and the Scouts lined up every other member in an arc and blew our faces off. I played drums in our HS band and was amazed at what I saw.One of the smaller corps tha night was was the Avante Garde from Saratoga and a few months later I saw a recruiting commercial for them and was all set to go to a winter camp. Unfortunately when we found out about the dues and financial aspects of it I was unable to march. Biggest regret of my life but I am still a huge fan.

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In the thread about the Star of Indiana 1986 show. Sean Conley mentioned one never forgets their first show.

I still remember clearly the first drum corps show I saw and how the winning corps excited me. (And just over two years later, I ended up joining them.)

What corps and shows first turned you on to drum corps, and why? What did you feel when you saw that show? How did it change you?

How many of us share the experience of being turned on to the activity through witnessing a particular corps and show? Was it live or via a recording?

In the '60's my parents would take me to senior shows being held in western PA. I remember very little of those shows except I enjoyed them. In 1975 the General Butler Vagabonds came to my hometown and did two run throughs. To this day I love their '75 show. Later that summer I attended the American International which had Madison, SCV, Etobicoke, Kilties and the Royal Crusaders and many others. But the corps I saw that day that really grabbed me was the Phantom Regiment. Been a fan of the activity ever since.

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I had known about drum corps for a while and saw a couple of different shows. But I was never amazed until I saw the Cadets Between Angels and Demons this past year. My jaw literally dropped with that incredible drill at the end. Ever since then I have been completely and totally obsessed with all things drum corps! This was on video, I'm going this year to Night Beat for my very first live show with my high school marching band before band camp starts and I'm really excited!!

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Before I was exposed to Drum Corps, I was into musical theatre. So, it will be no surprise, then, when a former band director, who marched with Suncoast 84, played the 89 top six, which included two shows that were inspired by musical theatre (e.g., Garfield and SCV). I was hooked and marched the next three years with a corps. But, I actually got so interested in Phantom's show that year that I bought the 1972 Boston Pops recording of the Dvorak's ninth symphony "From the New World." Best symphony, great drum corps!!! I thank drum corps for helping me develop of a love of music, the importance of community, and for helping me grow in ways I didn't know I could.

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