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Emergence of the Front Ensemble


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If I recall...

You could put them down on the field in '81, but everything had to be on the field (no pit area on the sidelines). Most everyone marched 4 keyboards (except maybe Garfield? One other who grounded concert instruments?) but had one timpanist grounded. 27 marched the timps, and they were awesome (glad I didn't have to carry them...).

82 saw the creation of the pit area. For a while, instrumentation stayed the same- bells, xylo, vibes, marimba, and a timpanist, with one or two concussionists- for most corps. and then 2v 2m, then...then...then...

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Looking at the 1980 Bridgemen show, they appeared to have some grounded percussion as well (assuming that the videos labeled Bridgemen 1980 are actually from 1980--they're definitely the Bridgemen).

Bridgemen may have put timpanis on stands at some point in the 1980 show, perhaps their "concert" piece, but that would have only been for a portion of the show.

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tI seem to remember the 1978 Kilties as being the first to ground percussion instruments for the entire show. Prior to that there were a lot of grounded tymps for a song, sometimes with one member playing all tymps. The 1978 Kilties used concert tymps. They pushed them out and had to remove the wheels prior to the start of the show, as the existing rules prohibited wheels. In 1979 he Guardsmen grounded their marching tymps for the entire show (played by one member) and used a set of congos and concert vibes at the front of the field.

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One of the first shows where I remember the front ensemble carrying a big chunk of the melodic load was '95 Cavaliers. Front ensembles up to that point had been adding a lot of new instrumentation and effects. but they were mainly used as support for whatever the brass or battery were doing, or in small connective segments linking 2 pieces together. In '95 the Cavaliers gave long melodic passages to the pit, unsupported by brass. I can't remember any pit before that having so much melodic responsibility.

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One of the first shows where I remember the front ensemble carrying a big chunk of the melodic load was '95 Cavaliers. Front ensembles up to that point had been adding a lot of new instrumentation and effects. but they were mainly used as support for whatever the brass or battery were doing, or in small connective segments linking 2 pieces together. In '95 the Cavaliers gave long melodic passages to the pit, unsupported by brass. I can't remember any pit before that having so much melodic responsibility.

How was the audience able to hear them without amplification, and without the players banging on their instruments?

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How was the audience able to hear them without amplification, and without the players banging on their instruments?

Amazing huh? :)

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How was the audience able to hear them without amplification, and without the players banging on their instruments?

Bad technique.

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How was the audience able to hear them without amplification, and without the players banging on their instruments?

We literally hit them as hard as we could.

Unlike today, there was no real technique. Put aside the bobbing up and down and the turning from left to right, these kids have a very deft touch and I'd hate for todays pits to go back to the "old"days.

It's the singularly most powerful argument for keeping amps in DCI, without them the pit would either be invisible or it would be back to hitting as hard as you can.

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I know by 85 DCA allowed corps to ground but not sure before then (hey I was working and not watching shows).

1980 Bridgemen I'd say concert number as some corps put the tymps together and had one member play them while the others did something else.

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