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Inside the Arc – Color Pre or Take a Knee


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I find it sad, but not surprising, that most who have posted here so far have missed the entire real point of the article.  The Color (U.S. Flag) Guard (Protector) has way deeper original meaning than what it does now in DCI.  So much so that during the Civil War the U.S. Flag Bearer and Protector going into battle were the most coveted positions, especially when carried and protected by minorities fighting for freedom.  The transformation of that meaning into what we have now in DCI has caused most within DCI, and our overall culture in general, to lose track of what the true meaning is for the terminology; and ‘that’ is the purpose of the article in which many of you either missed or do not really care about at all.

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41 minutes ago, ironlips said:

 

" Times DO change. And Color Guards are FAR more important in the scores./placements now than perhaps any time in history of the activity. "

In my view, there is no question about that.

In fact, a solid case can be made that the guard has become the single most important visual element in any field production. Consider the success of corps whose principal visual designers are primarily guard specialists.

 True. Also, brass soloists, percussion soloists might have a few seconds in the show in which they are featured soloists. Today however, a featured Corps soloist ( or duet ) that is  pivotal to most highlighting and advancing the show theme for judges/ audiences alike tends to increasingly come from the Guard section now. And his/ her solo ( song, dance, narration, or some combination ) may involve not  just a few seconds of solo, but as much as a third of the entire time the Corps is in competition performance. These solos are less risky ( at least on the current sheets ) than brass solos. percussion solos too for Corps. As we witnessed last season, such solos from non musicians in the performance can be completely botched from start to finish with the solo ( thru electronics malfunctions, for example) and not suffer at all on the current score sheets. As a result, it is FAR better for Corps now to feature such non musician playing soloists from Guard in DCI competition now than musicians playing a solo on a musical instrument. As we said, times change, and Corps adapt to the sheets the best they know how to.

Edited by BRASSO
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On ‎10‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 12:23 AM, GUARDLING said:

Cadets female guard was 1969and resisted by many but not all. Most females came from the little falls cadets

Yup, when Little Falls folded, it made for a great opportunity to get a ready-made female guard for 1969. The honor guard was  still guys, actually, at least in 69-71.

 

Our amazing quartermistress Aunt Nellie, who had been there forever by 1969, refused to take care of the girls the first year or so, so her daughter had to tend to their needs.  :3_grin:

She came around eventually. 

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, MikeD said:

Yup, when Little Falls folded, it made for a great opportunity to get a ready-made female guard for 1969. The honor guard was  still guys, actually, at least in 69-71.

 

Our amazing quartermistress Aunt Nellie, who had been there forever by 1969, refused to take care of the girls the first year or so, so her daughter had to tend to their needs.  :3_grin:

She came around eventually. 

 

 

 

My two older brothers marched with Little Falls for that final season in 1968.

One of them went to the Sacred Heart Crusaders from Manville in 1969... the other to a more well-known organization called the Air Force.  :tongue: So... he never met Aunt Nellie, but was quite familiar with Uncle Sam.  LOL.

 

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3 hours ago, ironlips said:

Meet Aunt Nellie:

 

Thanks Frank! 

 

I ended my career in 1972...when I attended a show in 1990 and went back by the equipment area, she was still there...and she even remembered my name! Amazing woman. She used to hang wet uniform jackets inside out on her fence in Garfield to dry them out.

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1 hour ago, MikeD said:

Thanks Frank! 

 

I ended my career in 1972...when I attended a show in 1990 and went back by the equipment area, she was still there...and she even remembered my name! Amazing woman. She used to hang wet uniform jackets inside out on her fence in Garfield to dry them out.

Is Aunt Nellie still with us?   And when did she retire from the Cadets?

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43 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

Is Aunt Nellie still with us?   And when did she retire from the Cadets?

The night of the Port Huron, Michigan show at which BD and Cadets fed each other through the bus windows waiting to get through the Canadian customs, I was flying into meet the corps at Detroit airport. When I arrived, I found that a rent a car had been reserved for me and was waiting. Aunt Nell had had a health situation after the contest and was now hospitalized in Detroit area.. It began a series of struggles which kept her separate from the mms in the corps. Not long after she passed.  Her daughter Marie still continued in various volunteer positions until about a decade ago. Both ladies gave much and never had any children in the corps. All the corps mms were their kids.

Thanks, Frank for posting this video of one great lady who gave the world another. 

 

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49 minutes ago, xandandl said:

The night of the Port Huron, Michigan show at which BD and Cadets fed each other through the bus windows waiting to get through the Canadian customs, I was flying into meet the corps at Detroit airport. When I arrived, I found that a rent a car had been reserved for me and was waiting. Aunt Nell had had a health situation after the contest and was now hospitalized in Detroit area.. It began a series of struggles which kept her separate from the mms in the corps. Not long after she passed.  Her daughter Marie still continued in various volunteer positions until about a decade ago. Both ladies gave much and never had any children in the corps. All the corps mms were their kids.

Thanks, Frank for posting this video of one great lady who gave the world another. 

 

Thanks!!!  She certainly was a drum corps icon.

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