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I wish there was a SPTDBCA


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"Why, thank you. smile.gif

That defines the how and why very nicely in a coherent and non-inflammatory way. (kind of why I didn't want to go into the percussion forum)

I can see how someone with a dog in the "better or worse"/"new vs. old" fight could get carried away and next thing insults are hurled and thread is closed.

Gives me something to pay attention to, also, next time I'm listening to drum corps."

Glad to be of help, Marty. I don't know if I'd get the same reaction in the Percussion Forum, so I also tend to stay out of there.

As with so many things, 'new' is not necessarily better or worse, just different. Being from the old style, I don't care for it all, but since it's something I/we can't control, we have to appreciate it for its own value.

john you did a great job explaining the difference. i did try to go to the percussion forum and got in big heated arguments about the difference and i swore off ever going on that forum again. it's mostly the youg crowd and as you know they know better then us " old farts " do. i agree with everything you said.

colin campbell.......old cru instructor........asked john flowers why he he was trying to preserve rudimental drumming. the reason colin asked was because no one in drum corps today cares. john really didn't have an answer. now i think that's sad. no one cares anymore. john you and i are a dying spieces......a dinosaur. now john dosen't that make you sad? remember those great hurc, sky, cab . rebel, bucs and cru lines back in the day? now to me .........that was drumming

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Unfortunately, as with so many things (not just drumming and drum corps), the younger generation often doesn't believe that anything old can be as good as what they do. I'm not saying what we played was automatically superior, but it bothers me when the newcomers disdain the past and totally dismiss its worth.

What is encouraging is that lately we have received enthusiastic reaction from many competing corps members when we appear at DCA shows in exhibition. There is a little more appreciation for what we do, and many understand their roots in DCA a little better.

I can appreciate the difficulty value of what they do today when you factor in the drill demand, but when it comes to preference, give me the old rudimental lines any time. Drum solos especially are my favorite parts of audio and video recordings.

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Unfortunately, as with so many things (not just drumming and drum corps), the younger generation often doesn't believe that anything old can be as good as what they do. I'm not saying what we played was automatically superior, but it bothers me when the newcomers disdain the past and totally dismiss its worth.

What is encouraging is that lately we have received enthusiastic reaction from many competing corps members when we appear at DCA shows in exhibition. There is a little more appreciation for what we do, and many understand their roots in DCA a little better.

I can appreciate the difficulty value of what they do today when you factor in the drill demand, but when it comes to preference, give me the old rudimental lines any time. Drum solos especially are my favorite parts of audio and video recordings.

john do the cabs alumni use old drum solo's or do you guys write new ones in the old style? i know wes uses the old stuff. i guess he kep't the charts.

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We use both old (original) solos, and new material written in the traditional style. The old solos are recreated as the result of members' memories, since we don't have any of the old music charts for drums. (We only have to write new parts for the segments no one can recall.) For example, the first solo we have played for the past two years was based on the GeorgeTuthill solo from 1973's first half, with some additional parts/counts for drill purposes.

We have used Les Parks drum solos on and off since the Alumni corps began. Some of his are quite well-known to fans, though they may not be familiar with the names: 'Hickory, Dickory, Dock,' 'The Firecracker,' and 'The Bomb,' which traditionally precedes 'Flamenco Cha-Cha,' as it did this past season. Our second-half long solo feature combines Jack Pratt's 'Caballeros, 1972' with my own which we simply call the 'Drum-to-Drum solo.'

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That's cool.

I kinda liked my valve and rotor Olds Ultratone, though. Never cared for two valves, but like my 3 valve DEG.

Piston/slide - forget it.

I couldn't go on the field again either, but I'd be willing to help a traditional style corps do it.

It's kind of funny, I think we all think of "traditional" in terms of our era or perhaps entre' into drum and bugle corps. My first half season was valve/rotor, and I was pleased to no end to get a two-valve horn. Funny thing, I never really liked my trumpet as much as my soprano.

I've been out of the game for something like 30 years, and haven't even followed drum corps until my daughter started marching band this year and started asking about drum corps. Now all the old juices are flowing.

I loved Santa Clara during my era, and was surprised (several years back now) to see the Vanguard with some sort of theatrical performance on the field. Then really surprised to see that drum corps is using three valve horns.

Now I am hearing of trumpets and tubas, that's really starting to strike the nerve, but then I see the thing about wood winds - well, if would winds were entered, it would be a full-fledged band right? There is nothing wrong with marching band IMO, but it is a different thing, also IMO. In the late '70's we had some "flashy" shows I guess, but it was all about precision I think. I can't comment about today's drum corps - really - especially in terms of precision, but I know that in that day there was a very different emphasis and feel to drum corps vs. marching band.

Heck, even going into the Navy, and playing in the boot camp drum and bugle corps showed that. There, we had a lot of marching band folks - I may have been the only drum corps type at the time I went through (Jan '81), but it's funny, looking at the photos in the (is it a yearbook if boot-camp was only a little over two months?) I stuck out like a sore thumb because I was the only one holding my horn up. So even in an actual military environment you can see that there is/was a difference between the two worlds.

I guess I have no problem with advancing, particularly when it comes to technology, so long as the root remains the same. Precision et al, horns, drums, flags, rifles, and sabres. I have no problem with using three valves instead of two (though I liked two better), but somehow the line is crossed when you cross to "trumpets and tubas" and stop calling them bugles - I certainly if wood-winds were added, then I think it's time to have MBI (for all I know there is such a thing as Marching Band Internation) as a seperate and distinct organization than Drum Corps International.

Having entered in to drum corps during the early DCI era, I can't comment whether DCI was the cause of all the changes, or DCI just went with the flow, but to me, drum corps will always be synonymous with '70's DCI. Always had respect for what came before, but what was there when "I" was there defined it for me by virtue of my experience.

Does that make sense?

That's $.02 that probably isn't worth what it used to be.

Edited by jdostie
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It's kind of funny, I think we all think of "traditional" in terms of our era or perhaps entre' into drum and bugle corps. My first half season was valve/rotor, and I was pleased to no end to get a two-valve horn. Funny thing, I never really liked my trumpet as much as my soprano.

I've been out of the game for something like 30 years, and haven't even followed drum corps until my daughter started marching band this year and started asking about drum corps. Now all the old juices are flowing.

I loved Santa Clara during my era, and was surprised (several years back now) to see the Vanguard with some sort of theatrical performance on the field. Then really surprised to see that drum corps is using three valve horns.

Now I am hearing of trumpets and tubas, that's really starting to strike the nerve, but then I see the thing about wood winds - well, if would winds were entered, it would be a full-fledged band right? There is nothing wrong with marching band IMO, but it is a different thing, also IMO. In the late '70's we had some "flashy" shows I guess, but it was all about precision I think. I can't comment about today's drum corps - really - especially in terms of precision, but I know that in that day there was a very different emphasis and feel to drum corps vs. marching band.

Heck, even going into the Navy, and playing in the boot camp drum and bugle corps showed that. There, we had a lot of marching band folks - I may have been the only drum corps type at the time I went through (Jan '81), but it's funny, looking at the photos in the (is it a yearbook if boot-camp was only a little over two months?) I stuck out like a sore thumb because I was the only one holding my horn up. So even in an actual military environment you can see that there is/was a difference between the two worlds.

I guess I have no problem with advancing, particularly when it comes to technology, so long as the root remains the same. Precision et al, horns, drums, flags, rifles, and sabres. I have no problem with using three valves instead of two (though I liked two better), but somehow the line is crossed when you cross to "trumpets and tubas" and stop calling them bugles - I certainly if wood-winds were added, then I think it's time to have MBI (for all I know there is such a thing as Marching Band Internation) as a seperate and distinct organization than Drum Corps International.

Having entered in to drum corps during the early DCI era, I can't comment whether DCI was the cause of all the changes, or DCI just went with the flow, but to me, drum corps will always be synonymous with '70's DCI. Always had respect for what came before, but what was there when "I" was there defined it for me by virtue of my experience.

Does that make sense?

That's $.02 that probably isn't worth what it used to be.

very well put. but i will say that dca held on to real drum corps quite a bit longer then dci during the 70's. once you put winds in then your absolutly right.......it's no longer drum corps ....period.

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I think DCA is still a much more 'palatable' alternative to DCI, even with the switch to 'Bb' horns and many other changes. We can all just hope and pray it stays that way a bit longer, and that DCA does not follow suit on the recent DCI rules changes. Despite that guarded optimism, drum and bugle corps "as we knew it" is nearly gone in the competitive arena.

The brightest spot for the long-time, 'veteran' drum corps fan, in my opinion, is the alumni corps. The majority of them still use 'G' bugles, play varied/eclectic musical routines rather than 'themed' shows, have street beats that can actually be marched to, and never fail to entertain the audiences wherever they appear. The fans don't seem to mind that we don't compete. They are just happy to have the opportunity to see and hear drum corps as they remember them. And we who perform are happy to oblige.

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I think DCA is still a much more 'palatable' alternative to DCI, even with the switch to 'Bb' horns and many other changes. We can all just hope and pray it stays that way a bit longer, and that DCA does not follow suit on the recent DCI rules changes. Despite that guarded optimism, drum and bugle corps "as we knew it" is nearly gone in the competitive arena.

The brightest spot for the long-time, 'veteran' drum corps fan, in my opinion, is the alumni corps. The majority of them still use 'G' bugles, play varied/eclectic musical routines rather than 'themed' shows, have street beats that can actually be marched to, and never fail to entertain the audiences wherever they appear. The fans don't seem to mind that we don't compete. They are just happy to have the opportunity to see and hear drum corps as they remember them. And we who perform are happy to oblige.

keep it going john because when the alumni corps die so will the drum corps as we knew will to. bless you brother.

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Thank you, Don! We'll keep it going as long as the hands, feet and lips hold out, I suppose!

Ten and a half years ago, I had a serious back operation and thought I'd never be able to march any more. Fortunately, I had a back surgeon who was terrific, and here I am, still marching and playing, and enjoying being with my Alumni friends.

Besides the great feeling that comes from performing again, one of the greatest benefits of being in an alumni corps is re-connecting with friends from 35+ years ago. Meeting newer alumni and some of those who preceded me is yet another plus. Really, that's always been one of the outstanding assets about drum corps -- meeting people and making friends with folks who share your passion for the activity. These DCP forums help enhance that whole experience. and have enabled me to 'meet' more friends.

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