ironlips

It's not, but that is good audio from that year, particularly for percussion. Here's an actual video clip of some show segments from '71. Denver John can be seen and heard herein:

Yes, and if I recall, you provided a good deal of the "cannon blasts" required for that Christmas Eve/ Battle of Trenton production. George Tuttle was Garfield's Jerry Shellmer. Both of those cats were 'way ahead of the curve.

Perhaps DCP can start a support group for us. "Hi. My name is Frank and I'm a Drum Corps addict." "Hellooo, Frank." It might require more than 12 steps.

Here's Anthony "Tony" Smith, Hall of Famer and first person to play tuned horizontal basses. Jerry Shellmer made him a star. Note the illustration on the album cover:

10X American Legion National Champions. They used to carry all 10 flags in the show BITD: http://theholynamecadets.net/67.php http://theholynamecadets.net/72.php

This was the program: https://www.sfballet.org/productions/festival-b/ I began attending the SFB many years ago (when Myron was a Vanguard French Horn Player and I was on the BD staff). Two of the guard instructors had season tix to the ballet, 'way up in the cheap seats, and I would sometimes accompany them. They knew that color guard was moving to incorporating dance elements to enhance variety and wanted to experience "the pros" in action. Very quickly I realized what I liked (aside from their company): The superbly played live orchestral music, and the real-time, creative movement of the dancers. Those elements continue to draw me in, though these days we've up-graded our seats to the Dress Circle. That's just a better GE box.

Last week, actually: The San Francisco Ballet premiered 3 new works, and I wasn't the only "drum corps" person in attendance.

Yes, New Jersey was the Drum Corps Mecca, and we all made our pilgrimages there.

Endowments generally work this way: An institution (a college, for example) collects donations from alumni, friends and other benefactors and places this money in a special account. The principal is not drawn upon and continues to grow but the interest is used to invest in stocks, bonds or other securities. Any profits are then utilized as needed. One's participation in an endowment is a gift to the institution which then uses the principal to generate more funds. There is no "return" to the investor. Incidentally, I know of at least one prominent drum corps that established an endowment decades ago: https://www.bluedevils.org/support/endowment/

This is always good advice, but this constitutes more of a donation than an investment opportunity does it not?

You mean, there's a drum corps that actually has a plan that extends past next August? Astounding! Setting up an endowment (anniversary dates being totally irrelevant, actually) sure beats cookie sales, and provides some hedge support vis-a-vis dwindling Bingo and the occasional alumni picnic. And it's a good deal safer and less fraught with intrigue than borrowing large sums from shady characters.

Thanks for posting this, Scooter. Tiffany is an exceptional player and has created a fascinating critique with this video. The gifted Jack Meehan replaced me on the BD staff when I went full tilt into my audio producer career. (I had been Jim Ott's successor, more or less, though no one could actually "replace" him.) As you know, the Meehaphone, like the Trombonium, had a brief but notable run in drum corps during a period of great experimentation and growth. Depending on the mouthpiece used it sounded more like a beefy Flugel as it does here, or fairly French Horn-like when a deeper V cup was used. The latter, at least for me, was a more desirable timbre and a bit more reliable for centering. I think we all miss that texture since the mellophone ate the alto section, though folks under 50 or so never heard that sound on the drum corps field. Ken Norman did, and knew how to exploit it. I inherited one of his Conn FH bugles which has a heavenly tone. I plan to present it to St. Peter as my admission ticket one day.

Go for it. Ready or not, the establishment should hear your voice as the system continues to evolve. It seems clear we are in for some changes anyway.

Regarding this, by scheherazadesghost, "the judging professionals as a group would need to maintain some control over the process...": There are judges on the task force and they can make recommendations, but ultimately they work for the associations (DCA/DCI) whose individual corps managements are the ones who vote on rules. The judges must adhere to those decisions to remain on the "approved" list and be assigned to contests. I am often amused when people say "Shows are written to please judges, to give them what they want." Not really so.

Consider why DCI and DCA were formed all those years ago: They wanted to make their own rules, and so they did. They have "Task Forces" made up of instructors and others who update and design the scoring system. This has been the case for 50+ seasons.

Agree...in theory.

Fair enough, but there are notable exceptions. I met such a person in '83 when we were both signed by the Bridgemen to help write the Ellington show along with Dennis Delucia and Dave Bandy. At the first camp I was sitting at the piano making some tweaks to the Caravan opener. The new guard instructor walked in, introduced himself, and asked whether he could peruse the arrangement. He then sat at the piano and proceeded to play the first 16 bars of my chart, melody and chords! I immediately realized two things: 1. We were going to get along very well 2. Scott Chandler was no garden variety guard geek

Exactly, and those point allocations were derived directly from the demands of the show programmers. They design the sheets and inform the adjudicators how to apply the criteria.

The cyclical history of the whole activity is fascinating. These developments are not linear. The original purpose for the establishment of what we call drum corps was to provide cadence and field music for the military color guard on parade. That continued when the Legionnaires and other vets groups held those massive events at their National Conventions, beginning in the 1920s. Eventually, the tail began wagging the dog and for corps competitions the guard, though mandatory, became a kind of ancillary accoutrement as drum and horn lines swelled in number. Those sections became the main focus by sheer size. Fast forward to the present. Some would argue (with a fair degree of justification) that today's guards have re-taken the lead, so much so that the music is in support of their effects, not the other way around. I have heard it said that what we now have are color guard shows with musical accompaniment. Consider who the primary show designers are for many top units. That would be a good indicator. This is not to be taken as a criticism, just an observation. Shows are infinitely more visually interesting because of this return to the original philosophy, ironic though that may be. Now, if the music were half as riveting as the guards...we could have our cake and eat it.

"what a small world". Indeed, but it was densely populated with drum corps at one time. There were probably more of them in Queens alone than there are in all of DCI at present.

...and the Old Guard and Hellcats.

"BUT… problems with championships being held Labor Day weekend and members being in school. Plus members who are parents having to get kids to college sites." Indeed. It's always been difficult for us to accept the fact that the universe as we know it doesn't revolve around Drum Corps. Things that interfere and must be pushed away: 1. Family vacation 2. Graduation 3. Prom 4. Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs/Confirmations...etc. 5. Wakes and funerals 6. Court appearances 7. Final exams 8. Elective surgery... The list is endless and the "civilians" will never understand that Drum Corps comes first...period.

"But hey... I'm just a blast from the past spitballin' here. So whatever. 😂 Yeah, I suppose some think you and I are getting towards the back of the parade, with the Sanitation Sweepers not far behind. Not to worry. I'm all in on reincarnation. I'm comin' back as a Bluecoat.

Ok, so there were 10 shows in total. None of the corps did all 10, I suspect. My guess would be 5 or 6 max for any given unit, excluding Championships.

I'm not sure. I tried to consult the DCA website, but it seems to be down at present. I suppose they could do non-judged shows in July or other appearances as a run-up to the competition schedule I suggested but, much as this makes sense to me, I doubt there will be any serious consideration of this scheme. This is just theoretical, hot-stove-league chatter on my part anyway.