Smoothy

We wouldn't have come out east without class A.

We're digging them big time.

-Nate is in the fourth picture with Stoli's corps jacket logo. His back is in the picture, but that's him. Bethany's still a no show although she does have the music. -Chrome contras worked great for us for years. I have no complaints. -Canadians think that they got it so tough. "Our winter's harder than your winter, eh.", "We have to pay so much for beer and cigarettes, hoser.", "Take off, that canadian bacon is undercooked." Let's see some pictures. (I'm assuming Canadians have cameras)

Minne-SNOW-ta!!!

You got to put tone quality, pitch, and articulation out of your head, because it just isn't possible in that weather. We did discover a means from keeping our valves from freezing: hand warmer packets.

You guys are so cool to offer your help to a corps that falls short of the new ridiculous minimum rule. We marched 39 last season and won Class A. Why wouldn't the board see that it is possible to march a decent show with less than 35 members? Fortunately, we should have no problems getting above the minimum this year.

Being a Govenaire is never an easy task, but this is ridiculous:

Good question, MBbabe. Drop me an email at brass@govenaires.org and I'll give you a list of prices and let you know what is left. They're all DEG g-bugles and they allwork quite well. Thanksfor the inquiry.

Funny story on the naming of the Govenaires: It began as the St Peter Legion D&B Corps, later to be changed in the late 40s/early 50s to just the St Peter Drum & Bugle Corps when the corps started competing in the VFW circuit as well. In 1961, the corps decided to get what was thought to be a modern name and chose "The Vikings" as their new name. By coincidence, the new NFL team in 1961 was to be the vkings as well, so the people running the corps at that time chose a new name so the corps wouldn't be associated with the football team. The new name was the Govenaires (after the bunch of governors that lived in St Peter) and till this day we have no clue why it's spelled without that "r" before the "n".

I think that the solution exists within the walls of each corps. If you want to have batons and glocks in you drum corps, go for it. It's your gig, do with it what you will. You'll never be able to satisfy everone, so you might as well satisfy yourself. But what do I know, I think every rule in drum corps should be replaced with the rule "No Rules!" Things would get really interesting.

We needed new brass instruments. We had the money. Drum corps seems to be going multi-keyed. We went multi-keyed. Is it better? Playing on new instruments is better, so yes it is. Would it be as good or better if the brass was in only one key, namely G? Probably wouldn't make that much difference in our abilities and deficiencies. Will it change our sound? Drum corps is an outside sport, I'll let you know when we it gets warmer. Is the fact that the midvoices are in a different key from the rest of the line noticable? You betcha. Does this make us not a drum and bugle corps? You can define drum and bugle corps however you want. We're going to keep calling ourselves a drum and bugle corps as we have for 80 years. Will this event harm drum corps? I'd like to think that drum corps is tougher than that. Will it change drum corps? It's been changing since I've been born into it in 1961. I think it'll be fine. What are the Govenaires doing with their g-bugles? Email me (Jim "Smoothy" Snyder) at brass@govenaires.org if your interested in purchasing some good working, good sounding DEG instruments in the key of G. No more questions...

For the first time in its eighty year existence, the Govenaires begin a new season with a whole new set of brass instruments. Was the sound good? Yes, as good as good can be. I'm still dizzy from all the beauty coming from our brand new Yamaha line. Of course I'd be remiss to not mention that the bigger and better brass line membership had much to do with that as well. Look forward to another exciting adventure with the Govies as they once again prove that small town drum corps can work. Happy New Year, DCPers!

Back in the 70s, we used to do this and came up with: Crossmen + Guardsmen = The Crossing Guards Garfield Cadets + Offensive Lions = Garfield the Cat

It's all good, Amber. As long as you know about guard equipment, you'll be fine. I'll worry about the brass instruments. BJF doesn't need to know either. As long as he placed the order and paid the down payment, all is good. No, all is great! Last concert on G-bugles tomorrow!

And mine mirrors my father's (soprano/brass instructor). Funny how these things get passed down.

Same back at you, Jerome. Good luck with everything Bushy(and everything wacked).

Amber is the brains behind our drum corps, but being a color guard member, she doesn't have all the facts in place (Sorry, Amber). We're actually buying a full line of Yamaha marching brass instruments. They were ordered yesterday and will be delivered before xmas (all in stock...sweet). We're rapidly becoming a full blown Yamaha drum corps (Maybe we can tour Japan next year...Amber?). Stay tuned for discount prices on DEG g-bugles coming soon.

Nice new toys. Looking forward to hearing them at the Minnesota Showcase in April.

We don't start till the first weekend in January and I'm positive that we won't be counting our membership. It ain't quantity, it's quality. When will you cats learn?

I was born into this. Never really wanted to do anything else. Dad = lead soprano in Skokie Indians (Jr corps = General George Bell Drum & Bugle Corp in Chicago). Mom - Cavaliers (couldn't march, of course, but was on the management team in the beginning of the corps till she married my dad). Don & Jan Warren are my godparents.

We're doing Phish's "Julius" off the line (about time someone plays Phish), then an old Govie classic, "Love for Sale", then two new tunes: "Harlem Nocturne", and Gordon Goodwin's "Sing, Sang, Sung".

It just doesn't matter. As long as everyone in the section is the same. Just wanted to go on DCP to reply to someone who lives 4 blocks from me.

At the present, the Govenaires is an undergraduate class at Minnesota State, but not a continuing ed course. Thanks for the idea, I'll get the ball rolling at the next business meeting (7pm, Dec 11th at the Oleander in Mankato).

We just finished 2006 on Friday. It's too early to speculate on something that doesn't exist yet. I am looking forward to another year of drum corps fun. I'm looking forward to the fans going crazy for a show I helped to create. I'm looking forward to the friendships within the corps that are almost too close at times, but always the only reason for doing drum corps. Also the friendships with people in other corps that increase in numbers every year. I'm looking forward to taking a group of people and molding them into a great piece of art called the 80th Anniversary Govenaires (w/all new brass instruments). 2007: It's going to fun all right, but it sure as heck ain't gonna be predictable. Good luck to all drum corps and remember: We're all undefeated right now.

Man, I should've never started reading this. 26 pages of rants. Wow! I don't see any difference than what exists now. We've done DCI shows for years. This summer we were judged on DCA sheets at these shows (quite well, too). We need these DCI shows to pad out our schedule that was drastically reduced by the demise of DCM. We also need these shows because some (Mankato and Stillwater specifically) are in a local market and performing for the homeys is mighty important in promoting an organization. DCI needs us as well. They have dwinding numbers of corps and they need more bang for the big bucks that people pay to watch these shows. For example, we were added late to the Cippewa Falls DCI show last season because they needed another corps to perform at the Div III show there. People will not pay the prices DCI charges if there is only a one and a half hour show. DCI needs us, we need them and that's why this is all coming down. There is no takeover. There is no conspiracy. There's just a circuit trying to run shows and corps trying to get shows. They had to make a "reasonable" offer in order to get us to comply. DCI obviously does not need corps in the NE yet, but when they do, an offer will surely be made. We are now a DCA corps and are using DCI to our advantage. Nothing more, nothing less.