Geneva

I am surprised that no one has mentioned it, but I think that the saddest thing about the current state of drum corps is its financial unsustainability above and beyond the types of shows that are now being done. The touring model, keyboard instrumentation and amplification are all very expensive. While I can understand that touring is now an unfortunate necessity for competition to exist, it makes me sad to see what I consider the frills to the core brass and percussion performance jeopardize the continued existence of the activity. It has already been one of the factors in the demise of so many great organizations who simply could not keep up with the bucks required. I have no doubt that today's members love the activity as much as we ever did even if it is much different from what we grew up to love. I know that I still enjoy it despite these changes, but what I fear is that the present course is unsustainable and that the activity will not be there for future generations unless some restrictions are put in place to control instrumentation and equipment costs.

Done!!

That would be 1959. Ken Petersen plays a whale of a solo in Basin Street Blues on his way to Buglers and World Drum Corps Halls of Fame!

I thought Boston looked and sounded great! They were a credit to the activity with drum and bugle corps prominently displayed. The cadet style sharpness projected well in the inaugural parade. They were more military than the military!

I remember him as a fair and discerning drum corps judge and for his great horn lines with the Magnificent Yankees.

Please allow me to crawl out of the box into which you have me stuffed. Sure, I competed in the days before the pit existed. My last year of competitive drum corps (1974) was the first year in which keyboard instruments (carried) were legal on the field. I will admit that I was not too fond of hearing some of my soprano lines doubled by the tinkling bells. The keyboard usage has come a long way since that time and I think that it often adds a nice texture and counterpoint now. My point is that it is counter and not the point and I believe that over the decades the keyboard instrumentation has become overemphasized to the point that it is planted front and center and now following the DCI model will be further empowered to overtake the primary acoustic presentation. Of course, it all comes down to what you think a drum corps show is all about and for me it has been the beauty and awesomeness of the loudest acoustic presentation in existence. Amplification has turned it into something else entirely. If that makes me a Dino, so be it. I play in a lot of different musical settings, often with woodwinds and indoors, but for me drum corps has always had this special corner on the musical market and amplification diminishes what is special to me.

Well, I am not a fan of pit amplification. I have been unimpressed with what this added expense adds to the final performance package in DCI. In my view, the pit should be more of a support and adornment to the primary acoustic presentation of brass and percussion. Amplification inevitably will lead to a more primary melodic use of the pit. And don't kid yourself, synth bass is just around the corner, eeeew! The only positive which I can think of is that it would enable repositioning of the pit to the BACK sideline to remove the annoying visual clutter from a corps' performance. How about it DCA?

As one who saw most of these corps during my competitive marching days (1966-1974), my vote goes to St. Joe's. They were not only consistent, but had the cockiness of a champion. Who remembers the way in which they entered the field with the drum line only to the tap of a single snare. The rest of the line holding their drums perched on their shoulders. They grouped on the starting line, then four for nothing snare taps and the line rumbled to life in a deadly sounding street beat as the rest of the corps in single file snapped into place on the starting line. They really let you know that they owned the place!

Wow, Frank, thanks for the great interview with Glenn! I would love to talk with him sometime. We seem to share some of the same vivid memories of 1960's drum corps. When I heard that first electric clip from Casper and then heard him reminisce about that Friday night show in the Bronx in 1966, I was immediately transported back. I was a spectator at that show! I was accompanying my dad and we were in the city visiting from upstate on business. Well, I had a plan from the time I learned that we were going to be in NYC that particular day. So with my trusty Drum Corps News in hand, I asked my dad if we could make the sojourn from our hotel on Staten Island to that show in the Bronx that evening. To my delight, he agreed realizing that this was a new found hobby for me. I was in my rookie season marching with the Geneva Appleknockers taking my lumps on the competition field from St. Joseph's of Batavia and the Utica Yankees. This was an off weekend for us and I realized that it would be a great opportunity to see the Royal Airs who were at the pinnacle of the activity as the defending national champions. So we arrived at the little run down venue after my father navigated the complexities of the metro mass transit system. My initial impression of the place was that it was a dump and I was a little embarrassed for having dragged my dad there. But that soon dissolved away when the corps stepped off the line. I have vivid memories of the Royal Airs and Troopers. The razor sharp execution of the Troopers as they stepped off in a board-straight company front and the uncanniness of their perfect interval. The aura of perfection which they projected is hard to describe. I had just enough drum corps experience to be in awe of what they were achieving. As Glenn pointed out, this was a rebuilding year for the champs as I was immediately struck by the height differences in the Royal Airs with the many younger members they were fielding. From a marching perspective they struggled with bowed fronts and obvious interval breaks, but the music they produced was wonderful, loaded with style and sparkling solo work. They were a completely different type of corps from Casper who were very straight laced by comparison. Well, that night was my introduction to national caliber drum corps and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bridgeport PAL Cadets were one of the best corps we ever beat when I marched in Geneva. (1967 AL nationals prelims)

One comment on Blue Devils. I do not understand how they are getting the visual scores that they are receiving. They seem to be doing less marching between formations. It is more like staging of the musical moments rather than a logical flow. It does not in my eye even come close to what SCV or Cadets are doing.

I would like to read a description of the current judging sheets' caption criteria. Where do I find it?

OK, so I saw BD and Crown live at DCI East and this a follow up to my previous posting. I still don't like BD's show concept (no surprise there), BUT I was impressed at how well they stage it. Horn line is tight and even if not as difficult from an articulation and exposure stand point, the line is very sound on challenging rhythms. They definitely win my sub-caption for the use of soloist amplification. Jeez, now the screamers need to be amped to balance the pit and synth bass. This is getting to be a real "nuclear arms" race for electronics in drum corps! I definitely don't feel they are putting as much on the table with their M and M' s show glob formations. However, looking at the recaps, they have the judges in their corner on this one. The big surprise for me was Crown taking high percussion!! Now, I am not a percussionist, but this was an area that BD seemed masterful in. My impression was that this caption alone was probably the difference leading to the final score...what do I know!! Also, in reference to my description on BD "dabbling" in performance frontiers. I would agree this is an understatement in view of their show designs for several seasons now. At any rate this show seems destined to win with the coherence of its incoherence and their ability to play the game better than everyone else. Not my cup of tea, but interesting.

Needless to say, I would not be happy to see Blue Devils rewarded with a championship for this type of show. I just believe that there are about five other corps with well performed shows who are more deserving. Crown in particular has a brass book and performance which has taken things to the next level. Of course, there is the little problem of the spread in percussion, but in my view, Crown's horn line more that offsets that. I have the utmost respect for Crown's brass performance. This is a book with unreal amounts of ensemble exposure which is performed very well.

Blue Devils 2012 Wow, one thing that I think there is little debate about is whether their program has engaged the minds of the audience. The question is whether this has been in a negative or positive sense. Although tomorrow at Allentown will be my first (and only) live viewing, I have viewed them many times on the Fan Network. Alas, I am in the negative camp for some of the following reasons. Dada as an artistic premise for their production is a polar opposite to the traditions of a drum corps performance. I am sure this is what the creative staff of the Blue Devils intended and that is fine. But for me, it is iconoclastic in an unenjoyable way. It is almost as if their staff is bored with the drum corps that many (I would say most of us) enjoy and have come to drum corps shows to experience. Take the MGM fanfare as an example. This is my favorite moment of the show. What a grand sound! Perhaps they have come to their senses and will give us drum corps we can sink our teeth into...but NO! It quickly dissolves back into Dadaist cacophony. I get what they are doing, but I just do not enjoy it. For me this is a waste of one of the best performing units in drum corps. What BD is doing this year is dabbling with performance frontiers just as the Cadets did for several years. I just hope that like the Cadets they find their way back towards the mainstream. Last year's show seemed like a move in that direction, but I thought it was a miss as well with completely non-compelling "elevator" pop music. I yearn for the days when they sounded like a movable big band. I look forward to seeing them live, but I doubt that it will affect my level of enjoyment. I feel that in drum corps if you have to reach this deeply or view this many times to get it then you have already missed the key elements of what makes a drum corps performance pleasurable. I am sure that if Allentown was my first viewing and I did not have the collective benefit of your observations, I would be saying to myself WTF was that. This reminds me of when I bought season's tickets to the local symphony orchestra. I would pore over the program notes to try to understand some of the more obscure compositions. I learned and in some instances developed an appreciation, but visceral enjoyment would be a stretch. I come to a drum corps show to be thrilled by electric (not in the amplified sense) brass and percussion moments with stunning visual staging. That is not what I am getting from 2012 Blue Devils.

I much prefer 12.25 to the Dadaistic mayhem of the Blue Devils' show.

"Black Was the Color of My True Love's Hair" has always been one of my favorite drum corps arrangements. It is moody and deep with great use of tone clusters to propel it along. The solo soprano work showed great control and musicianship. Who were those guys? Never having seen it performed live, I did not know about the choreographic sound misdirection from the soloists. I have the Fleetwood recording with the Racine Scouts on the front (? Best of the Midwest) which I would recommend to any collector of noteworthy drum corps recordings.

I do not recognize the snare drummer, but above and to the right of Dave is Tom Hessney who was the the junior corps' horn instructor/arranger up until the 1969 season. He composed a unique OTL for us which he titled "A Harem" which we played in 1966 and 1967. He studied at Berklee in Boston (we stayed at their dorms in 1967 when we competed in the AL nationals) and later went on to make a name for himself in the Massachusetts marching band circuit with his Blackstone band.

Dave was a smart and crafty guy who who gave the Appleknockers junior corps goals and our sense of purpose. The corps never recovered after he put the reins down. He was a drum corps visionary when it came to organization and he left this world far too soon.

The beginning and end sounds that is.

Not Hardy.

I competed there 1970-1973. It certainly was a great showcase for drum corps on the incredibly flat stage of western Ohio. I remember being dazzled by the finals performance of the St. Paul's Scouts...very bold huge drill moves with wheels and a fast moving, exciting show which was daring and crowd -oriented with a great horn-line sound. Only one year did my corps make finals so I usually had the opportunity to check out other corps' rehearsals before finals. I remember being awe-stuck by the intensity and focus of the Anaheim Kingsmen in 1972 (one week prior to winning the first DCI championship) . Three times non-stop through their show full-tilt (company front back to the starting line for an instant re-set!) on a wilting hot afternoon. Was I surprised when they won the championship-not! Argonne Rebels in semi-circle (not sure which year)...I had never heard this type of horn-line sound with all the harmonies and counter-melodic lines sparkling! What an aural display!! It certainly made me excited to be part of this great thing called drum corps!

So, to sum it up, we have a man of Arabic ethnicity who was Shortsville Shamrock as a youth and later played with the Appleknockers and was a banker in Rochester who was married to a former TCI Geneseean and went on to co-found the Associated Junior Corps circuit (in 1967). Does anyone have a name which they can get off their tongue's tip (besides Donny)??

Donny, Are you also brooding about camel connections?

He teamed up with Larry Darch of Mighty St. Joe's and Don Daber of the Toronto Optimists to form the Associated Junior Corps circuit.