So, from what I've heard, the official DCI ruling that occured for the 2000 season was made to allow for the use of 3 or 4 valved brass instruments in any key, right? Please correct me if this isn't totally accurate...
If this is true, does that mean that bugles (keyed in G, one valve, two valve, piston, rotor, whatever) are still technically allowed to be used today?
I'm really interested in this because it seems to me that some corps could (or should) still use these instruments that it seems like many people miss a lot...Being a younger member who's only marched one season so far, I'd be thrilled to hear a currently active World Class corps stand out from the pack because they're using a hornline filled with bugles. That may seem odd to some people, seeing as the major debate concerning bugles seems to be between the older fans who marched with them and the younger fans who have been doing just fine with Bb horns.
If the reason why every corps switched away from bugles since 2000 is for financial reasons, there are definitely a number of corps out there that could afford to replace their hornline with bugles for one or more seasons. I don't doubt that most of the top 12 corps could do that fairly easily (maybe they don't NEED to get new uniforms one year?) Heck, I think it would be way cool just to see a soloist in a corps using a bugle. I'm 99% certain ANY corps out there could get their hands on just one bugle if they wanted to do this. I'm pretty jealous of all you guys out there that got to sit in front of dudes screaming away on real sops! haha..
But if I'm wrong about the ruling and it was actually a matter of outlawing the use of the older instruments, then it would be obvious why we don't see/hear them anymore.
Thanks to anyone who can contribute some information about this!