KeithHall

Hoechster Schlossgarde from Hoechst< Germany near Frankfurt

Some NY ones St. Johnsburg Blue Sabres Red Raiders Red Berets Queensmen 71st Lancers Lakeview Shoreliners Imperial Regiment Royal Coachmen Frontiersmen Lake Shorettes Rhythmettes Dunkirk Patriots Hamburg Kingsmen Murray Hosemen Getzville Suburban Knights Those were just Western NY corps, I think there was one from Jamestown named Gypsy something.

Could this be Regimente Militaire? I see the Bleu Raeders bus BUT I believe they merged with someother corps to form Regimente Militaire.

I was just thinking, even with 14 high school kids strumming guitars in guitar class, (they all know how to play the beginning of Sweet Home Alabama), thank God I don't teach this class. Anyways......I was reminiscing to a time when we used to go to Junior shows and we competed against Seneca Optimists Oakland Crusaders Flying Dutchmen Midlanders Opti Knights Krescendos Precious Blood Cardinals Man! Think of the kick butt Senior corps Now add Guelph Royalaires, Niagara Regionnaires....too bad no one took advantage of that.

I can't believe I forgot you guys!!! I just think of you as a NY corps since we were always at the same shows with ES and Brigs, I am sorry. I'm dumb some times. Well, there were several corps in the Toronto area and the Kitchener area too.

I don't believe I bashed DCI at all. I was just saying that DCA has been growing and that's a GREAT thing!!! Oh yeah, GO CRU!!!

I agree they work hard, that isn't the issue. The issue is this (once again): Look at the numbers of corps that participated in DCI, US Open, A-I Open, etc back "in the day" and then look at 1977 until now and tell me that there is growth in junior corps. By the way, my name is Keith or Mr. Hall, nowhere in my screen name do I have Dude.

Add Belvederes Saints Meadowlarks Kingston Indians Monarchs Gauchos Midlanders Firefighters/Seneca Princemen Lasalle cadets Chordaliers Mello-Dears "...and the band played on...."

DCA id definitely growing. Six corps competed at the first DCA Championships in Millford, CT 1. Reading Buccaneers...............84.50 2. CT Hurricanes........................84.36 3. NY Skyliners..........................83.16 4. Yankee Rebels.......................80.25 5. Interstatesmen......................79.95 6. Pittsburgh Rockets.................76.95 This year there will be how many? Here are the # of participating corps through the years 1966....10 1967....10 1968....18 1969....10 1970....15 71........17 72........15 73........19 74........15 75........19 76........17 77........16 78........15 1987.....23 2005.....????? DCA is growing and growing all over the US, in the South, West and Mid West as well as the North. It would be nice to see Canada put something together. So many Jr corps in the 1970's...there's got to be enough up in Ontario to put together a Hot DCA corps!!!

Skokie Vanguard Norwood Park Imperials Beverly Cardinals Nisei Ambassadors St. Paul Scouts Ottawa Crusaders PAL Cadets Spectacle City Mariners Thunderbolts Queensmen Polish Falcon Cadets Oshkosh Warriors Chevaliers Southern Tier Grenadiers Windjammers Maple City Cadets Appleknockers Angels of Bellefontaine, OH 32nd Hussar etc

I guess I forgot the question mark at the end of the topic. Childish? Pathetic? Please!!!! It is a proven FACT that DCI (Jr Corps) are down in numbers. In the 70's at DCI's peak, there were at most, around 80 corps competing. How many corps total participated in DCI last week? Point made and proved. How can this be childish and pathetic? What is pathetic is that the number of junior corps have diminished to a number that worries and concerns all of us. Am I correct? Am I blaming DCI, well, sort of I guess but I am also blaming former corps directors who killed their particular corps for mismanagement, etc. Continue on!

My corps was the Royal Coachmen from North Tonawanda, NY. They died in May 1977. The previous year, August '76 the corps had just won the NT Open Class Championships and met the next morning to prepare to leave for Philadelphia. The director sat everyone down and resigned. Reason.....family and a number of parents were trying to take control. He left and then the corps got on the buses and went to Philly. We arrived and the hotel reservations were screwd up. We rehearsed briefly the next morning after getting very little sleep, did prelims and did a boring show and ended up 16th or something. About a week later, the director returned and we began preparing for the 77 season. Rehearsals were pretty good. The hornline wasn't as big as the year before (we had 36), we only had 30. In May of 1977, the director resigned again. The person who took over the corps decided to merge with a local corps called the Frontiersmen. I never understood what happened, but we gave up our name, our uniforms and became the Frontiersmen. It was a huge let down for all of us who had been with the corps for 4 or more years. To this day I'm not sure who to blame. So that's my story...how 'bout yours.

I was there for that show LOL!!! Royal Crusaders were doing the saloon portion, members in white pants sitting on the ground LOL. I believe they couldn't even finish the show because of the downpour.

The amount of corps in North America has dropped so much since...lets, say...1977 that it is dying a slow death. Yes it has evolved BUT .....

This was brought up in the Historical area, so I brought it over. As DCI dies this slow death and DCA grows, I believe that we will look to the Senior circuit to keep the activity growing. What do you all think?

DCA....The savior of the drum and bugle corps activity! I like that idea. I will take that over to the DCA side of DCP and see what happens.

I just would like someone who has time to research the amount of corps in the 70's, when did the number begin to decrease? I say after 1976. Did the addition of DCI sanctioned competitions drive corps to compete more out of state, thereby folding corps due to financial issues. Corps that wanted to be competitive had to compete at certain shows in order to "be seen" by as many DCI judges as possible. Whadya think?

It began to die after the 1976 season....a very, very sllloooowww death!!!! Look at my post

This is not a tribute to The Alan Parsons Project! The Decline of Drum and Bugle Corps. What happened? Who's at fault? I bought this wonderful book on the History of Drum and Bugle Corps and found it crammed with scores and stories, etc. So I turn to page 255 to see how many corps competed through the years. 1972, 39 corps competed in Open Class 1973, 48 " " " " " 1974, 57 1975, 46 in Open, 19 Class A, 10 All Girl Total 75 1976, 47 Open, 25 A Class, 9 AG for a total of 81 1977, 44 Open, 26 A Class, 7 AG for a total of 77 and then by 1990 -25 Div I, 19 Div II, Div III 23 Total 67 2001 - 23 Div I, 5 Div II, Div III 12 Total 40 So as I was looking at corps participation and find the big year was 1976. Not sure when the DCI regionals began such as DCI East, West, North , Canada, etc. My belief was that as DCI gained more control of shows it forced corps to tour more extensively, including the smaller corps. These smaller corps tried this and due to directors who had no idea how to handle finances and lost money, saw their corps die. These same smaller corps could survive before because they didn't travel extensively. They traveled within their state or to states next to them but not on a tour. It was weekend drum corps! That's why there were so many corps in the 60's and early 70's. Most corps got on buses Saturday morning, traveled to a show, rehearsed, competed and went home. In the Royal Coachmen (NY), we rehearsed on Tuesday and Thursday, and did the Saturday routine. In 1976, we traveled to DCI in Philly. We also did US Open and A-I Open too. We never went on the road for weeks. Look at the Jr. corps scene now...how many jr corps are there? I don't know how many total are competing this week. Anyone? I'm not going to blame DCI BUT if they were more attentive to what was happening in North America this could've been dealt with better, and maybe we would see more corps today. Add your opinions please.