PJS53

I've been hoping that something like this would happen for a long time. Then I move 350 miles away from Chicago. Well, I've got to figure out a way to participate but I ain't carrying no stinking tympani!!! Actually I blew in a message to Rich (Blue Rock) Gortowski to see if he could sneak me some third sop parts. That, I may be able to handle. Maybe the wife will let me go play with the boys if I promise to get down to my marching weight. By the way Paul, I have a primo condition TDR if needed. I don't really want to sell it but the corps could have it on a loan basis.

And wasn't it the Knights of Kewanee (sp?) prior to Geneseo?

Congrats guys, this should be an unbelievable experience for the fans. Can't wait to hear you in Madtown.

Glad to hear he's back safe. Forrest has taken the term "drum corps nut" to a new level! Hope he's got some old stock left. I need a couple more blindfolded Bridgemen snares.

Maybe the UP corps faded from the scene because they couldn't use snowmobiles to haul pit equipment onto the field. :)

I understand that's a title that some other corps refer to it. Iowa is the correct title but frankly I think "Shoes.." is hilarious. Maybe I'm just old school but I like the three bass version better. :P

As an aside and reference to the old Ludwig days. During the time that Ludwig was self owned and based in Chicago they had significant input from top marching/corps guys both within the company and as clinicians. Both Rogers and Slingerland took a bite out of them in the late 60's to early 70's with their improved marching lines (Dynasonic series for Rogers and Slingy TDR). After the buyout by Selmer and subsequent move to NC coupled with the introduction of the import companies they have been playing catch up ever since. I think that because they have maintained good market share in the scholastic areas the incentive to be more creative and do better marketing in both the marching and drumset areas has suffered signigicantly. If they want to get back in the game (which I would love to see) they need to take a close look at product development and get serious about marketing to the big boys.

It was a great show and as you noted as superb brass line. Cavaliers happened to peak at the right time and were able to put it all together for the win.

I must admit I'm a bit surprised by the number of posts saying Muchachos should have won in 75. They certaintly had an entertaining and popular show but I really doubt that they were up to a first place finish. Just curious if those who voted that way actually saw them in 75 and the other top runners? I think to a large degree the popularity of the 75 corps as been clouded by years of mystique and the ever popular "what would have happened if?" theme. Please don't take this as a bashing of the corps and I don't want to re-start the whole controversy for the umpteenth time but I think the right corps won that night.

It's been some time since I've been closely involved with any corps but I would have to agree so far with the posters who say that Blue Stars are at the top of this list. They were that way when I marched and still were when my son marched in 98-99.

I recently discoverd this thread and was very impressed by the overall quality of discussion. Mr. Wilkinson has offered some excellent insight on tympani performance. I would strongly encourage any students or corps instructional staff to take advantage of his generous offer to share his expertise.

If I'm reading you guys right so far you're saying that if we had corps snare tech Mr. X tune all 4 brands of drums with the exact same heads and tensions you CAN tell the difference? That is pretty interesting. I'll tell you that from sitting in the stands I seem to prefer the sound of corps using Yamaha snares more often than not. Personally I could care less what manufacturer they buy from and often I don't even know until the guys get close enough to the front line for my old eyes to check them out. The points about tenors and basses are interesting but for the purpose of this discussion I was kind of focusing on snare sounds. Thanks for the input and further comments are welcomed.

For you folks who are marching, instructing, or recently retired I'd like to ask a question. I notice that I am usually more attracted to the sound of one particular drum companies product.I'll hold that back for a while so as not to influence your thoughts. My question is this. Do different drum brands actually produce a different sound or is it mor a matter of tuning and heads? Can you make a Premier sound like a Yamaha or a Dynasty sound like a Pearl? It seems to me that with the kevlar heads on what are all essentially free floating shells there shouldn't be much of a difference. Since tuning is cranked up to high levels I don't imagine that shell material would be much of a factor since the resonance of the shell seems to be out of the picture. I know everyone has hardware preferences etc. but from purely the standpoint of sound what do you think?

The Troopers Are Coming The Contest (Cavaliers in the 60's the soundtrack is Larry McCormick playing drumset) Brass Roots When Drum Corps Was Really Drum Corps (first two tapes. It features the Cavs but also has pre-DCI film of several competitiors and lots of stories about the old days)

Memorable firsts: Cavaliers drumline in a parade circa 65/66 Troopers Sunburst 1972 SCV 1972

It's fun to be on the other side of the coin too. A number of years back I was flying somewhere on business. There was a young guy wearing a Blue Stars jacket waiting for the flight at the gate. I introduced myself and we had a nice conversation about corps. I ended up buying the kid a coke and we had a nice chat while waiting for the flight. I think he was on his way home after a winter camp if memory serves right.

1994 27th Lancers. I know it's already been mentioned but the whole idea of a company front is to create a strong emotional response. It wasn't the best executed ever and you knew it was coming but was there a dry eye in the stadium when they hit that front?

Holy Cripes! I lived long enough to see Harotwicz hit 50. Welcome to the club kid!

Dang another topic gets sidetracked. Can you guys possibly move the theory debate to another thread?

I believe it was in 1999 Blue Stars did a move they called "the Tornado". It was the most ambitious thing I've ever seen a small corps do. I don't think they had more than about 25 kids in the hornline and they made it work. Just goes to show that small corps can do some really inventive things if the creative minds go to work on it.

Completely agree.

Yes indeed, a very good and often overlooked corps. My memory of the Imperials goes back to 1974. We had just returned from DCI and feeling pretty good about ourselves for not only making it back into finals after the disaster of 73 but actually moving up some. Our last big show was to be VFW Nationals in Chicago. We fully expected to snooze through prelims and finals and take home a trophy just for showing up. Then started to hear some rumours about this corps and that they were pretty darn good and of course would love nothing better than to take a nationals right in our own home town. At that time we had to change parts of our show to conform to VFW rules and started to realize that there would be no snoozing if we wanted to win this show. I don't remember seeing them prior to the VFW Parade but it became clear that they would be gunning for us. I remember a buddy of mine saying "we are supposed to beat these guys right?". Well, I don't remember the final score but we did win Nationals that year. However, the attitude some of us had about the "Imperials of Where?" changed dramatically after that.

Nice meeting you too. I seem to recall a similar incident with Hartowicz and one of the guys from Madison. It was a real duel with Chris claiming that he could do anything the Scouts could do with the "wimp" rifles. Regarding the arm thing, I think I have a photo from the 1971 show with the rifles doing that move. One arm was straight up in the air. If I remember right Steve Suslik was in front. Haven't found that pic in my archives but it could be buried in an old program book or something like that.

I think MJ Harry hit on an important point. As corps started hiring more "professional" staff from outside their own region, those staff members brought their students with them. I think this started in the early to mid 70's. More college aged people also started marching for the first time instead of growing up in the local corps. A nineteen or twenty year old is a lot more likely to take on the adventure of traveling outside their home state than a 15 year old. Add to this mix the increased credibility that came to the drum corps scene as the activity matured and we started playing "serious music" brought people in who previously would have had little interest in marching in drum corps.

One of the yearbooks had a cartoon showing a rifle spinning in orbit and down on earth the caption bubble said "Ok Hartowicz now let's see you catch it". That boy was a gorilla at throwing the old "real" rifle. I think he would admit he loved to show-off a bit to some of the other rifle lines that were using the "toy" rifles.