Color Pre

[wsssb]

I think the disappearance is due to the fact that marching with a Nationals Squad was competitively dangerous.

Penalties determined the outcome of many a show, and the National Squad was a penalty magnet.

There were oodles of rules (taken from the U.S. Marine Corps' drill and ceremonies manual) about crossing in front of the Nationals, what you could and couldn't do when marching alongside the National flag, etc.

I remember getting hit for a unit penalty for "the corps" being out of step. (By definition, the person holding the national flag cannot be out of step. When some phasing occurred, the judge did not tick the Nationals carrier, but instead ticked the entire rest of the corps.)

Losing a placing or two because of penalties was "less than satisfying," and show designers looked for ways to avoid the possibility.

Corps put the National Squad in the corner -- facing out of bounds -- because that was the safest place to put them. DCA corps still do this.

In DCI, when the rules no longer required a color presentation, they were gone.

[Martybucs]

When I was a kid, I always like Blessed Sac's, "Americans We" early 1960's.

[Jim Nevermann]

I believe the "Chrome Domes" did Iwo Jima in 1970 (it was on the cover of the VFW National Albums if I'm not mistaken).

The Scouts did Iwo Jima in 1976 in our Stars and Stripes opener and The Scouts Alumni did it again in 2006.

The Racine Scouts first did it when they wore conventional Scout uniforms years earlier, which would make that the early 1960s.

[HUGADA]

Thank you DCA for continuing this tradition! It was a great feeling, however, when the drum corps accented the "A" Party down the fifty, so patriotic and so drum corps and less theatrical. Keep stage productions on the stage!

[MikeD]

When I was a kid, I always like Blessed Sac's, "Americans We" early 1960's.

BS' "America, the Beautiful" was my favorite color pre.

[lp1955]

I also liked the Troopers Battle Hymn also I like the St Andrews arrangement in 72

[Martybucs]

QUOTE (Martybucs @ Dec 29 2007, 04:46 PM)

When I was a kid, I always like Blessed Sac's, "Americans We" early 1960's.

BS' "America, the Beautiful" was my favorite color pre.

Yes, a good one, but did you ever hear them play "Americans We"?

Oui?

[cabalumnidrummer]

Again, there are so many good ones to choose from, but I have two that immediately come to mind as particularly memorable. Juniors: Early 1960's, St. Kevin's Emerald Knights' "Stars and Stripes," complete with concertized ending (later also done beautifully in the 70's by Argonne Rebels). Seniors: Rochester Crusaders' 1965 "Navy Hymn."

[Gary Matczak]

I must preface this by saying that the loss of the Color Pre in Drum Corps has broken my heart.

..........we still do a Color Pre every year,.....................without question!

[Puppet]

To Puppet - the loss of Color Pre seems to have taken root because the corps that formed DCI had so much discontent for the VFW, that radical change was a foregone conclusion. In the very first year of DCI, 1972, the inspection line dissapeared and the next few years the American Flag was "cornered" rather than have our colors honored.

Oh I don't know. discontent seems to be such a strong word. IMHO I would first of all not blame it on the corps who in their naiveté joined DCI, but on the DCI Henchmen themselves. Their blatant disrespect for the all American activity as it was practiced at the time, combined with how much money running their own shows and hand picking those who would attend those show and thereby helping to line their pockets, along with how much more difficult it was to avoid the "unit penalties" mentioned earlier helped toward the demise of the Color Presentation.

Puppet