Summer of '71

[fecontra]

To some extent both AL and VFW were promoting more GE, but they were doing it in different ways.

AL was giving 30 points credit to GE (VFW was still at 10 points) when I starting marching in the Cavaliers in 1970. Our staff used to lament to us that the Troopers were "dancing" and getting too much GE credit for it. The Troopers rifle line did a short square dance after intentionally grounding (putting down) their rifles. The crowd loved it, and our staff thought the Troopers were getting too much GE scoring because of one simple square dance. In truth, the Troopers were just better than us that year, in most captions.

But with our devotion to execution above almost all else, we (the Cavaliers) felt we were going to continue to get the short end of the scoring stick if we did not start adding more GE to our shows. With AL devoting an almost unheard of 30 POINTS to GE, and with the Troopers beating us at VFW simply because the judges were giving them too much credit (outside the confines of the sheets, in the opinion of our staff) for one simple square dance, we decided to go for much more GE. We were also mad because we perceived that we were treated somewhat unfairly during VFW prelims in 1970 (a looong story).

Don Angelica, who later dominated the evolution of GE/creativity in DCI, was already extremely influential in the AL/VFW judging circles, and his personal desire to give more credit to GE and content was factoring in to the scoring, whether it was allowed for "on the sheets" or not.

So, somewhat out of spite, somewhat out of fear, and somewhat out of "Anything you can do we can do better!" we decided to go all out in 1971 and win with execution AND much more GE. Unfortunately, we had a subpar hornline and a drill that was not complex enough behind all the GE "antics" that we had in the show in 1971. So, after winning the first half of the season, our lack of horns and lack of drill complexity started to get noticed by the judges and we dropped off the map.

The next year we over-reacted again and went to a mid-60s traditional show (and had a lot of staff turnover and rookies) and got dumped even further. Add to all that the fact that we weren't yet a touring corps and by 1973 we were out of finals. Most of it was our own fault, truth be told.

Madison figured out the new reality sooner than we did with their stellar rise to power in 1973. We didn't figure it out until 1976 (somewhat) and then lost it again until the mid-80s. Only the strength of our management and alumni allowed us to survive beyond where a lot of previously dominant corps from the 60s did (Blessed Sac, Blue Rock, St. Joe's, Des Plaines, Kilts, etc.). God rest their souls . . .

Thanks Paul for this explanation, and everyone else for this tremendous thread.

I couldn't believe the 1966 Cavaliers, IMHO the show was revolutionary, but done within the confines of current rules. The crazy drill, sectional solos, tenors with snare sticks, soloists from another universe, and still to me the greatest arrangement of " Somewhere " left me disbelieving how great corps could be! The American Legion Nationals in DC that year to this day remains one of the greatest events I have ever been in person to!

It surprised me that ten years later the Cavaliers appeared ( to me ) to be more rudimental in design and how could that be?

Thanks for the insight!

Edited February 16, 2009 by fecontra

[Puppet]

Thanks Paul for this explanation, and everyone else for this tremendous thread.

I couldn't believe the 1966 Cavaliers, IMHO the show was revolutionary, but done within the confines of current rules. The crazy drill, sectional solos, tenors with snare sticks, soloists from another universe, and still to me the greatest arrangement of " Somewhere " left me disbelieving how great corps could be! The American Legion Nationals in DC that year to this day remains one of the greatest events I have ever been in person to!

It surprised me that ten years later the Cavaliers appeared ( to me ) to be more rudimental in design and how could that be?

Thanks for the insight!

Was that the year the Cavaliers blew up MCormick Place during the VFW Nationals? Their show - it was either '66 or '65 blew me away. 'Course St. Kevin's was awesome, too during that era.

Puppet

[lupin]

was that the summer of love?

[Puppet]

was that the summer of love?

Dude! The "Summer Of Love" was 1969. Don't you talk to your folks?

Puppet

[amadorj]

Excellent observation. From my vantage point having competed the previous five seasons, it seemed to me that the move toward the "total show" concept was an inevitability since the activity had reached a level of achievement with the existing VFW and AL rules such that the upper levels of the activity were in danger of becoming trite and stale.

As an example of what I perceived, the 1966 and 1967 Cavaliers had really perfected the old drum corps show blueprint of the finely tuned execution machine. The time had come to move the the next level of creativity... enter Santa Clara Vanguard. Certainly, the touring model which this corps had to use because of travel distances to find high level competition was a necessary factor in attaining this next level. I would also add that there was a deeper level of musicianship evident in their sound wherein the players on the harmony and counter melodic parts needed to be stronger than in the past. In the prior drum corps show model you could get by with strong players on the lead melody lines and the weaker inner players to add beef with simpler parts. The SCV model would not work with the old structure corps with less rehearsal time. Hence, the changes became inevitable.

You are so right. I marched with SCV starting with the Sparks (1966) and watched the corps develop till I last marched in 1972. I know that there was no way I could continue with the group as the talent of the kids each year kept going up. Kids joining with talent like Robbie Carson (snare) went from being the exception to being the norm. I know for a fact that I would not have been marching in '72 other than that I joined (actually drafted by Gail Royer) early on with the corps when they were looking for anyone with a warm body and could throw a horn in their hands. The long tours allow us the time to bond and work as a group which is hard if you only practice and work out of a hall like many of the old mid-west corps did at that time. The other factor that really came out for us at that time was the team Gail put together in Pete Emmons (M&M), Fred Sanford (Drums), and assorted other instructors (Jack Mehan, Mike Moxley, Don Angelica, Bob Kalkoffen, Gary "Chops" Czapinski, Wayne Downey, Curt Moore, etc...) almost sounded like a DCI Hall of Fame list.

J. Amador '66-'72 SCV

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Edited February 17, 2010 by amadorj

[Geneva]

You are so right. I marched with SCV starting with the Sparks (1966) and watched the corps developed till I last marched in 1972. I know that there was no way I could continue with the group as the talent of the kids each year kept going up. Kids joining with talent like Robbie Carson (snare) went from being the exception to being the norm. I know for a fact that I would not have been marching in '72 other than the fact that I joined (actually drafted by Gail Royer) early on with the corps when they were looking for anyone with a warm body and threw a horn in their hands. The long tours allow us the time to bond and work as a group which is hard if you only practice and work out of a hall like many of the old mid-west corps at that time. The other factor that really came out for us at that time was the team Gail put together in Pete Emmons (M&M), Fred Sanford (Drums), and assorted other instructors (Jack Mehan, Mike Moxley, Bob Kalkoffen, Wayne Downey, Curt Moore, etc...) almost sounded like a DCI Hall of Fame list.

J. Amador '66-'72 SCV

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jesse, thanks for the insider's perspective on what was occurring during this important time of transition in the activity. I agree that the end result was a positive for the musical and performance aspects of the activity. The unfortunate (in some ways) side effect was that it transformed from a constructive and powerful youth activity that developed young musicians to a performance activity for individuals with a fair amount of pre-existing musical sophistication.

[Geneva]

Fleetwood's 5.0 LP has been mentioned serveral times in this thread. I have to admit that I had not heard it in many years. At the encouragement of one of my buddies, I just purchased a copy from Fleetwood at:

http://www.fleetwoodsounds.com:80/catalog/...products_id=466

Most do not realize that the recordings include (what appears to be) a prepared statement from Ray Baumgardt regarding the Madison Scouts and an eight minute interview with Sandra Opie regarding Argonne and the current state of the activity. The interview was conducted between the 1971 and 1972 seasons, and was on the heels of Argonne's 19.0/5.0 brass performance at the VFW National Championship. I believe it was after the Uniformed Group Congress meeting in Indianappolis.

Sandra's interview was very revealing. You can sense her frustration with the drum corps establishment. It touches most everything discussed in this thread including:

- The different interprepretions of the "Total Show" concept (themed show vs. a musically integrated presentation);

- Musical staging/drill design;

- Corps unwillingness to put the advancement of the activity above their own betterment (the beat the sheets mentality);

- The '68 and '69 Kilties;

- The realization that judging would need to dramatically improve; and

- The sheets would need to be modified to lift restrictions, and reward what was happening on the field.

By listening to the 5.0 interview, watching the '72 DCI Championship show, and reading Jeff Mitchell's post on the Evolution of Scoring Performance (twenty+ years after the fact), you can get a pretty good feel for what was going on in the early 70's. This period was clearly THE crossroads for the activity.

Thanks for pointing me to this recording. I will have to check it out. Argonne, on the 1972 DCI recording, what a great bugling performance! I remember watching you rehearse the afternoon before U.S. Open finals that season and being blown away by the musicality if the line without sacrificing impact. You were the first 50 member horn line which I ever heard and it was the expansiveness of the melodic and counter-melodic lines and harmonies so well played that just made the line sound huge. Great memories!

[breezemont]

What a great thread.

Thank you all.

[Scerpella]

If this hasnt already been pointed this out, 1971 was also the only year before 2005 that Madison would have a female performer in their program. It was a great year to begin a drum corps career.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Scerpella

[Puppet]

If this hasnt already been pointed this out, 1971 was also the only year before 2005 that Madison would have a female performer in their program. It was a great year to begin a drum corps career.

this may be the one pertinent answer to this whole thread. '71 wasn't the end for Anaheim or the Blue Devils or certainly many others.

Read a lot about the mid west and west here, but '71 -'72 was moving in new directions in the east - Running on the field, fight, smoke bombs from where I marched. Garfield's Peace sign - The Bridgemen and Muchachos would continue to work their way up the DCi ranks and Phantom was surely waiting in the wings - if you want to talk about what really fell off during the years following '72 and pretty much for the rest of the decade with the exceptions of PR taking a few chances, Madison, DeLaSalle and a few way down the ranks.

Musically for drum corps was the same as music in the rest of the world. The seventies took second place to innovations in drill and building drum lines and so forth. And wasn't there a bunch of movement regarding G vs. Bb & piston placement, then 2 pistons and then 3 and full Bb change over - what a mess that must have been - makes one wish he could go back and be 10 years old in 1979 with the knowledge that their would be a corps starting up from Indiana in '85!

Drum Corps didn't die in 1971. It just took a long nap from '73 until '79.

Puppet

Edited May 5, 2009 by Puppet