jkyeag Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 When I first heard Argonne live in '72, I couldn't believe that baroque arrangement of Love Story. What they did on the field in those days was incredible! It was pretty much the same in '73 when they came off the line with Fanfare For The New. It was like they were playing in another league altogether. The '73 book (Fanfare, Malaga, Stripes) was a quantum leap in terms of content from anything that we (or anyone else) had put on the field,....a bunch of 16+ year olds pushing valves and rotors. At the time, it largely went unrewarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 The '73 book (Fanfare, Malaga, Stripes) was a quantum leap in terms of content from anything that we (or anyone else) had put on the field,....a bunch of 16+ year olds pushing valves and rotors. At the time, it largely went unrewarded. I remember sitting there watching them in 73 at Whitewater we had a break and they were just down the road a bit. Talk about ahead of the times what a horn line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Drum Corps Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I wouldnt say that the horn book was unrewarded at all. The horn line WAS the corps in those years if I can recollected correctly. I seem to remember that you were winning or placing well in that specific caption all season. The drum line was NOT a contender and I dont think that the marching captions were at the top level of competition either, however the horns carried the corps into finals. That horn line of 1973 will be remembered! The book stood out over everyone else as being more difficult than everyone else and CLEANER than most. The first time I heard it, I could not believe my ears. Donny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkyeag Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I wouldnt say that the horn book was unrewarded at all. The horn line WAS the corps in those years if I can recollected correctly. I seem to remember that you were winning or placing well in that specific caption all season. The drum line was NOT a contender and I dont think that the marching captions were at the top level of competition either, however the horns carried the corps into finals. The '73 book was not well received or understood by the judging community until a later date. The content was substantial enough to reek havoc across all captions, and to force a late July Vince Bruni rewrite (total) of the drill. The instructions to Vince were simple. Get the horns into the stands. Were it not for Vince, we would not have made finals. Although it may appear that I have taken us on a tangent, this does all tie back to earlier posts in this thread. The musicall evolution of the early '70s was rapid and perhaps unparalleled in the history of the activity. As for Argonne, that was it. We would not be around to reap the benefits of the scoring evolution. We did, however, send you a pretty good judge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Although it may appear that I have taken us on a tangent, this does all tie back to earlier posts in this thread. The musicall evolution of the early '70s was rapid and perhaps unparalleled in the history of the activity. As for Argonne, that was it. We would not be around to reap the benefits of the scoring evolution. We did, however, send you a pretty good judge. Back to 1971: I was a HS grad in 1971 when I marched in Garfield, but I was amazed at the quality of sound put out by that hornline when they opened the show with "B&B Favorites". They got a 19.0 in horn execution at VFW's...the next highest was only an 18.3 (SCV...who won the show), so I guess I wasn't the ONLY one amazed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkyeag Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Back to 1971: I was a HS grad in 1971 when I marched in Garfield, but I was amazed at the quality of sound put out by that hornline when they opened the show with "B&B Favorites". They got a 19.0 in horn execution at VFW's...the next highest was only an 18.3 (SCV...who won the show), so I guess I wasn't the ONLY one amazed! We also took (what is now) high brass in 1970 at VFW in Miami and were going back and forth with the GREAT (I do mean GREAT) Kilties hornline in 1969. I think we took prelims in horns, they won finals (both the US Open and VFW). Another tangent? NO. What the Kilties and Kenny Norman did in the late 60s was as significant as anything in driving the early 70s musical evolution in drum corps. BTW, you can see Kenny's fingerprints all over our early 70's charts, including Stripes and B&B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Right you are. There's Norman DNA in almost every brass chart anybody wrote for the past 40 years, whether they know it or not. He's a bona fide genius, period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.C. Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Right you are. There's Norman DNA in almost every brass chart anybody wrote for the past 40 years, whether they know it or not. He's a bona fide genius, period. What a wonderful and fitting tribute! Kenny is indeed "the man'!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkyeag Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Mrs. Opie has always been in a league of her own as instructor and adjudicator. She influenced everybody in drum corps who had ears and a desire to become a better teacher, including Wayne, all the Jimmys (Elvord, Wedge, Wren, Ott, Prime), Gail Royer, Jack Meehan, yours truly and every other Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice on the drum corps planet.After viewing the '72 films it becomes fairly clear that the outcomes of the show would be different judged by today's standards. Those groups that would move up include Argonne. I believe they did win brass that night but were not nearly as competitive in visual or drums in the tick system. In fact, their percussion writing was far more "musical" than most of the corps that finished higher, but far less rudimental. And as for drill, their presentation of the music (a/k/a "staging") was absolutely first rate, but went largely unrewarded under the old system. All of this points to their being ahead of the curve. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I guess we could say that drum corps is not dead! Drum Corps has taken some turns and we've lost many corps but drum corps in general are stronger today than before. 1971 was a year prior to the start of DCI which in my opinion helped corps grow as an entertainment art form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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