JimF-LowBari Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) Discovered DCP about the time the Bb stuff hit the fan. During the "discussions" saw a lot of "you're just against change" posts being made. Someone then started a thread on what had changed in corps since they discovered it. Recently saw a few "you don't like change/want to keep things the way they used to be" in some posts so figure it's time for a repeat performance of the "What Changed" topic. Intended as a way to let the younger folks know what changes we "long timers" have seen and accepted. I'll list my biggest (IMO) from each section. Horns - upright valves (going to 2v was bigger than adding third valve) Guard - dance instead of marching with corps Drums - Pit and more use of bell type instruments. Edited February 5, 2008 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDtraps91 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I started when I was 10 yrs old. in 1981 and, with a handful of years off, aged out in 1992. I saw three changes in judging systems. All for the worse IMHO. Less responsibility on the players to actually play cleanly and less responsibility on the judges to actually know how to differentiate between fuzz and clean. Along with this goes the change from mylar drum heads (Ludwig Silver Dots and the like) to Kevlar ( First Duraline heads in early '80's to the later Remo heads). As for the brass changes, not being a brass player, but a huge brass fan (especially since I aged out in B.D. '91-'92) those changes made more sense to me because they allowed for a more chromatic passages and more keys. In fact I remember in 1992 at rehearsal hearing the contra bass walking lines in "El Congo Valiente" with a bunch of gaps because they hadn't received the 3 valve horns yet. I can see however to a traditional brass player, how this could be considered as taking the challenge of playing a piston or single valve horn away too. Last big change for me and the one that I really think hurt for me, was the change from picking four or 5 good songs regardless of style and using them for your show. The change to a "Thematic" show I think forced arrangers and designers to have to find music that fit together, sometimes even forcing the issue to make it seem like it fit. I've often said that DCI should sanction a "Best of " year and require all of the top 12 (at least) to perform a best of show consisting of their most popular charts going back in their history. Maybe that would shake up the competition aspect, but more so I think it would bring a large fan base of us semi-old timers back to check it out and might refresh the corps arrangers about what melody song form is! I'm sure there's more rattling around in my head, but I should let someone else have their say. Flame away if you must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_7 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I marched through the change from 13.5 minute shows to 11.5 to accommodate CDs. At least it used to be a penalty if you went longer than 13.5 minutes. Changed to a penalty at 12.5 minutes (not too clear on the details after this long). I remember touring from June 1st till August 24th. Now tours are at least two weeks shorter. I started on chrome 2 valve horns. And started seeing the beginings of 3 valve horns, and a migration to silver plate. I remember not knowing if we were gonna make it past quarter finals (top 25) my rookie year. Which was not a concern my age out year as there were only 24 corps left in that division. I haven't really followed the activity much since I was a marching member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liebot Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) Back in my day there were these things called Divisions 1, 2, and 3. None of this World Class crap. Back in my day amps could only be used for voice and pit instruments. We didn't need mics to play our brass instruments. Back in my day there were enough Division 2 corps to fill all the slots in finals. Now they've changed its name to Open Class so it's less obvious that their part of the activity is dying. Back in my day people complained about George Hopkins constantly. Edited February 6, 2008 by TSRTS13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutasaurus Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 When I marched, candles were used to light stadiums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old School Contra Guy Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 When I marched, candles were used to light stadiums You had lights ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) .. Edited February 5, 2008 by DrillmanSop06 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob J Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'll play When I started the judges counted mistakes, and took of .1 from your score for each one, although that changed during my marching years. There were only 5 members in the pit, and their instruments were very much like the ones carried on the field a few years earlier. The drums had mylar heads, though I think they were experimenting with kevlar. The bugles were in the key of G, had 2 upright valves, and were chrome plated, although we had those nice King contras that were silverplate by the time I aged out. Colorguards marched, danced and spun, tossed etc. all kinds of equipment, less dancing than you see today though. Drills had a lot of semetry to them, but a lot of assemetric parts too. You had to stay on the field though, that really freaked me out watching a show this year. Many corps stayed pretty much between the 35s. That all changed while I marched. Oh, and the shows were between 11 1/2 and 13 minutes in length. They shot a gun off when you started the show, two shots at 11 1/2 minutes (the tics stoped tallying at that point) and a final gun at 13 minutes (if you hadn't finished, penalties started accumulating then). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Back in my day there were these things called Divisions 1, 2, and 3. None of this World Class crap.Back in my day amps could only be used for voice and pit instruments. We didn't mics to play our brass instruments. Back in my day there were enough Division 2 corps to fill all the slots in finals. Now they've changed its name to Open Class so it's less obvious that their part of the activity is dying. Back in my day people complained about George Hopkins constantly. Yeah man, you really come from "way back when"... Seriously this does fit..... Oh yeah, larger places used whale oil (aka blubber) to light the stadium. Smaller places had herds of what ever vermin were around to run in wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAvery Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Back in my day, a bad year was when we were 15th place. Now, a bad year is 3rd place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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