Marching Keyboards

[dusti]

Gary Gilroy is the band director at Fresno State. My niece just graduated from there and her mother (my sister) had marched in BD with Gary.

If l am not mistaken, wasnt the first corp to use marching mallets xylophone the 1969 Boston Crusaders. I beileve they took a 2 point penalty for it in the VFW Nat Prelims.

[Michael Boo]

If l am not mistaken, wasnt the first corp to use marching mallets xylophone the 1969 Boston Crusaders. I beileve they took a 2 point penalty for it in the VFW Nat Prelims.

At one time I heard that Racine Scouts march a bell lyre even before that. Does anyone remember that?

Boston took a synthesizer out on the field many years ago. Anyone remember what year?

[KeithHall]

Jann Williams was a great percussion composer and taught at UB for years. He was an avant garde kinda guy.

Is this the guy?

Musicians in Buffalo ca 1979

[KeithHall]

Maelstrom is still going headed by John Bacon. John played snare with the Royal Coachmen in the mid 70's when he was 12 or 13, very talented. He teaches at SUNY Fredonia and also has a jazz group in the Buffalo area too.

Gotta concur with Z here, it was definitely Tom in 77 and 78. Not sure what he played in 77, but he played the Musser B major Etude in 78 with only slight alterations for the shorter keyboard. He did it C grip, too. That's a beast of a piece. Think he scored a 98. The guy's a monster percussionist. Just got back in touch with Tom after many years. He's doing well in Ohio, was practicing law and now working with a law related internet firm. Had major problems with his wrist and stopped playing for a long time but he's getting back into it now, so look out for flying mallets!

That picture from Buffalo is a classic, a truly talent packed pic with John Bergamo (later my teacher at Cal Arts) and Jan Williams, long time percussion director at SUNY Buffalo. That was back in the Maelstrom Percussion Quartet days, one of the better percussion groups ever, also including Mark Marchant, another Erie T-Bird and Philharmonic guy who sadly passed away last year. Pretty sure that picture was from the time Maelstrom played one of John's hand drumming compositions for him called Piru Bole. He still regards that as one of his favorite performances of the piece.

Gary Gilroy is a great player too and he took second a few years in a row as I recall. He definitely deserved a win in there somewhere. Think he's a band director in Northern Cal these days.

[JimF-LowBari]

At one time I heard that Racine Scouts march a bell lyre even before that. Does anyone remember that?

Boston took a synthesizer out on the field many years ago. Anyone remember what year?

Thought one of the Scouts (Madison/Racine) had bells of some type but couldn't use them at VFW in the late 60s or so.

Bah-ston - drum solo with synth was "Axel F' from Eddie Murpheys "Beverly Hills Cop" movie (too lazy to look up year).

1970 Racine (what is it about Racine? ) Boys of '76 Sr corps used a set of bells at DCA. First Sr use that I am aware of. Most Senior corps had bells by mid-70s.

Edit (as long as we're on the subject): Scout House Alumni Band (yes, they call it a band) from Preston, Ont still uses the upright marching glocks with the single stick. Totally different sound from any horozontal mallet instrument. They have been at the DCA Alumni show for the last few years and one of my favs.

Edited May 29, 2008 by JimF-3rdBari

[Gary Matczak]

Thought one of the Scouts (Madison/Racine) had bells of some type but couldn't use them at VFW in the late 60s or so.

Bah-ston - drum solo with synth was "Axel F' from Eddie Murpheys "Beverly Hills Cop" movie (too lazy to look up year).

1970 Racine (what is it about Racine? ) Boys of '76 Sr corps used a set of bells at DCA. First Sr use that I am aware of. Most Senior corps had bells by mid-70s.

Edit (as long as we're on the subject): Scout House Alumni Band (yes, they call it a band) from Preston, Ont still uses the upright marching glocks with the single stick. Totally different sound from any horozontal mallet instrument. They have been at the DCA Alumni show for the last few years and one of my favs.

"bugle bells" were very commonly used in the 40's and 50's...............the one I have only has eight bars in one row,.............. bugle notes

[JimF-LowBari]

"bugle bells" were very commonly used in the 40's and 50's...............the one I have only has eight bars in one row,.............. bugle notes

So what category of DCA I&E would that come under.

Seriously, do you know of any recordings of corps using the bugle bells?

[tommytimp]

Bah-ston - drum solo with synth was "Axel F' from Eddie Murpheys "Beverly Hills Cop" movie (too lazy to look up year).

1985.

[MikeD]

1970 Racine (what is it about Racine? ) Boys of '76 Sr corps used a set of bells at DCA. First Sr use that I am aware of. Most Senior corps had bells by mid-70s.

I think The Sunrisers tried to use them in 69...weren't they the same set that BAC used (for most of their shows, anyway) after Sun was not allowed to use them? I think...and this is also quite a tenuous memory...that both were taught by Gerry Shellmer.

[HornsUp]

"Bells" were always permitted in the VFW rules. There were some corps using them until the early 60s, notably both the Madison and Racine Scouts. They used chromatic bell lyres, while some feeder units used the diatonic "bugle bells" that Gary M mentioned. Preston Scout House deployed Jenco alto glockenspiels, which were pitched an octave lower than the standard set, and had tubular resonators parallel to the keys.

At least FOUR junior corps fielded marching keyboards during the 1969 season. Boston's rig was the most famous - it consisted of vibraphone bars mounted on a heavy wooden frame. The next season, the same hardware was used in DCA by the Sunrisers.

The Kilties took a Jenco alto glock and mounted it on a flatjack carrier, and marched it for a few weeks. In late June, the VFW's Tony Schlecta was guest of honor at Racine's "Drum Corps Day" and spotted the contraption. He had a conniption.

When it was pointed out that bells were in the VFW's rules, he interpreted that to be for "bugle bells" only. That incident pretty much doomed the use of marching keyboards by anyone at Nationals.

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Kingsmen harnessed up a boxful of orchestra bells. These can be heard on their intro to the concert number on the World Open recording. They stayed on the truck at Nats.

And the Nisei Ambassadors slung a bell lyre horizontally, and featured it prominently in "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads".

The Kilties' setup was marched at 1970 DCA by the Boys of '76, and in 1974 returned to the field as a legal instrument with the Kilties. A low-volume instrument, it is difficult to discern on recordings.