JimF-LowBari Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 In senior corps around that time, both Eric Perriloux of the Skyliners, and Les Parks of the Caballeros experimented with snare tenors. Sky actually used them more successfully than we did. I believe Les only tried them for one season with us around 1966 or '67. For that matter, they may not have ever used them on the field during a competitive season. Also read in Hostory of Drum Corps that Westshoremen-Bonnie Scots used them in 1965(?) under John Flowers. Unfortunately I worked with one of them but he retired before I read about the combo, so too late to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Oz Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 In senior corps around that time, both Eric Perriloux of the Skyliners, and Les Parks of the Caballeros experimented with snare tenors. Sky actually used them more successfully than we did. I believe Les only tried them for one season with us around 1966 or '67. For that matter, they may not have ever used them on the field during a competitive season. Also read in History of Drum Corps that Westshoremen-Bonnie Scots used them in 1965(?) under John Flowers. Unfortunately I worked with one of them but he retired before I read about the combo, so too late to ask. Reading under John Flowers used "conventional" felt mallet tenors in ‘65 and ‘66. Then switched to snare sticks with felt balls (slightly smaller than a ping pong ball) glued on the end in ’67. The ’68 and ’69 tenors used large-bead snare sticks covered in moleskin. I think 1969 was the last year for tenor drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabalumnidrummer Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Thanks for the information, guys. I wasn't aware of (or sure of) the other corps that used snare tenors. Now that you mention it, I do seem to remember the Bucs with snare tenors also. Apparently it was a pretty popular thing in the mid-60's. I saw more of Sky in those days, and clearly recall how they used them into the early seventies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRUMAJOR Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Des Plaines was indeed. Yet there was a link of sorts to Boston. In 1967 BAC stunned the corps world with their homemade, horizontal double bass [two different size scotch bass drums, underside heads removed] expertly written for and played. Up to that year the only multiple drums on one person [that I know of] were timbales, played by probably a total of six corps, nation-wide including, of course, the Caballeros and Muchachos. And the previous year, 1966 --though possibly one corps in 1965-- saw the introduction of different size bass drums. In early 1968 Ludwig saw a potentially huge new market for expanded drumline instrumentation, and thus created not only marching tympani, but also the logical [and relatively lighter weight] extension of BAC's double bass: timptom trios [14", 16", 20" diameters] to serve as "...a tonal bridge between (single) tenors and bass drums." Happily for Ludwig, both were immediate hits. In Ludwig catalogs and monthly publications of the time, uniformed Vanguard drummers served as the timptom and tympani carrying models... very likely because the Des Plaines suburb was conveniently close to the Ludwig factory. Curiously [in retrospect] NO corps got rid of their single tenor lines for that season, however. So Des Plaines took the chance and made the switch for the 1969 season. I saw them that year and they looked and sounded just SO neat! Now as to why Ludwig didn't likewise feature the also close-by Cavaliers [Park Ridge] and Royal Airs [Chicago] drumlines with their new equipment in 1968, is a mystery I have no answer to. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Oz Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Thanks for the information, guys. I wasn't aware of (or sure of) the other corps that used snare tenors. Now that you mention it, I do seem to remember the Bucs with snare tenors also. Apparently it was a pretty popular thing in the mid-60's. I saw more of Sky in those days, and clearly recall how they used them into the early seventies. You can see the crossover to “multi-drums” in this 1968 picture from Diceman’s website. The larger set of “tymp toms” is clearly homebrew, constructed from some retired bass drums. I forget the provenance of the other rig. And the tenor line, behind George McLean (the right multi player) is using a snare grip. (I’m the tall good-looking tenor). We played lots of drag figures, some five, seven, and nine-stroke rolls, and a few flams. Tenor drums were gone in the 1972 or 1973 drum line. There is a picture of that line floating around the Internet that shows marching tympani, multi-toms (still homebrew rigs), but no tenors. I just can’t find that picture at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkman Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Every time someone talks about marching Tymps... My back begins to hurt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 The larger set of “tymp toms” is clearly homebrew, constructed from some retired bass drums. I forget the provenance of the other rig. I played double bass in my Garden State corps in 1969...it was two flat basses laid on their side and mounted on some sort of piece of wood. Used snare slings to hold them. Our parents made the darn things for me...as one of the...er...larger...kids, I "won" the right to play them. If I had joined Blessed Sac after the 69 season (I spent far too long diddling between them and Garfield) I would have pleyed double tenor in 1970...in fact, Bobby Thompson had me help him build the darn things from old single tenors, as en enticement to join, though I eventually chose Garfield. The BS website has photos with the drums I helped build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Nevermann Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 (edited) The larger set of “tymp toms” is clearly homebrew, constructed from some retired bass drums. I forget the provenance of the other rig. I saw that Moe Knox photo in Drum Corps News when it first came out in Spring 1968. And even though they were SO heavy [the manufactured ones, too] I always, always liked the look and sound of triple basses. There was just something so quintessentially Drum Corps Gutsy about them; some neat, undefinable quality that I never associated with marching bands. However, on closer examination of that long-familiar photo, and your comment about "the other [smaller] rig", I now see that what I always THOUGHT was a demo-version of Ludwig's [then] new timp toms may, in fact, also have been a "homebrew". Why? Simple: Ludwig's timp toms [first manufactured in 1968, the same year as the photo] all had the same depth shells... which the pictured set clearly does not. The player's left drum shell is longer than the middle one. So now, I wonder, did Flowers have that smaller set of triples custom-built from, say, drumset toms? Oz, since you were in that very drumline, what else do you recall about them... including, if you remember, the introduction of both size sets at practice? They must have raised more than a few eyebrows! BTW, ['Drum Major', note] I too carried a set of 'homebrewed' triple bass [only once; the regular guy couldn't be there] for an indoor standstill performance in Seattle. Edited March 3, 2009 by Jim Nevermann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 What's really funny about this thread is that yeaterday I had a kid in my middle school line ask me if anyone made tympani that could be used for marching! Good thing I'm old enough to remember when they were introduced and some of the OMG rigs corps used in an attempt to make the setup comfortable for the player. Anyone remember the counter-weights that were on the Majestic Knights (MA) rigs? They must have added 50% to the total load weight! Oh, yeah, I told the kid "Yes, but they're way too heavy for you guys." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyDog Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 What's really funny about this thread is that yeaterday I had a kid in my middle school line ask me if anyone made tympani that could be used for marching! The last time I got that question, the kid who asked was playing on a marching drum without even knowing it. We had a set of four mismatched timpani and I asked him why he thought one had a hand crank instead of a pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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