Know anything about women in music...drum corps wise?

[sixtysomething]

Hi! I am currently taking a Women in Music class at my college, and for my final capstone project, I have chosen to talk about how drum corps started out as mainly a male activity, and women weren't involved too much. I'm fairly new to the activity (going on my third season), so I thought I would ask if anyone knows anything about this topic that could help me? This could be along the lines of first female drum majors, drummers, when women started really becoming involved with the activity, etc...

If anyone has anything to say about this, it would be a great help :)

My memories of drum corps from the late '50's to mid '60's can only conjure up boys corps and girls corps (and never the twain shall meet........except at the ever present 'party' after the contest). In Southern Ontario, there were several good women's corps such as St John's Girls from Brantford and Sarnia Marching Angels. None of the junior or senior corps from that era had mixed membership, and from attending competitions in NY/Penn I don't recall any mixed corps there either.

Others have mentoned it but certainly the Bon Bons girls were in a class by themselves......and for those who attend the G.A.S. Reunion each year we all know they still are in a class by themselves......just a little more senior class now...(sorry ladies couldn't resist that one). Shameless plug GAS Reunion, Gettysburg PA, May 1-3rd sponsored by Yankee Rebels. You could talk to a lot of very interesting and knowledgeable drum corps people from the 50's era to the present. Lots of good stories I'm sure.

Good luck on your project.

[kansasDC]

Just a post script to all this ... and I don't know how it did come up in my mind before this. Women in Drum Corps? You might want to write an entire section that delineates the roles of Mothers in the activity. Mothers and Aunts and Sisters. In my era, these women were chaperones (in CYO groups like ours - that meant protecting the girls in the guard from the hormone raging solo sopranos and snare drummers LOL), but they were there to sew on a button or fix a zipper or to quickly pin up a hem. While we were on tour, they were the people who found the 1-day cleaners for our uniforms and I know this sounds a bit rash given what the kids have to go through today (which I will get to after this next sentence!) but they scouted restaurants and motels, too. These days, they prepare food and so much more. I don't think any corps since the mid seventies have stayed in hotel or motels while on tour and aside from Quick Stop type places, restaurants are just out of the question - one of the youngin's could probably tell you more. But volunteers like Moms and so forth were always an integral part of Drum Corps.

Puppet

In terms of the DCI corps, the volunteer food crews are probably the most important part of the volunteer organization. For a normal WC corps, they normally make 4 meals a day, seven days a week, for 200+ people, from move-ins in mid to late May until Finals night in August. They always get up an hour or two earlier than everyone else, have to sleep in the bus, truck or van just like the members, do the shopping every day, load the big food deliveries in the hottest parts of the day, sometimes play nurse, Mom, Dad, counselor, etc., etc. It is one of the hardest jobs on the planet, but also one of the most satisfying.

[The Oz]

You might also contact Heidi Sarver who is currently the Director of Bands at the University of Delaware. She has a solid drum corps background, including time as a DM for Reading.

[Fran Haring]

Not to mention...she looked incredible in her black DM uni...long black hair and riding boots!

Fran

[jkyeag]

Hard to argue with this - concentrating on Sandra Opie would be worthwhile - as the brass caption head of the Argonne Rebels, Ms. Opie produced one of the all-time great brass sections at a time (the early '70s) when the activity was dominated by males.

As a judge for DCI, she was unmatched - truly one of the best ever. One could learn as much about, for instance, phrasing just talking to her on tour as you could learn in a master class.

She towers as a figure in drum corps music, over men and women.

Here is some more scoop on Sandra:

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=5...b9-6e2478272910

and a picture, too.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2196/227701...9d7a997e1_o.jpg

[royal-air canada]

On the topic of "WOMEN IN MUSIC"...drum corp wise I would like to make mention of a young lady named Mickey (Marian) Vogt who at the age of thirteen joined the color guard of the Ardennes Post of the American Legions "Windy City Cadets" Drum and Bugle Corp in Chicago in 1949 carrying the American Flag. Because she did not like the attitude of the color guard sergeant she went and asked if she could watch the snare drummers practicing and then went home and started practicing and taught herself how to play the snare drum. She marched with "Windy City Cadets" up until 1952. At the same time while in Chicago's "St. Gregory's High School" she discovered that they had a set of old drum and bugles in a back storage area that were used only by the students to march in the Columbus day parade in Chicago. Since she didn't care for sports to much, to get out of the physical education class she asked for and was granted permission to use the instruments to start a drum and bugle corp in the school which she did and they played at the schools basketball games and in various parades and other functions for the school. She wrote the drills, taught the drums as well as the bugles (her years of instruction and playing on the piano helped there with the music she said) and made herself the drum major. In 1953 she was approached by Rick Maas and asked if she would like to come over and join the "Norwood Park (Chicago) Imperials" Drum and Bugle Corp. She did and she brought about a dozen or so of her "St. Gregory's" High School Drum and Bugle Corp members with her to the "Norwood Park Imperials" . As a side note a couple of the drummers who she had started out and taught how to play the drums at "St. Gregory's" were Frank Pamper who later became famous in his own right on the staff of the "Chicago Vanguard" Drum and Bugle Corp and then as the first treasurer of DCI and a young fellow by the name of Tony De Marco who later became two time national snare drum champion with the "Norwood Park Imperials" and went on to teach many other drum corp drum lines. Under the tutelage of the national champion drum instructor Mr Frank Arsennault she became the lead snare drummer in the "Norwood Park Imperials" drumline. In 1956 the "Norwood Park Imperials" took the American Legion state title over the "Chicago Cavaliers" and placed second over them at the VFW Nationals in Dallas, Texas losing only to the "St. Vincent's Cadets" of Bayonne, New Jersey. It was at this drum corp "Finale" in Dallas that the drum judges made a point of coming over to her and stating that they had never seen a woman before who could play the snare drums so well! In 1957 she married Bill Graeber who played Baritone Bugle in the "Norwood Park Imperials" and then that year after aging out she took over teaching the of "Norwood Park Imperials" "B" Corp drum line for a number of years. She then went back to college and after receiving her masters degree became a Kindergarden and first grade school teacher for thirty years. Over a period of twelve years of this time she was then involved with her three sons who played in the the Marian Catholic High School Marching Band program in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Marian Catholic was/is a power house in BOA winning first place championships 8 times during it's first twenty five years. Of her three sons, one has now been a high school band instructor for over twenty years in Texas, the second received his degree from Berkley Music School in Boston and now resides in Phoenix, and the third is a professional musician in Los Angeles. It was in 2004 after losing her husband Bill to cancer in 2002 and after much coaxing from some of her ex drum students from her "Norwood Park Imperials" days she attended a rehearsal of the "Chicago Royal-Airs Senior Exhibition Corp". The weight of the modern day drum harnesses being to much for her to carry, after 47 years of not marching in drum corp, she decided to march again going back to where she started by carrying the American Flag in the "Chicago Royal-Airs" Nationals Section. She marched with the "Chicago Royal-Airs" Senior Exhibition Corp until they retired from marching field shows in 2006 then moved out to Calif. where she joined the "Anaheim Kingsmen" (KAC) Alumni Drum and Bugle Corp carrying flag in their "National Section". Since 2006 she has marched with the "Anaheim Kingsmen"in their field show performance at the DCI Championships in the "Rose Bowl" in 2007, marched with them in the Anaheim Halloween Parade in 2006,2007,2008, appeared with them when they performed at the NAMM (North American Music Merchants) Convention in Anaheim in 2007, 2008, appeared with them when they played with the "Pacific Symphony Orchestra" in Irvine, Calif on July 4th in 2007, marched with them when they marched and performed in Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif in Jan. 2008. She marched with the "San Francisco Renegades" Drum and Bugle Corp in the Chinese News Year Parade in San Francisco in 2008. (She missed the 2009 parade because of prior commitments). And she's still going strong now retired and living in Santa Maria, Calif. When asked recently why she still continues in drum corp, she turned and said, just remember the old saying "We don't stop playing (marching) because we get old! We get old because we stop playing (Marching)"! Knowing her as well as I do I think that fits our "Mickey" as in mouse, as she likes to say (because of the high pitched tone of her voice) to a T. I hope maybe this story might be of some help to you on your topic.

Edited April 3, 2009 by royal-air canada

[Puppet]

Know anything about women at all? LOL

'Course not. But she gave us an out by saying "drum corps wise." Good thing, too. Because without the disclaimer, I've got nothing.

Puppet

[Roger Grupp]

It's great to see that so many people are interested in this topic. I've certainly met some fabulous strong, creative women in drum corps -- some of the favorite women of my life.

I'm happy to learn about women like Maria Costa, Anne Jennejohn, and the rest.

I'm not clear in my scanning this topic whether any of the women were the main drum major of a big senior corps before my sister-in-law, the amazing Geni Cavitt. She was THE drum major of Minnesota Brass (then Brass Inc.) for five seasons, 1974 - 1978. Geni was really something on the field. She had complete command of the group with her strong, clear voice, and she NEVER missed a cue. As far as I can remember, she never missed a parade, a show, or a rehearsal, either, in those five years.

Geni now uses that strong, clear voice and winning personality on Channel 10 in San Diego, as a weather and special features reporter.

[Roger Grupp]

The Appleton Americanos had a young woman who could have been no more than 5-foot-one who screamed high notes on a soprano bugle in the late 1970s.

I just saw her once, and never heard who she was, but the image of that little girl -- could she have even been fifteen? -- playing those high notes, with her curly blonde hair sticking out from under a toreador hat is still clear in my mind.

Anyone know who that was?

[Fran Haring]

Georgia Graves.

She was DM of a local-circuit junior corps from Virginia, early 1970's.... the Young Americans, perhaps? I'm not totally sure.

Anyhow.... for the past several years she's been the DM of the American Originals fife and drum corps in the Washington, DC area. Excellent conductor.

Fran