Bob J Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 While driving into work today, I was listening to my tape (yes I know, hopelessly old school) of 1981 DCI Midwest. Phantom was performing Spartacus, and in their opener there was a section I remember vividly from the video where the timpani are marching backwards and they play a few notes, crank to re-tune, play a few more notes, crank to re-tune again and so on. It was prominently featured on the broadcast, and is one of my favorite old-time drum corps memories! This got me wondering, who was the last top 12 corps to actually march their timpani? I know by ’81 a lot of corps had already grounded theirs, and the concept of the Pit wasn’t far off. Was Phantom the last hold out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytimp Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 A couple of corps marched them into 82, like Valley Fever, Saginaires and 27th, who put them down for half the show and marched them the other half. Troopers had a good marching line in 81 as well. Listen to the opener of 'Cowboys.' Magic used marching timps in I think it was 1996 as an effect for part of their show, but I think 82 was the last time anybody really mardched them. 27th, in 1983, had their four players grounded in the pit, hitting and cranking and cranking and cranking more than any line I ever saw. Tha has to be the last timp "line" in DCI. Did I leave anything out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 A couple of corps marched them into 82, like Valley Fever, Saginaires and 27th, who put them down for half the show and marched them the other half. Troopers had a good marching line in 81 as well. Listen to the opener of 'Cowboys.' Magic used marching timps in I think it was 1996 as an effect for part of their show, but I think 82 was the last time anybody really mardched them. 27th, in 1983, had their four players grounded in the pit, hitting and cranking and cranking and cranking more than any line I ever saw. Tha has to be the last timp "line" in DCI.Did I leave anything out? 07 Kingsmen??? *ducks and runs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 A couple of corps marched them into 82, like Valley Fever, Saginaires and 27th, who put them down for half the show and marched them the other half. Troopers had a good marching line in 81 as well. Listen to the opener of 'Cowboys.' Magic used marching timps in I think it was 1996 as an effect for part of their show, but I think 82 was the last time anybody really mardched them. 27th, in 1983, had their four players grounded in the pit, hitting and cranking and cranking and cranking more than any line I ever saw. Tha has to be the last timp "line" in DCI.Did I leave anything out? I remember that '83 line. Tympani on crank! I always appreciated the idea that 4 or 5 guys could play in a line and in actuality they, if it were written correctly, were playing 1 chart! Teamwork like crazy. Drove me crazy in the early days when you would hear a tymp line that sounded like the rhythm section of a Phoenician slave ship! Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royal-air canada Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Maybe not top ten DCI but the Anaheim Kingsmen Alumni Corp (KAC) had 5 marching temps in our performance at the DCI Championships in the "Rose Bowl" in 2007 as well as 15 Snares, 10 tenors, 10 base drums, 10 cymbals, two marching bells as well as a full pit. Go to our website xkingsmen.com to purchase a copy of OUR DVD of the performance. Much better than DCI's attempt, more cameras and angles as well as many extras such as a video highlighting the color guard only section on the field showing the Nationals section during Color Pre-, the working flags doing their headchoppers (not shown by DCI) and the precision work done by the 21 ladies in the "Blue Steel" rifle section. Also a video of the 150 member horn line with 23 contras, standing in a company front before the crowd in the stands at our Kingsmen show in Long Beach Calif. performing our warm up number and last but not least a video on how the Kingsmen Alumni Corp came about. All proceeds going to promote the Kingsmen Winter guard, the Kingsmen Winter drum line, the Kingsmen DCI junior corp to hopefully be out in 2010 as well as the Kingsmen Senior Corp and the Kingsmen Alumni Corp (KAC). A great value for a good cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royal-air canada Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Not sure who was last DCI corp to perform with marching timps on the field but I believe we, the Chicago Royal-Airs were the first out on the field with them in early 1968. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie85 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I remember that '83 line. Tympani on crank! I always appreciated the idea that 4 or 5 guys could play in a line and in actuality they, if it were written correctly, were playing 1 chart! Teamwork like crazy. Drove me crazy in the early days when you would hear a tymp line that sounded like the rhythm section of a Phoenician slave ship!Puppet Post of the week!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I remember that '83 line. Tympani on crank! I always appreciated the idea that 4 or 5 guys could play in a line and in actuality they, if it were written correctly, were playing 1 chart! Teamwork like crazy. Drove me crazy in the early days when you would hear a tymp line that sounded like the rhythm section of a Phoenician slave ship!Puppet I have a 3-CD set of the Cadets through the years, and you can hear those cranks all over the place! I was a percussion judge in the Garden State Circuit back in the late 70's, and I recall a few GSC corps, class 'B' back then, who would disconnect the cranks and still have their members crank like crazy so it would LOOK like they were changing notes. Why? Because many of the older drum judges did not really have a timpani background and did not know the difference....to them the line was tuning...and they'd get higher demand credit...at least that was the theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 (edited) Not sure who was last DCI corp to perform with marching timps on the field but I believe we, the Chicago Royal-Airs were the first out on the field with them in early 1968. Oh, not really. We introduced our Tympani at Madison Square Garden during Evening With The Corps April 1968 - Our last year as St. Joseph Patron Cadets. Barry had to play both because our other player Rod was ill. Talk about cranking your butt off! These drums were so new, they hadn't even been painted so they were the traditional copper - Here's Barry and Ron during our concert segment. The influx of new members that season was so big we had to put our drum line in non cadet tops. I've got a color shot I'll dig up somewhere around here. Puppet Edited May 14, 2009 by Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Here's Barry and Ron during our concert segment. The influx of new members that season was so big we had to put our drum line in non cadet tops. Puppet Looks like you had more drummers too...one visible drum has the tiger stripe and the other has the sparkle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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