What Jr. Corps made drum corps popular?

[Sam98]

Didn't the 27th Lancers do a show at the 1980 Winter Olympics?

Yeah, Two-Seven did it first. If I'm not mistaken, they participated in the opening and the closing ceremonies. I'm sure there's alumni who post here that could fill in the details--I wish someone would upload the performance on a certain video-sharing site.

[Tim K]

Blast! used drum corps intruments and arrangements, and people who saw Blast live probably knew the Star of Indiana connection, but most people who saw Blast saw it via PBS would not have known Blast was made up of members of Star and that it was once a marching drum corps.

I have to say that it depends on the area and not a specific Corps as to when Drum Corps became popular. 50s and 60s the East Coast had many more Church, American Legion and VFW sponsored Corps to keep the kids off the street than anywhere else. Most neighborhoods knew about it. The Midwest also had a strong following. Both my Grandfather and Mother were in American Legion Drum Corps in Missouri during the 30s. According to Mom, it was the "norm" back then. The Troopers brought it further West later on during the 60s.

As for Star bringing the sound and sight of Drum Corps to the "World" via Blast, that can't be argued. But, I beg to differ and with respect to Star of Indianna to their 8 year achievement. SCV went from 13th place at VFW '69 to 1st place at VFW '71. A mere two years after our first Nationals appearance and only 4 years after our inception. It made people in the stands wonder "Who are these guys?". After that, the West Coast was truly a part of the "National" Drum Corps scene.

So, starting with Coast to Coast awarness in the early 70s, along with the T.V. media coverage, more age-outs from the 60s and 70s teaching HS Marching Bands the "Drum Corps" style, it just naturally became "Popular" during the decade of the '70s and grew from there.

Oh, and I'm glad SCV didn't hang up THEIR Boots.

[Tim K]

I think I’d have to give my vote to the Troopers. They were the first corps to tour nationally, and they are still one of the most recognizable corps in competition. I’m not sure that all that many corps are familiar to people outside the drum corps community today, but that was not always the case. The 27^th Lanceres were well known in Massachusetts and their 1980 Winter Olympic experience made them the most viewed corps of all time, perhaps second only to the Cadets’ 1996 Olympic performance. For 27^th, they were a household name at least in New England, but they worked hard to gain that status. They were frequent performers at half time Patriot’s games in the days prior to Bledsoe and Brady, and more people probably watched 27^th than the game. They were also in many local parades and performed exhibitions at circuit competitions which was something that BAC and North Star did not do after they left circuit competition.

While I’m not certain that any corps made drum corps famous outside of a local area, PBS did a respectable job making the activity known to people outside of the marching community. Given that PBS was rather limited as far as technology was concerned, at least in the 1970’s, it did a respectable job.

[JimF-LowBari]

Didn't the 27th Lancers do a show at the 1980 Winter Olympics?

Yeah, Two-Seven did it first. If I'm not mistaken, they participated in the opening and the closing ceremonies. I'm sure there's alumni who post here that could fill in the details--I wish someone would upload the performance on a certain video-sharing site.

Not an Alumni but remember seeing the corps on TV do a standstill during the closing cermonies. One of the wierder memories was a rifle being dropped and Jim McKay saying something like "It always has to be the one in front" in sympathy. It was like he was calling a game and just felt he had to make a comment on something unexpected.

The standstill might have been seen by more people than any other corps event but it didn't really show what corps are about. Great music but nothing else going on.

[Navillus WP]

Didn't the 27th Lancers do a show at the 1980 Winter Olympics?

Yeah, Two-Seven did it first. If I'm not mistaken, they participated in the opening and the closing ceremonies. I'm sure there's alumni who post here that could fill in the details--I wish someone would upload the performance on a certain video-sharing site.

27th did the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of 1980 Winter games at Lake Placid. THEY WERE NOT PAID A DIME beyond actual fuel, a per diem for meals, and a gym floor to sleep on. According to his daughter Denise Bonfiglio, George B felt it would enhance the national image and would broaden the world-wide exposure to drum corps - 180 million viewers. So, funding was solicited from sponsors and the balance paid by the participants themselves.

Fanfare: The 27th Lancers Olympic experience by Michael Boo

The story of the 27th Lancers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Excerpt republished from Drum Corps International Magazine, Winter, 2010 edition

Edited January 5, 2012 by Navillus WP

[LancerLegend]

I was on the drum staff of the 27th Lancers and we did indeed participate at both the opening and closing ceremonies.

Tommy Walker - a Disney employee was hired by the LPOC for the entertainment portion of the Olympics. He attended the 1979 DCI Finals in Birmingham and fell in love with 27th.

I remember practicing with the corps in Dec 1979 - the focus was to teach an entire show. I remember too thinking - this whole thing is going to fall apart - they'll never have a drum corps open the Olympic games. Even when we were boarding the bus, I was still waiting for someone to call and say - sorry.

We stayed at a school about a half hour away. There were about 150 performing members including many alumni. I did not perform - letting younger members have their fun. Some other drum instructors did march. It was cold - it was really freaking cold. The valve oil was freezing up with the warm air blowing through the horns, and we started using anti-freeze. It worked !!! Mylar drums heads were shattering like glass into fragmented pieces.

The opening ceremonies were almost a let down. One huge exception was - the Olympic Committee needed a group to carry in the HUGE Olympic Flag. A dozen Lancers were selected and proudly carried that flag into the stadium. Of course - the Lancer color guard was featured and the flags were most note worthy and colorful. There were people in the audience, but nothing like what we see on television the last few games. The security was somewhat lax - you needed a paper pass to have access to different parts of the arenas - which the Lancers were given. We mingled around in town among athletes and spectators alike.

For the closing ceremonies - we left on Friday evening when the USA was playing the Soviets in hockey. Needless to say, we were consuming mass quantities of beverages and listening to the game on a transistor radio - when we could pick up some reception. On Saturday morning, we had a practice with a choreographer at the Sonja Henie rink. Immediately following us, the Russian hockey team came out to skate and after that the US hockey team came out. What a contradiction of styles. The Russians were like skilled surgeons, perfect passes, disciplined, razor sharp. The US team - Herb Brooks was blowing his whistle so hard I thought his head would burst. The US team was fooling around, sliding their sticks across the ice, complete chaos. But it worked.

On Sunday evening, we had the closing ceremonies. We had taped sandpaper to the bottoms of the navy oxfords to prevent slipping. It worked well, until you did a pivot on the ice. After we marched off, it looked like a dozen turds on the ice - which were sand paper.

When we left Lake Placid, we started a pool - pitching in a $1 each. The goal was to guess what time we would get back to Revere on Monday morning. People were all over the place guessing times. The actual winner was - George B's daughter Denise. She nailed the time within a few minutes. I asked her how the heck she was able to get it so close? She told me that since George B was driving - and a school teacher - he needed to be in his classroom that morning.

Fans did recognize us throughout the entire 1980 season for our Olympic performance, and we proudly carried the Olympic Flag beside the American Flag. Ironically, about half of the people that went to Lake Placid left the corps before the season began and we literally taught the show again to a whole new group of young people.

Although Cadets did a great job with their performance in Atlanta, it was no where near the same experience that we had with the many days we spent in Lake Placid.

[drumno5]

That mock DM is actually Bill Irwin, currently appearing on Broadway..."

I know someone who marched with the Cadets that year. She said Irwin was hilarious and they had a great time working with him.

Not the last time Cadets would work with an off-beat drum major, so to speak. 10 years later, Little Jeffrey made a bit of a splash as their faux field commander!

Peace,

Fred O.

[Navillus WP]

Didn't the 27th Lancers do a show at the 1980 Winter Olympics?

One more historical factoid: "weapons" are not allowed inside an Olympic stadium, so the Lancer Color Guard members who carried rifles and sabres had to be trained to handle flags.

Read more: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=f503fd49-f202-4406-a5a5-1bf7cfdae33f#ixzz1ihPpUw4O

[Geneva]

I have to say that it depends on the area and not a specific Corps as to when Drum Corps became popular. 50s and 60s the East Coast had many more Church, American Legion and VFW sponsored Corps to keep the kids off the street than anywhere else. Most neighborhoods knew about it. The Midwest also had a strong following. Both my Grandfather and Mother were in American Legion Drum Corps in Missouri during the 30s. According to Mom, it was the "norm" back then. The Troopers brought it further West later on during the 60s.

As for Star bringing the sound and sight of Drum Corps to the "World" via Blast, that can't be argued. But, I beg to differ and with respect to Star of Indianna to their 8 year achievement. SCV went from 13th place at VFW '69 to 1st place at VFW '71. A mere two years after our first Nationals appearance and only 4 years after our inception. It made people in the stands wonder "Who are these guys?". After that, the West Coast was truly a part of the "National" Drum Corps scene.

So, starting with Coast to Coast awarness in the early 70s, along with the T.V. media coverage, more age-outs from the 60s and 70s teaching HS Marching Bands the "Drum Corps" style, it just naturally became "Popular" during the decade of the '70s and grew from there.

Oh, and I'm glad SCV didn't hang up THEIR Boots.

Maggie,

I became aware very early on of who SCV was. I remember standing on the ready line at Batavia, NY with the Geneva Appleknockers in 1969 at the National Preview show as Santa Clara stepped off playing "Procession of Nobles". I was completely blown away by how daring it was to attempt this piece in the marching format. I had just played it with my HS band and I thought it was a load in the sit down format. You very definitely put the west coast on the drum corps map! As has been already mentioned in this thread, this may have been the start of drum corps' respectability in the music world.

[MsBusDriver]

Maggie,

I became aware very early on of who SCV was. I remember standing on the ready line at Batavia, NY with the Geneva Appleknockers in 1969 at the National Preview show as Santa Clara stepped off playing "Procession of Nobles". I was completely blown away by how daring it was to attempt this piece in the marching format. I had just played it with my HS band and I thought it was a load in the sit down format. You very definitely put the west coast on the drum corps map! As has been already mentioned in this thread, this may have been the start of drum corps' respectability in the music world.

I absolutely loved marching to Fanfare and Allegro/Procession of the Nobles. By far, my most favorite OTL arrangement. We also played it at the Rose Parade in '04. Gail definately had the gift, as it *still* sent tingles up and down my spine.