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What has happened to the U.S. Open, in Marion, OH


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  • 5 months later...

1975 US Open Class A/All Girl prelims had 44 corps (2 no shows) and started at 7:30am on Thursday.  1975 US Open also had 26 open (World class) corps in prelims including that year's DCI Champion Madison Scouts.  Other than DCI Championship Prelims (76 corps), this was by far the largest Drum Corps show (70 corps) in the US or Canada in 1975.   Three full days of drum corps performances.

I consider 1975-1986 to be the Golden Age of drum corps.  1987-2000 would be the Silver Age of Drum Corps.  I base this on the activity's health, innovations, and popularity.  The US Open was a bellwether for the growth and wane  of the Drum Corps activity.

 

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I think going back a bit farther to 1971 as the start of the Golden Age. 1972 was an amazing US Open in all 3 classes!!!!

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I guess each one of us has their own Golden Age ... mine happens to be around 1962 to the mid-70's ... all depends on ones perspective ...

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Yes ... I know ... the first US Open was in 1968 ... great addition to the National competitions ... right in the middle of my Golden Age ... I think St Lucy's won the Prelims and Blue Rock the Finals ... maybe someone could post the scores ... 🙂

Edited by ajlisko
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  • 11 months later...

DCI (Drum Corps International) transformed the Drum and Bugle Corps activity from a youth activity for any and all kids aged 14 to 21 and some even younger, into an activity for primarily music majors and acrobats.  At its peak in the late 1960's and early 70's, the activity involved nearly 500 corps combined in three classes (competitive levels) nationwide. Very few of these kids had any musical or marching experience when first joining a corps and were taught and trained by corps staff and veteran members of the corps how to play and march.   Today, there are barely 60 corps in existence, combined into two classes (World Class and Open Class), where only those who have above average musical training and ability have any chance to make the cut and participate. Each corps conducts auditions of hundreds in the off-season to field a corps of around 150 members. So, no longer is it a youth activity, just another program for the elite. There are a variety of reasons for the shrinkage of drum corps over the years, much of it having to do with the dominance of DCI since the mid-70's. The initial changes they brought about to the activity were mostly good and much needed, but that changed rather quickly so that by the mid-80's there were less than 100 active corps. This number kept shrinking every year and finally leveled off in the early 2000's to what we have today.  There has also been a change in the make-up of those in the crowds of today's drum corps performances. 95% of the crowds in attendance at performances nowadays consists of former alumni of the last 40 years or so. Back in the 60's and 70's, former members made up less than half. The other half came from the locality of the venue.....average folks. Average folks today would not even recognize a lot of the obscure music many of the corps play these days as it is written to impress only the judges, not the average person. That was not the case back in the day when corps played popular and well-known charts that most anyone could recognize and were written and choregraphed to excite the crowd. I could go on and on, but my main point has been made......it's no longer an activity for all youth and interests the average spectator. That is the main argument many have with modern drum corps vs old school drum corps. Technically, drum corps of today are much cleaner and more error free than old school corps, but old school drum corps were more exciting and entertaining to the average observer. 

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The 1977 US Open was classic and memorable.  I was in the Crossmen, and in the preliminaries, we were in 2nd, and the Seneca Optimists were just .05 ahead of us......81.950 to 81.90.  We were excited, because we knew that we had a real shot to win this title.     We returned to our housing, which was a good ways away.  Rain broke out, and the forecast was not good....it looked as though it was going to be a wash.  We were officially told it was a "rain delay".  We actually had a "talent show", and when we were finishing up, a call arrived, and the show was back on!  We scampered to get ready, but just as we were about to leave, another rain delay was called.  Now we really felt that it was not going to happen.  However, after awhile, yet another call was received, and it was back on!  We packed up, and made our way to the show.  However, shortly after arriving, yet a 3rd delay was called.....it's now quite late, and we are figuring that it's all for nothing.   Much time goes by, and suddenly, the show is on again!!  We finally lined up at the gate, and just as we are heading in, I looked at my watch and then put it in my pocket.....just short of 3 AM!!   Amazingly, there is still a decent crowd there.  We march in and set up.  The field was a mess.  We get a few minutes into the show, and the clouds open up on us, and it is a terrential downpour.  I'm waiting for them to stop us, but they did not.  We actually performed pretty well considering the horrific conditions, and the crowd was into it.  We pass in review at the end, and the flag captain passed out in front of me.  When I asked her later how she was feeling and what happened, she told me that in the middle of the show, when she laid on her back (which the flags did in one section of the show, and the horns pass through), there was mud, and her back was "glued" to the ground....it took every ounce of strength that she had to break that adhesion and get up........ Seneca comes on, and the rain stops and doesn't rain a drop on them.  We lost the show in penalties, but nobody blamed the guard, because it was impossible to hold onto equipment during tosses/etc. in the torrential rain, so it was very tough for them and they had a bunch of drops that they would not have had otherwise...... Seneca 85.05......Crossmen 84.85.....................we went back to the school and blew out nearly all of the electrical outlets using hairdryers to try and dry out our uniforms........what a crazy day!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

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