Jump to content

Forget Woodwinds – Beware of WGI


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, cixelsyd said:

Memory is a tricky thing.

I am not going to trust my memory, so I went through some publications from back in the day.  Evidently, 135 was the maximum size in 1975, and the change to 128 was made at some point prior to the 1976 season, most likely the rules congress held in November of 1975.

Consider this excerpt from a Jerry Seawright interview by Steve Fain in Drum Corps World, vol. 5 no. 1 (April 1976), p. 11-12:

 

So, Madison's '75 win was with 135 MMs?  Wow, I'd thought it was 128 the whole time but, heck, I was 16 in '75 watching girls more than statistics or head count.

And, seriously, that was 7 whole performers - why make such surgical cuts?  Was it two buses or something?  These numbers are strange...

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, garfield said:

So, Madison's '75 win was with 135 MMs?  Wow, I'd thought it was 128 the whole time but, heck, I was 16 in '75 watching girls more than statistics or head count.

And, seriously, that was 7 whole performers - why make such surgical cuts?  Was it two buses or something?  These numbers are strange...

 

Thought it was 128 during mid 70s also but maybe that was just DCA side. That’s easy to remember as Cabs wanted 128 to be performing members and not count Honor Guard (they had a huge HG).

Only number I’m sure of is 3 buses which is what member count was based on. And number went up when buses got more seats

Edited by JimF-LowBari
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, garfield said:

So, Madison's '75 win was with 135 MMs?  Wow, I'd thought it was 128 the whole time but, heck, I was 16 in '75 watching girls more than statistics or head count.

And, seriously, that was 7 whole performers - why make such surgical cuts?  Was it two buses or something?  These numbers are strange...

 

I think it was because of buses.  Three buses  = 128?  I swear I remember hearing that somewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

I think it was because of buses.  Three buses  = 128?  I swear I remember hearing that somewhere.

128 members plus staff. But number of staff quoted then seemed real low even for that era.

Edited by JimF-LowBari
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure it was 128 through the 70's. I believe that 128 was decided upon for 1974. Some corps wanted 120, some wanted 135 and they met in the middle. I seem to remember a corps in 1972 being signaficantly larger than the others (Blue Stars?). I know The Thing had over 150 members in 1973. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, garfield said:

So, Madison's '75 win was with 135 MMs?  Wow, I'd thought it was 128 the whole time but, heck, I was 16 in '75 watching girls more than statistics or head count.

And, seriously, that was 7 whole performers - why make such surgical cuts?  Was it two buses or something?  These numbers are strange...

 

most membership size changes have seats per bus listed as a rationale

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, garfield said:

And, seriously, that was 7 whole performers - why make such surgical cuts?  Was it two buses or something?  These numbers are strange...

Strange, but yes.  The alleged thought process was 3 standard buses with chaperones on each bus, and one corps administrator on the lead bus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/19/2019 at 3:39 PM, xandandl said:

When DCI started after the '71 season and the Rules Congress's that immediately followed, the number 128 was agreed upon at the intervention of and plea of Bob Holton, at that time the director of the then St. Andrew's CYO Bridgemen of Bayonne, NJ. (At that time the St. Andrew's Bridgemen wore cadet-style white jackets and shako, gold trim, and black pants.) 

The idea of the Congress was to maintain a clear but full marching, manuvering, and musical activity in which as many kids as possible could participate. At the time, the usual corps was much smaller but Bob said his corps actually had two hundred members if he did not audition and place limits on participation. Don Warren, Jim Jones, Rick Maas (a judge from the Central States Judging Association) and various corps directors debated the point for a half hour.  At that time, insurance also required adult supervision (read adult chaperones) on each bus of minors.  Bob Holton showed that in 3 buses with chaperones and mms, 128 mms could be accomodated. The drill writers liked the number because of the way it could be subdivided evenly. The vote in favor was almost unanimous with some objection from a few smaller corps who have since faded away from my memory. I was present for this meeting and for the subcommittee, full committee, and voting sessions for the first five congresses; I voted in favor of the motion. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If DCI becomes like WGI, it's because the market and fans like it. Not this particular fan, but I also realize that I'm a sample size of one and I'm fine with hitting concerts instead of DCI shows.

Edited by cybersnyder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...