I know it's been discussed before...

[neholgate]

And they did OK.

Yes they did. By the mid-seventies it did start to dwindle a bit though.

[kempej01]

To answer the original question . .

A good resource would be the Archive Scores at Corpsreps.com (http://www.corpsreps.com/scores.cfm). They have the scores (with the corps) at quite a few shows.

For example, in 1972 at DCI they show 39 corps attended prelims. At World Open that same year, they show that 32 corps attended Class A Prelims (World) and 24 corps attended Class B Prelims (Open).

By no means is this a definitive list, it does give a good flavor of the drum corps activity.

Joe Kempenich

1975-1978 St. Paul Scouts

1979-1982 St. Croix Rivermen

2004-2005 Gulf Coast Sound

2006-Present World Gone Mad

[BariBrian]

In the Northeast Circut in the early to mid 70's there were about 25 corps from NY, Mass, Conn, VT, and NH. All VERY competitive and most with quality among their ranks. ALL were field corps, however, very few of them went to DCI in those years. Most did World Open. (for Many eastern corps, this was truely the world championship of its time) and of course their own circut championship. DCI gained popularity as these once major shows dropped out of exsistance. The town I lived in had 7 drum & bugle corps all at one time in the late 60's and early 70's. All but one was a field corps

Edited February 3, 2010 by BariBrian

[audiodb]

I thought that all girls etc were in different classes...

They were, starting in 1975. But the first three DCI Championships were single-class events.

[audiodb]

I agree....I worked with a parade corps before I marched Empire. However, whenever the argument comes up that DCI killed corps, it's always in reference to the field units, not the parade units.

I'd like to see a reasonably close estimate of how many FIELD corps there were before DCI started, and the subsequent failure rate of THOSE corps.

Brian Tolzmann has posted here before - he has the most complete numbers. His total for 1972 was 442.

[jwscv87]

The questions I would have is....were ALL of those field corps? Can we really count the purely parade corps in our figuring here?

That is a fair question Sam in the context of the impact DCI had on field corps as you suggest. I would still venture a guess that the number of field corps in the 70s was EASILY 400-500 and likely more. Keep in mind that the local circuits were very large and thriving in the 70s. It was an exception for a corps to attend DCI and not the rule. Participation at nats actually did not peak until 81-82 in Montreal where roughly 100 corps competed those two seasons. While participation at nats was peaking the total number of corps on the field was already in a downward spiral.

In 1980/81 the Pacific Northwest circuit included the following corps on the field:

Black Watch (Auburn, WA)

Marauders (Longview, WA)

Spartans (Vancouver, WA)

Argonauts (Salem, OR)

Seattle Cascades

Seattle Imperials

Buddhist Scouts (Seattle, WA)

Pacific Blue (B.C.)

Pacificaires (B.C.)

1st Canadian Regiment (Alberta)

Cavaliers (Alberta)

Edmonton All-Girls (Alberta)

Renaissance (Spokane, WA)

Most corps in this area would do two tours - a Northwest tour followed by a California/West Coast tour. Some years we might make a trip to Denver for DATR or Whitewater and then we would go home. Our season would end a week or two before nats. Corps that could not fund a long tour could have a reasonable drum corps season just within Washington, Oregon, and BC. Just a couple would go to nats typically.

The 70s included all of the above plus many more that I only heard on cassette tapes:

Bellevue Sentinels

Tri-Cities Columbians

Bremerton Titans

Portland Hawks

many more...

Heck, the Black Watch had a feeder corps!

Edited February 3, 2010 by jwscv87

[HornsUp]

The Midwest at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius had two large associations. Both had about 50-60 member field corps in their heyday.

The Illinois Drum Corps Association was mostly Illinois units, and a few across the river in the St. Louis area. Eventually the major Wisconsin units also held dual membership, in order to qualify for high-profile shows in the Chicago area. IDCA held an Associate Championship show late in the season.

The Badgerland Association was chartered in 1958. Membership was the Wisconsin corps, plus groups from Iowa, Minnesota, and the Michigan Upper Peninsula. I don't recall there ever was a circuit championship show.

There was also the Great Lakes Association with corps from lower Michigan, Ohio, and SW Ontario. Probably 20-30 member corps.

CCI, Cadet Corps International, was active during the first decade of DCI. Membership was about a dozen, mostly feeder units, and they held their own championship.

In 1978 the remnants of all of these formed Drum Corps Midwest (DCM), which survived nearly three more decades and was the last regional drumcorps circuit to exist.

[CrunchyTenor]

That is a fair question Sam in the context of the impact DCI had on field corps as you suggest. I would still venture a guess that the number of field corps in the 70s was EASILY 400-500 and likely more. Keep in mind that the local circuits were very large and thriving in the 70s. It was an exception for a corps to attend DCI and not the rule. Participation at nats actually did not peak until 81-82 in Montreal where roughly 100 corps competed those two seasons. While participation at nats was peaking the total number of corps on the field was already in a downward spiral.

In 1980/81 the Pacific Northwest circuit included the following corps on the field:

Black Watch (Auburn, WA)

Marauders (Longview, WA)

Spartans (Vancouver, WA)

Argonauts (Salem, OR)

Seattle Cascades

Seattle Imperials

Buddhist Scouts (Seattle, WA)

Pacific Blue (B.C.)

Pacificaires (B.C.)

1st Canadian Regiment (Alberta)

Cavaliers (Alberta)

Edmonton All-Girls (Alberta)

Renaissance (Spokane, WA)

Most corps in this area would do two tours - a Northwest tour followed by a California/West Coast tour. Some years we might make a trip to Denver for DATR or Whitewater and then we would go home. Our season would end a week or two before nats. Corps that could not fund a long tour could have a reasonable drum corps season just within Washington, Oregon, and BC. Just a couple would go to nats typically.

The 70s included all of the above plus many more that I only heard on cassette tapes:

Bellevue Sentinels

Tri-Cities Columbians

Bremerton Titans

Portland Hawks

many more...

Heck, the Black Watch had a feeder corps!

When VK came to the NW in 1972, there were 18 corps in competition at a show in Pasco, WA. Only three of us were from CA (VK, Knight Raiders and CA Crusaders), and not all of the Seattle-area corps came out. There were three classes, and Black Watch was still a Class C corps that year.

The first few years of DCI, only the big guns made the trip for most of the 70's, with a few exceptions.

Garry in Vegas

[jwscv87]

To answer the original question . .

A good resource would be the Archive Scores at Corpsreps.com (http://www.corpsreps.com/scores.cfm). They have the scores (with the corps) at quite a few shows.

For example, in 1972 at DCI they show 39 corps attended prelims. At World Open that same year, they show that 32 corps attended Class A Prelims (World) and 24 corps attended Class B Prelims (Open).

By no means is this a definitive list, it does give a good flavor of the drum corps activity.

Joe Kempenich

1975-1978 St. Paul Scouts

1979-1982 St. Croix Rivermen

2004-2005 Gulf Coast Sound

2006-Present World Gone Mad

Corpsreps is a great, great resource, but I am not sure it is all that useful in answering the original question. While it is a great site, it is just missing much too much information. Someone looking at it might conclude that the peak of drum corps was 81-82 based upon the number of corps at nats when the reality is there were many more corps around in the 70s, but the data is not complete. Participation at finals peaked in 81-82, but total active corps was much stronger earlier.

1983 is a good example. Corpreps has only one score for the Marauders - a California show, yet we had a 3 week long season up in the Northwest competing against the Argonauts, Imperials, Spartans, Cascades and others. Not one of those shows is listed. Not bashing corpreps at all as they do the best they can with the info available, just pointing out the difficulty in making judgments from that dataset.

[BRASSO]

seemed like 1,000's really... they were everywhere... and all had some great quality to them and their own "identity." That is NOT a slam to todays corps, who tend to look the same in many cases. But each corps back then had some real unique identity and were known for that. Here in the Chicago area, there were corps in almost every community... all over the place.

I know the east coast was just packed with a corps in practically every town. A few towns even had two corps as I recall...

In 1965 there were at least 10..... TEN..... on the field, in competition, Drum Corps within the City of Boston itself that this poster can name. And this does NOT include Reveries ( 27th ) St. Mary Cardinals, Cambridge Caballeros, and over 30 others within a 50 mile radius of the City of Boston . This is why it is difficult to find someone that is a native born over 50 year older from the city of Boston's various neighborhoods that has not heard of " Drum and Bugle Corps ".

Edited February 3, 2010 by BRASSO