84BDsop Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Why the heck not? Primarily because discussions about how many corps existed back in the day usually devolve into "DCI killed corps"....but those parade corps were NOT DCI corps, so should not be included in the DCI corps count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dckid80 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 From the mid-70s to the early 80s there were 15-20 field corps competing in three classes in the EMASS and CYO circuits every weekend Sam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 (edited) Gary, Every weekend we would be at a show between Ontario, NY and PA and occassionally in Ohio. Up against corps like The Midlanders, Krescendos, Flying Dutchmen, Seneca Optimists, Oakland Crusaders, Imperial Regiment, Greece Cadets, Tri- Town Cadets, Mavericks, Buckeyes, Alpine Girls, Mello Dears, grenadiers, Syracuse Marauders, etc. Those were fun times! Cambria Cadets, 84th Bucktail Regiment, Cleveland Caballeros, Empire State Express, CD of A, Vagabonds, Bluecoats, Finleyville, and others from this neighborhood.............all of these corps along with the ones you listed mixed it up quite regularly in those days,........... Edited February 2, 2010 by Gary Matczak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 From the mid-70s to the early 80s there were 15-20 field corps competing in three classes in the EMASS and CYO circuits every weekend Sam. Well, remember that my corps exposure prior to marching was minimal at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGarrett Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 (edited) The questions I would have is....were ALL of those field corps? Can we really count the purely parade corps in our figuring here? Many were parade corps, some Drum & Bell Corps, some just small units of a few guard, a few horns and percussion that hadn't been organized well. I agree, Sam, they wouldn't all necessarily count as field corps/competition corps, but if we want to calculate in any way the participation of kids in AN activity associated in some form or another with drum corps proper, then these need to be taken into consideration. It was a time when out of the house liesure activities, and school programs, and organized team sports like baseball, football and hockey weren't as plentiful as they are these days. Edited February 2, 2010 by GGarrett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Many were parade corps, some Drum & Bell Corps, some just small units of a few guard, a few horns and percussion that hadn't been organized well. I agree, Sam, they wouldn't all necessarily count as field corps/competition corps, but if we want to calculate in any way the participation of kids in AN activity associated in some form or another with drum corps proper, then these need to be taken into consideration. It was a time when out of the house liesure activities, and school programs, and organized team sports like baseball, football and hockey weren't as plentiful as they are these days. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlsnaredrummer77 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 (edited) 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. I don't know that DCI was all that important to many of those corps. I wonder how many fielded, how many were parade units, how many were drum and baton corps, etc. As a kid I used to see a McKeesport Drum and Bugle corps in parades in Western Pa, but never really knew if they fielded or not, much less went to DCI, which I'm pretty sure they did not. Same with an all black or mostly black unit called the Thundering Herd. When it comes to drum and baton corps, I'll bet there were easily 25-30 in the Western Pa region as late as 1980. Some of them still exist, but have gotten rid of the drum lines and have dancing girls, DJs and PA systems on a truck. Not quite the same... Edited February 2, 2010 by pearlsnaredrummer77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neholgate Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 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. I just wanted to know how many came at the first championship in all classes (wasn't it A, B, C, All Girl classes separated then?) and compare it to tday's numbers. I know that were MANY more that didn't go to the first DCI. Southern California had a fairly large circuit and only one went to the first DCI competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornsUp Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Southern California had a fairly large circuit and only one went to the first DCI competition. And they did OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntheMood Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I just wanted to know how many came at the first championship in all classes (wasn't it A, B, C, All Girl classes separated then?)and compare it to tday's numbers. I know that were MANY more that didn't go to the first DCI. Southern California had a fairly large circuit and only one went to the first DCI competition. They did not separate us until 75. And again all the Corps did not go to DCI even then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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