Yankee Rebels

[BigW]

There's also been a lot of effort and sitting down and working out with guys like Jeff from the '90's and guys like me from the '80's to provide a balance of music we all feel comfortable with and are pieces we're all proud to perform as part of Westshore Alumni.

There's a reason why, which I'm working towards in the History of Westshore thread slowly why some of us got pretty goofy about that issue, and it wasn't a drum line-horn line thing at all. It was more a real fear amongst people who marched when I did that our achievements were being quickly forgotten and sadly are in large part, and I think we desperately wanted to remind people that in the first half of the '80's, we did have a top-end corps taht did very special music and made people happy.

And as for Y-R-- yeah, It makes me sad- it was always a pleasure to see Skee, John, Barb, and Ray Eyler up there doing what they did at a high quality level and making so many people happy. Many of the people I marched with at Westshore came from there, many of then gone, who I hold dear and miss terribly- Al Beran and Norm Selak to name two great people specifically.

Y-R were a very important part of the movement in the early-mid '70's and I think their contributions have been woefully underrated.

[stanforj]

Y-R were a very important part of the movement in the early-mid '70's and I think their contributions have been woefully underrated.

Absolutely!!!

[rayfallon]

The alumni movement kicked off in (approx) 1975 with Archie (Bill's Boys are something of an anamoly - they were not alumni of anyone corps - just folks dedicated to the memory of Bill Lindy and therefore a new corps of their own). Archie got it on the field at the Dream in Jersey City in 1978 and the movement started to roll. The peak may have been 27 at Foxboro in 1994 or perhaps SCV's alums, Kingsmens' Alumns, or Madisons', but we forget sometimes that the impetus that got alumni coming out in droves was the first YR Alumni field corps with over 100 horns and a huge drum line, doing a full (for then) drill show. It is hard to say whether the alumni crum corps movement, which I sadly agree is possibly running low on fuel now, would ever have caught on to the degree that it did if YR had not hit the field with such a huge splash.

Great group of people - some incredible players - often playing the unmatched charts of Truman Crawford.

And most important - as alluded to by many earlier posters - no corps ceases operation without an impact on the rest of us. We are all made poorer for the loss.

All the more reason for those of you (us) old-timers to make it to shows like TOS in Bayonne this weekend to appreciate the alumni corps while they're around.

They're not making 'em like this any more.

Edited July 12, 2010 by rayfallon

[JimF-LowBari]

First off so sad to hear about the Rebs. Thrill to be in the Stinger this year. Will not be a real happy day out Willow Grove way next month.

Guess that is why I've re-retired out of alumni corps again. Since I never knew any of those corps I have 0 idea about those identities and see it differently. I do better as a spectator of competitive corps.

Honestly think one thing Hanover has going for it is we really have no past identity as far as music or style (with exception of "You'll Never Walk Alone"). Few years back the members were asked what would help the corps survive and many said to get away from what we were currently playing and do something different. Having said that I wonder what the Alumni movement will look like in the next 10-20 years with many of the corps.

Edited July 12, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[cabalumnidrummer]

Liz/LegalEagle50 said:

"But 'your era' in a corps such as Caballeros could be any era as their alumni corps. Is there some bylaw holding you to only playing the older numbers? Why couldn't 80's & 90's be done in the future and attract younger-older members?"

As a matter of fact Liz, the answer to that is yes. Our by-laws originally indicated a 'focus' era of the 1960's and 70's for the corps' music. Not that it couldn't be changed -- That has already begun to happen with music from the 80's, notably 'Evita' and 'I Go to Rio.' Also, the drum solos we play have more recent novelties included than were used in the earlier years. Newer, more recent music is not only possible, but probably likely in the future. But the choice of music is not the crux of the problem facing our (and other) alumni corps. This is something my friends and I have talked about for several years already.

The greater problem for us, and I believe all alumni corps, is that corps members from the 90's and the 2000's have had a different 'drum corps life experience' (for want of a better term). So many of us came from small, neighborhood, year-round corps, where we lived and breathed our corps experience week-in and week-out. We grew up in those corps, and then when we were experienced enough we went on to big junior field corps or senior corps. It was year-round drum corps: rehearsals every week, appearances any time of year, including Christmas and Thanksgiving parades, Winter Carnivals, Indoor standstills and I-D-Q contests, St. Patrick's Day parades, etc. It was, and is, an integral part of our lives.

More recent corps members predominantly come from a band experience. They went into a corps later on, often as a young adult already, and are more familiar with the once-a-month camp in the off-season model. I am in no way denigrating or criticizing this, just pointing out that their whole experience is very different from most of the current alumni corps members. They are less likely to embrace the whole idea of joining an alumni corps for the long term. One-time special performances like the Kingsmen Alumni and the Madison Alumni are more likely what will attract them. I would not expect them to want to 're-live an experience' that is foreign to them, in other words, one that never was theirs.

This is the bigger picture that has to be recognized. In my own case, I started 50 years ago in a small corps. I have been instructing in one form or another since I was 18. I have now been in the Cabs Alumni for more than twice the number of years I marched the competing corps. I've loved every year of it, but frankly, I don't know how much longer I can do it, with physical problems becoming more and more an issue. And at 62, I'm far from the oldest member of the corps.

The Yankee Rebels are just the most recent victim of this growing problem, 27th/Light Brigade before them in 2008. At least we'll have their videos, photos and recordings to enjoy for years to come.

[BeinGreen]

[Fran Haring]

but we forget sometimes that the impetus that got alumni coming out in droves was the first YR Alumni field corps with over 100 horns and a huge drum line, doing a full (for then) drill show. It is hard to say whether the alumni crum corps movement, which I sadly agree is possibly running low on fuel now, would ever have caught on to the degree that it did if YR had not hit the field with such a huge splash.

On the money, Ray.

I remember the Rebs Alumni doing an exhibition at the 1990 DCA Finals in Allentown... they were HUGE, and they brought the house down that night. They, Archer-Epler, and the Buccaneers Alumni (circa 1988) were the first really big alumni corps I remember performing at various shows, indoors and out, back then.

I am very sorry to hear this news. Not only for our friends in the YR alumni corps, but for the drum corps activity in general. I do wonder about the long-term viability of this activity, on all levels.

[rayfallon]

Liz/LegalEagle50 said:

"But 'your era' in a corps such as Caballeros could be any era as their alumni corps. Is there some bylaw holding you to only playing the older numbers? Why couldn't 80's & 90's be done in the future and attract younger-older members?"

As a matter of fact Liz, the answer to that is yes. Our by-laws originally indicated a 'focus' era of the 1960's and 70's for the corps' music. Not that it couldn't be changed -- That has already begun to happen with music from the 80's, notably 'Evita' and 'I Go to Rio.' Also, the drum solos we play have more recent novelties The Yankee Rebels are just the most recent victim of this growing problem, 27th/Light Brigade before them in 2008. At least we'll have their videos, photos and recordings to enjoy for years to come.

One of the things John that folks have not brought up (probably too polite or sensitive) is that while folks on DCP talk about drum corps dying off, alumni drum corps has had a staggering loss of guys in their 50s and even younger. My own personal hypothesis (I can't spell guess) is that all of us BITD had to practice in a toxic waste dump. When the Bridgemen practiced at Geigy's we used to kid that the rats were much faster than city rats (NYC that is). Probably supercharged on radioactivity. Seemingly every drum corps from back in the day has practiced in some god-forsaken hole because they could go there and play late at night. I stopped out at one of BDB's practices at the fabled Blue Devils' MARS site and it reminded me of the typical East Coast rehearsal site - an oil refinery.

YR, like so many alumni corps, has had more than its share of members who have gone on to the next step, and way too soon.

Is it the main reason for the shortening life span of corps? Perhaps not, but it's in there.

I'll get in trouble for this one because time has proved over and over again that the vast majority of drum corps folks and specifically alumni folks disagree with me on this, but I HATE the idea of people marching in more than one corps at a time. As an instructor it has always been my opinion that this turns out a large group of people who "sort of know" the music for 2 or 3 corps, and can't really be counted on if one of the other corps is having a better spring or summer. Just my opinion, but I believe in my heart that this multi-membership, which is anathema to the ideals we grew up with in each of our corps, has been a major destructive force in the alumni ranks - and I think I've earned my opinion in alumni corps - not to be right, but certainly to express it.

[Fran Haring]

Y-R were a very important part of the movement in the early-mid '70's and I think their contributions have been woefully underrated.

Big W, on the Westshoremen history thread you and others have talked about innovations and innovative corps in the senior/all-age corps activity through the years... IMO, the Yankee Rebels' "Requiem For An Era" production/color presentation, first performed in 1969, very well might top my list of groundbreaking, push-the-envelope productions on the all-age side.

That was way ahead of its time..... to the point where I'm not sure the judges back then knew how to react to it.

SC Vanguard director Gail Royer once said that the "Requiem" production, with its "split corps" and multiple meters/tempos, was his inspiration for the Vanguard's "Young Person's Guide" masterpiece of 1973-74.

[Fran Haring]

I'll get in trouble for this one because time has proved over and over again that the vast majority of drum corps folks and specifically alumni folks disagree with me on this, but I HATE the idea of people marching in more than one corps at a time.

No offense meant to anyone involved with alumni corps...those corps are great to watch, a lot of fun.... but the one thing I've never quite "gotten" with the alumni-corps thing is folks performing with multiple corps at the same show(s).

One of the years at the Dixie Stinger, someone I knew was performing with something like five corps at that show. I joked with him that I thought being involved with alumni corps was supposed to mean LESS time performing/practicing than being in a competition corps, not more. LOL!!