WHY has drum corps evolved in the direction it has?

[Jeff Ream]

I've been away for more than 2 decades. Show me the sheets. I'll read them.

I'd love a copy myself

[jwillis35]

This is always an interesting question. I have to agree with those that say economy, politics, and culture probably have more to do with our present status than any one individual or designer or type of show.

DCI was formed in 1972 in large part to get away from the VFW, AL, and CYO, and also to have more control of tour schedule and promotion, etc. That was a politically turbulent time, and the anti-war sentiment surrounding Vietnam could not have been easy on organizations like the VFW and AL, nor could it have been easy on drum corps that participated in those shows.

Keep in mind that students in college in the late 60s and early 70s were a large part of the new radical ideas and the anti-war protests (a number of them getting shot and killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University just up the road from me). College students who participated in ROTC training were often spit on by other students, as they were at the University of Michigan in 1969.

So clearly, the time was probably right for drum & bugle corps to move toward the more artistic show design aspects and perhaps not be so closely aligned with its military heritage. This was really evident in corps that were not founded during the World War II era, but founded in the late 60s and 70s, such as SCV and BD. And in fact, it is the Santa Clara Vanguard that sets the tone, style, and design for all of modern drum corps.

From 1972 onward, it really begins with the Santa Clara Vanguard and the kinds of philosophies instilled in that organization from Gail Royer. He helped to establish the new model for running a corps. His vision for how the organization should operate was the correct model, IMO, and other corps that have closely examined that method have by in large done well for themselves (like the Blue Devils). Gail was also ahead of his time. He hired staff/instructors that were well-educated, had professional music degrees, had performance experience in a multitude of mediums. People forget that not all drum corps did this in the old days. Often, instructors were just everyday folks who had perhaps marched with the corps or who had a desire to help. But when other units ran into the Santa Clara Vanguard back in the day, it was evident that these kids had some serious training, and that the artistry of what they were trying was a NEW approach, a more symphonic approach, a more musical approach.

Interestingly enough, when I speak to high school band directors who are in their late 50s, 60s--even if they are not super drum corps fans--the one corps they often bring up more than others is SCV. I live in Ohio, and this has been the case for years. Most of them do not attend shows now, just too many other things going on in their lives. But when conversations arise, as they do from time to time, that is the corps they remember more than others. SCV was the corps that made the most impression on them.

I think this speaks to the power of what was happening in the early 70s and how Gail Royer and SCV evolved out of the old into the new.

Over the years, more and more corps would begin to hire better teachers, and we began to see an influx of college-educated staff, designers, arrangers helping to change the look and feel of the activity. This is truly when we started to see the change in greater focus. If you were slow to find the right staff, or to find the correct model of funding your corps, you most likely were gone or became a smaller unit not capable of competing with the SCVs, Blue Devils, Madison Scouts, etc.

We must also remember how the Blue Devils instantiated their success. They also took their lead from SCV, Wayne Downey having marched and taught at SCV (and I believe he still considers himself a proud alumnus of SCV). The Blue Devils hired great staff, and took the ideas that generated from SCV's philosophies in show design and semi-classical music arrangement, and they effectively transferred that to jazz. Not just any type of jazz, but a sophisticated jazz. The Blue Devils re-defined the sound of jazz on the field and because of it they became an immediate hit with publishers who wanted to sell their musical arrangements. It was the first time in the marching band music publishing industry that any one corps had caused them to take notice of the drum corps activity. This popularity of show design, given by the Devils, and the desire that publishers had to want to use their music and the corps as a face for marching music design, ultimately helped to bring more high school band directors into the realm of drum corps. The connection between corps and publisher helped to bridge the gap to the other side with band director and marching band kid.

Come the 1980s, it seems more clear that the focus was more artistic and that more nuance would become part of the drum corps experience. We lost some old friends, like 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, North Star, and more during this period. Clearly the economy and the new model--national tour, bigger-budget shows, more expensive staff, insurance for travel and busing, etc.--crippled many old-guard favorites. It was a sad day but likely one that was unavoidable.

We also saw the rise of Garfield Cadets who somehow managed to stave off bankruptcy a few times to help further define the future of DCI. They were the most effective corps in terms of taking what SCV had established, and then taking the next logical, or ill-logical, step. Depends on how you look at it. I think it's evident the kinds of design and style changes that came into being because of Garfield's unusual, and amazing, master of drill writing, George Zingali. If Gail Royer was the initial catalyst, or Godfather, of modern drum corps, and if the Blue Devils were the beneficiaries of some great SCV staff, then George Zingali was the next most important person in the history of the activity. His masterful writing with the 27th Lancers, then Garfield Cadets, and then with Star of Indiana may reign as the single most influential time in DCI, where his designs and ideas were the bedrock of DCI and its continual growth and change. He helped to design absolute ground-breaking shows with each of those corps, and while doing so he infused a philosophy and understanding of visual design and its connection to musical thought.

In a nutshell, you have the master of organization and process, Gail Royer, initiating the new style and the new model with better-qualified teachers and artists. Then you have the offspring of SCV doing largely the same thing for the Blue Devils and in the process bringing a modern jazz approach to field in a way that helped to popularize drum corps with the band profession. And then you have the super-artist in George Zingali using his ground-breaking design to change the activity forever. There is more, but to me this is the big picture of how the 70s grew into the 80s and how we have arrived at today.

Clearly the economic, political, and cultural winds have shifted in a major way since the late 60s and early 70s. I didn't include this in my post above, but to some extent another important factor that has taken us to where we are today is the evolution of the marching band. As much as drum corps has changed, I believe the cultural and design changes with America's marching bands has been even greater from 1972 to now. No doubt this has had an effect on drum corps.

Many of us may have our differences with the present state of marching band and some of the additions it has seemingly helped to ignite in drum corps. Clearly there has been more alignment between the two activities in terms of competitive style, design, and rehearsal procedure; and each has influenced the other.

The sheer size and scope of many band programs--concert band, wind ensemble, marching band, jazz ensemble, chamber groups, lessons, competition, games, band nights, parades, spring trips, etc.--has become such a huge time commitment for the members that finding time to engage in something as specialized, such as drum corps in the summer, has become difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. Hence we see the influx of more college kids today and they are a large make-up of the top 12 corps.

Some say the marching band activity is the feeder program for corps, and in many ways they may be correct. The cultural and political winds began shifting in this direction when year-round schooling became a hot topic, when school decided that they needed to offer more, do more, engage the students in more activities, and thereby making life difficult on summer-only organizations like church camps, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, summer baseball, soccer, community youth band, drum corps, and more. These things still happen, but it's far more difficult for the music-loving kids who engages in their high school band to engage in other things when many of them have sectionals and band camp running through the summer.

This really is a completely different argument, but in terms of arriving at where we are today in drum corps it does play a significant part.

[Jeff Ream]

This is always an interesting question. I have to agree with those that say economy, politics, and culture probably have more to do with our present status than any one individual or designer or type of show.

DCI was formed in 1972 in large part to get away from the VFW, AL, and CYO, and also to have more control of tour schedule and promotion, etc. That was a politically turbulent time, and the anti-war sentiment surrounding Vietnam could not have been easy on organizations like the VFW and AL, nor could it have been easy on drum corps that participated in those shows.

Keep in mind that students in college in the late 60s and early 70s were a large part of the new radical ideas and the anti-war protests (a number of them getting shot and killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University just up the road from me). College students who participated in ROTC training were often spit on by other students, as they were at the University of Michigan in 1969.

So clearly, the time was probably right for drum & bugle corps to move toward the more artistic show design aspects and perhaps not be so closely aligned with its military heritage. This was really evident in corps that were not founded during the World War II era, but founded in the late 60s and 70s, such as SCV and BD. And in fact, it is the Santa Clara Vanguard that sets the tone, style, and design for all of modern drum corps.

From 1972 onward, it really begins with the Santa Clara Vanguard and the kinds of philosophies instilled in that organization from Gail Royer. He helped to establish the new model for running a corps. His vision for how the organization should operate was the correct model, IMO, and other corps that have closely examined that method have by in large done well for themselves (like the Blue Devils). Gail was also ahead of his time. He hired staff/instructors that were well-educated, had professional music degrees, had performance experience in a multitude of mediums. People forget that not all drum corps did this in the old days. Often, instructors were just everyday folks who had perhaps marched with the corps or who had a desire to help. But when other units ran into the Santa Clara Vanguard back in the day, it was evident that these kids had some serious training, and that the artistry of what they were trying was a NEW approach, a more symphonic approach, a more musical approach.

Interestingly enough, when I speak to high school band directors who are in their late 50s, 60s--even if they are not super drum corps fans--the one corps they often bring up more than others is SCV. I live in Ohio, and this has been the case for years. Most of them do not attend shows now, just too many other things going on in their lives. But when conversations arise, as they do from time to time, that is the corps they remember more than others. SCV was the corps that made the most impression on them.

I think this speaks to the power of what was happening in the early 70s and how Gail Royer and SCV evolved out of the old into the new.

Over the years, more and more corps would begin to hire better teachers, and we began to see an influx of college-educated staff, designers, arrangers helping to change the look and feel of the activity. This is truly when we started to see the change in greater focus. If you were slow to find the right staff, or to find the correct model of funding your corps, you most likely were gone or became a smaller unit not capable of competing with the SCVs, Blue Devils, Madison Scouts, etc.

We must also remember how the Blue Devils instantiated their success. They also took their lead from SCV, Wayne Downey having marched and taught at SCV (and I believe he still considers himself a proud alumnus of SCV). The Blue Devils hired great staff, and took the ideas that generated from SCV's philosophies in show design and semi-classical music arrangement, and they effectively transferred that to jazz. Not just any type of jazz, but a sophisticated jazz. The Blue Devils re-defined the sound of jazz on the field and because of it they became an immediate hit with publishers who wanted to sell their musical arrangements. It was the first time in the marching band music publishing industry that any one corps had caused them to take notice of the drum corps activity. This popularity of show design, given by the Devils, and the desire that publishers had to want to use their music and the corps as a face for marching music design, ultimately helped to bring more high school band directors into the realm of drum corps. The connection between corps and publisher helped to bridge the gap to the other side with band director and marching band kid.

Come the 1980s, it seems more clear that the focus was more artistic and that more nuance would become part of the drum corps experience. We lost some old friends, like 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, North Star, and more during this period. Clearly the economy and the new model--national tour, bigger-budget shows, more expensive staff, insurance for travel and busing, etc.--crippled many old-guard favorites. It was a sad day but likely one that was unavoidable.

We also saw the rise of Garfield Cadets who somehow managed to stave off bankruptcy a few times to help further define the future of DCI. They were the most effective corps in terms of taking what SCV had established, and then taking the next logical, or ill-logical, step. Depends on how you look at it. I think it's evident the kinds of design and style changes that came into being because of Garfield's unusual, and amazing, master of drill writing, George Zingali. If Gail Royer was the initial catalyst, or Godfather, of modern drum corps, and if the Blue Devils were the beneficiaries of some great SCV staff, then George Zingali was the next most important person in the history of the activity. His masterful writing with the 27th Lancers, then Garfield Cadets, and then with Star of Indiana may reign as the single most influential time in DCI, where his designs and ideas were the bedrock of DCI and its continual growth and change. He helped to design absolute ground-breaking shows with each of those corps, and while doing so he infused a philosophy and understanding of visual design and its connection to musical thought.

In a nutshell, you have the master of organization and process, Gail Royer, initiating the new style and the new model with better-qualified teachers and artists. Then you have the offspring of SCV doing largely the same thing for the Blue Devils and in the process bringing a modern jazz approach to field in a way that helped to popularize drum corps with the band profession. And then you have the super-artist in George Zingali using his ground-breaking design to change the activity forever. There is more, but to me this is the big picture of how the 70s grew into the 80s and how we have arrived at today.

wow.awesome post

[Cache_Money]

wow.awesome post

Seconded!

[BRASSO]

Clearly the economic, political, and cultural winds have shifted in a major way since the late 60s and early 70s. I didn't include this in my post above, but to some extent another important factor that has taken us to where we are today is the evolution of the marching band. As much as drum corps has changed, I believe the cultural and design changes with America's marching bands has been even greater from 1972 to now. No doubt this has had an effect on drum corps.

Many of us may have our differences with the present state of marching band and some of the additions it has seemingly helped to ignite in drum corps. Clearly there has been more alignment between the two activities in terms of competitive style, design, and rehearsal procedure; and each has influenced the other.

The sheer size and scope of many band programs--concert band, wind ensemble, marching band, jazz ensemble, chamber groups, lessons, competition, games, band nights, parades, spring trips, etc.--has become such a huge time commitment for the members that finding time to engage in something as specialized, such as drum corps in the summer, has become difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. Hence we see the influx of more college kids today and they are a large make-up of the top 12 corps.

Some say the marching band activity is the feeder program for corps, and in many ways they may be correct. The cultural and political winds began shifting in this direction when year-round schooling became a hot topic, when school decided that they needed to offer more, do more, engage the students in more activities, and thereby making life difficult on summer-only organizations like church camps, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, summer baseball, soccer, community youth band, drum corps, and more. These things still happen, but it's far more difficult for the music-loving kids who engages in their high school band to engage in other things when many of them have sectionals and band camp running through the summer.

This really is a completely different argument, but in terms of arriving at where we are today in drum corps it does play a significant part.

I'd agree ith most of this. There was a definate transformation between the relationships between Marching Band and Drum and Bugle Corps post WW 1. By and large, neither wanted anything to do with the other for close to 35 years.... all the way up to the formation of DCI itself. Drum and Bugle Corps Directors, teaching staffs, marchers, wanted nothing at all to do with the typical School Marching Band, High School or College . And likewise, the Marching Band community, by and large, wanted nothing to do with the Drum and Bugle Corps community either. They co existed alongside one another, both fully content to be very separate entities altogether.

With the formation od DCI, this all changed. There was the stated goal of DCI early on, to establish working relationships with the local school Bands. This was an area that would be a lucrative recruiting area, as well as an opportunity to increase the level of musicanship. A pivotal point historically, and oftentimes overelooked, was the ability to recognize summer tour Drum Corps participation for high school and college music course credits. This was as transformational ( maybe more so ) for DCI than any new and creative staff drill designs in my opinion, as it legitimized for the first time the Drum Corps participation in the eyes of the scholastic world and this alone, allowed Corps to secure more marchers, and more marchers of higher levels of musicianship.

Edited July 16, 2010 by BRASSO

[jwillis35]

I'd agree ith most of this. There was a definate transformation between the relationships between Marching Band and Drum and Bugle Corps post WW 1. By and large, neither wanted anything to do with the other for close to 35 years.... all the way up to the formation of DCI itself. Drum and Bugle Corps Directors, teaching staffs, marchers, wanted nothing at all to do with the typical School Marching Band, High School or College . And likewise, the Marching Band community, by and large, wanted nothing to do with the Drum and Bugle Corps community either. They co existed alongside one another, both fully content to be very separate entities altogether.

With the formation od DCI, this all changed. There was the stated goal of DCI early on, to establish working relationships with the local school Bands. This was an area that would be a lucrative recruiting area, as well as an opportunity to increase the level of musicanship. A pivotal point historically, and oftentimes overelooked, was the ability to recognize summer tour Drum Corps participation for high school and college music course credits. This was as transformational ( maybe more so ) for DCI than any new and creative staff drill designs in my opinion, as it legitimized for the first time the Drum Corps participation in the eyes of the scholastic world and this alone, allowed Corps to secure more marchers, and more marchers of higher levels of musicianship.

Absolutely Correct! Well said.

[DCImonkey]

wow.awesome post

Is there a Cliffs note version? I'd love to know what he said

[BRASSO]

Is there a Cliffs note version? I'd love to know what he said

Cliff won't come into Cheers until about 4pm. We can ask him then the if he has the notes. He sometimes writes it on his napkin. By 6pm, it's all smudged,( but by then he can't see his napkin anyway ), so lets ask Cliff when he comes in at 4pm for his notes on this.

[IanKShields]

Infiltration of band geeks

You mean, like, musicians?

[Hup234]

There was a comparison brought up between football and D&BC. Good simile, because football and D&BC once were very similar in their macho appeal to the young, with fantasy battles being portrayed on a field of honor. Football, basically unchanged, still does appeal, and is more popular now than before ... while D&BC has purposely gone the route of feminizing its packaging in every respect. The latest goofy trend is to be pedantic; the instructional staffs have become "teachers" and the members "students", and the seeming goal is to provide an "educational experience" to all those many youths out there clamoring to spend their summers being educated.