Bando/n00b Stories

[N.E. Brigand]

(This post almost gets back on topic by the end; skip the first four parts if Ohio marching bands hold absolutely no interest for you.)

I'm pretty sure we had some members from N. Royalton when I marched.

Doubtful -- not when I was there, at least (for marching band that would've been 1986-89). Not only did no one ever mention the Bluecoats or other corps, but nobody came late to band camp, which lasted for three weeks in August (it was daily at the school, not an overnight arrangement) and certainly overlapped the DCI season as it was then -- because as I mentioned, twice we found Cadets sleeping on the gym floor when we arrived in the morning for rehearsal.

I remember competing at shows with N. Royalton.

Possibly! I think we began competing c. 1983.

If I remember correctly you guys were pretty big

Depends. What's big? (How big was your group?) We had about 110 members when I was there and competed in class A (which is dependent on school size not group size). This swelled to more than 300 at times over the next twenty years, and is still above 200 (the school size grew as well; they have competed AA for years). Some schools were strong enough to compete up one or more classes (did yours?); one school located about halfway between Dayton and Toledo was well-known for doing so. They had no football team, but more than half of the school's 120 students were in the band. Though they could have competed in the smallest, C class, they regularly competed A and sometimes AA. A change in band directors saw them tumble in the past decade.

don't remember if you were good or not

We were fair and improving. As you know, Ohio's system, at the state level, doesn't rank bands, merely ranking them on a five-level scale: superior / excellent / good / fair / poor. (The local contests, typically featuring eight to fifteen bands, do award first/second/third rankings by class and name a "grand champion", but I think the OMEA would rather pretend that wasn't happening.) I never saw anyone get a fair or poor. At state, almost everyone gets a superior or excellent. (Of course, that seems to be true of DCI's judging as well -- though the standards are admittedly much higher!) NRHS first qualified for state in 1986, and has done so every year since. They earned an excellent rating in 1986 and 1989, and a superior in 1987, 1988 and every year since 1990. Perhaps two dozen schools reached state in every one of those two dozen years; and perhaps ten earned superior ratings at state in every one of those twenty years. So they got to be quite good by OMEA standards. But I know that's of limited worth.

But the failure or success of school funding levies plays a big part in long-term success. At his retirement dinner this year, our director noted that his job and the program would have been cut in some years had taxes not been approved.

our band director ... was a DCI judge ... and converted all our woodwinds (except saxes) to brass so we had a pretty solid hornline and would win the winds caption over much larger bands at most competitions.

Our director, though a trombonist, liked the sound of woodwinds, and looked forward to the day when he'd have enough that they could be clearly heard on the football field. By 2000, I think he probably had as many clarinets as some corps have entire hornlines. And unamplified at that.

Which leads me back nearer the original topic: here is another case of where bands emulate corps rather than the reverse, though again with a delay. Having sat through a day of OMEA state competition last fall (the first time I'd done so in more than fifteen years), I noticed that fewer than 10% of the bands used amplification. And in Ohio, none of the competitions are in domes. Would some corps fans find Ohio band competition more to their liking than modern corps shows? There are even a few bands there who don't use woodwinds.

Speaking of which: if your h.s. band had cut saxes as well, would they differ from a drum corps?

[ingenious]

Rookie BD drum major saying "band ten hut" at Mars. He was immediately duct-taped to a lightpole for said infraction.

HAHAHA what year was this?! I hope I know the guy so I can give him crap.

[danielray]

Rookie BD drum major saying "band ten hut" at Mars. He was immediately duct-taped to a lightpole for said infraction.

Hmm... I believe you are actually referring to me.

It was actually "band halt", it was at DVC, not Mars. My very first rehearsal in front of the corps, instead of playing in the horn line.

There was no duct tape... no light pole... and the only thing that immediately happened is that a kid barely old enough to have a driving license suddenly realized they, subconsciously, made a social error... while simultaneously realizing "holy ####... I am actually DM for the Blue Devils..."... and who experienced all the confusion of the momentarily awkward, yet profoundly cool realization that goes along with all that for a kid that age.

A bit of insight to how some facts may merge and how of this sort of mythology may start...

The last day of Memorial Day weekend camp, the new DM (regardless of how many years they had been in the corps) used to be duct-taped to a light pole at the housing site, and "christened" with all sorts of various condiments left from the food truck. I was at least a decade from the first to experience this, and I have no idea who may have been the last.

To the point, I'd be the first first to admit that I was far from the best or most together kid to ever step up in front of that corps, but the opportunity to even have such an experience was quite formative. We really do learn more from our mistakes and challenges than our immediate successes (sometimes we really are just more lucky than brilliant).

As an aside, a couple of years later, as a student at Juilliard, the controversy of the subtle semantics of "corps halt" vs. "band halt" strangely never seemed to come up in my conducting courses, only the fact I had excellent training in running rehearsals (thanks Wayne), and that I wasn't all that afraid to make mistakes (thanks everyone else in the corps). :-)

Anyway... for those nearly 20 years late in figuring out the obvious... drum corps IS marching band. ;-)

[The Other Mike]

People who's DCP member nunber is higher then 5,000

[general_tsos_chicken2]

Hmm... I believe you are actually referring to me.

It was actually "band halt", it was at DVC, not Mars. My very first rehearsal in front of the corps, instead of playing in the horn line.

There was no duct tape... no light pole... and the only thing that immediately happened is that a kid barely old enough to have a driving license suddenly realized they, subconsciously, made a social error... while simultaneously realizing "holy ####... I am actually DM for the Blue Devils..."... and who experienced all the confusion of the momentarily awkward, yet profoundly cool realization that goes along with all that for a kid that age.

A bit of insight to how some facts may merge and how of this sort of mythology may start...

The last day of Memorial Day weekend camp, the new DM (regardless of how many years they had been in the corps) used to be duct-taped to a light pole at the housing site, and "christened" with all sorts of various condiments left from the food truck. I was at least a decade from the first to experience this, and I have no idea who may have been the last.

To the point, I'd be the first first to admit that I was far from the best or most together kid to ever step up in front of that corps, but the opportunity to even have such an experience was quite formative. We really do learn more from our mistakes and challenges than our immediate successes (sometimes we really are just more lucky than brilliant).

As an aside, a couple of years later, as a student at Juilliard, the controversy of the subtle semantics of "corps halt" vs. "band halt" strangely never seemed to come up in my conducting courses, only the fact I had excellent training in running rehearsals (thanks Wayne), and that I wasn't all that afraid to make mistakes (thanks everyone else in the corps). :-)

Anyway... for those nearly 20 years late in figuring out the obvious... drum corps IS marching band. ;-)

nice post

[Catan]

At one of our Walmart runs on tour this summer some random person, after seeing all of our corps jackets, asked my friend politely what a "drum and bungle corpse" was. Yes he said bungle. It is always difficult explaining drum corps to someone who has no idea what it is lol.

[ingenious]

People who's DCP member nunber is higher then 5,000

We could argue that exact opposite too

[N.E. Brigand]

At one of our Walmart runs on tour this summer some random person, after seeing all of our corps jackets, asked my friend politely what a "drum and bungle corpse" was. Yes he said bungle. It is always difficult explaining drum corps to someone who has no idea what it is, lol.

Ha! And did he actually says "corpse"?

(As a postshow-advertising announcer did at Massillon this summer.)

[DrillmanSop06]

Forget it then. This was not meant to be a thread where people bash me. So what if I haven't marched corps? Does that make me any less of a person? Or, does it make you elitist for discouting my opinion because I never got the chance to march.

Very mature.

That makes you a bando, my friend.

[KakkoiiOtaku]

That makes you a bando, my friend.

No. It does not.

If you have any further problems with me, please do not waste thread posts. That's what PM's are for.

So, unless you actually have something to add to the thread that doesn't have to do with baseless accusations towards me, please kindly leave this thread.