Questions for the Dinos!

[tommytimp]

As far as I can recall, the only two corps to march a completely clean sideline including marching tymps in 1982 were 2-7 and Valley Fever out of Modesto, CA.

Saginaires. Didn't make Top 25, but still. 27 grounded theirs for concert and drum solo.

[byline]

7. Not all corps "overblew" for volume. Blue Stars brass instructor Don Hill (among others) was emphatic about not overblowing.

BD and Spirit are two corps I think of from the late '70s to '80 whose horn lines did not overblow, yet had plenty of volume thanks to good arrangements, talented players and instructors who knew how to help the brass players achieve balance and good intonation.

[oldschooldbc]

Well, no, not really. The reason corps shows were set up the way they were was because it simulated a parade--you enter from the left playing a tune, there's another song that carries you to the feature piece (the concert tune) where the performing group is halted, then a tune that carries you back to your movement formation, and finally a song that carries you out of the competition area. Corps didn't just decide "Oh, we want a chance to play without getting ticked visually," especially since, as noted above, they still could be.

Correct me if I am wrong, but during the era of the tick system, wasn't there a requirement that the corps had to be in motion for a certain percentage of the show?

This was to prevent the corps from simply marching onto the field, standing still, playing, and marching off. This would minimize the number of ticks - which would maximize your score.

Some show designers intentionally kept the amount of time that a corps was in motion to a bare minimum, so as to minimize ticks. Under that scoring system, that made sense.

I imagine that rule went bye-bye with the tick system. In today's environment, with corps in constant motion throughout the show, such a rule would be totally superfluous.

But at some level, this is sad. Some of the best tunes from the 70's corps were concert pieces. BD's original version of Legend Of the One Eyed Sailor, Madison's rendition of McCarthur Park - these came from concert pieces.

Now the concert piece is gone. Instead, today, if a designer put such a piece into their show, they would expect the brass line to perform it while jazz running at 200 beats a minute.

[oldschooldbc]

BD and Spirit are two corps I think of from the late '70s to '80 whose horn lines did not overblow, yet had plenty of volume thanks to good arrangements, talented players and instructors who knew how to help the brass players achieve balance and good intonation.

Yeah, Spirit had this guy named Jim Ott...I think he turned out to be famous....maybe DCI should name an award after him..... Oh, wait they already did. That Spirit line had both quantity and quality. Listen to "Georgia" at the start of the 1980 show - it is both loud, and balanced. You can hear all the brass instruments in all the registers.

If you listen to many of the recordings of the 70's, there was not balance. All you can hear are the sopranos. And yes, tuning was a serious problem, even for the best lines, with those rotary-valve horns.

Of course, the corps in that era had no "amplifiers" in that era, so some of them emphasized quantity over quality. And as I mentioned previously, they didn't have march (or run) at 200 beats a minute - so producing quantity was a lot easier.

[LancerFi]

As far as the low mark time it Bobby Hoffmen and the Bridgemen were the first to use it. I think around 77 or 78. When they changed to the Yellow raincoats and pimp hats.....

And the gun during the 75 Madison show was to singal surrunder by the other corps because they blew everyone away...

OK, so I'm not disagreeing with you however if you watch 1975 2-7, I see low mark time in many places, especially the rifle line....also the 4 or 8 count turn arounds were also done extensively in 1975....any thoughts on this Blackstar?

I'm not doubting you however I will go to both 75 and 76 to watch again just to be sure of my memory.....

[LancerFi]

Sorry, I forgot to add that we during many of our songs went to I believe 200 bpm....Can Can 1977 and many others, I could be incorrect about the exact cadence....nothing compared to now!

I am only talking about the corps I marched in because that was my experience.

[Blackstar]

OK, so I'm not disagreeing with you however if you watch 1975 2-7, I see low mark time in many places, especially the rifle line....also the 4 or 8 count turn arounds were also done extensively in 1975....any thoughts on this Blackstar?

I'm not doubting you however I will go to both 75 and 76 to watch again just to be sure of my memory.....

They probablt did do a low mark time but I was thinking of the whole corps doing it for the whole show.

[oldschooldbc]

G Bugles, snare drums with mylar heads and real BASS drums. (Not 16, 18 and 20 inch vertical tenor drums)

BTW, T-Rex's and Raptors didn't play nice. They didn't care about the feelings of other dinosaurs. When they were hungry, they killed whatever they wanted and ate it. Lots of Drum Corps "Dinos" are hungry for real D & BC again. I think it's way past time for a "Dino" drum corps feeding frenzy if you get my drift. Old School people are TR's and R's. Current "Marching musical theater/marching band on Steroids" people are Barney and Dino. (From the Flinstones).........

Yes. Most of us in this thread are dinosaurs. I will proudly admit to being one of them. I marched before the invention of cell phones.... well actually, we had them, but they were called "car phones." You had to wire it to the electrical system of your car, to get it to work. And it cost the equivalent of $5,000 in today's dollars.

But just because we're dinosaurs doesn't mean that we're old fools. I for one, am not this type of dinosaur:

But instead, this type of dinosaur:

[MikeD]

Correct me if I am wrong, but during the era of the tick system, wasn't there a requirement that the corps had to be in motion for a certain percentage of the show?

This was to prevent the corps from simply marching onto the field, standing still, playing, and marching off. This would minimize the number of ticks - which would maximize your score.

Some show designers intentionally kept the amount of time that a corps was in motion to a bare minimum, so as to minimize ticks. Under that scoring system, that made sense.

Yup. ONE person not moving their feet and they stopped the time in motion clock. In the short prelims shows I marched in there was NO stopping allowed. You'd see everyone marking time even in spots where we'd be at a halt in the full show.

I imagine that rule went bye-bye with the tick system. In today's environment, with corps in constant motion throughout the show, such a rule would be totally superfluous.

But at some level, this is sad. Some of the best tunes from the 70's corps were concert pieces. BD's original version of Legend Of the One Eyed Sailor, Madison's rendition of McCarthur Park - these came from concert pieces.

Now the concert piece is gone. Instead, today, if a designer put such a piece into their show, they would expect the brass line to perform it while jazz running at 200 beats a minute.

Never was a huge fan of concert numbers. I found most of them to be very boring. There were a few exceptions...1971 2-7's Chicago medley being one GREAT concert number.

[MikeD]

Just a little disagreement with this statement. Even standing still, there was a potential for "tics". Feet not at fourty-five degree angle, heels not aligned, elbows not "up" correctly, horn positions, intervals not set perfectly. Not to mention all the tics the Guard could get for timing, hand positions, etc, etc for equipment work while standing still. Tics could always be counted on from the first gunshot to the last when either moving around the field or standing still. Hours and hours were spent trying to perfect even the most simple things because it was those simple things being ticked that could make or break a win.

Yup...the marching judges had a lot of time to check each and every member standing still...heels, toes, hand positions, etc... I remember them walking around behind the entire corps checking everything.