Questions for the Dinos!

[JimF-LowBari]

Going back to hornline volume (was away for a few days at Rochester for some reason ):

Piston/rotor horns are easy to play loud (and as other have stated overblow). Trick was to play as loud as you could WITHOUT blatting the sound. Know we worked like Hades not to lose the tone and caught Hades if we overblew but will admit I do hear it at times on the recordings.

PS Call me a Dino.. I've even got a Brontosarus t-shirt (aka Sinclair Gasoline).....

Edited September 7, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[MikeD]

You're right Michael. It WAS wrong. But BITD, it was very very common to blame the Guard for any close "loss". Don't know why, but that's the way it was. Maybe that's why you see so many great and CLEAN guards from back then. We had to fight every step of the way to eliminate tics so as not to feel like we let our Corps down.

I always thought it was dumb to call a rifle or flag drop a 'penalty'...it was a physical error, just like a blown attack or bad release.

[Steve Knob]

Watched a few 70's shows today and I have some questions that I'm sure many members of the helpful DCP community can answer (not sarcasm)

1. Why did the judge shoot a pistol into the air during the Scouts 75 show? (1 minute warning???) End of execution judging

2. What is a color pre? Presentation of the national colors. Used to be required.

3. When did the mark time go "out of fashion"? High mark time left us (thankfully) during the 80's. All mark time has been gone for a few years now.

4. What was the first year pit was on the sideline? 1979 Guardsmen. Timpani, Chimes, and Marimba. Players had to mark time, instruments had to be on the field (no "box" then) and they had to be carried on by performing members, not pit crew. As far as I can recall we were never penalized for grounding equipment, but it could have happened to others.

5. What type of horn was used in the 70's? G Bugles, piston rotor or two piston. Most made by DEG, King, or Olds

6. What was the horn line size (on average)? 64

7. How are most of the hornlines and marching percussion so darn loud? Horns - G bugles all in the same key, so they all generate the same overtones, so they amplify each other. They also had larger bores than regular band instruments, and we played well!

If you like loud (and good) try 1979 BD, Spirit, Guardsmen, and PR. These 4 horn lines beat everyone else that year by points, not tenths, and in any other year around them, any one of them would have won horns. I still rarely hear anything on the field as challenging as Fanfare for the New by 79 Guardsmen - what a great chart. A pretty fun time to be in drum corps!

I'll let the drum guys handle that end, but mylar heads, lower tuning, and bigger lines are what I got as the main reasons

Most of these questions are pertaining to 70's drum corps.

Please help edumacate me.

Just my 2 Dino cents worth!

[wvu80]

4. What was the first year pit was on the sideline? 1979 Guardsmen. Timpani, Chimes, and Marimba. Players had to mark time, instruments had to be on the field (no "box" then) and they had to be carried on by performing members, not pit crew. As far as I can recall we were never penalized for grounding equipment, but it could have happened to others. (Steve)

Steve, maybe you've clarified the issue of what is a "pit." Clearly BD grounded their timps in 1978 during the concert tune, and four of the timp guys played small accessory instruments such as tambourine, cowbell, etc. But after "Legend of the One Eyed Sailor" they picked up their instruments and moved on.

Are you saying Guardsmen grounded their instruments the entire show, and they used larger instruments such as chimes and marimba? There did used to a harness to carry chimes, if I recall.

So the question is, is grounding timps the same as have a "pit?" Or is grounding other large perc instruments on the sidelines the same as a pit?

[Tim Coffey]

So the question is, is grounding timps the same as have a "pit?"

I would say no. The "pit" would mean standard percussion instruments, all grounded, in front of the sideline. It doesn't have to necessarily mean 6 marimbas like today however.

[byline]

I always thought it was dumb to call a rifle or flag drop a 'penalty'...it was a physical error, just like a blown attack or bad release.

I'm guessing that traces its roots back to the military origins of color guard: guarding the national colors. If you dropped a rifle or saber, then you were not doing your job to guard your national flag, hence you were assessed a penalty. Of course, even in DCI's infancy, the color guard section that marched with the corps proper had long since stopped performing that function, so I agree with you that it was silly to continue treating that as a penalty that was somehow "different" from any other error.

That's my theory, anyway. I haven't done any research to back that up. And I'm not sure how that theory applies to a dropped drumstick, mouthpiece, plume or whatever else might fall off in the course of a corps' performance, and so also was considered "dropped equipment" and penalized. Any dropped equipment -- whether it be guard equipment or something else -- was given a tenth penalty.

[SFZFAN]

I would say no. The "pit" would mean standard percussion instruments, all grounded, in front of the sideline. It doesn't have to necessarily mean 6 marimbas like today however.

More like 16 marimbas.

[byline]

High mark time left us (thankfully) during the 80's. All mark time has been gone for a few years now.

Strange, I could've sworn I saw Madison do a high mark time this summer.

[Steve Knob]

Steve, maybe you've clarified the issue of what is a "pit." Clearly BD grounded their timps in 1978 during the concert tune, and four of the timp guys played small accessory instruments such as tambourine, cowbell, etc. But after "Legend of the One Eyed Sailor" they picked up their instruments and moved on.

Are you saying Guardsmen grounded their instruments the entire show, and they used larger instruments such as chimes and marimba? There did used to a harness to carry chimes, if I recall.

So the question is, is grounding timps the same as have a "pit?" Or is grounding other large perc instruments on the sidelines the same as a pit?

The equipment sat on the front sideline the entire show. I helped carry the chimes on and off the field for most of the summer. 1 guy played all four timps. We still had bells and xylo on carriers. Check out the legacy dvd, it's all sitting right there.

BTW, our drum instructor that summer was none other than Jim Campbell. He was our perc caption head, and Tim Salzman was our horn caption head, facts that get lost at times. They figured out a lot of stuff with us before they went to Cavies. Two of drum corps coolest people and best teachers.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Steve Knob

[DAvery]

The equipment sat on the front sideline the entire show. I helped carry the chimes on and off the field for most of the summer. 1 guy played all four timps. We still had bells and xylo on carriers. Check out the legacy dvd, it's all sitting right there.

BTW, our drum instructor that summer was none other than Jim Campbell. He was our perc caption head, and Tim Salzman was our horn caption head, facts that get lost at times. They figured out a lot of stuff with us before they went to Cavies. Two of drum corps coolest people and best teachers.

We had a set of chimes at the front of the field also. They were actually off the field and the player stood on the field. That could be the first off the field pit. I have no idea how they got out there for a show. I know none of the members carried them out.

You also had Wayne Markworth for Centerville HS on staff. A couple of times that year he was on the same plane flying from Dayton to Chicago as I was.

Edited September 7, 2010 by DAvery