Big Bad Bari Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 Fall of 1978 I was in my HS Marching band... I had been switched from French Horn to Baritone by my band director and then to Trombone. I was upset at first but I really loved Trombone and got over it pretty quickly. The Drum Major (my best friend) told me about a new corps starting in San Jose called the Raiders... I had never heard of the Knight Raiders so I didn't know anything about corps and had no idea this corps had risen from the ashes, or what ashes a corps would rise from as these types of concepts eluded me at that time. So we went to the practice with a couple of other kids in the band and well we had never played with people who were so good before. We were hooked and all 4 of us stayed in for the whole year and we even brought more kids the next year... Now as to my "we had never played with that level of talent before" comment, We placed next to last, 43rd place in 1979 at DCI prelims! and it was probably the most fun I have had during a summertime in my life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyroo Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 Went to a rehearsal in the fall of '49 because my cousin had joined a while earlier. Shouldn't have been able to join because I came from a different parish, but somehow was accepted. Picked up a set of sticks that first night and learned to play a flam and a tap. Figured "Wow, this is easy," so I stayed. Finally "aged out" in '61 - followed immediately by "aging in" with the U.S. Army. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceman Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 *shrug* Was a Jr in HS and never heard of Drum Corps. Got invited to a local group that soon dissolved and merged into another corps that was coming back after being off the field for a year. Was looking at going to a Community College after I graduated and wasn't ready to quit playing horn. Kept thinking all that $$$$ in private lessons shot to Hades.Got interested because I was finally in a group outside of my own age/experiences and the "real world" was pretty interesting. Parents dropped me off for my first corps bus trip and even my father was saying "This looks like fun, wish I was going". The music excited me but being with people totally outside of what I was used to was a clincher. Similar story here: I used to practice my trumpet (loudly) out my backyard bedroom window when I was about 15 (summer of '64)... One day, someone in a neighboring backyard started echoing me; it escalated into a "playing the dozens" battle until one of us got tired or called to dinner or whatever. I started looking forward to the "battles", which lasted all summer. That fall I became a high school freshman and made the Band... One day at band practice, a Tuba player came up to me and asked if I was interested in joining a "drum corps". I had no idea what he was talking about, but he told me there was a guy in my neighborhood who knew who I was, had "played the dozens" with me musically the previous summer - and asked this guy to approach me. They both thought I'd really like it. So I figured what the heck, and agreed to go to rehearsal the following Sunday... My first drum corps experience was sitting in a semi-circle in the upper room at a Legion Hall in Oneida, NY; I was the youngest one there! I was handed this strange trumpet-looking contraption with a horizontal piston and a round rotary thingie, had some 2nd soprano sheet music thrust in front of me with Xs and Os on it, and was told to follow along as best I could... Once the corps started playing the MGM Theme followed by "Sunny Side of the Street" - I was hooked! The power of sound that assaulted my ears that late fall Sunday afternoon out-did anything I had ever heard or been a part of before... This was a rehearsal with the Utica Executives Senior Corps - and I sat one or two chairs down from Joe Chisek, Jack Papa and Marty Anguilli - my original "Three Amigos". And the guy echoing me from the backyard - and who asked the Tuba player to invite me into the Wonderful World of Drum Corps? My good friend, Henry "Hank" Brunet. Man, I miss him... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornsUp Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 (edited) Here's one for you, Ron: Many of you remember Ken Morrall, the postcard-perfect blond Kiltie who carried the AF and then was the mace-weilding DM in 1972-74. His sisters Robin And Laura were also DMs, for the all-girl AmbassaDears. Their father Frank marched in the guard of the Boys of 76 and was CD of the AmbassaDears. And of course mom, Betty, was a support staffer. After the fact, I once asked Frank what inspired his entire family to become such avid corps participants. His answer surprised me. Frank said "Ken, do you remember where we used to live?" (They lived about a ¼ mile from me, on the opposite side of a very resonant river valley.) "We always used to hear you, when you were out on your screened-in front porch, practicing your bugles. YOUR music is what lured us into drum corps." Some guys can charm rats. Some guys can charm the children of Hamelin. I'm proud to say I charmed the Morrall family. Edited November 7, 2010 by HornsUp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucbari Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 (edited) Wow so many positive stories!!! Mine is not. I joined corps to literally get away from an abusive home/mother and quite frankly if she did today what she did back then (1967) she would end up jail. Drum Corps saved me!! It gave me a channel that wasn't abusive and I will always be greatful. Edited November 7, 2010 by Bucbari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastone Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 Wow so many positive stories!!! Mine is not. I joined corps to literally get away from an abusive home/mother and quite frankly if she did today what she did back then (1967) she would end up jail. Drum Corps saved me!! It gave me a channel that wasn't abusive and I will always be greatful. It's great that drum corps was there for you, I know in my case as well as a lot of folks, it kept us out of trouble. I think we all know people who's lives ended early or were just ruined at a early age because of hanging in the streets while we were at rehearsals\shows, etc.. I thank God everyday that I had something positive to do with my youth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 (edited) One day at band practice, a Tuba player came up to me and asked if I was interested in joining a "drum corps". What the Hell are you asking me about a "Drum Corps" for? I don't play drum.... Well I didn't say it out loud but I was thinking it. Thinking back it was my buddy who was asked and I was standing next to him. He dropped out after a few months and I finally left 6 years later. Gad that corps broke up about 3 months later and didn't see my first show until June or July. Wow... joined that first corps Sunday after 1973 Thanksgiving so have a anniversary coming up. Maybe should take my dad to the local AL Post were we first practiced as he's a member and I'm SAL in Hanover. Glad it helped you Oscar. We had a bunch of people (myself included) who learned a lot about working with people who were different and gaining confidence in ourselves. Being a teenager in a Sr corps can go either way and for most of us it worked. Edited November 7, 2010 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabalumnidrummer Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 Two quick stories about how I became interested in drum corps: First: In the fall of 1958, the local parish was starting a new fife, drum and bugle corps. My brother and sister joined, but I was too young. Minimum age was 12. For two years I watched, and secretly longed to join, even fooling around with some drum sticks my brother had (even though he played a horn!). For some reason when I became old enough, I avoided any talk of joining when my mom and dad brought it up. When they pressed me about it, I went so far as to say I didn't think I'd join when the recruitment was coming up in the fall of 1960. I was a shy kid, and frankly a little afraid of joining. There were too many kids I didn't know, and some were a lot older than I was. My mother said she was tired of my hanging around and acting like I wanted to be a part of it, but not joining. Then came her ultimatum: Plan to join this Friday night, or don't show up for dinner! Come Friday, I was too hungry not to eat dinner, so there I was at the table. She simply said to me, "So this means you're going over there to join." I had no choice. When my brother and sister were leaving for practice after dinner, I went along with them. Smart lady, my mother. Second: Two years later, I was now a member of the local standstill and parade corps, and I heard about an "M&M corps" that had weekly drill practices in the parking lot of the nearby shopping center. My older brother took me over there (within walking distance) to watch them. For the first time ever, I saw and heard a drum and bugle corps practicing: St. Catherine of Sienna's '"Queensmen" from St. Albans. Being a drummer, I was especially interested in the drum section, and for the first time I heard of an instructor named Bobby Thompson. The sound of the horns was stirring, the drummers were amazing, and they were marching and moving around as they played, not just standing in a block formation. I was immediately hooked. Soon after followed the drum corps records, going to my first field show in Randall's Island in 1962, attending "An Evening With the Corps at Carnegie Hall" in 1963, etc. My second drum instructor was a former Sunriser, and now I would go and watch them rehearsing on that same parking lot. These sparks ignited the flame, and it's still burning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 (edited) It's great that drum corps was there for you, I know in my case as well as a lot of folks, it kept us out of trouble. I think we all know people who's lives ended early or were just ruined at a early age because of hanging in the streets while we were at rehearsals\shows, etc.. I thank God everyday that I had something positive to do with my youth. I can't begin to list the number of people I know that had it not been for Drum Corps, there was about a 50-50 chance they might have died on the streets or in prison. I know a former juvenile court officer that used to steer kids to Corps. These wern't fundamentally bad kids, but in the wrong places, with the wrong people, and at the wrong time, it could have turned out badly, if not for the disciplined environment of Drum Corps. Edited November 9, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 (edited) Two parter for me: I was put in a little drum corps because my two older brothers played there - just a parade and stand-still corps. In 1963, at the suggestion of our new bugle instructor, Bill Gallagher, I went to "The Pit" in Mineola to watch the Sunrisers practice (I was 12ish). What I got to see was Billy Cobham wailing on two bass drums behind Bill Gallagher soloing on bari (my instrument); Frank Dorritie, Frank Deliberto, and others wailing on soprano; Steve Buglino and John Sasso on mello and french horn; an unbelieveable contra player, the young Ted Sasso. Tore me up. Later that year I saw Sky perform at an M&M show (as they were called) and they blew the place away. I was hooked - stayed hooked. Edited November 9, 2010 by rayfallon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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