ajlisko Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Since this is an historical drum corps thread I think it should be remembered that BITD, female drum majors were quite a common sight at Nationals finals for decades before the coming of DCI. St Vincents Cadets of Bayonne N J always had a female DM, and they won a bag load of championships. Aububon Girls were in the finals of several National Finals, and they were all girls. Carol Smith was an excellent DM.They never won, although in 1957 at Atlantic City, with all the big guns present, they came in a very close second, and were royally shafted by the American Legion. My own corps, the Braintree Warriors finished 5th at the VFW in Boston in 1955 with the very capable Evelyn Kimball conducting. Blue Rock always had girls out front. I don't know why everybody thinks this is a big deal. Drum corps always gave girls leadership opportunities. I didn't take it that the OP or, other posters (including myself) thought it was a big deal ... not sure what the current mix of male/female DM's is in DCI but, the responses here have proved out that females were equal if not favored to conduct and lead their corps on the field ... the St. Vinnie's example is excellent and, as I recall, the majority of Penn Jersey, GNYC, Garden State Circuit and Yankee Circuit DM's were female ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly99 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Wendy, I've also been trying to figure out the corps in yellow for days and days. It might be the 1975 Peterborough Krescendos. Someone asked who won best DM 75 Nationals. I can't remember, do you? I found another DM photo of Les Marionnettes de Montmagny accepting a trophy... um... scroll down, midway http://forumadcq.xoo...ce-temps-la.htm I started as a guard tech in 1971 and was a member of Ventures visual staff September 1974 - April 1975. I wasn't going to march summer of 75. Apparently I did. I was a member of Dutch Boy Cadets visual staff September 1975 - September 1976. I wasn't going to march summer of 76 but was asked to be a flag spare for Oakland Crusaders. Touring with 2 corps was tough. 1976 Nationals retreat is below. Joel and Mark are on the far right. The K-W Flying Dutchmen DMs are Cathy and Joan; Rick and Dean of Dutch Boy Cadets are wearing pants, as did the entire corps in 76 except the guard. Russ and I were part of their visual staff. I think pants was Russ's idea and I agreed with him. I'm not sure but that might be me, 2nd Oakland guard from the left, congratulating the kids I taught Jim confirmed that the corps in yellow is not Opti-Knights - they had a red cumberbund. Peterborough Kresendos is a possibility although I thought they wore the Kinsemen Club yellow and purple colours? Fun fact - Dean Mooney, DM for Dutchboy (the one with the vest) was our best man. Kelly ps for the record I marched with St. John's '72 - '77 (DM '75-'77) and had the pleasure of marching with Seneca Optimist colourguard in '78. Edited February 23, 2011 by Kelly99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Jim confirmed that the corps in yellow is not Opti-Knights - they had a red cumberbund. Peterborough Kresendos is a possibility although I thought they wore the Kinsemen Club yellow and purple colours? Fun fact - Dean Mooney, DM for Dutchboy (the one with the vest) was our best man. Kelly ps for the record I marched with St. John's '72 - '77 (DM '75-'77) and had the pleasure of marching with Seneca Optimist colourguard in '78. Thanks Kelly. Sorry about the 1 year slip :-) Please give Dean my regards. I truly enjoyed working with the Dutch Boy Cadets organization. They had alot of heart. Russ and I loved going to rehearsal and talked endlessly about the kids during the commute from K-W to T.O. on weekends. Keep in mind Russ and I were young too. I checked corpsrep.com September 7, 1975 and there's 12 corps listed. The DM photo is definitely 1975 as you and I have confirmed. St. John's Girls wore capes and Dawn and I wore black and red skirts. It seems to me there's 14 corps represented. Maybe the corps wearing yellow was the Jr. C or Jr. D champions? My reasoning is from my 1976 program, prelim line up but no scores. I'll scan this page when I get a chance. The program listed prelims with 3 B class corps, 4 A Girls corps, 4 A class corps, 1 Trumpet class corps, 2 E class corps, 2 D class corps, 9 C class corps. Maybe the corps in yellow in 1975 is the winner of a class other than A, B, AG that were in finals? To sort of stay on topic, Pam and I were co-DM's for Alberta All Girls 77-79. We both started in guard. Linda R. was DM for AAG 1973-74. She was a drummer. Did female DM's back then and now start in guard, drums or brass? Kelly, there’s hundreds of wonderful photos on André’s site that I enjoy viewing and reminiscing. Here’re 2 of 1975. http://forumadcq.xooit.com/t1217-270-Les-Ch%C3%A2telaines-de-laval.htm?q=1975#p4540 http://forumadcq.xooit.com/t1155-216-St-John-Girls-Brantford-Ontario.htm?q=1975#p4464 Edited February 23, 2011 by lindap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Thanks everybody for all of the responses. I wasn't trying to make a big deal out of it at all, I was just wondering. It was an honest question. I wasn't around during the pre-DCI, or early DCI era, so I didn't know who the first one was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly99 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Thanks Kelly. Sorry about the 1 year slip :-) Please give Dean my regards. I truly enjoyed working with the Dutch Boy Cadets organization. They had alot of heart. Russ and I loved going to rehearsal and talked endlessly about the kids during the commute from K-W to T.O. on weekends. Keep in mind Russ and I were young too. I checked corpsrep.com September 7, 1975 and there's 12 corps listed. The DM photo is definitely 1975 as you and I have confirmed. St. John's Girls wore capes and Dawn and I wore black and red skirts. It seems to me there's 14 corps represented. Maybe the corps wearing yellow was the Jr. C or Jr. D champions? My reasoning is from my 1976 program, prelim line up but no scores. I'll scan this page when I get a chance. The program listed prelims with 3 B class corps, 4 A Girls corps, 4 A class corps, 1 Trumpet class corps, 2 E class corps, 2 D class corps, 9 C class corps. Maybe the corps in yellow in 1975 is the winner of a class other than A, B, AG that were in finals? To sort of stay on topic, Pam and I were co-DM's for Alberta All Girls 77-79. We both started in guard. Linda R. was DM for AAG 1973-74. She was a drummer. Did female DM's back then and now start in guard, drums or brass? Kelly, there’s hundreds of wonderful photos on André’s site that I enjoy viewing and reminiscing. Here’re 2 of 1975. http://forumadcq.xoo...tm?q=1975#p4540 http://forumadcq.xoo...tm?q=1975#p4464 These are brilliant pictures, Linda. Thanks for sharing them. Lots of memories for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly99 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Thanks everybody for all of the responses. I wasn't trying to make a big deal out of it at all, I was just wondering. It was an honest question. I wasn't around during the pre-DCI, or early DCI era, so I didn't know who the first one was. I think it was a great question - look at the discussion, photos and memories it generated! Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonW Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 This was originally posted in the photo thread but since this conversation included '75-'76 St. John's, I hope reposting it creates a smile or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly99 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) This was originally posted in the photo thread but since this conversation included '75-'76 St. John's, I hope reposting it creates a smile or two. Smiles and more memories. I believe this is from the middle of the opener Man From La Mancha - 1974. Nancy Hanselman is the DM with her back to the camera, Chris Holota (sp?) DM in the back. I'm just out of the picture on the left with the colourguard - you can just see my elbow. For historical purposes you'll note we're still using the slings to carry the flag poles. I believe 76 or 77 they became a thing of the past for St. John's. Some corps stopped using them a year or two earlier. Kelly Edited February 26, 2011 by Kelly99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Smiles and more memories. I believe this is from the middle of the opener Man From La Mancha - 1974. Nancy Hanselman is the DM with her back to the camera, Chris Holota (sp?) DM in the back. I'm just out of the picture on the left with the colourguard - you can just see my elbow. For historical purposes you'll note we're still using the slings to carry the flag poles. I believe 76 or 77 they became a thing of the past for St. John's. Some corps stopped using them a year or two earlier. Kelly Oakland Crusaders guard used slings in 76. Alberta All Girls guard had no slings during performances, winter or summer. Perhaps we used them for parades only. I can't remember. We, Scarborough Firefighters/Seneca Princemen guard, had slings both winter and summer. We'd carry enough shoe polish in our kit bags to polish our boots and slings. Polish by night, dry by morning. We used to adjust each girl's slings by height, up for short girls, down for tall girls to give the tops of the poles the illusion of being even. I was winter guard captain 71-72 (loved the sabre) and assigned DM April 1972 (after guard season was done). I learned commands, horns up, horns down and DM protocol; how to get the corps on and off the field. The horn instructor did most of the conducting while teaching and arranging. I spent very little time with the horn line and alot of time with the guard as I was flag tech. I thought I knew how to read music from choir practise. It may have been June when I was given the score. Oh my! I was so embarrassed that I couldn't read all those notes! Fortunately 2 guys from the hornline, a sop and a baritone, taught me chord basics. Regardless, I spent my first summer as a DM winging it. By September's end we were in the gym spinning. By spring, I was back in my DM suit and continued to learn more in 73. It wasn't until 74 that I started to understand that DM thing. Gotta go see Oscars now...talk to you later Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 This is great, there should be more threads like this on DCP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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