bcc Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I just finished listening to the Fleetwood Records tribute to CYO Nationals, and it prompted a thought. Back in the day when I marched competitively in the 60's and 70's , you'd have corps members coming to rehearsal with their 8 track blaring in their cars, and after hearing about 2-4 bars of music you'd instantly be able to identify what corps was being blasted through their car stereo, because every corps had their own style, and their sound, and melody of the tune was instantly recognizable. First off, do today's DCI kids even play the CD's/Mp3's in their cars?, and would they recognize their competitors show? I'm curious because drum corps musical arrangements of today are typically (at least to my ears) less melody-oriented. Don't get me wrong I really appreciate the talent and challenging presntations of today's corps, I just long for ( although 2011 is moving in the right direction) more tunes I can hum while leaving the stadium, and wonder if today's kids leaving humming the shows they just witnessed.... RCC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossop Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I played in drum corps during the 1960's and perform now with an alumni corps. True, corps back then had a unique sound that was easily identifiable. But today's corps learn a new routine evey year. We would usually change only two or three songs each year. If a tune was popular, we would keep it forever. Sometimes it would become a "signature song." Today's corps change staffs as often as I change my underwear. (O.K., gross exaggeration- very gross)- but they do change staffs often, and each change can bring a new approach and a new sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I just finished listening to the Fleetwood Records tribute to CYO Nationals, and it prompted a thought. Back in the day when I marched competitively in the 60's and 70's , you'd have corps members coming to rehearsal with their 8 track blaring in their cars, and after hearing about 2-4 bars of music you'd instantly be able to identify what corps was being blasted through their car stereo, because every corps had their own style, and their sound, and melody of the tune was instantly recognizable. First off, do today's DCI kids even play the CD's/Mp3's in their cars?, and would they recognize their competitors show? I'm curious because drum corps musical arrangements of today are typically (at least to my ears) less melody-oriented. Don't get me wrong I really appreciate the talent and challenging presntations of today's corps, I just long for ( although 2011 is moving in the right direction) more tunes I can hum while leaving the stadium, and wonder if today's kids leaving humming the shows they just witnessed.... RCC Let me say this about that. Portable music back when I marched was very, very limited. Many readers of this may well remember cassette players (many more will not!)and the process of transferring recordings from LP (yes, that stands for "Long Playing") records to cassette tape with any kind of fidelity was ... analogue. Only the oldest and by definition coolest members of my corps had cars and only the very coolest had cassette players in their vehicles. The 8 tracks drove us crazy with the switching of tracks in the middle of shows and again the technology of the time was so much more different. These days with that Fan web site and You Tube and the ability to get pretty darn good video on your phone (even if you have one of those non-iphone phones!) you can email the audio or video files to your friends, family, editor ... whatever. I'm sure however in answer to the second part of the question, that by the third week of the season everybody knows whatever everybody else is playing. And, I think, there is much more communication between corps members than in the past. I liken it to free agency. People want that ring. So (and forgive me, this is just a for-instance, mind you) if you marched with SCV in 2009 and over the winter one of your grandparents passed away and left you a whole lot of money and then you could travel east to Florida and march 2010 with the Garfield, New Jersey Cadets. And I just picked the Cadets because of the incongruity of their location. Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornsUp Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 (edited) Paul Lewis marched with the Toledo/Maumee Demons on the mid-60s, then joined the US Navy and while stationed at Great Lakes marched with the Kenosha Kingsmen. In the back seat of his Chevy was a monstrous reel-to-reel tape machine, powered by a 12V inverter. He constantly played dubbs of Fleetwoods and Stets, and amassed bootlegs of other performances. An external amp powered a 15" speaker mounted behind the seat - Paul unwittingly invented the kicker box two decades before the Rap era began !!! Edited July 8, 2011 by HornsUp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Roger Lewis marched with the Toledo/Maumee Demons on the mid-60s, then joined the US Navy and while stationed at Great Lakes marched with the Kenosha Kingsmen. In the back seat of his Chevy was a monstrous reel-to-reel tape machine, powered by a 12V inverter. He constantly played dubbs of Fleetwoods and Stets, and amassed bootlegs of other performances. An external amp powered a 15" speaker mounted behind the seat - Roger unwittingly invented the kicker box two decades before the Rap era began !!! Wow! And as an aside, we marched at one of the Kingsmen shows - the people in the Midwest were great fans back in the day! Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Roger Lewis marched with the Toledo/Maumee Demons on the mid-60s, then joined the US Navy and while stationed at Great Lakes marched with the Kenosha Kingsmen. In the back seat of his Chevy was a monstrous reel-to-reel tape machine, powered by a 12V inverter. He constantly played dubbs of Fleetwoods and Stets, and amassed bootlegs of other performances. WOW,..................my dad did the same thing,.................and he recorded many of the small regional shows,...............He had a Roberts two track/four track machine,............and tons of old reels,................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdewine Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I completely agree with the premise that if you listened to a corps recording BITD, you could usually tell within a few seconds, which corps, and often which year. Not so much with today's corps. My sound get-up back when I was in the Marine Corps involved a 4 channel Sansui 6500 receiver, a Teac reel-to- reel with auto reverse, two Bose 901 speakers, and a set of Koss's best headphones. In the daytime, I used to use the 901's as headphones....(one on either side of my pillow). At night, I had to use the headphones. So, my wake-up usually involved the Yankee-Rebels, Troopers, Skyliners, Muchachos, .....you get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancerLegend Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Cassettes made it all possible for me and my posse - early 1970's and onward to enjoy "our" music. We'd crank the #### out of the speakers - more bass - more treble - make the spot behind the back seat shake !!! We loved listening to our own show - and really got into listening to our "enemies" show - remembering drill moves with different phrases. When I listen to 75 Madison's Slaughter On Tenth Ave - I remember a triangle of horns - and they would rip your face off......I am hoping people remember listening to 27th's Danny Boy and dreaming of the wheel and the parting of the "seas" where the rifles brought the house down...... At home - my parents actually bought me a nice of earphones, so the rest of the neighborhood didn't have to listen to "my" music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Killion Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I just finished listening to the Fleetwood Records tribute to CYO Nationals, and it prompted a thought. Back in the day when I marched competitively in the 60's and 70's , you'd have corps members coming to rehearsal with their 8 track blaring in their cars, and after hearing about 2-4 bars of music you'd instantly be able to identify what corps was being blasted through their car stereo, because every corps had their own style, and their sound, and melody of the tune was instantly recognizable. First off, do today's DCI kids even play the CD's/Mp3's in their cars?, and would they recognize their competitors show? I'm curious because drum corps musical arrangements of today are typically (at least to my ears) less melody-oriented. Don't get me wrong I really appreciate the talent and challenging presntations of today's corps, I just long for ( although 2011 is moving in the right direction) more tunes I can hum while leaving the stadium, and wonder if today's kids leaving humming the shows they just witnessed.... RCC I think todays kids are aware of their competitors shows as long as they are in enough of the same competitions. A number of corps do enough of the same shows for this to happen. Then a digression, bitd a friend of mine who marched in the Boston Crusaders came home from school to find his mom listening to a Kevins record. Kevins and the Crusaders were not exactly friendly at the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastone Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I think todays kids are aware of their competitors shows as long as they are in enough of the same competitions. A number of corps do enough of the same shows for this to happen. Then a digression, bitd a friend of mine who marched in the Boston Crusaders came home from school to find his mom listening to a Kevins record. Kevins and the Crusaders were not exactly friendly at the time I think that rivalry still exists, at a recent indoor show just before the Crusader Alumni was to begin their show there were shouts of "Dorchester Rules" from the rear of the audience, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.