The Most Influential Drum Corps Show In History

[DCIfan90]

Whatever show first had curves. I think it was sometime in the 60's.

[Jim Anello]

A nearly impossible question to answer because of drum corps' long, rich history. I'm sure there are a lot of old timers who speak to influential corps from the fifties and early 60s. To me, influential means that everyone imitated them. With that in mind, here's some food for thought.

1965 Royal Airs - Unbelievable horn charts. When none other than Gail Royer says this corps was a major influence on him, that's saying something.

1970 Madison Scouts - Yes the first half of the show was pretty stock. But the back half was a glimpse of what a total theme show could be, and it was imitated by scores of corps in 1971 and the years following.

1975 Blue Devils - Cool comes to drum corps. Yeah, 1976 was a championship year, but what they did in 1975 sent shock waves throughout drum corps.

1980 Santa Clara - After this show, symetric drill was a thing of the past.

1983 Garfield - Face it: most modern day drill writing can trace a direct line to George Zingali.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Jim Anello

[mobrien]

I liked 77 Bridgemen fine, but what it really was was a well-executed senior drum corps show (I'm talking style, not the actual overage controversy).

Look at that show in a 2011 context, and it's fun, but dated, and it's hard to look at anyone on the field this year and say "yeah, I can see the '77 Bridgmen in that show."

Look at '83 Garfield, on the other hand, and you see a new vocabulary in show construction, percussion arranging, and guard work. Today, when you see someone hauling arse at 180 bpm, and 200 sets in a show, and the guard focused on serious dance work as well as equipment work, you can correctly identify the roots as being '83 Garfield.

As much as I like '83 BD, they already seemed retro that year in comparison to the show that won.

Edited August 9, 2011 by mobrien

[84BDsop]

Brasso....an interesting take. I'd heard the story about the sit-in before, but the after-effects as yo outlined them were somewhat new to me...well done!

[BRASSO]

Brasso....an interesting take. I'd heard the story about the sit-in before, but the after-effects as yo outlined them were somewhat new to me...well done!

'happy to share it, 84BDsop.

[perc2100]

Generally one of the choices is 83 Gahfield....

That would get my vote: the impact of that show design is STILL felt today. I suspect we'll see votes for Star 93, but without Garfield 83 there is no Star 93

[vferrera]

'71 Cavaliers and Madison were the harbingers of more theatrical shows. And the offseason aftermath led directly to the formation of DCI.

[perc2100]

In my opinion, the most influential Drum Corps " show " in the history of Junior Drum Corps was the show of the Immaculate Conception Reveries, of Revere, Mass. in the year 1966. Without this show it is highly doubtful that the Bayonne Bridgemen style would have been allowed to take hold, nor would DCI have begun a few years after the I.C.Reveries performance at the VFW National Championship Finals in Jersey City, New Jersey. No other single show performance so altered the Junior Corps activity to any larger degree in my opinion as this show performance ireversibly altered the activity like none before,.. nor none since, imo.

For context, at this time, Corps participated in rigid sets of rules dictated by the VFW ( or AL ). At the 1966 VFW Nationals Championships Prelims in New Jersey the 14th finishing Reveries were afforded penalties, as was the 13th finishing Corps, Racine Scouts ( terrific Corps at the time ). However for reasons unexplained, the Racine Scouts penalties were purged, and they were told they would be in the Finals on Finals Night ( Top 12 ) The Reveries similar penalties however were not purged, and they were not given a satisfactory reason why ( according to them anyway ). This made the Reveries furious. On the night of the Finals, the Reveries showed up outside the gate in uniform with full intentions to march and compete. St. Joe's Batavia, NY, a qualifyer for Finals, saw them, were informed by the Reveries of their intentions and St. Joe's graciously allowed the Reveries Corps to go by them, and the Reveries proceeded to the starting line ahead of the Racine Scouts who were unsure of what was taking place. Once on the starting line, the VFW saw the Reveries there. They were stunned and demanded the I.C. Reveies leave the field. The Corps refused, and instead orchestrated a " sit in ". The entire corps then sat in the lotus position on the ground in starting position and refused to leave until allowed to perform their show and compete. The VFW Sponsors then huddled in a quick meeting while 15-20 minutes went by. Reveries not moving, still in the lotus position. The VFW show sponsors even called the police as a precaution. The Crowd received word in the stands about the penalty dispute, and became sympathetic to their plight, and began to chant " Let them compete... let them compete ". Finally, the VFW announced to the Corps and the audience that the IC Reveries could do their show, but would not be scored. The Reveries performed their show, but were not scored. Keep in mind that this was a protest, "sit in"..., in 1966 at a VFW Convention. "Sit ins " were taking place in areas around the country as a form of civil disobedience and revolt in that time period in the US. The LAST group of folks that would be supportive of protest sit ins in the 60's were the tradition based VFW and AL... and this was now happening at their Drum Corps National Championships, no less.

The reason this Reveries show performance was so influential in 1966 is because from that moment on, the VFW, AL and the Drum Corps community would begin to go their separate ways. The Reveries Management left after that year's " show ", and the Corps Director ( George Bonfiglio who later formed the 27th Lancers from the same community of Revere the next year after the " sit in " ) met with other like minded Corps Directors, and shortly thereafter, they formed DCI... and leaving the Veteran organizations. Once DCI was formed, Corps would be provided MUCH greater lattitude and liberties in show design, styles, etc, and the judging would be developed along new lines as well.... it would be inconceivable for example to witness a Corps with a freestyle like the Bridgemen compete at a VFW or AL with that style of uniform and show. The St. Andrews Bridgemen, yes... but not the Bayonne Bridgemen that would evolve from that Corps a few years later in DCI. So without the I.C. Reveries making a statement in 1966 with their show performance at the VFW Nationals, it is questionable to say the least as to whether or not we'd see the styles of shows we saw the following decade regarding music, show designs, etc. So in my opinion, I'll make the case that the single most influential show perfomance that altered and influenced the activity the most, was not '93 Star, not '77 Bridgemen, nor '83 Cadets, nor the others that had influential shows. It was the show performance of the I.C. Reveries at the Finals of the recognized National Championships in 1966 that had the most influence... by far... on the direction of the Drum Corps movement. That'd be my choice for " most influential show performance " anyway.

Great history lesson; thanks Brasso!!

[vferrera]

My understanding is that Bonfiglio and the East Cost corps directors were not the prime movers in the formation of DCI. DCI was the brainchild of Don Warren and Jim Jones of the Troopers. In 1971, Troopers, SCV, Cavaliers, Madison and Blue Stars formed the "Combine West" which was the precursor to DCI. There is a great article on it here:

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=751b793a-089c-4619-b92b-6109c1e5f559

[IllianaLancerContra]

1976 Blue Devils.

Yup

Honorable mentions are :

1. SCV in 1970 -IIRC that was the year they showed up at Milwaukee unheard of and beat everyone

2. Chicago Royal Aires in 1965. Took brass to a new level.

Edited August 9, 2011 by IllianaLancerContra