chasgroh Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Imagine that....Cadets going against the grain or the norm,,,,,,,lmao......maybe its not hop but a great tradition...............Yeah CAdets( AND OTHERS) for going against the grain no matter what and in the process showing others YOU CAN !!!!!!! ....hahahaha, there's somethin' to it, This I Believe! cg 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 The 1971 Garfield "No-More-War" Show was a precursor of the "total field show" concept. People in '71 did not understand it. Some VFW/American Legion folks hated it. Carry on. Some clarification... 1971 was our total show "America, the Brave", a show about the Revolutionary War. We even passed out a libretto in the stands a decade before Regiment did in 81. During the centerpiece Battle sequence of the show the corps was divided into two halfs, the sopranos and 1/2 the drum line as the colonists and the lower brass and other half of of the drumline as the Brits/Hessians. Judges, primarily the drum judges, slammed us on that part of the show, as they felt that by dividing the line in half the demand was therefore minimal, and our drum marks were very low in that area. We eventually gave in and put the drumline back together for the whole show...pretty sad. George Tuthill had written a masterful percussion score for us that was decimated by some of the more, er, "traditional" drum judges. Drum Corps News editor Dick Blake had written a scathing editorial about the 'total shows' before the 71 season (us, Madison and half of the Cavies), but later on he retracted it after he actually SAW the shows. "No More War" was the 72 show. It was more a theme show like those of today, a general underlying theme, while 71 had a narrative story line. DCP's own Ironlips was our brass arranger and instructor in 71, and as a history major in college he made sure the show was historically accurate. In 72 we passed out placemat-sized posters with three pictures...a young boy and girl (like 8 or 9 years old) playing together, the same two grown up as lovers, as he went off to war (wearing a Cadet uni) and she saw him off (one of our guard gals in uniform), and the final picture the young gal gazing sadly at a coffin. The year the VFW powers-that-be REALLY hated us was 1970, our first year making the Peace Sign (to "White Rabbit"). Tony "hic" Schlechta from the VFW said that we did not even deserve to be performing at Nationals due to that. More than anyone wants to know about this... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Phantom Regiment - 1981 - Spartacus (I) - Though sometimes debated, this is largely credited as being the first 'themed' show in which the music was all related to a central story and the visual was aimed at conveying that story to the crowd. Sure, you needed a libretto to understand what they were trying to do, but you can only ask so much from the guys who tried it first. Not only that, but wasn't this also the show that began the trend toward integrating dance with equipment work? I see my whole "short list" have already been mentioned here, except for one. Where would drum corps be without the constant push of leading corps bending, breaking or otherwise reshaping the rules? And the origin of that trend dates all the way back to when bugles were valveless. Some time around 1929, someone developed a G bugle with the addition of a D "crook"....additional tubing and a valve, enabling the bugle to play many more notes than the valveless version. The Boys of 76 of Racine, WI, were at the forefront of the push for implementation of this new bugle. Contest officials wouldn't allow the use of valved horns back then, and the corps risked disqualification in bringing them on the field. But a compromise was worked out where the G-D bugle would be allowed as long as the valves were locked in one or the other position throughout the contest performance. Despite that limitation, the Boys of 76 were still able to play music with the wider range of notes by locking some bugles in G and others in D. Bugles with the lockable valve were advertised and sold for several years thereafter, until rules were liberalized to allow use of the valve during competition. Every other incremental change in allowable drum corps equipment would never have taken place if not for the precedent set in 1929. Imagine no contrabasses....no timpani....mallet percussion turned away at VFW and DCA in 1969 never being allowed back....no 2-valve horns....no grounded pit....no props....no Bb/F horns....no amplification....no electronics. I'd say the 1929 show of the Boys of 76 was pretty influential. To pick just one "most influential", it would be either that 1929 example, or the Troopers for revolutionizing not just drill, but color guard as well. But I wasn't around to see it, so I can't say which of their shows in the '60s or early '70s was the most influential (if there even was one in particular). Honorable mention to '81 PR, '70 SCV, '82 Garfield, '76 and '77 Bridgemen, and '67 Boston Crusaders (who began the avalanche of expanded percussion instrumentation). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 The year the VFW powers-that-be REALLY hated us was 1970, our first year making the Peace Sign (to "White Rabbit"). Tony "hic" Schlechta from the VFW said that we did not even deserve to be performing at Nationals due to that. But he calmed down after your staff told him it was really the Mercedes-Benz logo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Imagine that....Cadets going against the grain or the norm,,,,,,,lmao......maybe its not hop but a great tradition...............Yeah Cadets( AND OTHERS) for going against the grain no matter what and in the process showing others YOU CAN !!!!!!! Yerxa? Is that you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 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 ). I don't think this part is accurate. I've heard this story from several sources, and the penalty in question was the one assessed to the Madison Scouts. As I understand it, Madison devised a prelim show where the whole corps exited the field a couple of minutes early, except for two bass drummers. This was back in the day when prelim shows were shorter in length than the standard field program (5 minute minimum for VFW prelims vs. 11 minutes elsewhere). That, combined with the VFW scoring breakdown which only allocated 10 points for GE, led Madison to believe they would gain more from the lack of "tics" than they'd lose in effect scores....an important consideration when several corps would be within a point or two of each other grappling for that last spot in finals. In fact, two points would have made the difference between 10th and 14th place for the Madison Scouts at the 1966 VFW prelims. And it very nearly did. Madison's ploy garnered a two-point penalty, which did put them in 14th by the time all the scores were in. The corps was quite sure they had not violated any rules, though. So they protested. They were correct....the penalty was indefensible, and it was overturned after the fact, moving them up to 10th. Meanwhile, the Racine Scouts had thought they were in the finals as 12th-place finisher, only to hear this breaking news later in the day. So they protested. I don't know what their argument was, but a decision was made to expand the finals to 13 competitors so that Racine would also be included. Meanwhile, the I.C. Reveries had thought they defeated Madison, and now Madison was getting into finals....and so was Racine. So they protested. I don't know what their argument was either....but bear in mind that the previous year's VFW prelims were a controversial affair with some corps performing outside in adverse conditions while others performed indoors....and the VFW let 15 corps into finals as a concession to the disparities suffered there. So it was worth a shot whether they had a valid argument or not. Evidently, the Reveries did not change any minds through that discussion, and the rest of the event proceeded pretty much as you described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibexpercussion Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 (edited) Not for everybody, but what was the most influential show for me, and what made me want to be part of the drum corps activity (and why I still am involved teaching music today) was Crossmen 1992. Edited September 8, 2011 by ibexpercussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 (edited) Imagine that....Cadets going against the grain or the norm,,,,,,,lmao......maybe its not hop but a great tradition...............Yeah CAdets( AND OTHERS) for going against the grain no matter what and in the process showing others YOU CAN !!!!!!! Fast forward to today, and the Corps that is most " going against the grain or the norm " in DCI ( scores notwithstanding ) is the Madison Scouts with their tradition based shows the last 2 years. This is the most " rebellious " Corps for 2010, 2011 in DCI, imo. Edited September 8, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 (edited) Fast forward to today, and the Corps that is most " going against the grain or the norm " in DCI ( scores notwithstanding ) is the Madison Scouts with their tradition based shows the last 2 years. This is the most " rebellious " Corps for 2010, 2011 in DCI, imo. ? What, exactly, was 'rebellious' about anything Madison did in 2011? Scatter-drill? Playing a pop song? (fail - Devils' whole show was a pops fest, and a lot of the other corps in Finals had standards or pop songs in their repertoires). Seriously, this delusional contention that somehow Madison cares about entertaining the audience, and no one else does, has begun bordering on pathological among some of the true believers. Back OT, the answer is still '83 Garfield. They changed the standards for what is 'good', hence changing the standards for what was necessary in order to win. Edited September 8, 2011 by mobrien 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Fast forward to today, and the Corps that is most " going against the grain or the norm " in DCI ( scores notwithstanding ) is the Madison Scouts with their tradition based shows the last 2 years. This is the most " rebellious " Corps for 2010, 2011 in DCI, imo. ahhhhhh NO!!!!....lmao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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