btracht Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 On a Sunday in August in 1973 I was at church and was having some problems with my contacts. I had a neighbor drive me home. Phone was ringing when I walked in the door. It was my band director and he had been to a drum corps show the day before (The US Open Finals). The show had been rescheduled for Sunday because it was rained out on Saturday (Rain at the US Open? Imagine that!). The two people who had gone with him could not go on Sunday, and he called me to see if I would be interested in going. I went and was blown away. Became a fan. Attended my first finals in 1975. Marched with the Bluecoats in 1977. Founded and was the director of Limited Edition. Helped with Capital Regiment for three seasons during which time my daughter marched her first of six years in drum corps (She marched for 4 years with the Bluecoats and ended her drum corps career as guard captain in 2010!). Joined the Bluecoats BOD in the fall of 2009. Still amazed at how attending that one drum corps show when I was 13 effected my life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schickmeister Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Playing saxophone in 8th grade... Band director hands out New World Symphony... Get home that afternoon and logon to Napster... Search: New World Symphony "What's Phantom Regiment?" The rest is history... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumManTx Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 New World Symphony was my freshmen year show, director told us to go watch Phantom 1989. The rest was magic. Ok, not really, I was considering quitting band my sophomore year. Then the Bluecoats came that summer to rehearse at my school. Saw the run through, everything coming together BLEW my mind. I was hooked. Imagine is the reason I love drum corps. So if you were in Bluecoats 09 and remember rehearsing at West Texas A&M and staying at Canyon Junior High, thank you. You took me from someone who didn't want to put in any effort to a DCI fanatic who rehearses like a BEAST! Chessy? Yes, but true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 DCI found me was there from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographer Jim Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) I actualy discovered drum corps before there was a DCI. I grew up in upstate New Jersey in the 50's. My dad was a volunteer fireman. At the time voluteer departments often hosted parades and firemen's musters during the summer, usually there were a few each month. The departments would compete during the parades ( uniform inspection, equipment insprection, marching in step, etc.). To help a department march better, they would often hire a band or drum corps to march either in front or behind them, and would use the corps cadence to help improve their marching. As a result, I became familiar with corps like Holy Name Cadets, Blessed Sacrament, St. Anne's, Hawthorne Caballeros, etc. at an early age. My parents would also take me into Patterson occasionally to see a drum corps show. One of the first shows I remember was in Atlantic City where Holy Name won a championship (VFW or AL, not sure which). I moved to California in the early 60's and fell out of touch with drum corps for my high school and college years. When I returned to the Bay Area after college in 1973, I found myself living only a mile from the practice field for the Blue Devils. I was excited, and attended their show at the local JC. There, I was introduced to Vanguard, The Freelancers, Commodores, Velvet Knights ..... And have followed drum corps ( now DCI) ever since. Edited August 18, 2011 by Photographer Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somerville Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I saw a rifle being spun in a marching band in a parade when I was 9. I thought it was the coolest thing around. I was 9. I lived 10 miles from Madison and the Drum Major of The Scouts lived in my home town. I went to his house and he introduced me to "color guard". My parents made some calls and I went to a camp. I was incredibly small and the flag poles were huge back then. But I loved in and stayed with it until I aged out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KakkoiiOtaku Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) Here's what I had posted in the APD's thread that inspired this thread: My first introduction was through my band director in Fall 1999 when he showed us Phantom 1991 (Phantom Voices) because we were doing a watered down arrangement of that show. But, it didn't really stick with me until Fall 2000 when I saw the Finals on PBS. That last tenor solo from Cadets 2000 blew my little high school mind! lol. From there I branched out into the entire percussion feature, then the whole show and the rest is history. Edited August 18, 2011 by KakkoiiOtaku Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomCav Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 My high school band director marched with ......*drum roll*......The Cavaliers. 1999-2000. He tried to work bits and pieces of Niagara Falls drill into our show each year (simplified for high school, of course) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlooFan Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 2007, freshman year at band camp. My snare drummer friend showed me this video of some band that he was a diehard fan of on his iPod (the video being Cavilers '06). I thought it was cool, but didn't think too much of it. Later that week my band went on a field trip to DCI Phoenix (how I wish that was still around), I saw The Cavaliers on the roster and I asked my friend what school that band was from. He simply chuckled and explained what "drum corps" was, just as Pioneer came onto the field. Needless to say, I've been a fan ever since, even more than my friend ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbg Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 The first time I saw a drumline was in the Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles......that following september I joined the drumline at my Junior High School. First time I ever was introduced to and saw drum corps was from my junior high school percussion instructors....he played timpani for Freelancers in 85. One of my percussion instructors my sophmore year in high school, who really talked me into auditioning for a corps, she just also happened to be in the pit for Freelancers in 85, then SCV 86,87,88. I marched Freelancers 89 - 93 in the pit........kind of odd when I think about it now, but for some reason I never realized that the two earliest influencial people to me in lines of drum corps marched together in the same corps....but taught me a few years apart from each other.......neither one of them ever said I should audition for Freeleancers.....they just said I should audition........So I just find ot interesting that I ended up marching in the same corps that they did.......maybe it was a subconscious decision. Lastly, again...something else I just realized......in 89 I found out that one of pit instructors in Freelancers helped teach the 84 Olympic drumline. Weird how reflecting back on things when your older allows to see things "differently"......im starting to babble now.....but just thought I would share. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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