gak27 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Trooping the stands... Summer "love"... That "connected" feeling you had with everyone, esp. when the uniform went on... How your bed felt the first night back from tour... The hometown crowds when you entered the stadium and took the field... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The fact that it was accoustic. Lots of corps everywhere - several in even the medium sized cities. Hometown corps full of kids that actually lived there. Affordable drum corps - for the members and the fans. Going to shows and seeing corps you never heard of before. Shows in easy driving distance - every weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 plus... 27th Lancers Kingsmen Guardsmen CMCC Warriors Cadets LaSalle Toronto Optimist Etobicoke-Oakland Crusaders Blue Rock Bridgemen Stockton Commodores etc, etc, etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Love your choices of corps you miss. plus... 27th Lancers Kingsmen Guardsmen CMCC Warriors Cadets LaSalle Toronto Optimist Etobicoke-Oakland Crusaders Blue Rock Bridgemen Stockton Commodores etc, etc, etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRacer Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Never having to abide by a "No checking your text messages or voicemail during rehearsal" policy, because they didn't exist. Sharing the Sunday paper on tour. Lining up for the pay phone (some were even ROTARY DIAL), and hoping you brought enough change. Rehearsing at night in Platte, South Dakota, on a field lit up by the headlights of cars and pickups owned by younger local residents who then sat or stood on them so they could see the color guard better. Looking across the rehearsal field and remarking how much we look like background dancers for Flock of Seagulls ("And I raaaan...") what with our hair and all. Wearing Dolphin running shorts, and looking good in them at the time (I was a three sport athlete in high school and ran competitively in 10K races in college.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navillus WP Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Taking kids into the corps without auditions, regardless of their ability to play a G-BUGLE or percussion, or whether or not they could read music. We all joined in and helped them to rise above inexperience, and somehow found spots for them to fit in if they stuck wth it. Practicing year-round WAS our "social calendar." Not being able to understand that some people didn't "get" why being in a drum corps was different than being in a "marching band." (Half-time PA announcer: "The band will now form a choo-choo train on the field!") Having drum corps "rival-friends" all over the country. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I miss the local circuits. I miss knowing every kid in my corps. Hell, we were all from the same neighborhood, grew up together, went to school together, hung around together, etc. I miss knowing most of the kids in every corps we competed against. Went to school with many of them, too. In the Boston area, in the 1950s and 1960s you couldn't walk five blocks in any direction without meeting some one you knew from drum corps. There were about a hundred drum corps, drill teams, and bands within 50 miles of the Massachusetts State House. It was a huge, and for the most part, friendly community. Guys from all over the area marched together in the Princemen after their junior corps time was up. Later, many of us judged corps together, instructed corps together. Even later we marched with each other again in the Legends of Drum Corps, or in some of the fine alumni corps that still persevere in the area. During that time I loved just going to rehearsals and working out with the great people I grew up with. Those great days are almost gone forever. Drum Corps kids today will never get the same opportunity. In the 50s and 60s we had more corps in the Boston area than now exist in the entire world. The same is true for Metro NYC, metro, Philadelphia, metro Chicago. Those of us who are still alive now finally realize how lucky we were. now you brought back memories I still teach WC But sure was nice to remember...thanks it's like Kids today sometimes dont know what they missed..like" all you said plus. Having to have a face to face conversation with a human not a phone The good old Holiays as they were Having to go out to play till dinner not sit inside at a computer smaller waistline because we moved a little kids and fast food was the luxury not the norm Gas under $1.00 Smoking anywhere..ok thats a bad one...lol loyalty to a corps if they were good or bad because it was yours respect for teachers and never dreaming of opening your mouth....lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Marched early 60's. Avid fan up thru late 80's. 1. Grass-roots/neighborhood corps. 2. Loud horn lines using anything that would generate the sound of the old G lines. 3. Great rudimental snare lines using low-tension heads. 4. Horizontally oriented, symmetrical drills (lines and arcs, as apposed to boxes.) 5. Musical arranging done by folks who have not been indoctrinated by the music education establishment. This goes for players too. 6. You play it, you carry it. "Good Old Days": All of the above. Also: An "Entourage" of instructors limited to one each drill, horns, color gurad and drums, all of whom were working far below "Scale" and had "Day Jobs" away from drum corps. "Quartemasters" who managed to keep all the uniforms & equipment in "Inspection Order" on a showstring budget, chaperones that kept the teenagers in line, and an overworked usually unpaid director/manager that kept the wheels from comming off the entire "Road Show" A great big THANK YOU" to each and every one. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navillus WP Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Real drummers strapped-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) My years with the BAC where we practiced Friday nights in the old Commonwealth Armory which is now an athletic building rehabed by Boston University. If my Dad couldn't attend, I was dropped off at the old Lower Mills fire station which served as the corps HQ's/rehearsal area. Very small. The old bread truck would be loaded with kids and equipment and usually driven by Billy Kelley. To walk into that armory and already see all the spectators lined up along the wall to watch us throughout the Winter was unbeliveable. At many of our horn practices at the fire station (no longer used) the horn line practiced in the one garage where maybe one good sized fire truck would fit. Whenever the weather was decent, the two doors were opened up and crowds would be standing out front. Edited January 6, 2012 by Ghost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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