JKT90 Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Soprano is now Trumpet, Contra is now Tuba and Color Guard is Flags? What gives? Makes it sound like marching band, which drum corps definitely is not. #notdiggingit 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Soprano is now Trumpet, Contra is now Tuba and Color Guard is Flags? What gives? Makes it sound like marching band, which drum corps definitely is not. #notdiggingit Circa 2000 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corps8294 Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Call them what you want. They still look like sops, contras, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Michael Boo Posted June 29, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted June 29, 2013 Soprano is now Trumpet, Contra is now Tuba and Color Guard is Flags? What gives? Makes it sound like marching band, which drum corps definitely is not. #notdiggingit The terminology first got altered in 2000, when Blue Devils and The Cadets became the first two corps to move to B-flat horns from G bugles. But they were the only two corps to do so that season. The next year, most corps (but not all) had made the switch, and it made more sense to start referring to the instruments by their "band" names because that's what they were. In 2002, the change to B-flat horns was almost complete, with a couple exceptions due to those corps still having relatively new G bugles and not ready to rotate those out of use. By then, referring to a tuba as a contra and a trumpet as a soprano was no longer accurate. Interestingly, "color guard" became "auxiliary" back in the 1980s. However, the terminology changed back and with color guards now officially on the judges sheets with their own caption and score, "auxiliary" is officially "color guard"...in drum corps lexicon and on the judging sheets. What's "interesting" about that is there really is no "color guard" anymore, as there is no one protecting "the colors," the national flag. Therefore, "color guard" is quite a retro term, yet it's fairly universal through the activity and the term "auxiliary" isn't really used much among judges. The argument has been made that drum corps is marching band and always has been...a very specific and (to us) special type of marching band. It meets all the lexicography criteria. However, "drum corps" captures that which is unique to the activity...the heart and soul that can't be quantified or defined in traditional terms. The term "Drum corps" says something about the experience, the camaraderie, the chill down the spine we fans get when everything clicks for us. That meaning of the term is something that would take this writer a hundred pages just to pen the preface. And for that reason, drum corps is "drum corps" to me and not "marching band." 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Bells turned into Mallets, Mallets turned into Tuned Percussion, Tuned Percussion turned into The Pit and The Pit The Pit turned into the Front Ensemble. I've probably missed a few steps in there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayM Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 There was a lot of resistance to the change in terminology, but over time you hear much less about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c mor Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 .... However, "drum corps" captures that which is unique to the activity...the heart and soul that can't be quantified or defined in traditional terms. The term "Drum corps" says something about the experience, the camaraderie, the chill down the spine we fans get when everything clicks for us. That meaning of the term is something that would take this writer a hundred pages just to pen the preface. And for that reason, drum corps is "drum corps" to me and not "marching band." This. Boo, you're awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seen-it-all Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Soprano is now Trumpet, Contra is now Tuba and Color Guard is Flags? What gives? Makes it sound like marching band, which drum corps definitely is not. #notdiggingit Then call them whatever you want. Me personally, I prefer to call a trumpet a trumpet and a tuba a tuba. Because that's what they are. I'm nutty like that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 On DCP (which I joined in 2009), I was still seeing people amend others' use of "tuba" to "contra", etc., as late as 2011 but hardly at all since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Whatever 'drum corps' means to us, to the uninitiated it sounds like the activity is percussion only. That makes it harder to explain at the outset, and perhaps harder to market i would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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