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When did the terminology change?


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I hear "trumpet" and "soprano" used interchangeably but I rarely hear "tuba" except when recruiting. I think "contra" sounds more drum corps-ish and while the use of trumpet/soprano may be generational, I've heard kids who play tuba and lug those babies around all summer call them "contras," including a young man who marched with Crossmen last year who stopped by to say hello to his aunt and uncle who were sitting behind me in Indy.

As far as color guards are concerned, referring to flags, along with rifles and sabres is not new. Today where guard members are doing so many interchangeable things, color guard is probably the best overall term. Whether a color guard is a color guard debate may be older than the debate about instrument terminology. I went to a show with a friend I n 1979. His grandparents drove us and the grandfather said "There was not one color guard in that show." 27th Lancers competed in that show and since it was early season, BAC and North Star probably competed as well. Today 27th may be the iconic color guard of yesteryear, along with Anaheim Kingsmen and Phantom Regiment.

Edited by Tim K
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There was an Old School Contra player on DCP that said both terms are technically correct. They are Double B Flat Contratubas to be specific. Can't argue one way or the other -

Mitch

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There are no such thing ss "trumpets" in Drum Corps - they're sops. Tuba is a joke - makes it sound like we're talkig about sousaphones or an elephant. Maybe we're not like bands because we don't want to be.

Edited by Piper
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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."

Mike...some groups still use the term "contra" in reference to their tubas (Colts in particular, I just did some time with them)...I use both interchangeably, although "contra" as an earned moniker would be more accurate in the drum corps idiom. Since I'm a contra/tuba player, when working with a corps I'll zero-in on them right away; it seems the kids participating nowadays like the term "contra"...thus, with me anyway, they gotta earn it. AFA trumpet vs sop, I'm almost always "trumpet" lately, although "sop" slips out once in awhile. ;)

cg

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1372513210[/url]' post='3276269']

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

Get over yourself drum corps is very similar to marching band.

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Thanks for the replies. I always associated a tuba with something you slip your head through and it wraps around you, and a contra as being over your shoulder, with the exception being Jacksonville State Univeristy which marches 20J's.

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The word "Contra" just seems to carry more power... tubas waddle, contras rock. :cool:

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