Someone Please Give Me A History Lesson

[ajlisko]

Did each show have to consist of (something like this):

OTL: from a certain point in the field

2nd number

Concert

Drum solo

Color Presentation

Ballad

Was that the general format?

Move the Color Pre up to song #2 or #3 ... Ballads were usually played backfield to set up for a final Production number ... then an Exit to leave the field ... Drum Solos could pop up anywhere ... some as short as 32 counts ...

Here's an example of the 1964 St. Raphael's Bucs:

OTL - Gabriel, Come Bolw Your Horn

#2 - Out of Nowhere (played backfield)

Drum Solo

Color Pre - Victory March

#4 - Mississippi Mud

Concert - Cry Me a River

#6 - Up a Lazy River

Drum Solo

Production - How The West Was Won

Drum Solo

Exit - In This Whole World

You'll find other similar formats in corpsreps.com

This thread is really good ... chock full of history and information ... let's keep it going ... ask more questions!!!!

:-)

Edited August 17, 2013 by ajlisko

[ironlips]

Move the Color Pre up to song #2 or #3 ... Ballads were usually played backfield to set up for a final Production number ... then an Exit to leave the field ... Drum Solos could pop up anywhere ... some as short as 32 counts ...

Here's an example of the 1964 St. Raphael's Bucs:

OTL - Gabriel, Come Bolw Your Horn

#2 - Out of Nowhere (played backfield)

Drum Solo

Color Pre - Victory March

#4 - (short Into Concert tune) - can't remember the name

Concert - Cry Me a River

#6 - Up a Lazy River

Drum Solo

Production - How The West Was Won

Drum Solo

Exit - In This Whole World

You'll find other similar formats in corpsreps.com

This thread is really good ... chock full of history and information ... let's keep it going ... ask more questions!!!!

:-)

Shows were about 25% longer, up to 14 minutes or so as opposed to today's 10+ routines. They had great variety, but less thematic continuity, in general.

There were notable exceptions early on, like the Archer-Epler Musketeers, who played several selections from "The King and I" in their early '60s routine. Vince Deegan played the Yul Brynner role in full costume. He later became a premier brass judge and mentor to many future instructors, including yours truly.

[elphaba01]

"Themes/Identities":

BITD a lot of the senior corps maintained an "Identity", which resulted in their field shows having a "Theme". With Skyliners it was "Big City/Big Apple", (New York New York, "Showtime on Broadway", etc), with Caballeros it was "Spanish" ('Carmen', "Conquest', etc), Sunrisers, "Classical" (As Ironlips siad the "LI Conservatory of Music, 'Procession of the Nobles, "Claire DeLunne", etc), Hurricanes 'Weather" ("Heat Wave, Mariah", etc) Reilly raiders "Irish" ('Irish Eyes', "Kerry Dancers", etc) and Yankee Rebels, "Southern", ('Dixie Stinger', 'Requiem', etc).

In the mid 1950's Archer-Epler Musketeers did an entire show from the Brodaway musical "The King and I", with the late great Vince Degan costumed (And head shaved) as the "King". In 1963 & 1964 the Royal Lancers (Juniors, from Bridgeport CT) did the "South Pacific" program, written for them by the late great Joe Genero.

The late Gale Royer, the director of Santa Clara Vanguard, is said to have remarked that the inspiration for their "Young Peoples Guide to Drum Corps" production was inspired by the senior Yankee Rebels "Requiem for an Era" Civil War show.

Lots and lots of GREAT drum corps history hereabouts......

Elphaba

WWW

[rayfallon]

Vince Deegan played the Yul Brynner role in full costume. He later became a premier brass judge and mentor to many future instructors, including yours truly.

Played a hell of a baritone too... listen to the solo on Dipsy Doodle (late 50s) sometime.

As far as a mentor, with me working as the brass guy at the Latter Day Archie, Vince became something of a TOR-Mentor. Trying to resurrect the musical legend you could never quite get it right with folks like Vince or Rip Bernert, although I know they were glad we were paying homage.

With or without the skullcap, Vince took the "King" part very seriously down there. Hell, he had earned it.

[rayfallon]

Move the Color Pre up to song #2 or #3 ... Ballads were usually played backfield to set up for a final Production number ... then an Exit to leave the field ... Drum Solos could pop up anywhere ... some as short as 32 counts ...

Here's an example of the 1964 St. Raphael's Bucs:

OTL - Gabriel, Come Bolw Your Horn

#2 - Out of Nowhere (played backfield)

Drum Solo

Color Pre - Victory March

#4 - (short Into Concert tune) - can't remember the name

Concert - Cry Me a River

#6 - Up a Lazy River

Drum Solo

Production - How The West Was Won

Drum Solo

Exit - In This Whole World

You'll find other similar formats in corpsreps.com

This thread is really good ... chock full of history and information ... let's keep it going ... ask more questions!!!!

:-)

Reading about "Gabriel Blow Your Horn" reminded me about another dinosaur genre - i.e. the songs that every single drum corps made up and sang on buses going to and from shows (No TVs on the bus then kids - only a few in the houses). Have to leave out the other stuff on buses - that's the stuff I referred to earlier that could get a guy killed.

Don't have time - have to work this Saturday - planes always fly, albeit late - but the number of member-crafted songs that we sang is probably richer than the entire limerick compendium. The lyrics would make your mother blush, your sister giggle behind her hand, and your grandmother wash your mouth out with soap.

[rayfallon]

This is a very accurate assessment, overall. One factor that's often omitted is the fact that no one ever forced those "local" corps to take on the touring model. They could very well have continued as they were, doing parades, local appearances...etc. while the more financially stable units toured the country.

It was the unpopularity of the Viet Nam war (reducing enthusiasm for veteran's organizations) in conjunction with the change in demographic (the baby boomers did not support church and fraternal groups as had their parents) that ultimately doomed those smaller corps.

In addition, the Selective Service decimated the ranks of drum corps from the mid-'60's through 1975 or so. Most of those folks were the cream of the crop, the older members of junior corps and the incoming classes for the seniors. Some of us were able to stay involved despite military commitments, but many never came back.

There are some great stories about the guys who DID come back too. Not talking about myself - as a Chinese linguist in the USAF I never went through the mud and jungles, but guys like Mike Hart from the Sunrisers who came back after two tours as a medic with the 101st screaming Eagles. God the stories about guys like Mike. Just one - Mike challenged the entire Skyliners corps to a fight at the Town Hall in Union City - he was serious - not even drunk. I was trying to blend into the wall. They must have sensed he was both crazy and dangerous as it may be the only fight NY ever missed. And that's just one off the top of my head.

[JimF-LowBari]

The participation rates of Corps at AL and VFW Championships, even in the 50's, and prior to the formation of DCA, really was mostly determined by where and when the Veteran Groups held their National Conventions.

LOL not only the 50s or 60a. Last AL Nationals held during the actual convention (unlike the AL Title shows in the last 10 years or so) was Boston in 1980 with 7 or 8 Sr corps (too lazy to look). I was in the 1978 Nats and had a total of 2 Sr corps and none the following year which IIRC was in TX.

[Chris Cartwright]

For those of you that marched in those earlier corps days...what were rehearsals like? Because I know in the present days in DCI, DCA, and even competitive high school marching bands you've got maybe 6 or 7 visual staff members yelling at you over a microphone or long ranger about dot accuracy and all the mussels you have to flex and engage to properly march! What kind of things were the directors always reminding/yelling at/telling/teaching you about? Because the format and judging captions and priorities were different in those days, I imagine that the way rehearsals were run was different than how it is today.

[Chris Cartwright]

Also AGAIN thank you all so much for contributing to this thread. I agree with ajlisko, please keep this thread going, it's very intriguing and educational for all!

[rayfallon]

For those of you that marched in those earlier corps days...what were rehearsals like? Because I know in the present days in DCI, DCA, and even competitive high school marching bands you've got maybe 6 or 7 visual staff members yelling at you over a microphone or long ranger about dot accuracy and all the mussels you have to flex and engage to properly march! What kind of things were the directors always reminding/yelling at/telling/teaching you about? Because the format and judging captions and priorities were different in those days, I imagine that the way rehearsals were run was different than how it is today.

I have 2 words for the difference in how rehearsals were run bitd: Carmen Cluna

I was home on leave and went to a rehearsal of my brother's corps, St Rita's Brassmen, and here comes Carmen up behind my brother and kicks him in the seat of the pants - hard!

I went nuts! I wanted to go clean his clock - I was told it was "part of his greatness"...

Even my brother agreed that Carmen was what made them proud of who they were and where they came from (i.e. Brooklyn)

A lot of the staff, especially marching staff in the 50s and 60s learned to march in the military in WWII. Drill, or "Marching & Maneuvering" was mostly composed of symmetrical forms made up of 3 or 4 man squads. Every drill began on the "starting line" (the touchdown line on a football field on the left of the audience). Company fronts were important. Cover and dress were stressed, as was spacing. All drill was 8 steps per 5 yards - precisely. If someone had "jazz run" on the field in the 60s it meant they were having a reaction to last night's dinner and heading for the nearest men's room. Until the late 60s everyone in almost all Senior Drum Corps were male, and for a reason - there were Legion rules that dictated a percentage of corps members that had to be veterans. The Sunrisers (I'll try to get this correct) had to remove 2 of their brass players at 1966 American Legion Finals for being younger than 18. (I was 15 so cut me some slack if I erred on number or year or show).

Maneuvers consisted of squad movements, wheels, and movements that involved larger groups of squads such as pinwheels or echelons. Flash (such as seen in Madison's pre-show this year) often contained "head chops" while corps members were playing. Cool as #### as long as everyone went down when they were supposed to.

There was a lot of screaming at some rehearsals. Funny thing is that as tough as the Skyliners were (and they were) Hy Dreitzer did less yelling and more explaining. I guess that's true of all the legends, although John Sasso scared the crap out of me from time to time.

Sort of funny story - I was working Sunrisers' line in 1976 when we went to "camp" at Marist College in Poughkeepsie NY. John hadn't been out in a few weeks - by this time he was there for arranging and for guidance. We were seated in the band room and John was doing parts checks on "Procession of the Nobles". There was this wicked little interlude in the baritone part in (bugle) Eb (or concert Ab but I digress). We were still using one valve and a rotary on my #*@(@&ing "Smith" baritone. I'm making excuses because when my time to play came I ####ed it up and John went nuts on me. Threw me out of the rehearsal and told me I was a disgrace and not to come back until I had it cold. What could one say? I got out and went and practiced.

We were not sensitive back then. I think Gino Cipriani has kept a little of that old school to this day. I know my kid lived in fear of being called out by him in Blue Devils.

In short, the way a lot of corps rehearsed back then would be called "child abuse" now. It was a badge of honor for us though. And when I think of that ultimate, literal "kick ###" style of rehearsal, I think of Carmen Cluna.