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How did you intitially come to be involved in the Drum Corps activity?


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One way to put it is that the Boston Crusader's were a part of my legacy. My sister marched from '68 to '70. My oldest brother joined at the end of '71 and marched from '72 to '77. My next older brother joined at the end of '72 and marched from '73 to '77. Guess who joined at the end of '73? I joined at age 14 and march '74,'75 and '77 to '79. My next younger brother marched '76 to '78 and my youngest brother marched '77 to '79. This means that in '77 their were 6 of us marching together in the Crusader's. Why 6 and not 5? One sister-in-law. Now you might be thinking that this would be the end of it but I'm afraid not. My sister, the one who marched from '68 to '70, got married in '70 to a member of the Crusader's who marched Boston from '67 to '70. They had 2 sons who marched in the Crusader's in the late '80's early 90's I believe. I had one other nephew, the son of my oldest sister, who marched with his 2 cousins in Boston. That would be a grand total of 11.

Edited by Bsader
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One way to put it is that the Boston Crusader's were a part of my legacy. My sister marched from '68 to '70. My oldest brother joined at the end of '71 and marched from '72 to '77. My next older brother joined at the end of '72 and marched from '73 to '77. Guess who joined at the end of '73? I joined at age 14 and march '74,'75 and '77 to '79. My next younger brother marched '76 to '78 and my youngest brother marched '77 to '79. This means that in '77 their were 6 of us marching together in the Crusader's. Why 6 and not 5? One sister-in-law. Now you might be thinking that this would be the end of it but I'm afraid not. My sister, the one who marched from '68 to '70, got married in '70 to a member of the Crusader's who marched Boston from '67 to '70. They had 2 sons who marched in the Crusader's in the late '80's early 90's I believe. I had one other nephew, the son of my oldest sister, who marched with his 2 cousins in Boston. That would be a grand total of 11.

Wow thats freaking awesome!! I love hearing stories of many family members marching all at once. It seems interesting.

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My Uncle, who marched with Holy Name in the 40s took me to a Corps Rehearsal in 1963 and that's how I got started. Aged out in 1977. Spent my entire marching career in Class A (Open Class for you young'uns ) and totally enjoyed it. When I aged out, I knew good things were coming for my Corps. I was overjoyed when they won the Class A Title in 79 in Birmingham.

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Got caught cutting school by this music teacher who made me come back that evening to what I thought was detention. The detention turned out to be a drum and bugle corps practice where the teacher handed me a brass Getzen baritone to start blowing into (never blown through a bugle before). I was hooked and ended up marching 7 years, one with the Sunnyvale Sparks and 6 with the Santa Clara Vanguard. That music teacher was Gail Royer.

Edited by amadorj
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How cool is that? Great story!

Thanks.... Of course, as a 5 yr old, I thought (back then) ALL of the Corps were across the street.... :shutup:

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Got caught cutting school by this music teacher who made me come back that evening to what I thought was detention. The detention turned out to be ...

Taken out of context, this would not usually be the start of a story with a positive outcome. :tounge2:

Now my story. It was 1978 or so and my best friend for the previous few years told me that he was in a drum and bugle corps. It was news to me. Sheesh, ya think ya know somebody. Anyway, he said he wanted someone else to join so he would know someone. I did not want to be in a drum and bugle corps, or anything called a corps. I knew I couldn't play an instrument anyway so I played along. My mom was very concerned as well, which was fine with me. But when we showed up to practice and they said all you had to buy was the shoes, her concerns disappeared and she became an enthusiastic supporter of the activity (she later became a huge Phantom phan).

Worse yet, when my first blat on a baritone was good enough for the instructor I was suddenly out of excuses. My friend quit not long after and I spent six years in two different corps. (about three in each).

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Got caught cutting school by this music teacher who made me come back that evening to what I thought was detention. The detention turned out to be a drum and bugle corps practice where the teacher handed me a brass Getzen baritone to start blowing into (never blown through a bugle before). I was hooked and ended up marching 6 years, one with the Sunnyvale Sparks and 6 with the Santa Clara Vanguard. That music teacher was Gail Royer.

Now THAT is a great story.

The venerable Mr. Royer.

Wow.

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I am interested in knowing how each of you who post became involved with Drum and Bugle Corps.

When I was in the womb. I had no choice in the matter. It was not my fault. ( haha!)

My Mom was pregnant with me and sat on our home's front steps and exactly 56 feet from our steps was the starting line on the practice field for a Corps that we would listen too each week and that years later I would join. In my neighborhood growing up , just about up every third house in a radius of 1 mile had someone in the family marching Drum Corps. At one count, there were 14 different Corps from coast to coast that this neighborhood had represented in Drum Corps ( or Color Guard competition ).. The rest of my personal experience is a wondrous blur of over half a century of involvement at different levels with Drum Corps ( and others in my family ) where the the stories and tales embellishments in the succeeding years are just as wondrously unrelenting.

Edited by BRASSO
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I "knew" about Drum Corps in high school. Our guard captain marched with Phantom. A friend of mine played drums with the Imperials, and he talked me into marching the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago (my Mom was NOT happy). That was the extent of my drum corps experience. Fast forward to 2011, my son marched with the color guard with Gold. In 2012 he was in the guard with The Academy. In 2013, my daughter (trumpet) joined him there. This year, my son is marching with The Cavies and my daughter is marching with SCV. It is a family affair, but I am more of a fan!

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