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What instruments are illegal to use in DCI?


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After watching Cavaliers pull the euphonium out of the coffin for a solo, then kill the soloist, I found myself wishing DCI would also allow banjos.

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After watching Cavaliers pull the euphonium out of the coffin for a solo, then kill the soloist, I found myself wishing DCI would also allow banjos.

Shhh, don't give SCV any ideas. I can just see them opening their show next year with a 40 banjo wall of sound as they launch into the Pete Seeger songbook.

Actually, a Pete Seeger show would be pretty cool....come at me, banjos!

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Would a piano not qualify as an acoustic string instrument?

I believe a piano would be considered a percussion instrument, and therefore would be legal today.

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Shhh, don't give SCV any ideas. I can just see them opening their show next year with a 40 banjo wall of sound as they launch into the Pete Seeger songbook.

Actually, a Pete Seeger show would be pretty cool....come at me, banjos!

I could sense the Angry Dude and Dudette T Shirts already ... :. " No Bandos with Banjos !! "

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The corps sought a ruling on the instrument from the DCI Judge Administrator prior to the season and it was determined it was indeed a valid percussion instrument because the strings were struck, just as most percussion instruments are struck in some fashion.

In their 2008 Samurai show, Cavaliers used a hammered dulcimer in the pit. It appears to be fully acoustic. I am not sure why this made it past the rules committee, but I am glad it did, as it adds a great sound to the show.

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I believe a piano would be considered a percussion instrument, and therefore would be legal today.

You are correct.

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Keyboard percussion were not permitted prior to 1974 in DCI and even then they only allowed two keyboards. Around 1978 they allowed 4 keyboards.

And the only keyboards allowed were orchestra bells and xylophones. Marimbas and vibes weren't allowed until 1977. Santa Clara Vanguard had a unique sound in 1974 when Gail Royer found a set of Deagan alto bells in a band room storage area. They were mistaken for vibes by some, but they were legal because they were bells, albeit bells with larger bars than normal. In 1977, Spirit of Atlanta's percussion arranger Dan Spaulding created a marching marimba that flipped over to a vibe keyboard on the other side. I picked it up and could hardly lift it.

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A few years back, Jersey Surf unveiled a EWI, Electronic Wind Controller. If it weren't for the fact that it was specifically made to be plugged in and wouldn't make a sound without power, people may well have decided it was a wind instrument.

Besides, we've had woodwinds for years...they've just taken the form of patches in the synthesizers.

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