83 Garfield Cadets

[Pete Freedman]

My take is that Pete Emmons established drill as a real performing art thing, rather than a demonstration of military maneuvers. He established the principle that drill could be aesthetic. Zingali seemed to be making a different statement; he didn't merely do drills that were pretty in a more naturalistic way, he also did drills that seemed deliberately awkward, anti-pattern. Some fans complained that it looked like "spaghetti on a plate" and I'm not convinced that it wasn't deliberate. "Anything goes" is perhaps a more respectful term. And clearly, every drill writer since has known that "If Zingali could do that, then I can do this." Emmons took a big piece out of Pandora's box, Zingali upended it.

[xandandl]

Before Zingali even started writing for 27th let alone Alliance, St. Anthony's of Revere, Cadets and Star of Indiana, George was discussing drill as art rather than the military maneuvers as you rightly cite. I had the opportunity to be part of the same judging clinics that schooled people like himself, Peggy Twiggs, Mark Sylvester, Jerry Coradino, Steve Kovitz and George Oliviero in Massachusetts in the early and mid-70's. It was quite obvious that he was looking with different eyes, seeing different configurations, and assessing them by different standards. While chronologically not far different on the calendar from Pete Emmons, George's writing was more in response to Ralph Pace and Ike Iannessa who had already led 27th and the greater Boston activity into different vocabulary, standards and imagining.

Pete Emmons came from The Troopers in Casper whose sunburst was disciplined but not static military maneuvers. He dabbled with experimentation with Garfield in the early seventies, with the Long Island Kingsmen, and other writings, although he is best known for his asymmetrical work with Santa Clara before moving to Blue Devils.

Zingali's approach and anticipations were more radical than Emmons then although Pete Emmons still makes his comments from the press box heard at Devils' practices. We can see that result on the field..or stage...or performance venue, whatever one chooses to call it today. Look at the "art" which Zingali chose for his designing: Bernstein, Erte, etc. Not conventional approaches by any means. Emmons was not given the same latitude musically that Zingali exercised over the total show selections and delivery from what I observed having had the opportunity to have worked with them both.

Edited November 3, 2014 by xandandl

[Lincoln]

My take is that Pete Emmons established drill as a real performing art thing, rather than a demonstration of military maneuvers. He established the principle that drill could be aesthetic. Zingali seemed to be making a different statement; he didn't merely do drills that were pretty in a more naturalistic way, he also did drills that seemed deliberately awkward, anti-pattern. Some fans complained that it looked like "spaghetti on a plate" and I'm not convinced that it wasn't deliberate. "Anything goes" is perhaps a more respectful term. And clearly, every drill writer since has known that "If Zingali could do that, then I can do this." Emmons took a big piece out of Pandora's box, Zingali upended it.

There was a comment on here a while ago regarding a drill formation in Garfield's '83 show (at the 2:40 mark in the link below). The horns form an arc but it's not symmetrical on the field. IIRC, the comment was about the number of people during the '83 season who thought that the formation was off-kilter. However, it wasn't - it was just a different way of forming a horn arc.

It's such a simple formation, but to me it says so much about what Zingali had achieved.

http://youtu.be/VnbyIMMm9PM

[jordsterr]

Fluid?

Kaleidoscopic

[jjeffeory]

Kaleidoscopic

Fluid:

Kaleidoscopic

[G-Rott]

There was a comment on here a while ago regarding a drill formation in Garfield's '83 show (at the 2:40 mark in the link below). The horns form an arc but it's not symmetrical on the field. IIRC, the comment was about the number of people during the '83 season who thought that the formation was off-kilter. However, it wasn't - it was just a different way of forming a horn arc.

It's such a simple formation, but to me it says so much about what Zingali had achieved.

http://youtu.be/VnbyIMMm9PM

That was an amazing performance!...back to topic...

[perc2100]

Fluid:

Kaleidoscopic

Aaaand some designer just got their new poster/idea for next year's show...

[xandandl]

Is Fluid poster above, not the one who posted, the sequel to Tilt?

The second poster pictured seems more Gaines or Brubaker than Zingali, although his disciple Leon May did something of this tone with Crown '13.

[jjeffeory]

Is Fluid poster above, not the one who posted, the sequel to Tilt?

The second poster pictured seems more Gaines or Brubaker than Zingali, although his disciple Leon May did something of this tone with Crown '13.

Agree with your second sentence!

I was just trying to find a good example of both ideas for those who seem to not get it. I was going to try and find some pictures of Cadets doing fluid drill, and then Cavaliers doing their Kaleidoscopic dril, but they're not easy to find. I have the examples in my head, but I couldn't find them on the interwebs.

[KVG_DC]

Crown's closer to Out of This World was fairly kaleidoscopic. I recall it being even more so before a rewrite late season to change it to something more cleanable. I liked the pre-rewrite version better but it probably was wise to swap it out for a fairly effective and more cleanable book.