George Zingali

[LabMaster]

Many writers continue to be influenced by the velocity George's designs generated. This came largely from his adherence to the Frank Lloyd Wright school of "form follows function".

Sitting at his dining room table in 1986 alongside Marc Sylvester, George read through the brass scores for the entire "Sondheim" show and had me highlight with a red marker every voice that had a lead part, however brief. "Don't worry", he said. "I'll put them all downstage."

"But that will be impossible", I replied. "There are too many, and they jump all over the place."

"Nah", said George. "It'll be pissah."...and it was.

I'm not sure George would have said "it'll be pissah". Maybe more like "wicked pissah"! :-) The man was a genius and unafraid to take risks. I remember seeing his drill for 27 and we would all be thinking, too bad they'll never get it clean. And it got clean. Then we'd think, how can that be judged? And then the drum corps world turned upside down and drill changed forever, judging drill changed too. It had to; and it was all for the better.

His designs were incredible, nothing was impossible. And through it all this crazy, maniacal, bundle of energy stayed a sweetheart of a man. Funny as hell, caring as could be. He loved what he did and his passion for the activity never waned. His influence is lasting. Thanks for remembering him everyone.

[ironlips]

"wicked pissah"!

Yeah, that was probably it,

[xandandl]

I was lucky enough to be going through the MAA apprentice judging program in Boston at the time George Zingali, George O and some of the notable names which rose from 27 and other Boston corps were just starting their careers beyond being MMs.

George Z was a great debator in those sessions (what was the correct field position to judge interval in an arc where the designer has increased the interval size from the center to the tips, for instance.) I remember how his animated personality would begin so somber and then grow so energetic as his ingenuity and genius displaced some of the status quo opinions of both theory and what later would be seen on the field. Humor was always present but not always intended. So many of his genius insights then have become State of the Art practice today.

I remembered how he was able to teach the elementary age girls of St. Anthony's, Revere CYO guard doing their Cossack program. When flag poles were deemed too tall for their small heights, he had the organization trim the poles in half, take the show penalties, and still beat the competition as the guard wowed the audience and judges.

I remember his exhortations to the Cadets that he'd be praying his rosaries for them after a full day of drill changes, spontaneity, and amazing energy. I particularly remember that night (was it WVA?) when the Cadets beat SCV for the first time and George was given the largest set of rosary beads as he and the corps huddled in tears after the contest; each bead had to have been the size of a melon.

I remember his hours of backroom critiquing, instructing, and editing the band drills that Jon Vanderkoff, Leon May, etc. were beginning to write while still MMs and how George would often say to the MMs, "when you are teachers in the future..." And so he passed his genius to Marc Sylvester and to many others and onto countless future students and MMs. We are all better for it.

Edited March 7, 2016 by xandandl

[perc2100]

An amusing story told to me by a member of Garfield's 1983 brass line:

Garfield was rehearsing some section of the show on a show day. Someone kept blowing a move, and George Z yelled something along the lines of "cupcake if you screw that up again you owe be a thousand."

They ran it again, she blew the move, and George said some like, "alright: drop and give me a thousand." She drops and does push ups, and the corps resets. After the rep she stands there and George says, "honey I wasn't BS'ing I want ONE THOUSAND push ups, lets go!" Apparently in between every rep of rehearsal, during dinner, during pre-show warm-ups, and after the show she completed her one thousand push ups (my friend didn't know if she actually did a thousand, but when I asked he suggested it would've been a bad idea to push it and not do what George Z said). I was told that after that day George likely respected her a lot more, and she started marching a lot better.

I was told this story in the mid-90s, more than a decade after the fact and years after George had died. At that point the stories were a plethora, and it's hard to really know what's legit, what's exaggerated, etc. But the story always stayed with me

[1956OPR]

On March 6, 1992, the activity lost one of the true innovators (of ALL time) Mr George Zingali. To this day, we are touched by his greatness and vision. Be it from watching historical videos or watching todays corps with designs influenced by him, or created by people directly descended from collaborating with him.

I realise that strictly speaking, this may belong in a different forum, but I thought it would be nice to let people speak here about the man and his influence on this activity we all have such love for. This isn't meant to be a sad "RIP" thread. Rather, I want to hear stories from those who knew him... those who were taught by him, and those that were awed by his work. Additionally, I'd love to hear what todays generation of marchers make of the man> What do you know of him and what's your thoughts when you see his work?

As for me, I never knew him as such but did meet him on a few occasions on tour. I remember him as being this crazy whirling dirvish of activity. You could tell his brain was always "on". I remember that even though he didn't know me... I wasn't one of his corps members and had never been directly involved with him... that he took the time to make me feel important. I remember him saying to me (rather loudly) "Hi, I'm George (pronounced GOwagge). As if I didn't know who he was. I just met Superman!

Is this Lori Soules of Star of Indiana's guard in the picture with George? The Lori who is now Mrs. Rick Valenzuela and Office Manager of the Phantom Regiment. I bet she has plenty of stories about GZ.

[Top Cat]

George was (to me) foremost a teacher. He never passed up an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas, drill writing, guard work or judging. First met him when he was with the Skylarks Guard, I was judging and at critique we would "discuss" to the nth degree any and every aspect of design, movement, equipment, body. Later with Garfield and Star it was the same, looking to discuss, share and accept input. As we became more "comfortable" with each other, I could tell at critiques where his mind set was at. If he talked about the show, its pluses and minuses for the day, I knew he accepted my commentary and scoring. However, if he started talking about the weather or how my judging tour was going or the corps tour --- he was ######, end of discussion. But ALWAYS a gentleman.

[mfrontz]

Not a personal memory, but in the Blue Devils 'Through the Years' documentary, Jay Murphy told the story of how George Zingali suggested to him a chart that he thought would be perfect for the Devils. When the staff was stuck for ideas for the 1991 show, Jay brought Wayne Downey the LP of Don Sebesky's 'Bird and Bela in B flat.'

[Chris Halkides]

"He pulls two people out of the group...He asks the boy, "why is it that she
cannot make this pass through?"  The boy says "because she isn't doing it
right"...the girl kinda puts her head down...

George looks the boy dead in the eyes and says "No...She can't make the
pass through because you don't care enough about her to get her through it."
The two sit down..."

This is from the old conversation thread linked above.  Maybe someone can help me get this.  I think I am getting the big picture (help you fellow member), but I don't understand the particular example.  Thoughts?

 

[84BDsop]

1 hour ago, Chris Halkides said:

"He pulls two people out of the group...He asks the boy, "why is it that she
cannot make this pass through?"  The boy says "because she isn't doing it
right"...the girl kinda puts her head down...

George looks the boy dead in the eyes and says "No...She can't make the
pass through because you don't care enough about her to get her through it."
The two sit down..."

This is from the old conversation thread linked above.  Maybe someone can help me get this.  I think I am getting the big picture (help you fellow member), but I don't understand the particular example.  Thoughts?

 

The marching arts are a big team event....everyone on the field has to do their job....what some people don't realize is, that job is NOT solely focused on their own drill, but making sure other can get THEIR drill down so the overall product is successful.

George was telling the boy to think beyond himself and his personal performance and start thinking of the rest of the corps.

Think of it as an early version of "but I'm on my dot!"   "Yes you are....but the form is over there."

We had a similar sitch when I marched BD.   There was one move in Latin Implosion where the dress point was far to my right....and ,my line of sight was behind the lenses of my glasses, so I couldn't see the form clearly to guide.

When one of the field techs (I think it was former DM Todd Swanson) asked why I wasn't guiding the form properly, I explained why I couldn't see it clearly.

So what did the staff do?

They made enough of a change to the angle of the form that allowed me to see clearly enough to properly guide and the problem was solved...not just for me, but for the entire corps.

None of that "figure it out" BS I hate so very much, but come up with a solution so I and the corps could succeed.

THAT is what George was getting at.

[Cappybara]

1 hour ago, 84BDsop said:

The marching arts are a big team event....everyone on the field has to do their job....what some people don't realize is, that job is NOT solely focused on their own drill, but making sure other can get THEIR drill down so the overall product is successful.

George was telling the boy to think beyond himself and his personal performance and start thinking of the rest of the corps.

Think of it as an early version of "but I'm on my dot!"   "Yes you are....but the form is over there."

We had a similar sitch when I marched BD.   There was one move in Latin Implosion where the dress point was far to my right....and ,my line of sight was behind the lenses of my glasses, so I couldn't see the form clearly to guide.

When one of the field techs (I think it was former DM Todd Swanson) asked why I wasn't guiding the form properly, I explained why I couldn't see it clearly.

So what did the staff do?

They made enough of a change to the angle of the form that allowed me to see clearly enough to properly guide and the problem was solved...not just for me, but for the entire corps.

None of that "figure it out" BS I hate so very much, but come up with a solution so I and the corps could succeed.

THAT is what George was getting at.

Part of the reason why BD's visual is always so good is because they learn drill through organic movement rather than dots.