quietcity Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 If you think about it, drum corps is a little impersonal from the audience's point of view. There are a lot of people on the field, but they act en masse and they follow a script. Plus, they are kind of far away. I like the fact that a drum major can become the face of the corps and make a personal connection with the audience. This is the same thing that band leaders like Duke Ellington and Tito Puente did. If there is a trend of drum majors doing more of this "schtick", I am all for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 (edited) Before DCI, up to the late 1960's, Drum Majors used to have to accompany what was called an " Inspection judge " up and down the end zone with the entire Corps at attention. The inspection judge would judge things like feet at 45 degree angle, shoes polished, no threads hanging on unis, and about 50 other possible things that would denote lack of uniformity in how the Corps looked. A tenth of a point would be deducted for every infraction before a Corps even started their performance. Shows could be lost with these few tenths too. The inspection process with the DM and the Corps could take as long as the Inspection judge wanted... usually 4-10 minutes ( other Corps would be performing during this process on the field ). Ok,.. so people here want to know about an example of a DM's " annoyance " ? Well, I was DM of a Corps during this period, and one nite my Corps was going thru the Inspection process, and halfway thru, the judge comes upon a marcher in my Corps that clearly has his shako on crooked, and the judge says to me, something to the effect.. " Major, this marcher has his shako on incorrectly, and I must take off a tenth of a point here". Not wanting to lose a tenth for my Corps, I impulsively blurted out to the Judge something like:.. " Sir, this young man has a congenital malformation of his head skeleton from birth that precludes his ability to wear his shako like all the others here ". The judge pauses... looks at the marcher.. looks at me... looks at the marcher again... then looks back at me, unsure on whether to believe me or not. Then he decides to " buy " my story, and he does not take off a tenth, and we continue down the line, and then we finish. I salute him as required, he leaves, and I bring the Corps to parade rest. Then I see the middle of the line break out in too loud spontaneous laughter, around where the" skeletal malformed" marcher was. I was not too happy with this, as I looked back and saw that the inspection judge looked back to us and noticed this too.... and he didn't look too happy. Anyway, a few shows later, my Corps is about to have inspection again, and lo and behold, here is that same inspection judge coming toward me. So I salute him. We start the inspection, we hardly get very far, and the judge stops at a girl in the Color Guard, and she's got the tiniest of thread hanging, and the judge says to me : " Major, this marcher has a hanging thread, and I'm going to take off a tenth... (then continues)... and don't you annoy me by saying another word " ( lol!). I kept my trap shut with that judge, fearing more tenths could be lost if I annoyed him further. ( haha!). Years later I met him at a reunion bash of some sort, brought it up to him, and both of us had a good friendly chuckle about the time as a DM I " annoyed " the hell out of him, but how he got the best of me after that. Edited July 9, 2016 by BRASSO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietcity Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Before DCI, up to the late 1960's, Drum Majors used to have to accompany what was called an " Inspection judge " up and down the end zone with the entire Corps at attention. The inspection judge would judge things like feet at 45 degree angle, shoes polished, no threads hanging on unis, and about 50 other possible things that would denote lack of uniformity in how the Corps looked. A tenth of a point would be deducted before a Corps even started their performance. The inspection process with the DM and the Corpsw could take as long as the Inspection judge wanted... usually 4-10 minutes ( other Corps would be performing during this process on the field ). I recall inspections as late as 1977, though only on a couple occasions, at American Legion or VFW-sponsored shows. Our staff was a little baffled on how to prepare us, as formal inspections were pretty much a relic by then. Imagine a bunch of long-haired hard-partying hippie kids getting inspected during the Viet Nam era by an ancient and stern-faced veteran. It was kind of surreal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 (edited) In the 60's, St. Joe's of Batavia NY was in the Boston area for a parade and the local Drum Corps circuit ( Eastern Mass. ) invited them to compete in a nite show locally on a spur of the moment, and St. Joe's, an outstanding Drum Corps during that timeframe, graciously accepted. I believe it was Beverly. Anyway, the Circuit had inspections. My Corps just finished inspections this day, and the Circuit had us come off the line before performing ( unusual ) so that St. Joe's could undergo inspections on the Inspection line. But St. Joes was rushed off the bus to the startling line, and my guess were not aware they'd be an inspection. The Inspection started, and I could see that St. Joes, unprepared for inspections this day, and was getting clobbered.. with tenths being taken off left and right. They lost over 2 points in the inspection, But then the Chief Judge had the good sense to recognize that St. Joes was a last minute addition to this show, was clearly not alerted about the inspections, had not had time to polish their boots, shoes, etc and so forth. So it was announced to the audience and the Corps that it was agreed to forego all Corps inspections this day, including that of all the Corps that had already undergone their inspections. Made perfect sense to do so too, imo. Edited July 9, 2016 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Sup dcp. I've been away for a while. Back with a new profile. Some of you will know who I am. Anyways... It seems like DMs are really taking their time with the whole smile-and-wave thing after the salute. I've noticed it gradually getting worse, but this year it seems like every DM has their own shtick. BD DM with his hair thing and then shako fake out is the worst one. Is it just me or is it bothering anyone else too? Just salute, turn around, and go. Nothing new under the sun. Back when I marched (mid-late 70's), drum majors routinely milked the crowd. One thing immediately came to mind...Madison's drum major waving the 1975 championship flag around while the corps played their last chord. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietcity Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 In the 60's, St. Joe's of Batavia NY was in the Boston area for a parade and the local Drum Corps circuit ( Eastern Mass. ) invited them to compete in a nite show locally on a spur of the moment, and St. Joe's, an outstanding Drum Corps during that timeframe, graciously accepted. I believe it was Beverly. Anyway, the Circuit had inspections. My Corps just finished inspections this day, and the Circuit had us come off the line before performing ( unusual ) so that St. Joe's could undergo inspections on the Inspection line. But St. Joes was rushed off the bus to the startling line, and my guess were not aware they'd be an inspection. The Inspection started, and I could see that St. Joes, unprepared for inspections this day, and was getting clobbered.. with tenths being taken off left and right. They lost over 2 points in the inspection, But then the Chief Judge had the good sense to recognize that St. Joes was a last minute addition to this show, was clearly not alerted about the inspections, had not had time to polish their boots, shoes, etc and so forth. So it was announced to the audience, Corps that it was agreed to forego all Corps inspections this day, including that of all the Corps that had already undergone their inspections. Made perfect sense to do so too, imo. I can just imagine an inspection judge with today's corps. "OK, thats three ticks for texting while at attention, two ticks for Instagramming, and one point for taking a selfie with the inspection judge. And Bluecoats, where are your hats??? Ooh, I'm afraid that is ten points!" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDale Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Slow turn, salute, remove head wear, slight nod...EVIL GRIN. BUT, keep your feet together!!! Separate them only for hard accented parts or when the corps has them apart. And don't be a dancing monkey up there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Slow turn, salute, remove head wear, slight nod...EVIL GRIN. BUT, keep your feet together!!! Separate them only for hard accented parts or when the corps has them apart. And don't be a dancing monkey up there. Why so particular about feet? I'd much rather see lots of energy and expression from the DM to get me more into the performance. If I wanted a robot conducting on the podium, I'd just tell the corps to use a metronome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 I impulsively blurted out to the Judge something like:.. " Sir, this young man has a congenital malformation of his head skeleton from birth that precludes his ability to wear his shako like all the others here ". Brasso: I once wrote about (for my Drum Corps World column) a drum major who claimed someone in his corps had a "malocclusion", and avoided a penalty. Could that have been you??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Why so particular about feet? I'd much rather see lots of energy and expression from the DM to get me more into the performance. If I wanted a robot conducting on the podium, I'd just tell the corps to use a metronome. Yeah, and it's not like anyone watches them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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