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How did you get involved with drum corp?


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How did you get involved in drum corps? What was your corps like? I became interested in drum corps indirectly through my parents. My farther and mother were part of the greatest generation. My father fought in WWII. Drove a tank through France into Germany. Came home. Didn't talk about it much. He and my mother settle back on Long Island, NY and he joined the local volunteer fire department. Our home town fire department had one of the best bands (not drum corps) in the state. As a kid, I went to all the local fire department parades and fairs. In the summer, there must have been at least two a week. The left me by the fire department finish line as the marched in the parade. I got to hear the local corps like the Selden Cadets, and Smithtown Freelancers. From as far back as I can remember, I wanted to march with a drum corp. I joined a local corps sponsored by a fire department, in the next town. I joined because I wanted to march and play bugle. But, the bonus was being a part of the corps. Sure, there were the clicks, and the corps politics. The inner circle versus the members from out of the district. But, still we were a part of the whole. It wasn't a big corps like the Skyliners or Sunrisers. Not even like the Selden Cadets. But, we tried our best.

It was one of the best memories I have. But, when it came to my children, they never had any interest. Maybe, it was the time, maybe it was the fact that we were the children of the greatest generations. Also, maybe it was the fact that each town had a corps and all it took was desire to join. You didn't have to audition.

Grenadier

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My buddy called me the night before and said he was picking me up at 7 for camp.... I didn't believe him until the knocking started on my door. It was worth it though!

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My father brought me to my first show in Birmingham in 1984. He had been heavily involved in Drum and Bugle Corps (in fact he was involved with Suncoast Sound at some point on an administrative level,) and his sister had marched with the Bridgemen. I was already heavily involved in choral music studies and was fortunate enough to have already toured expensively in that area of music even at a very young age. That DCI South show in Birmingham hooked me. Though I did not drop vocal music, I began a serious study of instrumental music, got a private percussion instructor and marched my first year in DCI in 1987. I continued to march two more years in DCI before aging out and then picked up marching again with DCA in 1984.

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Parents took our family to a Toronto Optimist recruiting event in the Fall of 1970, signed up for the Optmimist cadets. Wanted to play Snare drum, but so did everyone else in the corps, so settled with starting to llearn how to play the straight G bugle. Joe Gianna was tge instructors name. Anyways, never looked back, spent the next 9 years in drum corps, unfortunately was there from the time there were 11, i believe, drum corps in Toronto until the number had dwindled to I believe 3. Sadly, the movement has pretty much passed on here in Canada.

Anyways, phenomenal youth spent in the movement, I remember Cardinals 77 and 78 having a quite friendly rivalry with an obscure corps called, lemme think now, O yeah, the Canton Bluecoats. We took turns kicking each others butts that year, but I remember getting together for a joint picnic at the Canton show one of those summers.

Hey Lindap, if you read this, I marched with you a couple of years. I was one of the Broken leg amazing gracesolo dudes from 1973. Myself, Jimmy and some other guy named John Phillips lol

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Hi Mike. Good to see you here. Yes, we played Amazing Grace in 1973. There aren't a lot of Princemen photos from 1973 but I vaguely remember a lot of sops limping. Good golly! I remember a year or 2 before when Lambert broke his arm but carried his contra with a cast. To stay on topic, a few years later his sister Sherry joined the guard and became a fine rifle spinner for us and Seneca Optimists. How did she get involved in drum corps? I figure she watched her brother and joined too. We had a lot of sister, brothers, cousins join drum corps.

Joel mentioned a few weeks ago that we had at least 7 Jr. A and Jr. B in Toronto and who knows how many other Jr. C or D corps there were? Also, there were lots of corps within an hour's drive from Toronto. I have a question for you. After Amazing Grace, we played Pomp and Circumstance and then our closer. Was our closer Impossible Dream or Day by Day? Did we change our closer midway through the summer? Good to have you here. My memory comes and goes 'cause I have too much on my mind or not thinking at all. Oh the joys of aging lol

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Linda, always loved going to The Golden Triangle Invitational in Kitchener-Waterloo and seeing all the corps, especially the "C" and "D" corps. Ventures were one of those little corps as were Dutchboy. There were a ton of them! I think at one show my corps and Bluecoats were the only 2 American corps there.

We spent a lot of summers in Canada going up against Krescendos, Princemen, Etobicoke Crusaders, Flying Dutchmen, Precious Blood Cardinals, etc.

Also remember having to borrow a soprano from a Seneca Princemen for a show as mine broke....it belonged to a young man who had a hook. Very nice young man from what I remember.

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Me Mudder ... told me "Go to practice wit yer brudder" ...

... and that was 1958 ...

:-)

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"Going Way Back":

As far as Andy at least........ :shutup:

Saw several of the senior "Big Guns" at the Barnum's old "Champions on Parade" show at Hedge's Stadium (Caballeros, Princemen, Skyliners?) in 1958 or 1959, and some of the East Coast's dominant juniors such as St Vincent's Cadets, Bracken Cavaliers and Blessed Sacrament about the same time at Hedge's.

St Ann's Parish was starting a parade corps, and two of my friends at school talked me into joining (Not that I needed a lot of "Convincing"....... :music:

Elphaba :flower:

WWW

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Hi Mike. Good to see you here. Yes, we played Amazing Grace in 1973. There aren't a lot of Princemen photos from 1973 but I vaguely remember a lot of sops limping. Good golly! I remember a year or 2 before when Lambert broke his arm but carried his contra with a cast. To stay on topic, a few years later his sister Sherry joined the guard and became a fine rifle spinner for us and Seneca Optimists. How did she get involved in drum corps? I figure she watched her brother and joined too. We had a lot of sister, brothers, cousins join drum corps.

Joel mentioned a few weeks ago that we had at least 7 Jr. A and Jr. B in Toronto and who knows how many other Jr. C or D corps there were? Also, there were lots of corps within an hour's drive from Toronto. I have a question for you. After Amazing Grace, we played Pomp and Circumstance and then our closer. Was our closer Impossible Dream or Day by Day? Did we change our closer midway through the summer? Good to have you here. My memory comes and goes 'cause I have too much on my mind or not thinking at all. Oh the joys of aging lol

Howdy Linda

Good question about the Day by Day thing. If I remember correctly, the Impossible Dream was at the en dof Concert, as Ma of La mancha was the first half of the show. I only marched in the preseason, as my leg break occurred on the 17th of June, ( gotbrun over by a tv repair van on the way to Dave Mortons place for supper pre practice, #### horn case landed on my femur, and busted it good)but I distinctly remember playing day by day and marching to it, so it must have already been in place.I also remember that Al Morrison did our writing that year, and that his script was absolutely flawless as far as ascetics go. Great arrangements too. I remember Lambert and his busted arm too, 1972 it was. Sherry, I believe, was in the Sparkies, and graduated to Princemen when the firefighter org ceased to be. Sparkies became the Kinsmen.

Great memories, I gotta say.

Have great

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Howdy Linda

Good question about the Day by Day thing. If I remember correctly, the Impossible Dream was at the en dof Concert, as Ma of La mancha was the first half of the show. I only marched in the preseason, as my leg break occurred on the 17th of June, ( gotbrun over by a tv repair van on the way to Dave Mortons place for supper pre practice, #### horn case landed on my femur, and busted it good)but I distinctly remember playing day by day and marching to it, so it must have already been in place.I also remember that Al Morrison did our writing that year, and that his script was absolutely flawless as far as ascetics go. Great arrangements too. I remember Lambert and his busted arm too, 1972 it was. Sherry, I believe, was in the Sparkies, and graduated to Princemen when the firefighter org ceased to be. Sparkies became the Kinsmen.

Great memories, I gotta say.

Have great[

What I meant to say was Happy Holidays lol

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