The Marching Arts

[Jeff Ream]

42 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

Well said.  The local-circuit junior corps where I marched in the 1970s... our director wanted nothing to do with DCI.  But the corps was basically a shoestring operation, and was going away at some point whether DCI existed or not.

And when various critics over the years have said "DCI officials did this or that wrong, DCI officials made bad decisions"... I wonder if those critics are aware that the voting membership, not the DCI front office, makes the vast majority of the decisions regarding the direction and governance of the circuit.

Same with DCA. I lost count of the number of times I heard "Mickey Petrone (then-DCA president) did this or that... made this rule or that rule... at the last meeting"... when I was at that particular meeting, and nothing of the sort happened.  

too many people refuse to accept the DCI or DCA director isn't the same as dictator.

 

and some of those smaller regional circuits killed to have a name show up....it meant fans would actually buy tickets!

[Fran Haring]

7 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

too many people refuse to accept the DCI or DCA director isn't the same as dictator.

 

and some of those smaller regional circuits killed to have a name show up....it meant fans would actually buy tickets!

Absolutely.

In 1971, first year with my junior corps, aside from some of our circuit corps we had Blue Rock and Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights at our home show, with the Hawthorne Caballeros in exhibition. Those three headliner corps certainly brought some paying customers in. A full house that night... not always the case at our show.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Fran Haring

[BRASSO]

2 hours ago, MikeD said:

There were letters to the editor in the predecessor to DCP and the internet....Drum Corps News...that bemoaned the addition of the contra. NanciD's great project to place the old issues online shows some of them.

 I subscribed to " Drum Corps News " in the 60's and recall such resistance, and the Letter's to the Editor and such,  re. the addition of the Contra to the brass lines at the time. The " purists " at the time had pretty much the same rationale for their objections to it ie,  " it was a Marching Band instrument ", and its use would no longer constitute the unit being able to future call itself a " Drum & Bugle Corps " any more in their view. By the way, one of the first east coast Corps I recall being pictured in Drum Corps News with the " new instrument " at the time were 2 marchers in the Garfield Cadets posing with the Corps new instrument purchased and depicted being carried up and over their shoulder. MikeD. ( it was in 1960- 1962 ish in DCN). I believe the 1st  Drum Corps to utilize the Contra Bass ( today's Tuba ) was a Canadian Drum Corps, I believe as the 1st Mfg, of the Contra was a Canadian Co. called " Royce- Whalley" ? or some such name ( I  forget the inventor Co's correct name at the moment )..

Edited March 7, 2019 by BRASSO

[BigW]

3 hours ago, MikeD said:

One of my memories of the 70's is the "tink tink" of marching bells. The problem is that since they were carried, and part of judging was the demand/exposure caption, they had to be played....played....and played....and overwritten to create the required demand. One of the great benefits of the pit is the ability to use mallet instruments as they are intended to be used, ESPECIALLY orchestra bells. I wrote shows that used them, and I was as guilty as anyone, out of necessity of the judging standards of the time.

I did try when possible to not overdue it. One GSC corps I wrote for did Berlioz' "March to the Scaffold" as the opener in 77. I went to the orchestral score and tried to give the bells much of the flute part and xylo the clarinet part, but I still had to doctor it up to give the players the required demand.

 

Very salient. Usually the bells were banging away like crazy with copper mallets and denting the metal. 

[BigW]

On 3/6/2019 at 4:15 PM, Fran Haring said:

Synopsis:

He's a knucklehead.

Also a Keeper Of Odd Knowledge. 

[BigW]

2 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

Absolutely.

In 1971, first year with my junior corps, aside from some of our circuit corps we had Blue Rock and Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights at our home show, with the Hawthorne Caballeros in exhibition. Those three headliner corps certainly brought some paying customers in. 

Was one of the reasons Surf remained affiliated with GSC in the mid-90's as they outgrew the circuit, to provide a flagship unit and to help draw positive attention to the circuit as well as get some draw for the championship show.

[MikeD]

2 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

and some of those smaller regional circuits killed to have a name show up....it meant fans would actually buy tickets!

In the GSC there was a rule that each corps had to sponsor a show, to provide sufficient competitive opportunities. In the mid/late 70's when I was teaching and judging in the circuit, corps went to all sorts of efforts to host a show CHEAPLY. We had shows in parking lots, in parks, and in Havre de Grace MD on a pier. People would just wander by and sometimes stop for a few minutes. Very shoe-string sorts of things. GE judges would stand on top of equipment trucks. Some corps did have shows on real HS fields, but you could normally count the...ahem..."crowd"...on the fingers of your hands.

[BigW]

12 minutes ago, MikeD said:

In the GSC there was a rule that each corps had to sponsor a show, to provide sufficient competitive opportunities. In the mid/late 70's when I was teaching and judging in the circuit, corps went to all sorts of efforts to host a show CHEAPLY. We had shows in parking lots, in parks, and in Havre de Grace MD on a pier. People would just wander by and sometimes stop for a few minutes. Very shoe-string sorts of things. GE judges would stand on top of equipment trucks. Some corps did have shows on real HS fields, but you could normally count the...ahem..."crowd"...on the fingers of your hands.

By the mid-90's they were all at HS venues IIRC, but yes, the crowds were small for the most part, I remember the Mount Vernon show and Championships had some numbers, though.

 

Then again, I've seen Pittsburgh area HS shows with less than 15 people in the stands, which made me pretty sad.

Edited March 7, 2019 by BigW

[MikeD]

1 hour ago, BigW said:

By the mid-90's they were all at HS venues IIRC, but yes, the crowds were small for the most part, I remember the Mount Vernon show and Championships had some numbers, though.

 

Champs did tend to have a larger audience, given the larger number of corps, and the desire to make it a nice event. 

[KVG_DC]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

Was not going to watch it; knew it was going to be boring; was not even going to read through the thread except I am home sick today. But good ole Gar, ya just had to make me curious, so I clicked on the vid. Thanks buddy! Well....

If ya look close, that post was dated 2008; this Stu (me) did not join DCP and start posting until 2010. So that Stu, not this Stu, authored the post. Also not the first time someone here got this and that mixed up. What we really need on DCP is one more Stu; we could then have this, that, and the other!!!

I'm Stu, this is my brother Stu, and my other brother Stu.