Drum Corps Membership Changes

[84BDsop]

3 hours ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

I feel like the battery was slower to adapt and accept females, but there a few great examples. Kelly Houpt from the '82 BD snare line and I believe Carla Azar marched in '84 in the snare line. I met Kelly in 2005 when I started marching again with Corpsvets (CV) and she was with Renegades. Fantastic lady with amazing talent. The battery is still largely male dominated but it certainly isn't due to a gap in ability. The MM's now in all sections see, to come out of the womb with amazing skill sets and drive. 

Yep...Carla was BD 84...Spirit before then, I think.

BD has always been, if you're good enough to make it, you ,make it.

i think the ONLY position a lady has not been in is bass #5 (I think they had a lady on tenors in the mid 70s)

[Tim K]

2 hours ago, Tim K said:

 

 

[ironlips]

1 hour ago, MikeD said:

The best hornline in the country in 1971, the Argonne Rebels, had a coed hornline. 

There is no question about that. And the brass instructor was the incomparable Sandra Opie.

It was 1976 when Gail (DeAngelis) Balls (former ND-ette) and Rene( Myers) Delucia (Edison Saints alumna)  broke through the brass ceiling at Garfield. Both rocked lead soprano. Rene transitioned to the rifle line during the winter. She was a star there, too.

Meanwhile, Bonnie Ott had been tearing it up on the left coast with the Commodores, then the Blue Devils.

The godmother of them all was a soloist and instructor for the Sunrisers, 'way back in the late '50's, Lil Lindy, who went on to teach hundreds of kids in local corps on Long Island.

These women were the pioneers, the exceptions during their performing careers, much like Cherokee Merino, the outstanding snare drummer from the ND-ettes who became Eric Perriloux's student, and cracked the boys club in the battery of St. Rita's Brassmen. They, and their sisters, are the primary reason no one is surprised to see young women in horn and drum lines these days.

I'm sure it put a smile on their faces when Carol O'Brien became the first woman member of the US Marine Corps Drum Corps, the Commandant's own.

[Northern Thunder]

2 hours ago, MikeD said:

The best hornline in the country in 1971, the Argonne Rebels, had a coed hornline. 

And their fine 1973 hornline (one of the best in DCI) had 23 females, out of 6o total.

[Terri Schehr]

I played French Horn in Norwood Park in 1972.  I was the only woman that year.  The next year, there were several women. 

Somebody had to do it. 

[Terri Schehr]

3 hours ago, MikeD said:

The best hornline in the country in 1971, the Argonne Rebels, had a coed hornline. 

Didn’t Troopers have women on brass early on, too?  

I was always surprised that Santa Clara had no women on brass until 1981. 

[Jurassic Lancer]

Back when I marched in the mid to late seventies, every hornline I marched in was coed.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jurassic Lancer

[Terri Schehr]

Just now, Jurassic Lancer said:

Back when I marched in the mid to late seventies, every hornline I marched in was integrated.

When I marched in Guardsmen, we were everywhere. Percussion, too. A woman on snare. 

[JimF-LowBari]

Just thinking Westshoremen had female baris starting 1976 or 1977 and female contra starting 1978 or 1979 (years running together). 

Erie Thunderbirds had female snare ca 1976/77. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by JimF-LowBari

[Terri Schehr]

Just now, JimF-LowBari said:

Just thinking Westshoremen had female baris starting 1976 or 1977 and female contra starting 1978 or 1979 (years running together). 

Two women were on contra in 1978 in Guardsmen.