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Breaking ranks???


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1 hour ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Thirty years difference.....what you describe we called "falling out", not "breaking ranks."  But, yes, when personal health and/or dignity are involved.....I don't think it's like that now.  At least I hope not.  

Duly noted re: falling out. I don't recall ever hearing that specific nomenclature at SC. Was it an option? To be fair, the guard staff changed often then so institutional knowledge was most likely lost. I essentially mimicked what I saw the brass and drums do because there was so much mixed messaging in the guard between multiyear vets and new staffs.

It was nice to go to the lot this year and watch corps parade by, even if they weren't formally marching. Lookin at you, Troop. Not breaking ranks remains my instinct, even after 20 years.

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In 1990 (somewhere in PA) we (Rochester Crusaders) did a parade before a contest. As we waited on a side street for our turn to get in the parade, Dutchboy were in the street marching. They had to stop and some guy on a bicycle tried to cut in front of the corps (in front of the drum majors). The lead DM grabbed the handlebars to stop the guy. The good thing is there were about 40 guys standing in front ready to protect the DM. The guy walked away!

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Holy crap it seems that high school band was a VERY different experience from drum corps🤣 I was not aware that breaking ranks had a different meaning lol.

 

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10 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Yup, and it was the GUARD (women) that took it the most seriously.  You got one warning and if you didn't adhere.....by today's standards it would be considered an assault. 

Not all that proud of it in 2022 but back then it was something you sorta "hoped" would happen......  Like running into a field judge.  

For us, breaking ranks was usually something that happen at parades when some civilian would try to cut through the Corps to get to the other side of the road.  We usually saw it coming, and put the kibash on it one way or another.

Corollary to this was for us, a 45-55 member Corps, was that when marching on to field for retreat we would stretch out the interval so our file was just as long as Phantom, Madison, or whatever 'full' Corps was there.  As a Contra, I was at the far back so it was my job to make sure this happened.  Woe be to anyone that broke out ranks - even w/ 6-8 step spacing.

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13 minutes ago, Orwellian Wiress said:

Holy crap it seems that high school band was a VERY different experience from drum corps🤣 I was not aware that breaking ranks had a different meaning lol.

 

So, it has taken you from late June to now to come to this realization.

You are now eligible to move to the next plane of enlightenment.  

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I remember watching Anaheim's guard lined up and marching into the restroom one time, all as stoic and militaristic as everyone knew. Try breaking those ranks.

 

Edited by OldSnareDrummer
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14 minutes ago, Orwellian Wiress said:

Holy crap it seems that high school band was a VERY different experience from drum corps🤣 I was not aware that breaking ranks had a different meaning lol.

 

 

It's more about different eras/generations than level of activity.  We took things way the hell more seriously (I don't necessarily mean that in a glowing light) in my high school band program BITD than groups do now.  It's just more a reflection on society (and I don't at all mean that in a negative light) and how people interact.  Evolution of the activity and art form, if you will.

I think the days of guarding drums/horns, beat downs of people who dared cross your lane in retreat, etc...they were appropriate and, for lack of a better phrase, what we knew in those days.  Now, things have changed and the world is smaller around us.  You can take positives and negatives from that, but I gotta say this...my kid just marched in his first Finals contest (he's a freshman on his HS bass line...chip off the ole block, he is) this past Saturday, and the outpouring of support and hype from each program out in the lot for one another (like yelling, hooting and hollering for one another heading to and from the field) gave him one pretty memorable experience.  Yes, he was hyped to have made Finals (big breakthrough for his/our young program), but the whole experience of how that felt to just be "in that company" and how supportive it was...yeah, that's exactly where the activity needs to be in 2022.  And that's coming from an official (quasi)old guy who grew up in a much different era.

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11 hours ago, LabMaster said:

Breaking ranks was done at your own peril.  With my corps, it wasn’t done successfully.  BITD it wasn’t a retreat kind of thing.  Amen Suta.

Yah.  We were always late performing so people's butts were in the stands as we came on or moved to enter.  There were occasional traffic jams in the early days of the Hoosier Dome as bands came off and shuffled to seats in the backfield for the rest of the show as other bands came on.  The protocol was to not move if the performing band had their show ready to go as well.  So we were trapped on the outside of the end zone and told to sit on the field for the band after us then had to scurry out of the way as they came off the field one year because we typically left the field by collapsing to the front line then marching off in a block and we made a LONG block that year as our closing set was into both end zones.

So it's not always retreat, but most of my memories about it were retreat related as that's when you typically had more than one unit out there.

The other place was often out in the lots after shows. Sometimes we wanted to interact with other bands but some bands really closed shop around their bus areas.  One of the exceptions was when we beat Marian Catholic in an early show without our closer on the field and they were still performing their summer (championship) show.  They sought us out at the busses as we were adjacent but asked permission to enter our area.  We were, "um. sure?" They were so excited for us and our show and it was a great moment.

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