ScribeToo Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 (edited) If the drum & bugle corps of todays era were to have all us old fogies just go away and not go to shows or not go on these threads and tell todays members the way it used to be, it would be a sorry state for drum & bugle corps.I would love to sit down with some of the members that marched in the '40's-60's and get their take on todays drum & bugles corps compared to decades ago. Interestingly enough, I had this happen to me -- quite by accident -- when I sat down in the middle of a VFW Post drum corps reunion a couple years ago at the Oswego show. There were about 15 guys left.. and most were attending with their wives -- some of whom were just "tolerating" the marching bands and others who were long-time fans -- but I couldn't resist asking them what they thought.. There was one guy in particular who was so old school he was just crabby through the whole show.. even his fellow corpsmates were making fun of him.. but by and large, the guys were totally into the shows on the field. They told me that the changes they'd seen in the activity were drastic but that they loved the product on the field today.. a couple of them went so far as to say if we put the best corps from their era up against the best corps from this one.. there would be no contest.. today's drum corps would absolutely win... okay.. that ONE guy insisted that HIS era drum corps would wipe the field with these young whippersnappers.. I learned a LOT that day about the so-called "old fogeys" of drum corps.. the really old ones... they seemed to have a much more pragmatic view and they were just happy to be sitting in the bleachers enjoying a summer night watching a bunch of young kids run around a field and play their instruments together... The guy who organized the reunion said to me before the end of the show, "We had our time.. it's their time now. I think what they do is pretty incredible and I like to enjoy it for what it is.. not what I miss about what it was when I was out there." Stef Edited December 31, 2004 by ScribeToo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted January 1, 2005 Author Share Posted January 1, 2005 Interestingly enough, I had this happen to me -- quite by accident -- when I sat down in the middle of a VFW Post drum corps reunion a couple years ago at the Oswego show. There were about 15 guys left.. and most were attending with their wives -- some of whom were just "tolerating" the marching bands and others who were long-time fans -- but I couldn't resist asking them what they thought.. There was one guy in particular who was so old school he was just crabby through the whole show.. even his fellow corpsmates were making fun of him.. but by and large, the guys were totally into the shows on the field. They told me that the changes they'd seen in the activity were drastic but that they loved the product on the field today.. a couple of them went so far as to say if we put the best corps from their era up against the best corps from this one.. there would be no contest.. today's drum corps would absolutely win... okay.. that ONE guy insisted that HIS era drum corps would wipe the field with these young whippersnappers.. I learned a LOT that day about the so-called "old fogeys" of drum corps.. the really old ones... they seemed to have a much more pragmatic view and they were just happy to be sitting in the bleachers enjoying a summer night watching a bunch of young kids run around a field and play their instruments together... The guy who organized the reunion said to me before the end of the show, "We had our time.. it's their time now. I think what they do is pretty incredible and I like to enjoy it for what it is.. not what I miss about what it was when I was out there." Stef <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ya, Stef, I guess we should all be happy with the time we spend in our ERA of the activity. As much as we may not like the changes that happen from time to time, we should all be happy that drum & bugle corps are still around..for now anyway!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDANN Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 This is a fascinating thread! The originator comes from Dutch Boy (the last Canadian drum corps to make the DCI finals) and two of the major contributors come from De La Salle / Oakland Crusaders. My old corps and a founding member of DCI. Personally, I joined De La Salle "Oaklands" in 1955 when it was still a Bugle Band. The band had started in 1910 to parade the school cadet corps but very soon became a stand-alone unit. By the time I joined it had evolved in the "Famous Blue & Gold" and was probably the most compelling reason why young men like me wanted to attend De La Salle "Oaklands" high school. On my first day all recruits were given a small "no valve" bugle and sent home with very simple instructions. Keep blowing until you can play five different notes and come back next week. If within two or three weeks you could hit "the high notes" easily you earned a single value soprano. If you struggled, but still played all five, you were given a baritone. Those who had difficulty just making a noise were given a drum. (I'm kidding! I'm kidding!) In the early 50s the challenge of drum corps (at least in Canada) was to actually play "real tunes" on a bugle. If you couldn't play the songs well, at least you could play them loud. Check out www.delasalle-drumcorps.com and view the pictures from the 50s and you'll see why we were called "drum corps". Thirty-two snares? Eight "swinging tenors"? A row or two of base drums, cymbals and glocks followed by (count 'em) 64 bugles! "Large and Loud" was in. But even back then there was at least one "band" who bucked the system. Preston Scout House - "Canada's Famous Bugle Band". Preston Scout House regularly won the "Canadian Champions" at the Waterloo Music Festival years before the Canadian (or Ontario) Drum Corps Association even existed by consistently coming first in the street parade competition and performing the assigned "test piece" flawlessly. But the reason they were "famous", and the reason people all over North America loved them, was because of their amazing "field show". If you think the Cavies "Circus Show", or the Bridgemen, or Velvet Kights were off-the-wall, then you obviously never saw the original Scout House on the field. In early 1958 when the powers-that-be in De La Salle decided that "American style" drum corps was the way to go we were taken to see an indoor exhibition at the University Avenue armouries so we could see first hand what we would be competing against. There we saw St. Mary's, the Don Mills "Skyraiders", the Leaside Lions "Jungle Kings", the Grantham Township "Police Boys Band" and the first appearance of the newly formed Toronto Optimists Drum & Bugle Corps. After watching most of these corps we accurately predicted that once we got on the field we could beat most of them but the Optimists would be the big challenge. But then Scout House took the floor and believe me - they were a shock. It was very clear they were nothing like the others and there was no comparison to what had come before them. They were the most thrilling, fascinating and entertaining thing I had ever seen on a field. And it was also very clear that there was no possible way to judge them and the rest of us by the same standards. Sure enough, The Optimists won that year, and again for eleven years in a row. Scout House continued entertaining audiences until about 1968 but never again won a championship. In their last five or six years I don't think they even bothered to compete in the CDCA or ODCA championships. So I guess my long-winded point is this. During my almost 50 years in drum corps I have seen many exciting and innovative drum corps come and (mostly) go. And I truly hope to see many more in the future. But I am very afraid that drum corps as I have known them are a thing of the past. Today they all look and sound the same. The top six set the tone and everyone tries to imitate them. The top six no longer innovate, they imitate. It was bad enough when they were simply imitating one another but in the last six to ten years when they began to imitate "marching bands" in everything but name I have really become discouraged. Twenty years ago the cost of recruiting, equipping and touring a "drum corps" caused dozens of corps to fold, including De La Salle. Today there are less than 75 junior corps left in all of North America and 95% of their membership is drawn from literally hundreds of highly skilled musicians who have probably never seen a "no valve" bugle except in a museum. No wonder they are "so good" today. If you had recruited the top 2 horn players from each of the top thirty New Jersey corps in 1964 (including the Bob Bons "all girl" corps) and put them into one drum corps, would they have been as good as the Cadets are today? If you did the same throught the midwest, do you think they might have been as good as Cavaliers? Or Phantom? Or Madison? I think the answer is as obvious as it is disappointing. With only six corps left in DCI that "really matter" and with all the expensive rule changes they propose every year, there is no room for a truly innovative or "off-the-wall" challenger to fit in. And the drum corps "movement" is the poorer for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susantaylor40 Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 Well said Dan... it is great to hear the opinions of those who truly helped build Drum Corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted January 4, 2005 Author Share Posted January 4, 2005 DITTO!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felixh Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I have to agree in part as I kick and scream my way to the keyboard. I am one of the biggest fans of the old style and desperately want it back. I miss the face peeling intensity of hornlines from 1975-1985 (IMO). But, I know that back in the 70's what I experienced in the stands, on the field, and even during free time was drum corps to me and I would be ###### if any oldtimer was going to tell me any different. I appreciated corps like the Bayonne Bridgemen that took a chance with their innovation and created a legend. I long for the past just as much as any "old foggie" would.....the bottom line is that those days have past The one thing that I will never compromise on: No Amplification! No Woodwinds! No place or real reason for these things in drum corps IMO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobH Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Felix - believe it or not, "face peeling" went on even before 1975! And it was a beautiful thing! I think that the key here is for ALL drum corps fans to remember their drum corps roots, and support today's kids who, in 20 years, will ALSO be whining about how much different drum corps is than it was in their day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felixh Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Felix - believe it or not,"face peeling" went on even before 1975! And it was a beautiful thing! I think that the key here is for ALL drum corps fans to remember their drum corps roots, and support today's kids who, in 20 years, will ALSO be whining about how much different drum corps is than it was in their day! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> note the IMO after the years RobH and I AGREE WITH YOU 100%. That is the best we can do and too have seen the commitment these young kids play and march with today............besides, we cannot knock them,...If back inthe day I felt an oldtimer was getting snippy with me I would have laughed and told him to go $#%@ himself.............today, I am that oldtimer....but no grey hairs yet mind you,...and without Grecian!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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