visualjellyfish Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I am a dance major at Texas Woman's Univ. and I will be writing a capstone paper about women in the history of drum corps this semester. I was hoping to get as much imput as possible from any and all alumni of the activity. This concerns all areas of drum corps, not just color guard. I would like to know, if applicable, what it felt like (from both genders' perspectives) for women not to be allowed in the horn and drum sections, only in the guard. What was it like to look at all male/all female corps? Is it fair, in your perspective? What did it feel like for the women in color guard back when had more of a militaristic (masculine) overtone? What changes have women seen since the beginning of drum corps? Etc. All perspectives are welcome! Topics and issues are not limited to the above. If any of my above questions are misinformed, feel free to correct me, please. Please keep the conversation clean and construcitve, because I will be drawing some of my research from this topic. If you wish to respond, you can do so within the forum or send me a personal message. If you could please give your name and who you marched with and for how long (for research purposes.) Thanks for any and all help! MY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BD2Rings Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I don't believe the Blue Devils were ever sexist against females. I marched from '74 to '77. Bonnie Ott was our mellophone soloist, and there were other ladies in the horn line. Bobbie Del Costello was in our snare line. We did discriminate the other way, however. Males were not in the color guard for a number of years. The best example I can think of for women with huge impacts on drum corps would be Sandra Opie and the Argonne Rebels horn line. Someone should speak on her behalf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd5times Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 I don't believe the Blue Devils were ever sexist against females. You beat me to it. We had female snares, females in all sections of the horn line (including contra), soloists, section leaders, ..... Equal oppurtunity drum corps....(except for guys in the guard, but at that time...well...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffernbus3 Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 67 Anaheim Kingsmen was all male in percussion and brass sections and had an extremely talented all woman guard. Not uncommon in 1967. We were "kinda" against letting women into the horn line then if only for the reason that we guys liked the way the horn line visually represented itself in an all-male configuration. But the point was moot as there were no women that I know of who auditioned for the horn or percussion line that year. Again, let me stress that all-male horn and drum lines and all-girl guards were pretty much the norm back in 1967. We were never sexist with our guard and, quite the opposite, had the greatest respect for The Kingsmen Color Guard both on and off the field. They were our equals and they had a specific job to do in the production and they did it extremely well. There were other corps in California that had mixed male and female horn lines and there were still a few all-girl drum corps in SoCal at that time, it should be pointed out, but in the 1967 Kingsmen we took pride in our all male percussion and brass sections. Not in a chauvanistic way....more a matter of Esprit, if that makes any sense today. I know it did then. By the time I got back from The Army and started teaching brass for The 1971 Diplomats, my attitude had changed entirely and I openly encouraged female horn players to join the line. I had spots to fill and everybody had an equal chance. RON HOUSLEY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnric Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 St. Andrews Bridgemen had a female Drum Major in the early seventies. Debbie is one of the most well respected people in the history of our oganization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alberty Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 (edited) I can think of few ladies with a more profound effect on the direction and basic nature of the activity than Sondra Opie of the Argonne Rebels of Great Bend KA. Trained at Julliard (I believe) her attention to detail and approach to horn sound and effect literally changed the sound of drum corps in the early 70's. Argonne's alumni reunion page is located here. A DCP Thread on Mrs. Opie and Argonne is located here Hope this helps - I know in Blue Devils in 1977 we had female soprano, contra, baritone and mellophone players - pretty much the gamut. Before each day's runthrough you'd hear the drummers yell out "what's the word? - B*LLS! -what's the word? - BA**S what's the word? - BAL*S!!" - three times really fast. Mike Moxley and Mel Stratton had to be bungied to the top of the box of Concord HS to keep from laughing and falling off on the afternoon when all the ladie's voices shouted "what's the word? T**S! what's the word? *IT*! What's the word? T**S!". That was a great runthrough. Good luck - hope this helps - regards - Jim Atlantic Guardian Edited October 21, 2004 by Jim Alberty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancerFi Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 We had a female snare in our line in 77, or was the first year 78, no I believe Mary began in 77. Maybe you'd like to interview her about the trials and tribulations of being one of the first in a very elite club? The one with ADD... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Devil Legend Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hope this helps - I know in Blue Devils in 1977 we had female soprano, contra, baritone and mellophone players - pretty much the gamut.Before each day's runthrough you'd hear the drummers yell out "what's the word? - B*LLS! -what's the word? - BA**S what's the word? - BAL*S!!" - three times really fast. Mike Moxley and Mel Stratton had to be bungied to the top of the box of Concord HS to keep from laughing and falling off on the afternoon when all the ladie's voices shouted "what's the word? T**S! what's the word? *IT*! What's the word? T**S!". That was a great runthrough. heh, I remember that. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 I don't believe the Blue Devils were ever sexist against females. I marched from '74 to '77. Bonnie Ott was our mellophone soloist, and there were other ladies in the horn line. Bobbie Del Costello was in our snare line. We did discriminate the other way, however. Males were not in the color guard for a number of years. You beat me to it. We had female snares, females in all sections of the horn line (including contra), soloists, section leaders, ..... Equal oppurtunity drum corps....(except for guys in the guard, but at that time...well...) Well ... BD wasn't in existence early enough. By the time that the Blue Devils were founded, it was already normal for hornlines, and drumlines to a lesser extent, to be co-ed. Most of the corps that had complete or partial gender restrictions probably had been around since the fifties or earlier, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 (edited) Well ... BD wasn't in existence early enough. By the time that the Blue Devils were founded, it was already normal for hornlines, and drumlines to a lesser extent, to be co-ed. Most of the corps that had complete or partial gender restrictions probably had been around since the fifties or earlier, right? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm not sure that's completely accurate. Women were allowed in the color guard by that time (1970), but it still was not commonplace for women to be in the horn and drum lines. I'm sure there have been many RAMD threads devoted to this topic, but a quick search turned up one post which I found especially pertinent. This poster notes that early on, she was the exception to the rule, though some corps did encourage participation by women more than others. Edited October 21, 2004 by byline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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