Re-hash of an old complaint...

[Tsar Nikk]

Ok...I know that I've said all of the following before. And I know that a LOT of current members don't even know that we once called them sopranos (or contras, for that matter). And yes, I am fully aware that stating the following relegates me to "old dinosaur" status. I don't care.

I say to-mah-to, you say to-may-to; I say soprano…you say….trumpet?

Have we just given up on differentiating between a drum and bugle corps and a marching band? Is it simply too difficult to hold on to one last little bit of tradition in the face of all the traditions we have already kicked to the curb. Are we too lazy to continue this particular tradition? We’ve already rid ourselves of the traditional 128 member rule. We’ve rid ourselves of playing the corps off at retreat. We’ve rid ourselves of some of the traditional corps themselves! So why must we rid ourselves of such a small, harmless, innocuous tradition?

I am, of course, referring to the disturbing trend I have noticed of corps’ staffs calling the instruments in their horn lines “trumpets” and “tubas.” What gives? Is using “tubas” more efficient because it has two fewer letters than “contra?” Is using “trumpet” easier than using “soprano” because there is one fewer syllable and it rolls off the tongue faster? In the words of Vince Lombardi…”What the heck is going on here?”

Yes, I am aware that the G bugle was the one we commonly referred to as a “soprano.” If it is an issue with semantics, calling a Bb Trumpet a “soprano” is not incorrect. The “trumpet” is the soprano voice of the choir (in this case, a drum corps). The “tuba” is the bass/contrabass voice in the choir. So why is it so difficult to maintain one rather cool little snippet of drum corps history?

In my day, which was not long ago (1991-1994), calling a soprano a “trumpet” was a bando way of doing things, and was likely to get you dirty looks. Calling a contra by the name of tuba prompted the standard quasi-Schwarzenneger response from “Kindergarten Cop” (paraphrased): “Eeet’s naht a tooooba! Eeet’s nah-thing like a toooba!” Are we sucking up to the instrument makers? Is this some way of advertising the fact that now a high school band student can go out and buy the very same trumpet that the Cadets or Blue Devils or Cavaliers use? Are we selling our drum corps soul for marching band profits?

Can someone tell me a good reason why certain corps stopped calling their sopranos sopranos, and their contras contras? I just want one good reason. And don’t give me that rationalized garbage I have heard before about not wanting to confuse band kids who come to clinics…that is lame. That is the drum corps equivalent of “A dog ate my homework.” For years kids came to clinics and heard the mystic words like “soprano” and “contra” and it added to the allure of a drum corps (I know it did for me). When I saw the Cadets clinic in Orlando a couple of years back and they called them “trumpets,” my spine cringed and has not moved back since.

Have you ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Costanza complains that if “Relationship George” meets “Bawdy, Fun George” they will kill each other? “WORLDS ARE COLLIDING!!!” screamed Kramer. This is the same thing. I don’t want corps to be more band-like. I don’t want bands to be more corps-like. I don’t want WORLDS COLLIDING. I just want a well-performed show, with props kept to a minimum, with gimmicks kept to a minimum, with great marching, great playing, great drumming, great spinning…a classic drum corps show.

I am a dinosaur...hear me roar. Hopefully I can be one of the cool dinosaurs, like a raptor or an allosaurus. :P

[JimF-LowBari]

Nikk, wish you better luck than I had when I asked the same thing two years ago.

My follow up question is: If you can 'em trumpets and tubas then do you have Bugles in your Drum & Bugle Corps?

Won't mind the flames as it's hot enough already. ^0^

[bawker]

Is this some way of advertising the fact that now a high school band student can go out and buy the very same trumpet that the Cadets or Blue Devils or Cavaliers use? 

You just answered your own question. :)

Ever since Bb came along, that's been the general mindset; that its easier to "get into" corps since you're playing on the same band instruments you do in your music program at home. It's also by design to keep the prices down...although some of the amounts I've seen them selling for on corps websites kind of blow that one out of the water, to be honest.

Plus, once the years up, the horns have a certain "cool" factor to them as you mention above. Kids can have a horn that BD/Cadets/Cavaliers played.

We couldn't go out and buy a King 2-valver if we wanted to at the local music store. However, kids today see the Yamaha® ads in DCI Today, and can have the same thing in their hot little hands the next week.

I also think of them as "sops" and "contras"...even with the key change, it just doesn't sound right. But, like sands through the hourglass....

Pterodactyl "bawkus oldpharticus" signing off. :P

[apoch003]

I had to rationalize that one myself Jim.

Boogie woogie Bugle Boy is played on a Trumpet. I use that association to maintain that a trumpet is still a bugle. hee!

[blueorginal]

Harsh :sshh: reality is that our niche has become a brass and drum band but I think we can still refer to them as corps....now my own opinion is that drum & bugle corps have over the last 20 years has "drum corpized" bands to the point that to the avg. person they are the same (not fans but avg. joe on the street) they only thing that we have to keep the distinction of being more than a "band" is for the current corps to keep setting the music standards higher....

Edited August 15, 2005 by blueorginal

[jwillis35]

For whatever it's worth: (and I realize it's not worth that much to some of you) :)

1. I have no problem with continuing to refer to the instruments as sopranos, mellos, baris, euphs, and contras. I think it makes sense considering the traditions, background of the activity, and it does differentiate the drum corps from band...at least in name.

2. Is the bugle a brass instrument? Yes. Were the corps in the 70s or 80s playing true bugles? NO. Were they playing brass instruments? YES. What is a true bugle? I will let you fill in the answer here.

3. We don't call it drum, bugle, and guard corps, yet we do have guards. We don't call it drum and brass corps, yet we do have brass instruments. We had brass in the 50s, the 70s, and we have brass today. I guess my point is that these names are mainly interchangable, so I don't mind using the old vernacular, but I do think we need to be careful about historical use of the term bugle in drum corps. Just because a brass instrument is pitched in G does not make it a bugle, or does it?

Just my opinion, but drum and bugle corps have not used true bugles perhaps since the early 1900s. I feel that as soon as the first piston valve was issued the horn more resembled a brass instrument for band or orchestral-type playing. I am not saying that corps are bands, but the true bugle had a very specific purpose whereas the brass instruments that were developed as early as the 1400s (such as Sackbutts and Trumpets) and later the horns with their crooks, were made to play better in tune, and to be able to change key and adjust to the music that was starting to be written by composers like Schutz and Gabrielli.

Jonathan

[MDempsey]

The 1st time I heard them referred to as trumpets it made me wince. Bugles, horns..even BRASS would be ok,,but TRUMPETS! ewwwwwwww!

Whats next..drum corpse?

Dontr let it die!

[usmcontra]

Again, from Webster himself:

a valveless brass instrument that resembles a trumpet and is used especially for military calls

We haven't been playing bugles for years.

[Tsar Nikk]

Just as a reminder guys...I'm not really debating the bugle vs. non-bugle nomenclature. We HAVEN'T played on a bugle in years...going by one definition.

By other definitions, bugles can be of different keys and can include valves.

My main beef is with abandoning the quirky (but cool) usage of the terms soprano, contra, etc. And really, without a great reason. Technically, we could have called these instruments trumpets and tubas even when we were using G instruments, because that is what they really are...

...but I don't see the harm in calling them by their ensemble voicings.

[iceman]

I played GBugle for a few years, then trumpet in my drum corps.

I prefered to call the trumpets (which is what they are) trumpets, because during the rest of the year, thats what I called the instrument I played, and it didn't seem to make any sense to call the instruments by their ensemble voicings.

That being said, we took a vote as a section the first year we switched... the term soprano won (that was three years ago).

This year, I visited the corps, and the only term I heard was trumpet, so the term "trumpet" or "tuba" has finally become acceptable, and doesn't have "dorky-bando" conotations to it.